The Jews then said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” So they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple.
John 8:57-59
Thus far, we have had eight reflections on the “I Ams” of Jesus. The first was revealed in Exodus 3, at the burning bush, when the name of God was revealed as “I AM.” Then we discussed seven “I AM” statements made by Jesus, all in the Gospel of John. These are all metaphors—I AM the bread of life, the light of the world, the door, the good shepherd, the resurrection and the life, the way and the vine.
There are two more “I AM” statements in the Gospel of John, which are not metaphors, two times when Jesus uses the name of God, applied by Jesus in reference to Himself. The first instance is on John 8:58. Jesus is speaking with a group of Jewish leaders about His relationship with God the Father and also with Abraham. God made a covenant with Abraham, which established the Jewish faith. Jesus Christ is God, a member of the Holy Trinity who made the covenant with Abraham. Therefore, He is intimately connected with Abraham. When the Jews question how Jesus can, who is a young man in His early 30s, have possibly seen Abraham, Jesus reveals Himself as God incarnate in the flesh, but using the name of God. He says “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” (John 8:58) Jesus is intentional in His use of verbs here. He ascribes the verb was to Abraham for two reasons. Abraham died, so he is spoken of historically in the past tense. And the covenant with Abraham is about to become a thing of the past, because Jesus is making a new covenant in His blood. The Old Covenant will also become a was, a thing of the past. In the hearing of the Jewish leaders, this is blasphemy. And ultimately this is what Jesus is charged with by the Jewish authorities, taking the name of God, declaring Himself to be God. There is no doubt that the Jews understood Jesus’ claim to be the eternal God incarnate. The immediate response is that they seek to stone Him because of the blasphemy, but Jesus hides Himself and goes out of the temple. Earlier in John 8, Jesus speaks of His death, foreshadowing what is going to happen to Him. And in John 8:58, the scene is set for what they will charge Jesus with.
More than half of the Gospel of John is about Holy Week and the Resurrection, much more than any other Gospel. The first foretelling of the Passion of Christ occurs in John 8, not even 40 percent of the way through the Gospel. The Holy Week narrative begins in John 11, with the raising of Lazarus. John 12 is the account of Palm Sunday. The Last Supper and farewell discourses highlight John 13-17. The Passion begins with the arrest of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane in John 18. The party that comes to arrest Jesus is not the Romans, but rather a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees. (John 18:3) The phrase “I AM” or in Greek “ego imi” is used three times in this passage. When Jesus is approached by those who have come to arrest Him, including Judas, who betrayed Him, He asks them “Whom do you seek?” (John 18:4) They answer Him “Jesus of Nazareth.” (18:5) Jesus then answers them “I Am He.” (18:5) The phrase “I am He” will appear three times in three verses, between John 18:5-7. However, the Greek phrase is “ego imi” which is translated “I AM.” The “He” is added by the English translation but really takes away from the power of what Jesus is saying. If the phrase read “(we seek) Jesus of Nazareth” and He answers “I AM,” (which is how the Greek reads), He has told them “Jesus of Nazareth is the ‘I AM’, the Son of God.”
Now reading on to verse 18:6, we find “When He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground. In this instance again, the “I AM He,” should be translated “I AM”. Thus, when Jesus said “I AM,” everyone fell to the ground, somehow subconsciously in awe at the presence of God. The Jewish leaders present would have known what this meant.
Jesus then asks them “Whom do you seek?” and they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” (18:7) Jesus answers them, “I told you that I AM He; so, if you seek Me, let these men go.” (18:8) Again, a mistranslation, it should read “I told you that I AM!” In applying the name of God to Himself, and seeing His foes fall away, this showed that He has power of all things, and that His surrender to them was entirely voluntary.
Sing to God, O Kingdoms of the earth; sing praises to the Lord, to Him who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens; lo, He sends forth His voice, His mighty voice. Ascribe power to God, whose majesty is over Israel, and His power is in the skies. Terrible is God in His sanctuary, the God of Israel, He gives power and strength to His people. Blessed be God! Psalm 68:32-35
Jesus Christ is the I AM, the Incarnate Son of God, who voluntarily laid down His life for our salvation.
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