Among the more powerful statements made by Jesus declaring Himself to be the God of the Old Testament is this one recorded in the Gospel of John: "Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad. 'You are not yet fifty years old,' the Jews said to 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 8:56-59, NIV) Jesus is thus making the claim that He was the one who spoke to Moses from the "burning bush". "God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: `I AM has sent me to you.' " " (Exodus 3:14, NIV) Why did the Jews who heard Jesus make the statement in John 8:58 pick up stones to stone him? Because He was claiming to be God and that, to the Jews, was blasphemy and the Law required a blasphemer to be stoned. By the use of the name "I AM", God is making the statement that He is eternal – there never was a time when God did not exist and there never will be a time when He doesn't exist. In fact "time" itself is a human concept and bears no relationship to God’s existence in the spirit realm. The concept of an eternal "being" is beyond true human comprehension. As the wise man who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes wrote: I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. " (Ecclesiastes 3:10-11, NIV) God IS. God WAS. God WILL BE. He was not created but is the Creator and Sustainer of everything that we see in this universe, which is a physical realm and time only exists in the physical realm – it has no meaning in terms of God and the spiritual realm. |