Today’s Scripture:
“Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.’” — John 8:58 (ESV)
Reflection
The first part of this passage is about who the Jews’ father is. They say that their father is God, yet Jesus says that their father is the devil because they do not do the works of the father, but they reflect the devil in their actions and thoughts. Since Jesus is the truth, the Jews who live in lies do not listen to his words and do not believe him. The Jews further disrespect Jesus by saying that he has a demon, but he tells about the Father and his glory, and that those who believe will never die. The Jews mock Jesus for saying that those who keep his words will never taste death, asking if he is greater than their “father” Abraham (look at yesterday’s passage), who died. Jesus shows that the Father is his witness for glory, and he is full of truth, even for glory. Jesus also says that Abraham was looking forward to the day of Jesus because of all the foreshadowing and fulfillments of prophecies that Jesus brought to completion. And finally, Jesus says “before Abraham was, I am.”
This reminds me of Matthew 7:16,20, where it says that “you will recognize them by their fruits.” Jesus saw the fruits, or lack of fruits, of the Jews, and he called them sons of the devil. In our society today, there are many people who call themselves Christians, but don’t have the fruits, or actions, to back it up. That being said, I think there are many many commendable Christians who are consistent between their faith and how they act, and you can just tell that they are children of God.
I touched on this yesterday I believe, but in Exodus 3:14, God says “I AM WHO I AM.” Jesus is using the same language here when it talks about “before Abraham was, I AM.” Another way to think about it is Colossians 1:16-17, which, to summarize, states that by Jesus, all things were created. Before Abraham even existed, Jesus existed, but also, Jesus was the one who actually created it all as well. The question was if Jesus had seen Abraham, and well the answer is that Jesus was the one who made Abraham. Of course Jesus saw him. This truth angered the Jews even more, and they picked up stones as they represented their father, the devil. Lastly, I want to bring up Ephesians 6:17, which talks about the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. In today’s passage, we talked about the devil and the works that he does, and that made me think of how the lies of the devil are scared of truth. The amazing thing is, we have a weapon that is the greatest truth: Jesus and his word. When we start to feel like acting like sons of the devil, we should turn to the Word of God to free us and fight back.