February
13, 2003
BEFORE
ABRAHAM WAS, I AM!
"Then
the Jews said to Him, 'You are not yet fifty years old, and
have You Seen Abraham?' Jesus said to them, 'Most assuredly,
I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM' " (John 8:57,
58, NKJV).
"I
AM" is a reference to God. When God met with Moses at
the burning bush in the desert near Horeb, the mountain of
God (Exodus 3:1), He told Moses, "Come now, therefore,
and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people,
the children of Israel, out of Egypt" (Exodus 3:10)...
"Then
Moses said to God, 'Indeed, when I come to the children of
Israel and say to them, "The God of your fathers has
sent me to you" and they say to me, "What is His
name?" what shall I say to them?'
"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." ' (Exodus 3:13, 14).
With
solemn dignity Jesus answered the Jews, "Most
assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM"
(John 8:58).
"Silence
fell upon the vast assembly. The name of God, given to Moses
to express the idea of the eternal presence, had been claimed
as His own by this Galilean Rabbi. He had announced Himself
to be the self-existent One, He who had been promised to Israel,
'whose goings forth have been from of old, from the days of
eternity' (Micah 5:2).
"Again
the priests and rabbis cried out against Jesus as a blasphemer.
His claim to be one with God had before stirred them to take
His life, and a few months later they plainly declared, 'For
a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because
You, being a Man, make Yourself God' (John 10:33). Because
He was, and avowed Himself to be, the Son of God, they were
bent on destroying Him. Now many of the people, siding with
the priests and rabbis, took 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 8:59).
"The
Light was shining in darkness; but 'the darkness did not comprehend
it' (John 1:5)-- The Desire of Ages, pp. 469,
470.
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