"Before Abraham Was, I Am"

Serious indeed was it that those disbelieving Jews of John 8. should regard the Lord Jesus as a mere man who had lived something less than fifty years, and the more so since they chose to doubt His words as to who He was and from whom He had come. To assert-on His saying, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it, and was glad,"- "Thou art not yet fifty years old," as they inquire, "And hast Thou seen Abraham ?" was a challenge the Lord did not allow to pass unheeded. Little thought they-those claimants to Abrahamic relationship, that here was One, who possessed the Ineffable Name "I Am," involving Eternal Existence and Deity, which, in nature and essence, was as much undetermined by time as it was not understandable by the natural mind.

Whatever doubt existed as to the meaning of the Lord's different statements in this chapter, there is no room for not understanding the words of His all-important revelation, "Before Abraham was, I am." A statement so vast and comprehensive silenced those Jews, but even so they took up stones to kill Him, thereby showing that they were indeed children of a murderous father, even the Devil.

True, the Lord Jesus had been born as if naturally when "manifested in the flesh" (1 Timothy 3. 16); but He was the Eternal One become flesh; the Word, who was God, and was in the beginning with God (see John 1. verses 1, 2 and 14). Eternal and Self-existent, Isaiah prophetically penned His Name-" Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9. 6).

Such is this Wondrous Person, whose own words bespeak His pre-existence and Deity; this Adorable Being with whom all was, is, and shall be as one eternal present; unchangeable also in relation to His people, for "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to-day, yea and for ever." But although originally in the form of God, He counted it not a thing to be grasped to be on an equality with God, but emptied Himself, becoming in the likeness of men, and so being found, humbled Himself, even unto death being obedient (see Philippians 2. 6-8).

This Timeless and Endless One says concerning Himself, "Except ye believe that I am, ye shall die in your sins" (John 8. 24, R.V.M.). How great is the privilege of believing the words of the Lord, and how solemn the responsibility of rejecting them.

unknown | Mar 1932
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