"Before Abraham was born, I am!"

Day 143

OT Reading: 1 Chronicles 8-10

NT Reading: John 8:37-59

I'm not sure if you have, but on a variety of occasions I have had people argue that Jesus never claimed to be God. They will make the case that nowhere in the gospels did Jesus in fact align himself as deity and that position only came much later as we glamorized Him and His death. The problem with this argument is that...well...it's wrong.

Let me explain. If you remember back when Moses was on the mountain speaking to God through the burning bush (Exodus 3), he asked, "What if they ask what your name is? What shall I tell them?" God replied, "I am who I am. You are to tell them I am has sent me." This statement of, "I am" signified God as eternal. Not, "I was" nor, "I will be" God said, "I am."

Fast-forwarding some 1500 years, to the events we read about tonight. Near the end of chapter eight Jesus says, "I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born I am!" (John 8:58, NIV). To some this may be kind of cryptic or odd...but in 8:59 the Jews were not getting ready to stone Jesus just because he was weird. They were preparing to stone him because to them he had committed the sin of blasphemy; that is he had claimed to be God. We could trace statements like this throughout the life of Christ all the way to where he is crucified; not for doing miracles, not for kissing babies, not for teaching, not even for being a pain to the religious authorities...Jesus is executed for blasphemy.

Blasphemy, according to the Old Testament laws, was punishable by death. And therefore Jesus would have been a blasphemer...UNLESS he was speaking truth when he was claiming to be God.

So perhaps you should under line this statement. Maybe commit this one to memory. But now the next time someone asserts that Jesus never actually claimed to be God, hopefully you'll know how to respond.