What Does John 8:58 Mean?

Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am."

John 8:58(NASB)

Verse of the Day

One of the fundamentals of our faith is that the Lord Jesus Christ is fully God in every way and fully equal with the Father. Many people consider that Jesus never claimed to be God or professed equality with the Father, and yet when the Lord Jesus declared, "Before Abraham was, I AM," He was making the most blatant and incontrovertible declaration of His Deity, claiming equal status with YHWH of the Old Testament, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.

Christ claimed Deity on many occasions, infuriating the Jewish leaders. The accusation of blasphemy made by the Jews, where they took up stones to execute Him, was because they refused believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as Son of God, begotten not created, and of one being with the Father. They refused to believe that Jesus was the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

When Jesus declared, "Before Abraham was, I AM," (which in the Greek language is EGO EIMI), His claim was not only pre-existence to the greatest prophet and patriarch of the Jews and father of the Jewish nation, but ALSO He was claiming to be nothing less that the great God of the universe. Jesus was claiming to be the 'I AM' of the Scriptures Who led the children of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt and Who spoke with Moses in the burning bush, declaring, "I AM that I AM."

Never let us forget Who it was that gave up His sovereign, universal throne to come to earth, to die on the Cross as the perfect sacrifice for sin so that ALL that believe on the name of the only begotten Son of God, might not perish but have everlasting life. As Jesus Himself tells us: "I AM the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last." And the final 'I AM' statement in the Bible reminds us: "Surely I AM coming quickly."

"Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!"

My Prayer

Loving Father, I stand amazed in Your presence knowing that Jesus, my Saviour and Lord, came from His sovereign position on the eternal throne of Deity, to die for me. Truly, the Lord Jesus Christ is my Lord and my God, Who was, and is, and is to come. I worship You, my Lord, AMEN.

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