Jn 8:23-25 And [Yeshua] said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I Am He, you will die in your sins.” Then they said to Him, “Who are You?” And Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning.”
To know who I am in Messiah/Christ – to know my identity as a believer in Yeshua/Jesus – I need to know who Yeshua really is, since my identity is connected with Him and His name. YHVH God has revealed Himself to us in personal ways by telling us His names.
He first reveals Himself by name to Moses, when He tells him that He is “I Am Who I Am”, and that He is the God of our fathers: YEHOVAH, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob. (Ex 3:14-15; Jn 8:23-25)
Just as YHVH placed His name upon the Children of Israel through the priestly blessing (Num 6:24-26), so, too, is the name of Christ upon those who belong to Him in new covenant relationship. (Acts 11:26; 1Pt 4:12-16) We are children of God if we are in Christ/Messiah: God has become my Father; we have become His children! (1Jn 3:1-3) We, in Christ, are sons and daughters of the Creator and King of the heavens and the Earth! In Messiah, we are heirs with Him of all things! (Mk 12:7; Lk 12:32; Heb 1:2; 12:28)
1Jn 3:1-3 “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
“Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
“And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”