The Year of our Lord, Jesus Christ
John 8:58
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
In this simple statement, Jesus stated that He was the Great I AM that called Moses out of the burning bush. But in this statement Jesus went further in His claim.
Moses was born around 1525 BC. His call from the great I AM, which took place in Exodus 3:14, happened sometime around 1450 BC. And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. The I AM was God, all the Israelites understood and believed that.
Abraham though was born around 2165 BC, 640 years before Moses. Jesus said before Abraham, which was before Moses, that He was the I AM.
There is more. Jesus said that Before Abraham was, I am meaning that He preexisted Abraham. He was the I AM that spoke to Moses, He preexisted Abraham, and He was God. This the Jews could not tolerate. He had to be stopped. So, the very next verse records Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. His time to die was not yet, He hid Himself, then He walked past them without ever so much a lifted finger against Him.
The fourteenth Verily, verily teaching is that Jesus proclaimed that He was the great I AM. Never let it be said that He never claimed to be God in the flesh. He did here.
Until next time,
William T. Howe, Ph.D.