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Today's Quote
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Today's Verse
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Daily Wisdom
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In Matthew 14:27 we read of Jesus' response when his disciples saw him walking on the water. They were frightened and Jesus' response was to calm their fears. He said, "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid." While this translation is quite proper and gives us the meaning of his words, it does not convey the deeper implications of Jesus' reply.
Jesus' actual words were "Take courage, I am; do not be afraid." The problem is that English syntax does not permit the direct translation, "I am." It does not make good sense in English. The words, "It is I," sound much better to our English trained ears.
When the translators use the better sounding words for us, they lose a very significant portion of Jesus' meaning. In the our Old Testaments, God's name used to be written, "Jehovah." Later translations use "The Lord." The problem stems from the fact that we now know that "Jehovah" is an improper translation of the Hebrew letters JHVH. Modern scholars transliterate God's name, "Jahveh," or more commonly, "Yahweh." Y and W are alternatives for J and V.
More important than the way God's name is pronounced is the meaning of the name. JHVH is a form of the Hebrew verb "to be." It is variously translated "I Am," "The Existing One," "That Which Exists of Itself," etc. Perhaps the most common translation of God's name is, "I Am."
In the minds of Jesus' contemporaries, when Jesus said, "I Am," he was equating himself with God! Jesus, of course, knew exactly what he was doing. In John 8:58, Jesus said, "Before Abraham was born, I Am." The words "I Am" indicate the eternal nature of God. As men we must say, "Yesterday we were, today we are, and tomorrow we will be." God can say, "Yesterday I am, today I am, and tomorrow I am." God is timeless and, thus, knows the past and can predict the future. Since Jesus was God in the flesh he, too, was the great I Am. When he walked on the sea he calmed his disciples' fears by telling them that God was with them -- the I Am was there.
