Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?
This question belongs to the discourse that began with the declaration that Jesus is the light of the world, spoken in the court of the temple in connection with the Feast of Tabernacles. It was uttered on the morning after the evening kindling of the great lamp-stands, when the sun had just risen above the Mount of Olives and shone upon the marble palaces and the gold of the temple walls. That lamp-lighting commemorated the pillar of light that guided Israel in the desert and expressed the hope for the Messiah's coming to shed His light upon Israel. It follows Jesus' statement that Abraham had rejoiced to see His day, and had seen it and was glad.
The Jews answered by pointing to His being not yet fifty years old, contrasting His human age with Abraham's much earlier life, as reason He could not have seen Abraham. Their question was asked with incredulous, sneering unbelief that mocked His youth and revealed they did not grasp His words. Their response continued an angry rejection of the truth, standing in sharp contrast to Abraham whose children they claimed to be, while they refused to recognize Jesus as sent from God.
Their question sets up and is answered by His declaration that before Abraham existed He is, that He existed before Abraham. In that answer He uses God's name I AM, the divine name given to Moses, to express His eternal existence and presence. The declaration means Christ is the pre-existent, self-existent Son of God, in everlasting fellowship with God, with no time when He was not. The Jews reacted to His claiming this divine name by trying to stone Him.
This question belongs to the discourse that began with the declaration that Jesus is the light of the world, spoken in the court of the temple in connection with the Feast of Tabernacles. It was uttered on the morning after the evening kindling of the great lamp-stands, when the sun had just risen above the Mount of Olives and shone upon the marble palaces and the gold of the temple walls. That lamp-lighting commemorated the pillar of light that guided Israel in the desert and expressed the hope for the Messiah's coming to shed His light upon Israel. It follows Jesus' statement that Abraham had rejoiced to see His day, and had seen it and was glad.
The Jews answered by pointing to His being not yet fifty years old, contrasting His human age with Abraham's much earlier life, as reason He could not have seen Abraham. Their question was asked with incredulous, sneering unbelief that mocked His youth and revealed they did not grasp His words. Their response continued an angry rejection of the truth, standing in sharp contrast to Abraham whose children they claimed to be, while they refused to recognize Jesus as sent from God.
Their question sets up and is answered by His declaration that before Abraham existed He is, that He existed before Abraham. In that answer He uses God's name I AM, the divine name given to Moses, to express His eternal existence and presence. The declaration means Christ is the pre-existent, self-existent Son of God, in everlasting fellowship with God, with no time when He was not. The Jews reacted to His claiming this divine name by trying to stone Him.