Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
He existed before Abraham came into being, having been with God from everlasting in close fellowship, and by calling Himself I am He claimed God's name revealed to Moses to express eternal presence in which past, present and future are alike. As that I am He is the self-existent One, the self-existent Jehovah and Ancient of Days whose existence reaches back to eternity. It is His own testimony that He did not begin to exist with His human birth, but is the Word who was God made flesh, one with the Father and to be honored just as the Father is honored. Spoken alongside His declarations that He gives life to whom He will and holds all judgment, it proves His full divinity, pre-existence, and oneness and equality with the Father. By this declaration He lays open the resources of His infinite, preexistent divine nature to give assurance of peace and pardon, having authority over His own life to lay it down and take it up to secure salvation and bring life and immortality to those dead in trespasses and sins.
Setting and Wording
The saying belongs to teaching given in the court of the temple specially connected with the services of the Feast of Tabernacles, in the morning after the evening kindling of the great lamps. It was part of the same discourse in which He declared Himself the light of the world, the source of spiritual light who illumines the darkness of the world. In that He fulfilled the hope of the Messiah coming to shed His light upon Israel.
It was spoken in the temple to unbelieving Pharisees who claimed to be Abraham's children. In it He drew a sharp contrast between those claimants and Abraham himself. The words were uttered with lofty dignity and startling emphasis, sending a thrill of conviction through guilty souls, and with grand import that silenced the people for a moment.
Before Abraham was means He existed before Abraham came into being. The one speaking to the Jews had been with God from everlasting, before creation, in close fellowship as one brought up with Him. Abraham foresaw His day and rejoiced long before He took humanity.
By saying I AM He claimed for Himself God's great name revealed to Moses to express eternal presence. Past, present, and future are alike to Him. He sees distant history and the far future as clearly as present events.
As the I AM He is the self-existent One and the self-existent Jehovah. He is the promised One whose existence reaches back to eternity. He is the Ancient of Days, whose existence is from everlasting, so that the infant presented in the temple was also that eternal One.
The people recognized the grave and awful import of the claim as a declaration of extraordinary divine identity. They regarded it as blasphemy and railed at Him in uncontrollable anger. They took up stones to cast at Him, but He hid Himself and passed safely through their midst unseen and went out of the temple. After leaving the temple He healed a man who had been blind from birth. At the well of Sychar He did not answer the question about the source of living water by asserting His identity in these words, though He could have declared Himself the one who existed before Abraham.
Divine Eternal Identity
The saying is His own testimony and answer to who He is, declaring that He existed before Abraham came into being and is the eternal I AM. His existence did not begin with His human birth on earth or with His first advent, for He is eternal and preexistent, and to deny His existence before coming to earth contradicts His own testimony about Himself. It presents Him as divine, not as a being who began to exist with His human birth, but as the Word who was God made flesh, one with the Father and sharing divine authority and honor.
Spoken alongside His declarations that He and the Father are one, that He gives life to whom He will, holds all judgment, and is to be honored just as the Father is honored, it proves His full divinity, His pre-existence, and His oneness and equality with the Father. He is the One who came to this world nearly two thousand years ago to do God's will in a body prepared for Him, the child born and son given called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, with power as the Father to raise the dead and give life to whom He will and to whom all judgment is committed. There was never a time when He was not in close fellowship with the eternal God, for the One speaking to the Jews had been with God from everlasting before creation.
He is the One who made the world yet lived in it unrecognized, unhonored and homesick, the Son of God and the divine One from the throne of the Infinite who took human nature to carry out the plan of redemption and visited a guilty world and came to earth as the Light of the world. He is the same Being who in Old Testament times fed one hundred men, who supplied Israel in the wilderness with bread and water and guided Israel with His glory, and who while in humanity teaching the people in lowliness and poverty as a man fed five thousand, revealing that though humble He is greater than Moses. He is the only-begotten Son of God and is greater than Jacob.
In Him the glory and character of the Godhead are revealed, and through Him people know the Father. His coming in human nature makes God present with humanity, and the wisdom and knowledge of God are displayed in His love as He seeks to recover lost humanity.
Salvation and Trust
In saying Before Abraham was, I am, He laid open the resources of His infinite, preexistent divine nature existing before Abraham. By that declaration He gave assurance of peace and pardon to the guilty race. The declaration means He was conscious of authority and power over His own life to lay it down and take it up again as He chooses. He exercises that power to secure the salvation of those fallen into Satan's snare and falsehoods and intrigues, and to bring life and immortality to those dead in trespasses and sins.
The name expresses God's eternal presence, in whom people may exercise faith and trust. People do not know what lies ahead, and knowing it would not advance their eternal welfare. Therefore God gives them opportunity to exercise faith and trust in the great I AM.
He is the great successful I AM, the General of armies. Those working for cities must look to Him and lay hold on Him by faith. Success in personal, special and united labor comes through united prayer and wholehearted cooperation, being imbued with the Holy Spirit, keeping out every fanatical thread, and seeking wisdom from Him.
He existed before Abraham came into being, having been with God from everlasting in close fellowship, and by calling Himself I am He claimed God's name revealed to Moses to express eternal presence in which past, present and future are alike. As that I am He is the self-existent One, the self-existent Jehovah and Ancient of Days whose existence reaches back to eternity. It is His own testimony that He did not begin to exist with His human birth, but is the Word who was God made flesh, one with the Father and to be honored just as the Father is honored. Spoken alongside His declarations that He gives life to whom He will and holds all judgment, it proves His full divinity, pre-existence, and oneness and equality with the Father. By this declaration He lays open the resources of His infinite, preexistent divine nature to give assurance of peace and pardon, having authority over His own life to lay it down and take it up to secure salvation and bring life and immortality to those dead in trespasses and sins.
Setting and Wording
The saying belongs to teaching given in the court of the temple specially connected with the services of the Feast of Tabernacles, in the morning after the evening kindling of the great lamps. It was part of the same discourse in which He declared Himself the light of the world, the source of spiritual light who illumines the darkness of the world. In that He fulfilled the hope of the Messiah coming to shed His light upon Israel.
It was spoken in the temple to unbelieving Pharisees who claimed to be Abraham's children. In it He drew a sharp contrast between those claimants and Abraham himself. The words were uttered with lofty dignity and startling emphasis, sending a thrill of conviction through guilty souls, and with grand import that silenced the people for a moment.
Before Abraham was means He existed before Abraham came into being. The one speaking to the Jews had been with God from everlasting, before creation, in close fellowship as one brought up with Him. Abraham foresaw His day and rejoiced long before He took humanity.
By saying I AM He claimed for Himself God's great name revealed to Moses to express eternal presence. Past, present, and future are alike to Him. He sees distant history and the far future as clearly as present events.
As the I AM He is the self-existent One and the self-existent Jehovah. He is the promised One whose existence reaches back to eternity. He is the Ancient of Days, whose existence is from everlasting, so that the infant presented in the temple was also that eternal One.
The people recognized the grave and awful import of the claim as a declaration of extraordinary divine identity. They regarded it as blasphemy and railed at Him in uncontrollable anger. They took up stones to cast at Him, but He hid Himself and passed safely through their midst unseen and went out of the temple. After leaving the temple He healed a man who had been blind from birth. At the well of Sychar He did not answer the question about the source of living water by asserting His identity in these words, though He could have declared Himself the one who existed before Abraham.
Divine Eternal Identity
The saying is His own testimony and answer to who He is, declaring that He existed before Abraham came into being and is the eternal I AM. His existence did not begin with His human birth on earth or with His first advent, for He is eternal and preexistent, and to deny His existence before coming to earth contradicts His own testimony about Himself. It presents Him as divine, not as a being who began to exist with His human birth, but as the Word who was God made flesh, one with the Father and sharing divine authority and honor.
Spoken alongside His declarations that He and the Father are one, that He gives life to whom He will, holds all judgment, and is to be honored just as the Father is honored, it proves His full divinity, His pre-existence, and His oneness and equality with the Father. He is the One who came to this world nearly two thousand years ago to do God's will in a body prepared for Him, the child born and son given called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, with power as the Father to raise the dead and give life to whom He will and to whom all judgment is committed. There was never a time when He was not in close fellowship with the eternal God, for the One speaking to the Jews had been with God from everlasting before creation.
He is the One who made the world yet lived in it unrecognized, unhonored and homesick, the Son of God and the divine One from the throne of the Infinite who took human nature to carry out the plan of redemption and visited a guilty world and came to earth as the Light of the world. He is the same Being who in Old Testament times fed one hundred men, who supplied Israel in the wilderness with bread and water and guided Israel with His glory, and who while in humanity teaching the people in lowliness and poverty as a man fed five thousand, revealing that though humble He is greater than Moses. He is the only-begotten Son of God and is greater than Jacob.
In Him the glory and character of the Godhead are revealed, and through Him people know the Father. His coming in human nature makes God present with humanity, and the wisdom and knowledge of God are displayed in His love as He seeks to recover lost humanity.
Salvation and Trust
In saying Before Abraham was, I am, He laid open the resources of His infinite, preexistent divine nature existing before Abraham. By that declaration He gave assurance of peace and pardon to the guilty race. The declaration means He was conscious of authority and power over His own life to lay it down and take it up again as He chooses. He exercises that power to secure the salvation of those fallen into Satan's snare and falsehoods and intrigues, and to bring life and immortality to those dead in trespasses and sins.
The name expresses God's eternal presence, in whom people may exercise faith and trust. People do not know what lies ahead, and knowing it would not advance their eternal welfare. Therefore God gives them opportunity to exercise faith and trust in the great I AM.
He is the great successful I AM, the General of armies. Those working for cities must look to Him and lay hold on Him by faith. Success in personal, special and united labor comes through united prayer and wholehearted cooperation, being imbued with the Holy Spirit, keeping out every fanatical thread, and seeking wisdom from Him.