John 8:48-59; Exodus 3:13-15, The Great “I Am”

As the conversation between Jesus and the Jews continues, we see two things happen: those who reject Jesus become more hardened in their rejection, and Jesus becomes more bold in His claim to be “God in the flesh.”

When an argument isn’t going well, sometimes we foolishly get into name calling. That’s where the Jews (the leadership) went, calling Jesus a “Samaritan” and then accusing Him of having demons.  The first is “rumor mongering.”  Jesus had gone through Samaria and many people had believed in Him (cf. John 4:39-42). Since the Jews were “too holy” to ever deal with those “Samaritans” this was an effective accusation to whip up the crowd.  The latter was “tit for tat”: Jesus had said they were of their father the devil so they claimed He was full of demons. 

Jesus responded to the “demon” charge by continuing with the “like father, like son” argument.  In all He said and did He had honored and glorified His Father.  The devil was a liar and there was no truth in him.  Jesus’ words were from His Father (8:28) and they were true.  He assured them and assures us: if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death. 

What an amazing statement!  “Never see death.”  But what could Jesus mean by this?  We know that eventually He would die.  Did Jesus overstate His power?  The Jews certainly thought He had.  Abraham had died and so had all the other Old Testament prophets.  How could Jesus make such an obviously ridiculous statement?  “Who do You make yourself out to be?”  Finally, they asked the right question, the question we must all be willing to ask of Jesus.

Jesus’ answer comes in two parts.  First, He assured them that Abraham is alive, and that he rejoiced to see His (Jesus’) day.  Abraham lives in God’s presence and is joyfully aware that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.  Thus, the Jews and we have an idea of what Jesus meant about never seeing death.

Then, when Jesus was challenged, that He could not have seen Abraham, the cloak of Jesus’ full humanity is pulled back so we can see His full deity: Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.  Jesus referred to the occasion when God revealed Himself to Moses and the people of Israel.  God told Moses to tell the people: Say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent you.’  This was and is God’s special name for Israel.  As the “I AM” He is self-existent, having no beginning or end.  He is life and He alone gives life to all that live.  Jesus claimed to be the God of Israel, the I AM!  And, of course, we know there is no other way to understand what Jesus said, because the Jews took up stones to put Him to death.

Now we know who Jesus made Himself out to be.  He is the One sent from Heaven, the Son of God.  He is the One who can say: if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.