Rēad to Read …Again
Daily Reading: John 7-8
John 8:58
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
Here it is. The final straw. The proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. Now, the Pharisees had to kill Jesus. They could no longer allow Him to live and spread His falsehoods among the people; after all, in verse 30 of this chapter it was recorded: As he spake these words, many believed on him. This could not happen. They must end Him, post haste!
The Pharisees hated Christ. They believed Him not. They accused Him of lying in vs. 13, employed a veiled attempt to belittle His Father in vs. 19 (probably an insinuation about Joseph), accused Him of being born of fornication in vs. 41, claimed He was a Samaritan, and that He had a devil, vs. 48. They even boldly proclaimed that they knew He had a devil in vs. 52. They were wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong on all these allegations.
After this onslaught of insults, Jesus dared to make such a bold claim that they had no other course than to eliminate Him from their society.
He claimed to be “I am.”
This was the name of God given by God to Moses during the burning bush episode all the way back to Exodus 3:14, And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM:. Jesus took this name further. He stated: …Before Abraham was, I am. Abraham was born about 640 years before Moses. How could this be? In the mind of a Pharisee, it could not be, for the Pharisee’s mind was already made up. They believed Him not, no matter what. How could this man of questionable lineage be the “I am”?
But He is. Abraham “was.” Jesus is. He is the I am. Not of the past tense, not of the future tense, always present tense. Think about it: Moses was, Jesus is. Isaac was, Jesus is. Jacob was, Jesus is. David was, Jesus is. Joseph was, Jesus is. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elijah, Elisha, Daniel, Ruth, Esther, and all the rest “was” (pardon the improper grammar), Jesus is.
For He is the I am. Just go back to John 1:1-3, 14 for corroborating proof. Even the last book of the Bible confirms such. In Revelation 1:11 and also in Revelation 21:13, Jesus states clearly: I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. In fact in Revelation 3 John writes this to the church of Laodicea saying of Him, These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;.
The Pharisees were not faithful nor true witnesses. They lied about His record being true, His Father, His lineage, His race, His having a devil. Jesus Himself, even said of them, … and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you:… (John 8:55) His record is true. They were liars and He is the I am. They were pitiful and powerless, having been accustomed to always getting their way, how astonished they must have been when they tried to stone Him to death, but He just passed them by. In a sense, communicating again. “Not today boys!”
As Ripley would say “Believe it or not;” He is the I am!
Dr. William T. Howe
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