THE "I AM"
John chapter 8, verses 48 to 59
The Lord Jesus had told the Jewish religious leaders that their father was the devil, because they sought to kill Him, and did not want to hear God's words, which He spoke. He also challenged them to convict Him of sin.
On the spur of the moment, in their rage and fury, they could think of no argument to oppose His statement, so they resorted to ridicule and insult calling him a Samaritan possessed by a demon.
They knew, of course, that He was not a Samaritan, but like a Samaritan He challenged their peculiar spiritual privileges (chapter 4:9, 39). The charge of having a demon was also made earlier by the Pharisees (Matthew 12:24) and was repeated later (chapter 10:20).
The Lord ignored their jibe at calling Him a Samaritan, and calmly denied having a demon, for He honoured His Father (which a demon would never do). Yet they dared to insult Him - and in doing so they insulted the Father (chapter 5:23). Again He denied seeking His own glory or pre-eminence (chapter 7:16-18), but there was One who did (the Father, verse 54) and He would be judging between the Lord Jesus and these religious leaders.
They hated Him so much that they wanted to kill Him. Yet He would be going to the Cross to die for them, and now offered them life: "Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death."
By anyone who keeps His word, is meant listens, remembers, and acts in obedience to it. In the opinion of His antagonists, however, he had dropped another bomb: to see death, is a Hebraism meaning to die. And He declared that His followers would never die!
It was a language these teachers of the law should have understood. In Biblical terminology to die means to separate, a breaking up of communion: upon their act of disobedience, Adam and Eve died, because they broke up their communion with God; this is the death in trespasses and sins, the separation from God under the power of sin (Romans 8:6; Ephesians 2:1, 3; Colossians 2:13); after that God banished them from the Garden of Eden so they could no longer eat of the fruit of the tree of life and live on forever, so eventually they, and all their descendants like them, would die, i.e., break up so the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it (Ecclesiastes 12:7).
The Lord is clearly referring to the first, and more important, death: break up of communion with God. Whoever loves Him keeps His word, and has communion with His Father and Himself (chapter 14:23) and will not suffer the second death (Revelation 2:11) which is the everlasting separation from God and punishment of those already dead in their sins (Revelation 21:8). He will enjoy everlasting life: communion with God for ever!
Turning a blind eye to this deeper significance of death, or perhaps just misunderstanding Him, the Jewish religious leaders assumed that He meant simply physical death, and declared that they were now sure that he had a demon (reputed cause of madness among them): the holiest of people in their history had all died (physically), so how could He say that His followers wouldn't die? Was He making Himself out to be greater even than their father Abraham and the prophets, all of them dead?
The question was designed to put the Lord in a difficult position; it was a trap, for they suspected that He was guilty of blasphemy (chapter 5:18) in making himself equal with God. Later they would charge Him with it (chapter 10:33; 19:7).
The Jews claimed God as their Father and national God (verse 41), so He turned this claim against them: if He were to exalt Himself, this would be of no significance, but it was His Father, who they called their God, who honoured Him.
He then accused them of having no experiential knowledge of the Father, whereas He did, so much so that if He were now to deny it, He would be a liar just like they were. He had already claimed this intimate knowledge before (chapter 7:29).
The word liar, in spite of His previous statement that they were the children of the devil, the father of lying (verse 44), came with a sudden jolt because it was a direct charge. This word is not considered polite today in public speech when hurled at definite individuals, but there is quite a free use of it by John in his first epistle (1 John 2:4, 22; 4:20; 5:10). It is not hard to imagine the quick anger of these Pharisees.
When He said their father Abraham rejoiced to see His day, He was probably referring to the occasion when the Angel of the LORD called out from heaven to Abraham "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice" (Genesis 22:18). All evidence suggests that the Angel of the Lord was He Himself, so He would have personally seen the rejoicing of Abraham, of which He now testified.
The news astounded His antagonists: how could He have known this unless He had been with Abraham, to see him rejoicing, more than twenty centuries before this time? Incredulously they pointed out that he was not even half a century old!
His reply was a straightforward announcement of His divinity: "before Abraham came into existence (or was born) I AM" . With these words he claimed eternal existence with the absolute phrase used of God (YW, translated Jehovah in English). The meaning of the word appears from Exodus 3:14 to be "the unchanging, eternal, self-existent God," the "I am that I am."
The meaning of His words was clear to the religious Jews, and this was, they thought, the time to publicly punish him by stoning, required by the Law for the sin of blasphemy (Leviticus 24:16).
His hour had not yet come, however, so quietly and boldly the Lord went out of the temple. Three months later the Pharisees would again try to kill Him, and likewise he would pass out of their hands (chapter 10:39).
R David Jones
48 Then the Jews answered and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?"
49 Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon; but I honour My Father, and you dishonour Me.
50 "And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges.
51 "Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death."
52 Then the Jews said to Him, "Now we know that You have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, 'If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.'
53 "Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Whom do You make Yourself out to be?"
54 Jesus answered, "If I honour Myself, My honour is nothing. It is My Father who honours Me, of whom you say that He is your God.
55 "Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, 'I do not know Him,' I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word.
56 "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."
57 Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"
58 Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."
59 Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.