KEY SCRIPTURE: John 8:58 KJV “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”

We continue with Jesus’ discourse with the Jews. After the Lord said Abraham saw His day and was glad, they responded that He is not yet fifty years, how could He have seen Abraham. The Lord had to make a statement emphasising the authenticity of what He was about to say. He said Truly, truly, or verily, verily, before Abraham was I am.

The expression I am, though in the present tense, is clearly designed to refer to a past time. Thus, in Psalms 90:2, “From everlasting to everlasting thou art God.” Applied to God, it denotes continued existence without respect to time, so far as he is concerned.

We, divide time into the past, the present, and the future. The expression, applied to God, denotes that he does not measure his existence in this manner, but that the word by which we express the present denotes his continued and unchanging existence. Hence, he assumes it as his name, “I AM,” and “I AM that I AM,” Exo 3:14. Compare Isa 44:6; Isa 47:8.

 There is a remarkable similarity between the expression employed by Jesus in this place and that used in Exodus to denote the name of God. The manner in which Jesus used it would strikingly suggest the application of the same language to God. The question here was about his pre-existence. The objection of the Jews was that he was not 50 years old, and could not, therefore, have seen Abraham. Jesus replied to that that he existed before Abraham. As in His human nature He was not yet 50 years old, and could not, as a man, have existed before Abraham, this declaration must be referred to another nature; and the passage proves that, while He was a man, He was also endowed with another nature existing before Abraham, and to which He applied the term (familiar to the Jews as expressive of the existence of God) I AM; and this declaration corresponds to the affirmation of John as he wrote in John 1:1.” In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Jesus is not just a man; He is also God.

ÇONFESSION

Jesus my Lord is fully man, yet He is fully God. As the Father said He is I AM, Jesus likewise said He is I AM. He is indeed one with the Father and the God of all things

THOUGHT:  JESUS IS GOD

FURTHER STUDIES

Rev 1:8 KJV I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.”

Rev 22:13 KJV” I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.”