Author: Haverland
Last saved by: Andrew Nugteren

I AM

Text: John 8:56-58
Readings: John 8:31-59, Ex 3:1-17
Creed: Nicene Creed.
Theme: Jesus' claim to be divine and the fulfilment of Abraham's hope is rejected.
Purpose: To show that Jesus is God and the fulfilment of Abraham's hope and to encourage a response of faith in him.

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Some of you may have heard of what has been called the "Tri-lema". This idea was first suggested by that famous Christian writer, C.S. Lewis. He was reacting against those who claimed that Jesus was a good man and an outstanding teacher, but nothing more. Lewis objected to this and wrote that it is impossible to say this about someone who made the outstanding claims Jesus made - claims to be God and to be eternal and to come from heaven.
There are only three choices you have about Jesus: He was either a raving lunatic who should be locked away, or he was an outright liar, or he was the person he claimed to be. These are the three choices: lunatic, liar, or Lord.

The Jews of Jesus day had thought of these possibilities. Some of them accused him of being demon-possessed; others regarded him as a liar; and some were prepared to confess him as Lord. When Jesus spoke to the Jews they debated these possibilities. 

In this gospel John recorded conversations Jesus had with a variety of people. At times he spoke to individuals, at other times to a group of people, and at other times to large crowds. 
The style of this gospel is slow and leisurely. John has given us, his readers, time to think, to ponder, so that we might reflect on and understand what he wrote about Jesus. 

This passage we have read records a conversation Jesus had with the Jews when he was in Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths, or Tabernacles.

As he talked with them he made a number of claims about himself. 
He claimed that he was not of this world because he had come from above (vs 23).
In verses 28-29 he explained that he was speaking the words of his Father and doing what pleased him.
In verse 42 he claimed that he had come from God who had sent him into the world.
And in verse 51 he said; "If anyone keeps my word, he will never see death."

The Jews were shocked at what he said about himself and found this all too much to swallow.  So they asked him; "Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?" (vs 53).

1. This lead Jesus to make AN ASTOUNDING CLAIM.

Verse 56: "Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad."

The word translated "rejoiced" is often used to express great joy over God's salvation that would come in the future. Abraham had this joy based on the promises of God.
He knew the promise God had given to Adam and Eve that someone would come and crush the head of the serpent. (Gen 3:15).
He had the promise that he would have many descendants and that through him all the nations would be blessed (Gen 12:1ff).
He had the promise of a son, born to Sarah and him, a birth that caused them so much joy they named him Issac, meaning laughter.
Abraham had been at the point of offering his son to the Lord on an altar when God stopped him and provided a ram in Issac's place. 
All these promises of God, and the events that had taken place, caused Abraham to look ahead with joy to the coming of the One promised. 

Jesus said that Abraham looked forward into the future and rejoiced at seeing "my day". 
When he spoke about "my day" he referred to his coming into the world - his birth and ministry and death and resurrection. "My day" described the salvation that Jesus came to bring and the kingdom he established. 

Abraham saw this by faith. He had the promises of God but, like the other believers in the Old Testament, he was still living by faith when he died. The writer of Hebrews wrote; "They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance." (Heb 11:13). Abraham did not see the Lord Jesus physically because that was still 2000 years ahead, but he believed that the Messiah would come - he "saw" him with the eyes of faith. 
Jesus spoke about this on another occasion when he told his disciples; "Many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not..." (Lk 10:24).

The Jews misunderstood what Jesus said and replied; "You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham!" 
They reasoned that if Abraham had seen Jesus then Jesus must have seen Abraham. But how was that possible, because Jesus wasn't even fifty?!

If you guessed the age of someone at 50 and that person was much younger, then that person would be quite offended, especially if she was a woman! Better to estimate on the lower end when guessing a person's age. It is a compliment to be assessed to be younger than you are, and an insult the other way round!

Jesus was in his early thirties at this time. The Jews were not saying that he looked fifty. They were simply saying that he was only middle aged. The Levites served in the temple service from the age of 30 to 50. Jesus hadn't even reached the retirement age of a Levite and yet he claimed that Abraham had seen his day! This did not make sense to them. 

In response Jesus indicated that he was about to make a weighty statement; "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered. The Greek reads, "Amen, Amen...." Sometimes it is translated as, "Truly, truly" and in the old King James version it reads, "Verily, verily." Jesus used this phrase to introduce his most astounding claim; "Before Abraham was born, I am!"

The Jews immediately recognised this as the divine name, the name of God himself. 
This was the name God had used to reveal himself to Moses at the burning bush. God said to him; "I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites; I am has sent me to you." (Ex 3:14).

The words 'I Am' in Hebrew are taken from the word 'to be'. The Hebrew word for LORD, or Yahweh in Hebrew, is also taken from that root, and it literally reads, 'he is.' So when God spoke of himself he said, 'I am', when we speak of him we say, 'He is.' He is Yahweh, or as it is in our English translations, 'LORD', written in capital letters.

This name of God means that he is not dependant on anyone. He is self-existent; he is absolute in himself. He sustains his own life, and indeed, the life of all creation. 

When Jesus described himself as the 'I am' they correctly saw this as a claim to be God. It ties in with the other seven "I am" statements of Jesus where he also identified himself with God the Father; "I am the bread of life; I am the light of the world; I am the good shepherd."

With this Jesus also claimed to be eternal. 
Abraham did not exist until he was conceived by his mother and then born into this world. But Jesus existed before he was born. 
What's more, he wasn't just claiming to have been around before Abraham was born. He did not say, 'I was', but 'I am.' He is eternal. He is the Alpha and the Omega; the First and the Last; the Beginning and the End; the one who was, and is, and is to come; the one who always has been, and who always will be; the divine 'I am' who is the eternal God. 

With this name Jesus also claimed to be the Saviour. 

The name Yahweh, or LORD, was God's covenant name - the name he used to describe himself in relationship with his people. 

When God used this name to Israel he assured them that he was a faithful God. When he spoke to Moses at the burning bush he assured Israel that he had seen their misery and that he would deliver them and take them out of there. He would save them. 

God also used this name to speak to his people through Isaiah. He said, "I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no saviour." (Isaiah 43:11). The LORD, Yahweh, I am, was the Saviour of his people.  

This is why Jesus had come into the world. The angel Gabriel told Mary, You shall call his name Jesus because "he will save his people from their sins" (Matt 1:21). He came as the LORD of a New Covenant. He came as the New Testament 'I am.' He came as the fulfilment of all of God's promises and proved that God was faithful to his promises.

So by these words he claimed to be divine, to be eternal, and to be the Saviour of his people!

2. This claim of our Lord Jesus produced a VIOLENT RESPONSE from the Jews. 

His Jewish audience understood exactly what he had claimed and they picked up stones to stone him! 

They regarded this as blasphemy. He had broken the third commandment and had misused the name of God. He had taken God's name in vain. He had spoken irreverently of the Lord and had claimed for himself what belonged to God alone. 
The punishment for blasphemy was death (Lev 24:15-16) and so they wanted to stone him! 

We spoke earlier about the "tri-lema" and the idea that some have that Jesus was merely a good man and a great teacher. The Jews recognised that he claimed far more than that and they rejected his claim with a vengeance! 

The Jews were not the only ones to reject the claim of Jesus to be God. A few centuries later a heresy arose in the church known as Arianism. Those holding this view followed a man named Arius. He too rejected Jesus' claim to be God, or reinterpreted that claim. Jesus, he said, was like God, but he was not the eternal Son of God. Rather he was the first creature God made. He was not eternal but was created.

Arianism produced a huge controversy in the third and fourth century AD. It was resolved by the Council of Nicea meeting in 325 AD. That council issued a clear statement affirming the full divinity of the Lord Jesus. He is "very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father."

Unfortunately, these heresies are not just historical, they are going on today too. 

The Arian heresy is repeated today in an almost identical manner in the Jehovah Witnesses who hold exactly the same view about Jesus as Arius did. These people also reject the claim of Jesus to be divine. 

Unbelievers in the world also deny that Jesus is God. Their very unbelief is a refusal to recognise Jesus as "the changeless Lord who towers over history, Master of time, Ruler of the ages", as someone has described him (B Milne). They will not accept his claim to be God and they will not bow their knees before him as Lord; they will not submit their lives to him.

Are you in that position? Are you refusing to recognise who Jesus is? Are you determined to be master of your own life? Are you going to follow your own path without any reference to the Lord Jesus? If you do then you are in the same position of unbelief as the Jews and the Arians, and God himself will hold you accountable for that on the day Jesus returns. 

But there are also unbelievers in the church who deny that Jesus is Lord. When C S Lewis proposed that trilema of "Lunatic, liar or Lord" he did that because people in the church, and in his own denomination, were claiming that Jesus was merely a good man, a fine example, a great moral teacher. These people denied that he was God. They claimed that this idea that Jesus was divine was merely the view of his followers; the New Testament church had made him God, but this was not his idea, they claimed. 
But we have seen from the Scriptures that Jesus did claim to be God. And we have seen that the Jews understood his claim and wanted to stone him for it!

Yet this nonsense about Jesus being merely a man has been promoted and taught and preached in churches and theological colleges for over 100 years. This is one of the main reasons why the mainline churches are so weak and empty today. By mainline churches we mean the Anglicans, Presbyterians and Methodists. And we are not, of course, describing all the individual churches in those denominations but rather the church as a whole. Many liberal theologians and preachers in these denominations have denied that Jesus is fully God. With that denial they have cut out the heart of the truth about Jesus Christ. They have contradicted the truth of the Bible and thrown away the creeds of the early church and the confessions of the Reformation. If you do that, all you are left with is Jesus as a good man. 

But the apostle John wrote this gospel to prove "that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." (John 20:31). Of the four gospel writers he expressed that most clearly. There is no mistaking this message as you read his gospel. 

But he did not write this just to prove a point. 
He didn't write this as a theological argument. 
He wasn't concerned about winning a debate.

No, he wrote this down so that "you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name" (20:31). John wrote for a purpose. He wants you to believe in Jesus as the great "I am", the Son of God who is fully divine, who is eternal, who is the Saviour of all who believe in him. 
He wants us to have life - eternal life - life in all its fullness. 

He wants you to live by faith in this Lord Jesus day by day. He wants you to serve Jesus as Lord in all of your life.

This is not merely a theological debate about who Jesus is. 
This is a matter of life and death - for you, for the church, for eternity.

Jesus: lunatic, liar or Lord? Who is he to you?

Amen.