“Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. 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.”
(John 8:57-59 KJV)
Without the knowledge of the Old Testament, you will easily miss the significance of Jesus’ statement in the passage above. The significance was not lost to the Jewish leaders, for they immediately, When they heard him they wanted to stone Him for blasphemy – making Himself equal to God.
To understand what Jesus was saying, we need to go back to the second book of the Old Testament, Exodus. Israel was in bondage and God called Moses to go into Egypt and declare their coming deliverance. Now let’s look at Exodus 3:14-15; And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you. ‘ ” Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations. ‘
This is what Jesus is referring to, and the Jews fully understood this. There is no other way to interpret the phrase, “Before Abraham was, I AM,” other than that Jesus was claiming to have existed before Abraham, and to have done so in the form of God.
There is much more that could be said about this topic, but it’s sufficient to say that the scriptures affirm that Jesus is Jehovah, Creator of all things, and God of the universe. The Old Testament identified the coming Messiah by declaring God would visit his people as their Redeemer. Jesus identified Himself as God. The apostles called Jesus God and the creator of all things.
JESUS IS THE SAVIOUR. BELIEVE IN HIM & YOU SHALL BE SAVED.
SHALOM.
believe in the protective power of Christ Jesus and still follow the health protocols.
