“Before Abraham Was Even Born, I Am”

Wednesday, January 29, 2014    “Before Abraham Was Even Born, I Am”

John  8: 48-59

There was no one closer to Jesus than John, the author of this Gospel. In telling the story of Jesus, he certainly cannot be accused of editing out anything that may be a bit controversial. In fact, all four gospels resisted any temptation to reinterpret through hindsight the events in Jesus’ life. All four contain passages like the one we read today that either accuses Jesus of being possessed by a demon, or of being in league with the devil.

It is clear that the religious leaders in Jerusalem were listening to Jesus so they could obtain evidence to use against him. They weren’t interested in truly listening to what Jesus was saying. In today’s passage, Jesus is speaking from the heavenly perspective of time. Jesus is able to interpret what it really meant for Abraham to be justified by faith. God told Abraham he would be the father of a great nation. Abraham believed God. Abraham believed God was going to do something extraordinary, and thus was glad. I don’t think Jesus is implying Abraham specifically knew the nature and mission of Jesus; just that if God is in control, miraculous things are going to happen.

Jesus has been asserting that he is working and speaking in complete harmony with his Father. There was nothing in the experience of the people that prepared them to easily comprehend such statements. Like Abraham, they would need to take a leap of faith and believe Jesus.

Jesus’ third ‘I Am’ statement is astonishing to the people. When Jesus said he is ‘I AM”, he was taking for himself the sacred name for God. That name was so sacred that the Jews would neither write nor speak that name. (Instead, they inserted four consonants into their manuscripts; YHWH. In English translations, that word is rendered YAHWEH, or as LORD.)

Such a claim was blasphemy to the Jews, and they were ready to stone Jesus to death. For us today, Jesus’ claim should be awe-inspiring, as Jesus is affirming in his words, what John wrote about him in the opening lines of this Gospel (1:1-2):

In the beginning the Word already existed.

      The Word was with God,

      and the Word was God.

  He existed in the beginning with God.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.