“Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said: ‘Who am I, Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that You have brought me this far?’” (2 Samuel 7:18).
The Lord had just given David a wonderful revelation through the prophet Nathan. David had it in his heart to build a house for the ark of God, but the Lord revealed to David that not only was David not going to build Him a house, but the Lord was going to build a house for David. The words and vision of what the Lord had purposed to do through the house of David were overwhelming to him. And so David retreated into the presence of the Lord and asked the question: “Who am I, Sovereign Lord…?”
When I read God’s word, and I “see and hear” all the amazing things the Lord has done, is doing, and is going to do for me, I can only thank Him, and ask: “Who am I?”
I can tell you who I am not. I am not Catholic or Protestant; I am not a Calvinist or an Arminian; I am not undenominational or non-denominational; I am a born-again child of the one, true, living God, and a believer in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I am not a reverend, or father, or his excellency, or any other title; I am a brother in Christ to all who are members of Christ’s body.
I was thirty years old when I was born again. Up until that time, I had never read or even looked at a Bible. Since I was led to Christ through a book by Billy Graham, I wrote his organization a note telling them what had happened. They immediately sent me some workbooks that required me to get a Bible to answer some simple questions. When I finished those, they sent me a Scripture memorization course. In a little over a year, I memorized 108 passages of Scripture from the KJV.
During those first months of my reading, studying, and memorizing the Scriptures, I realized that God was speaking to me, guiding me, counseling me, correcting me, disciplining me, and feeding my new man. Without questioning it, I knew I was reading God’s word, and that it was true. And after all these years, I do testify that the Bible, God’s word, has been “…a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
I have read through the Bible in several different translations, no paraphrases, beginning with the KJV. Some I read to critique them, but in all of the ones I read, Jesus was presented this way:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:1-5).
In all of them, Jesus is presented as the second Person of the Godhead, from everlasting to everlasting. He is presented as the fullness of the Godhead bodily; He is presented as the Word made flesh, and the express image of the glory of God. In other words, the Bible gives us the full revelation of who Jesus is.
Many years ago, while I was a pastor, the Lord led me to read the one book that I will never fully understand—Revelation. I had read it many times before, but from the NASB, I read through the book of Revelation every evening for one month. Several weeks later, the Lord impressed me to teach it to the church on Sunday morning. I greatly resisted that thought, but the Lord won, and so I did.
I prayed about it much and then read through each chapter, one by one, every Sunday. What I came to clearly see was that Revelation is all about Jesus Christ and the ages to come. The whole Bible is a revelation of who God and His Son, Jesus Christ, are. But the Bible, especially the New Testament, also reveals who God’s children are, who I am. Who am I?
Although I was thirty before my new birth, the Scriptures reveal an amazing fact about God and me from my beginning.
“…You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! (Psalms 139:13-17).
But then, as we are born and begin to live on this earth, the Scriptures declare we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. They say, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way.” And then, thank God, it says, “…and the Lord has laid on Him [Christ] the iniquity of us all. Thank the Lord for saying, “Us All.”
It is in the writings of the New Testament mainly where we find the wonderful, amazing answers to the question: “Who am I, Sovereign Lord?” It is there we find who we are, and more importantly, we find that we are who we are because God predestined us to be that way.
We are born-again children of God. “…born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (John 1:13). We are members of God’s family, and in particular, members of the body of Christ. God has appointed His Son to be the heir of all things; as members of His body, we are joint heirs with Jesus.
Who am I? I am a soldier and conqueror in Christ; through faith in Christ, I am a victorious overcomer of the world. I am part of God’s “…Chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession…” (1 Peter 2:9).
I am part of the bride of Christ who will sit with Him at the marriage supper of the Lamb. I am one of the members of the “…Armies of heaven,” who will be following Him when He comes to “Strike down the nations.” I will reign with Him for a thousand years.
“When I think of how He came so far from glory,
Came to dwell among the lowly such as I,
To suffer shame and such disgrace,
On Mount Calvary, take my place.
Then I ask myself this question: “Who am I?”
Who am I that the King would bleed and die, for…”
God loved me ere I knew Him: I am His child; a citizen of heaven and a resident of New Jerusalem: That’s who I am.
Brother Bill Oldham
The post Who Am I? :: By Brother Bill Oldham appeared first on Rapture Ready.
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