And Then I Remember I STILL Have Him

Text: John 18:1-6 (NIV) – When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.

“He is Him.” By the technical definition, it’s used to celebrate someone’s impressive or successful efforts. It means someone is the “G.O.A.T.”

Jesus is not just Him. He is the Supreme Him!

MacLaren’s Expositions
     McLaren points out that the distinction of John’s gospel versus the other three is to narrate the facts and words that highlight the glory of Jesus as “the Only Begotten of the Father.”
This remarkable incident is narrated by John only. It fits in with the purpose which he himself tells us governed his selection of the incidents which he records. ‘These things are written,’ says he, near the end of the Gospel, ‘that ye might believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that, believing, ye might have life in His name.’
‘I am He!’ When the Band [that came to arrest Jesus] were thus doubly assured by the traitor’s kiss and by His own confession, why did they not lay hands upon Him? There He stood in the midst of them, alone, defenseless; there was nothing to hinder their binding Him on the spot. Instead of that they recoil and fall in a huddled heap before Him. Some strange awe and terror, of which they themselves could have given no account, was upon their spirits. How came it about?
We do not know the laws that regulated the dwelling of the Godhead, bodily, within that human frame, but we do know that at one other time there came upon His features a transfiguration, and over His very garments a luster which was not thrown upon them from without but rose up from within. And I am inclined to think that here, as there, though under such widely different circumstances and to such various issues, there was for a moment a little rending of the veil of His flesh, and an emission of some flash of the brightness that always tabernacled within Him; and that, therefore, just as Isaiah, when He saw the King in His glory, said, ‘Woe is me, for I am undone!’ and just as Moses could not look upon the Face, but could only see the back parts, so here the one stray beam of manifest divinity that shot through the crevice, as it were, for an instant, was enough to prostrate with a strange awe even those rude and insensitive men.

Jesus is Him! And the evil one knows, Jesus is Him!
• Mark 8:28-32 Demons acknowledge him.

Joseph, David, Paul, Daniel and others. I draw inspiration from these examples because the heroes were people just like us. The difference was Him.

When I read through the Scriptures, I don’t see amazing men and women of God, I see an amazing God at work in ordinary men and women. I see Him. And then I remember I have Him.

Don’t think the evil one is behind everything but don’t go the other way and think he isn’t behind anything.

If demons can influence strong minds, like Peter “get behind me Satan” and enter into Judas, and even tempt Jesus Himself, what can they do with a mind compromised by poor mental health or with weakened reason due to drugs and alcohol abuse.

How do we know the difference between a psychological event and demonic influence. We don’t. So get professional medical and mental health help and get divine help. Use all that’s available.

2 Timothy 4:16 – Paul was deserted by everyone, but the Lord stood by him.
• I am grateful for the Lord’s sustaining power, the bounce-back and keep-going endurance He provides.

How can we more consistently remember that we have Him?

The important thing is not that I try to live my life for Christ, but that I give Him free access to live His life through me. It is a mysterious, non-formulaic, authentic, relational connection in which “It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). In short, I am not trying to get better, I’m trying to get out of the way.

1.   Seek intimacy with God.

Express your desire for intimacy to Him.

Acknowledge His desire to be intimate with you.

When you see something better you don’t settle for something less. He is not just the better something, He is the best.

Ask, seek and knock.

2.  Internalize His Word.

Let His words speak to your heart and then let your heart speak to Him about His word.

The battle is for our trust. In what will you put your trust – or in whom. The Scriptures give us a focal point for our trust.
• 2 Peter 1:4 Peter writes that it is through our faith in his magnificent promise that we are able to escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

Foundational Verses for Believers: https://www.valleybrook.church/foundational-verses-for-believers/

3.  Gather with people who desire to know Jesus better.

Beware of Isolation. Satan prowls like a lion and seeks to isolate us from the flock.

And then I remember I still have Him. And Jesus is Him.