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John 8:48-59
One of the thoughts I spoke about earlier this week was that Jesus often made these “I Am” statements. And while all of them may not have been directed to the name of God Yahweh – I Am, today in our passage He does just that, let’s look.
John 8:48-59 (NIV0 The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?”
“I am not possessed by a demon,” said Jesus, “but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.”
At this they exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”
Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”
“You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”
“Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
Did you catch that – Jesus told them point blank that before Abraham was even born, I AM – exclamation point, boom, drop the mic. He couldn’t have been more clear to who He is!
I wonder though, if we understand how important that particular statement or name is, or how important was it to the Israelites. Well they sure reacted to it didn’t they? They wanted to stone Jesus because of it. That means it was a strong worded statement.
Here’s why those two little words mean so much to these people, and should mean much to us today. First – Jesus is telling them and us that He is before even Abraham. He’s telling us that He is God – Yahweh. And that’s a big deal for Israel. But there’s more to this.
I love the explanation that Jonathan Cahn gives in his book, The Book of Mysteries. © 2016 Jonathan Cahn. p. 2 where he is explaining who I am is and what that name really means.
In the discussion between the rabbi and disciple the student is asked if he knows the name of God. To which he replies not really – and the rabbi goes on to explain. He gives him the “I AM” answer explaining that we say God’s name every time we use that phrase – it’s built into us. And he gives the reason for that to be simply this,
“It’s because your existence comes from His existence.”
Further on in the discussion the rabbi ends with this premise:
“Because His existence is first and your existence flows forth from His. That’s the flow of existence. Therefore, you must put Him first and then let everything flow from that. Let everything begin with Him and flow forth from Him. That’s the secret to life. To not only live for Him, but to live your life from Him, to live from His living, to move from His moving, to act from His actions, to feel from His heart, to be from His being, and to become who you are from who He is…I Am.”
This brings us to question, are we becoming who we are to become in Christ Jesus because we are living life from His living, being, and doing? It all comes back to Jesus. He is at the heart of everything we are.