John 8:48-59--Before Abraham Was, I Am

John 8:48-59
English Standard Version

Before Abraham Was, I Am
48 The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” 49 Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. 50 Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51 Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” 52 The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” 54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ 55 But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” 57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

---

We're reaching the end of the debate.  You can tell that Jesus is winning because the Pharisees are resorting to name-calling instead of addressing the issues that have been brought up by Jesus about their identity and His identity.  They resort to calling Him a Samaritan (and ethnic/racist slur to them) and by saying that He is demon-possesses (something we've heard them say several times before when they are losing arguments with Him or others like John the Baptist).  They believe these to be their trump cards that they can play to stop any debate that they don't like, and, honestly, there are still people that play by these kinds of rules today.  If you actually start scoring points in the debate they will try to "demonize" you (and this passage might actually be where we get that term from as the Greek word here is better translated as "demonized").

They think they are going to put Jesus on the defensive here, but Jesus gets right back on track by saying the issue is not that He has a demon (He does not), but that He is honoring His Father in heaven whom He seeks to glorify and they are dishonoring Him, the Son of God, and in so doing they are dishonoring the Father.  Jesus then brings it back to the fact that eternal life is in Him and whether of not they believe in Him.  Even though Jesus knows they are not going to believe, He still cares about them and wants them to believe and He's giving them every chance to do so.  Jesus lets them and the crowd hear one final time in this debate, "If anyone keeps my word, they will never taste death."

This gets the Jews riled up because they again are thinking solely of the physical realm (perhaps there were some Sadducees mixed in here who did not believe in the Resurrection of the dead and were very secular Jews) and they say that they now know (in their minds) that Jesus has a demon because Abraham and the prophets died, being people that kept the word of God, and Jesus said that anyone who kept His word would never taste death--by which Jesus meant the second death of the lake of fire, not the physical death that nearly all of us will experience.

They then challenge Him by asking Him if He is greater than Abraham who died, and the prophets who died.  They then ask the fundamental question of this entire debate, "Who do you make yourself out to be?"  In other words, "Just who do you think you are, Jesus?"

Jesus has got them right where He wants them now.  He's once again going to say that what really matters here is who God the Father says that Jesus is, and that if these Jews were really His children, they would hear and believe the testimony of the Father.  Typically we see the Son glorifying the Father, but Jesus is saying that the time is here where the Father is going to glorify the Son (at the crucifixion and Resurrection).  Even though they claim that the Father is God to them and that they know the Father, Jesus says it is clear they don't know Him or truly worship Him as God.  Jesus then says that they can say all they want that Jesus doesn't know the Father, but He's the only one that truly does know the Father because He's been with the Father as part of the Trinity since eternity past and will return to the Father to be part of the Trinity for eternity future.  If Jesus were to go along with what they were saying--that He didn't know God the Father--He would be lying as He certainly does know God the Father in a very intimate way and has kept His word in a way that none of them ever will.

Jesus then gets back to the questions of "Who do you think you are?" and "Do you think you are greater than Abraham?"  Jesus said that "Your father, Abraham (contrasting that His Father was God) rejoiced that he would see My day.  He saw it and was glad."  They don't know what to make of this because in their minds, Abraham had died thousands of years earlier and Jesus is in His early thirties.  In fact they respond with, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?"

Now, here comes the climax of the entire debate.  Jesus answers them and says, "Before Abraham was (past tense), I AM (present tense)."  It was so unmistakably clear what Jesus said here to these religious leaders.  His answer to "Do you think you are greater than Abraham and the prophets?" was "Well, of course I do, 'I AM I AM'"  It's clear they understood what He said because of how they reacted, which, believe it or not, was actually the "right" thing to do according to the Law if they believed that Jesus was committing blasphemy where He was just a man claiming to be God.


Leviticus 24:16
English Standard Version16 Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.
Jesus escapes without harm because it again is not the right time for Him to die.  He will eventually make His way back to Galilee until the time is right for Him to return to Jerusalem one last time that will be prompted by the events of chapter 11.  The Pharisees and other religious leaders are out for blood and will not be happy until Jesus is dead and to them this will prove that He was not who He said He was, because if He were God, then He would not be able to die.  They're even going to see the Resurrection happen (they saw Jesus dead and knew He was dead, and then they saw Him alive three days later) and they will lie about it.  There is no sign or miracle that these Jews will ask for that would make them believe which is why Jesus told them no sign would be given to them other than the sign of Jonah (the Resurrection).

Again, remember that Jesus is in complete control of the narrative and the timeline here.  He knows exactly what to do and say because His Father has told Him what to do and say, and that's exactly what He's doing and saying to bring about the right results at the right time to make God's plan move forward.  The Pharisees think they are doing something to prevent Jesus' plan from taking place, but instead they are actually going to be some of the primary actors in God's plan to cause God's plan to take place (though ultimately we know that it is the Father that slays the Son like in the picture we have of Abraham and Isaac on Mount Moriah).  We are getting so close to Jesus being "lifted up" as He referred to in the beginning of His ministry, and He wants to make sure that all have seen and heard that this is about who He is and believing in His identity as unless He is God in the Flesh, He cannot be The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  If He were just another man, He would be under the Curse and would have His own sin and sin nature that He would have to die for and He could not be our penal substitutionary atonement or our propitiation.  We'll get to all that though very soon  For now though remember that Jesus said in this chapter that He is the Light of the World, that He is better than Abraham and the Prophets, and that He is the I AM.  He also said that there are only two kingdoms--the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the devil.  All those who are God's people are His people anyone that hates Him does not love God the Father, but is instead doing the work of the devil who is a liar and a murderer.  The two kingdoms are as diametrically opposed as light and darkness and just like in that relationship darkness will never overcome the Light (unless somehow that Light is snuffed out or covered up so that no one can see it, which Satan thinks is what is going to happen at the cross)..