May 7

TREKKING WITH ABRAHAM

“…before Abraham was, I AM … ” John 8:58

(John 8:56 – 58)

It all depends on the tone of voice. How on earth could,“Abraham exulted that he should see my day,” warrant an audience response of,“You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?” Tone of voice and emphasis of words can change the meaning in any language. If the name “Abraham” in Christ’s statement is said with a slower slightly deeper tone, it would suggest that the one speaking actually knew Abraham and that because of knowing him you were aware that he exulted in His day, because Christ saw his response to such a thought. It was as if Jesus was “name dropping”. “My friend Abraham. Oh yes I remember chatting with him. Abraham exulted that he should see my day.” Whatever it sounded like in the intonation of the Aramaic or Greek (whatever language was being used at the time) it left the audience with no other conclusion. This man Jesus is telling us that He actually knew Abraham. It sounded just as strange in any language as it does in plain English.

The point is that these Jews knew that Daniel had referred to a visible form of Yahweh that He referred to as the “Ancient of Days”. Micah prophesied, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrath, small among the thousands of Judah, out of you shall one come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.” (Micah 5:2). The biblical teaching of Christianity that Christ was eternally with God the Father and stepped out of eternity and into time and became a man was not in the slightest alien to the Jewish understanding of the Messiah. So, yet again, I ask the question: If the issue at hand between the Pharisees and Jesus was, “Are you the Messiah or not?” the remark about knowing Abraham was perfectly sensible, rational and scripturally logical. God actually appeared to Abraham in human form. Genesis 15 tells us twice that, “The word of the Lord came to Abraham.” John tells us clearly that the Word was God, was with God, and became flesh. So notwithstanding whether or not Moses had a clue what he was writing when he put quill to parchment, following normal terms of understanding and interpretation, Genesis 15 could mean that the Christ to come in the distant future appeared in the same form as He would be as an adult and spoke to Abraham. If my thoughts are correct, Abraham would have spent the rest of his life exulting in the promise of the Messiah to come. In any case, whether or not my wandering thoughts have any substance to them, Jesus Christ certainly knew and was aware of Abraham exulting about anything in the span of his life, especially concerning Messiah’s arrival in some “far in the future” generation. So here was a young man, in his early thirties telling folks in the passing of a conversation (howbeit a vicious argument) that he had met Abraham around two thousand years earlier. He claimed equality with God. Abraham was deeply joyful at the thought of His first advent. This man, Jesus of Nazereth, showed an incredible intimate knowledge of the fine details and significance of various scriptures. He had cleansed people of Leprosy. He had healed all manner of diseases. He had actually raised the dead. He answered questions that the Rabbi’s had puzzled over for generations. John the Baptist had appeared in the wilderness some time earlier and had pointed this man out of the crowd. The discussion was all about, “Is He the Messiah?” Now I wonder if there is any truth in what He is claiming? (Doh!) I remember 40 years ago hearing a very Godly man by the name of John Prentiss. He was an Irishman who had given his life to ministering in India. My memories of this man are full of warmth and power. He preached one time concerning the woman at the well in John chapter 4. He only spoke for around twenty minutes. But the point he made impacted me greatly (probably why I remember him from as far back as 1970 or 71). The woman at the well was full of an expectation of the Messiah coming in some future date. “We know that Messiah will come one day, far in the future. And when He comes He will show us all things” (Lannon’s paraphrase). In other words she was saying, “It’s all good and religious to expect it all in some future generation. But be realistic! Could He come now? Don’t be silly!” She was filled with expectation of some form of natural arrival of the desire of the nations, the Christ of God. She was looking in the eyes of Christ as she made the statement. “He that is talking to you is Messiah!” was Christ’s answer. The gravity and the power of all Christ’s words to the woman at the well was enough to settle the issue. This man was absolutely kosher (pardon the pun). There was no lie, no deceit, and no exaggeration. This man must be the person He claims to be. She ran off and left her water pot! Imagine that! She actually ran off and left the water pot she had come to fill for her family and home needs. That in itself was the main, obvious, exterior sign that the woman was converted to Christ. It is the same principle here with the Pharisees. These Pharisees were looking into the whites of the eyes of Messiah, the Christ, and the Son of the Living God and yet they were arguing the toss about who He claimed to be. But if loving God was a matter of the heart – and it is; If serving God was a matter of the spirit – and it is; If loving God was a matter of being open to hear and know the truth, to feel it and be impacted by it – and it is, why oh why did these people feel and revel in such a vicious hatred and a vitriolic desire to kill and murder Jesus of Nazereth. The only common sense deduction is that what Jesus said was the absolute truth. These people were, because of a life time of bad choices, brought under the compulsive power of those bad motives and were literally living under the manipulations of the devil and his hordes. They were children of the devil. “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” Most evangelical scholars quote this line of John 8:59 as one of the proofs of Christ’s deity. Others pooh pooh it as just normal language. I have read even today several articles that suggest that it was “neurotic Christians” who are desperate to labour the meaning of John 8:59, no matter how weak it is, to promulgate Christ as God. But I answer; if it was normal language then why does the Bible say, “At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.” And why should Christ at that very point choose to hide Himself so He could not be stoned to death. Make no mistake folks! When Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I AM” He was indeed declaring Himself to be Yahweh, the Almighty, Ever living God. If He wasn’t, there would have been no reason to stone Him at all.