Before Abraham Was, I AM
KJV John 8:45 And because I tell you
the truth, ye believe me not. 46 Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I
say the truth, why do ye not believe me? 47 He that is of God heareth God's
words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. 48 Then answered
the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and
hast a devil? 49 Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father,
and ye do dishonour me. 50 And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that
seeketh and judgeth. 51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying,
he shall never see death. 52 Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou
hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep
my saying, he shall never taste of death. 53 Art thou greater than our father
Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself? 54
Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that
honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: 55 Yet ye have not known
him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar
like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying. 56 Your father Abraham
rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. 57 Then said the Jews unto
him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 58 Jesus
said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. 59
Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of
the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
KJV John 8:45 And because I tell you
the truth, ye believe me not. 46 Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I
say the truth, why do ye not believe me? 47 He that is of God heareth God's
words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.
This dialogue is the battle between two
kingdoms – Truth, the Kingdom of Grace, and Lies, the Kingdom of Satan. Jesus
the Son of God, the Creating Word (John 1:3), is the one and only message of
forgiveness and salvation. One is either within the Kingdom of God by faith, or
the Kingdom of Satan by denying the Truth, compromising the Truth, and cleverly
forging a joint partnership of Truth and Satan’s lies.
The first part, Truth, is easy, in one
sense, and yet denied by many who carry on as great leaders and examples of
Christ Himself. They want to make people Happy Campers so they speak the Name
of the Jesus often, but they subtly deny the cross and say “Follow us, not Him.”
The compromisers are those who call themselves Biblical scholars and use that
position to tell people “the Scriptures are not really the direct revelation of
God, and they can tell people how to sort out the kernel of truth (which is
their own doctrine) while denying the complete counsel of God. Paul wrote -
Acts 20: 27 For I have not shunned to declare unto you all
the counsel of God. 28 Take heed therefore unto
yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you
overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own
blood. 29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves
enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also of your own selves
shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of
three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.
Paul gave a perfect description of
Protestantism from the 1800s on,
·
looking for a better Bible for “today’s
believers,”
·
taking over Christian education to
make it more modern and harmonious with Evolution, the new religion
·
teaching “spirit guides,” expelling
faithful ministers, installing their favorite false teachers.
47 He that is of
God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.
Antagonism toward
God’s Word is a perfect test for whether people follow Jesus Christ or deny
Him. Once a pastor, professor, or bishop has driven away the believers, those
remaining will only listen to falsehood. They will bristle at the sound of sound
(healthy) doctrine, as James wrote – “They believe but their hides bristle.” (KJV
James 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils
also believe, and tremble.) That is why someone can be godly outwardly, even
more than others, with smells and bells, fishhats and large sticks to carry,
and yet inwardly and deviously deny the Word of the Gospel. If the equipment is
primary, the Gospel is secondary.
48 Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well
that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? 49 Jesus answered, I have not a
devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me. 50 And I seek not mine
own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth. 51 Verily, verily, I say unto
you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
Jesus clearly
angered the opposition, because they insulted Him twice over – as a Samaritan
and as a devil. Some might see the Parable of the Good Samaritan in this. That
was the worst personal insult because of ages of similar but different
interpretations of the Old Testament. The Samaritan in that parable is Jesus,
not a social activist who would “make the road to Jericho safe” (a Social Gospel
pivot). The worst insult is the one assigned to that parable, the role of Jesus
as the despised one who helps others in their dire need.
The worst barb
for the opposition is “If a man keep (or guard) my saying, he shall never see
death.” Knowing what is in their hearts, Jesus aims for the center, and they
respond.
Abraham Rejoiced
53 Art thou greater than our father
Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself? 54
Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that
honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: 55 Yet ye have not known
him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar
like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying. 56 Your father Abraham
rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.
By exciting the
Pharisees, Jesus helped the truth to come out in the open, for others to hear–
first in His own declarations and secondly in the opposition giving away what
they really thought, their disbelief in the Messiah, even though His countless
miracles told the population otherwise.
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it,
and was glad.
What many miss,
after watching The Ten Commandments movie too many times, is the place
of Abraham in the New Testament. He is the Father of Faith, based on Genesis
15:6 and the tremendous narrative in Genesis. Paul’s argument for Justification
by Faith alone, is based on Abraham being justified, forgiven, through faith “that
it might be by grace.”
Logic – The Fallacy of Emphasis
The subtle
serpents of today will allow Justification by Faith, but only when they phrase
it their way, which is called a fallacy of emphasis. It works this way – Someone
says, “I thought it was going to rain.” They are looking at a cloudburst
through the window. “You THOUGHT it was going to rain” suggests it was a stupid
idea. “YOU thought it was going to rain” is blaming.
So the modern serpents use the right words but imply the wrong
meaning when they say “Justified by Grace, through faith” which ca-a-a-a-a-an
be understood correctly (WELS) but scholars are divided (“we want to confuse
you about the truth”). The fallacy is that everyone is Justified by Grace
(WELS, LCMS youth leader, Valleskey, Bivens, Brenner, Harrison) and they believe
this universal absolution.
The opponents knew that Jesus was
divine by His miracles, and they imagined that they could distract the crowd
with another fake shock of amazement.
57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou
art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 58 Jesus said unto
them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM.
This is where we see that Jesus
confesses Himself to be God, the Angel of the Lord, speaking from the Burning
Bush in Exodus 3. The Name of God is I AM. The Son of God is the One they seek
to kill, because they fear the response of the Roman legions and the loss of
all their perks and privileges. When the LCA and later the ELCA were formed,
the Old Guard was kept in place a few years, to keep the peace, and then booted
out with tear-stained nostalgia and praises shoveled down to their Father
Below.
This is what the Gospel of John wants
to convey - the battle between Truth and Against-Truth. The first is unified.
The second is divided into many different forms but ends up with the same goals
and so-called victories.
When we pray to Jesus and through Jesus,
naming Him, we are speaking to God Himself. He is the Light of the World, the
one Truth that illuminates all of man’s wisdom and tests whether some concept is
God’s Truth or a mirage.
59 Then took they up stones to cast at
him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst
of them, and so passed by.
The reaction proves the accuracy of
Jesus’ words. His Two Natures are revealed in His humanity, His appearance as
an ordinary man, and His ability to pass through the angry mob because it was
not yet His time. If we deny His ability to be in the elements of Holy Communion,
we deny His ability to pass through the crowds (more than once), enter the
barred door (twice), and leave the tomb without needing angels to roll the stone
away.
The segment of I AM teaching reveals
the truth of Jesus as the face and voice of God, and our forgiveness and
salvation come from that power.
