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Jesus as "I AM"

John 8 records the Pharisees challenging Jesus regarding His identity. In verse 46 Jesus responded by asking them if anyone could prove Him guilty of sin. In the resounding silence which ensued, He pressed on, asking them why, if He were telling the truth, they did not believe His sayings. He then said that since they did not accept what He was saying that they did not belong to God.

The Jewish leaders countered by charging him with being a demon possessed foreigner. Jesus came back with the proof that He was not controlled by a demon because His goal was always to honour God, something no demon would do. Then, He raised the stakes by saying that those who would keep His word, would never die.

His opposition moved in with the argument that He must be demon possessed because He said that anyone who kept His word would never die. Abraham and the prophets had died and they had been men of God. Back and forth raged the arguments. Jesus picked up on their use of Abraham to prove their point and indicated that Abraham rejoiced in what was happening on the earth during Jesus’ life.

This was ultimate folly to the Pharisees. “‘You are not yet fifty years old,’ the Jews told him, ‘and you have seen Abraham!’

‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I am!’ At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.” (John 8:57-59)

Look at Jesus response to their challenge “before Abraham was born, I am.” It sounds like bad grammar. We might think that Jesus should have said, “before Abraham was born, I was.” But He was making a point here. He was underscoring His divinity. He was identifying Himself as the eternally existing One when he used the words “I am,” and they knew it. This was the name that God had given when Moses asked who He was. In Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” The Pharisees knew what Jesus was saying about Himself and they wanted to kill Him for it.

When I think of Jesus as the “I Am,” His deity comes into sharp focus. Some say that Jesus never claimed to be God. John 8 is the record of one occasion when he clearly did. Since Jesus was God and at the same time clearly a historical human being, it is only reasonable to expect some very unusual activity to attend His time on earth. Sure enough! We see power over the elements, power over disease and deformity, power over evil spirits, and power over death itself being exercised in spectacular fashion.

These two words, “I am,” even in the mouth of fragile humanity, are the declaration of one who is aware of his existence. In the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ, they identify Him, not merely as a self-conscious human being, but as the eternal Creator and Lord of the Universe - God Almighty.

Ron Hughes
© January 2008