BEFORE ABRAHAM WAS, I AM
Read John 8:18–58
Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31–32 NKJV
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Jesus was speaking in the temple to two different groups of people – those who believed and those who didn’t. To those who would seize Him and kill Him if they could, He said, “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…, you will die in your sins.” (8:23b-24)
Then Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He”…As He spoke these words, many believed in Him. (8:28a, 30) To those who believed He said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.” (8:51)
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Lord, your Son Jesus was Messiah, the One that Abraham looked forward to – who would come from His descendants. By faith, Abraham trusted in You – By faith, we look back to the cross and believe in Jesus Christ – who was and is the great “I AM.”
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“You are not yet fifty years old,” the Jews said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!” “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I AM!” John 8:57–58 NIV
Tags: abide in my word, believe, death, eternal life, Messiah, sin
May 28, 2008 at 3:46 am |
Hi
I don’t think that the words “before Abraham was born, I AM!” denotes about divinity of Jesus. Whom was Jesus afraid of? He should have mentioned it in unequivocal terms. In fact, in my opinion, it is a meaningless sentence; might be the scribe forgot to complete the sentence and now our CatholicProtestant friends are just guessing as to how to complete it.
You could happily differ with me but with good and reasonable arguments.
Kindly visit my blog for interesting information/posts there and for your peaceful and charitable comments.
Thanks
I am an Ahmadi peaceful Muslim
May 28, 2008 at 4:12 am |
Dear Ahmadi,
Jesus was not afraid, he knew the hearts of those who eventually would arrest and crucify Him. The words “I Am” would denote that He was God, for the Jews knew God by that name.
When Moses protested that he was not adequate to go to the Jews in Egypt to deliver them, God said, “Tell them I Am has sent you.” The Jews had this history passed down to them, and knew it was refering to God.
When they threatened to stone Jesus, He asked them for which of the miracles they were wanting to stone him. They said, “We are not stoning you for any of these, but for blasphemy, because you a mere man claim to be God.” So they knew that by identifying Himself as “before Abraham was, I Am He was claiming diety.
I hope that answers your question.