By Manny Vazquez, M.S., LMFT, Christian Counselor
My Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus,
Today, our Precious Holy Spirit drew my attention to John 8:48-59, where the Scriptures describe the following scene:
“The Jews responded to Him, ‘Aren’t we right in saying that You’re a Samaritan and have a demon?’
‘I do not have a demon,’ Jesus answered. ‘On the contrary, I honor My Father and you dishonor Me. I do not seek My glory; the One who seeks it also judges. I assure you: If anyone keeps My word, he will never see death — ever!’
Then the Jews said, ‘Now we know You have a demon. Abraham died and so did the prophets. You say, ‘“‘If anyone keeps My word, he will never taste death — ever!’”’ Are You greater than our father Abraham who died? Even the prophets died. Who do You pretend to be?’
‘If I glorify Myself,’ Jesus answered, ‘My glory is nothing. My Father — you say about Him, ‘“‘He is our God’”’ — He is the One who glorifies Me. You’ve never known Him, but I know Him. If I were to say I don’t know Him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know Him, and I keep His word. Your father Abraham was overjoyed that he would see My day; he saw it and rejoiced.’
The Jews replied, ‘You aren’t 50 years old yet, and You’ve seen Abraham?’
Jesus said to them, ‘I assure you: Before Abraham was, I am.’
At that, they picked up stones to throw at Him. But Jesus was hidden and went out of the temple complex.” (the Holman Christian Standard Bible [HCSB] version of the Holy Bible)
This wasn’t the only time that the Jewish leaders wanted to kill Jesus before His time had come. There’s an interesting lesson in this, which I will briefly go over. God does things in His perfect timing. He never rushes because He is completely sovereign in Everything. He controls the slightest details in all of His Works. So, the fact that our LORD Jesus died and rose again at the perfect time in History should not surprise us.
And the funny thing (well, not funny, but actually very sad) is that Christ is returning, and the Bible predicts that once again, most people will be caught unaware that He is even here. I mean, look around you; the world is literally falling apart, and hardly anyone is sounding the alarm that maybe, just maybe, we should be thinking of changing our behavior before we die in our sins, and we are destroyed by Christ Himself (Revelation 19:11-16) at His Coming. And those who are sounding the alarm are called crazy by a world that is tone deaf to the things of God.
But why were the Jewish leaders so upset at what Jesus said in the passage above? By making the statement that “Before Abraham was, I am,” Jesus was asserting that He was Deity, equal to God Himself. In the Old Testament, God the Father identified Himself as I AM several times.
Let’s take a look at the first of these pivotal passages in the Bible. In Exodus 3:13-15, the Scriptures declare:
“Then Moses asked God, ‘If I go to the Israelites and say to them: The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, ‘“‘What is His name?’”’ what should I tell them?’
God replied to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.’ God also said to Moses, ‘Say this to the Israelites: Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever; this is how I am to be remembered in every generation.’” (the HCSB version of the Holy Bible)
The Jewish leaders did not understand what the Scriptures said about Messiah Jesus because their father was the devil. And they were supremely offended that anyone would claim to be equal with God because they identified with the chief demon who wanted to be God himself. They could not understand that when Messiah came, He would need to be equal to God, so that He could save us from our sins by dying as the GodMan on the Cross. In other words, they missed the whole point of the Gospel, that God Himself would rescue us from our sins, which were in the very writings that they were supposed to be following. And the reason these religious leaders missed the meaning of Who Jesus was and what He came to do was because they were demonic, and as Christ said, their father was the devil himself.
So, what are we to conclude from this passage of Scripture. I say this, that anyone who denies the Deity of Christ is demonic, doomed to the fires of Hell. And they will also deny that there is anything wrong with them. In fact, they will assert to you in the loudest voice possible that you are the one with the problem because you have declared your allegiance to Christ, the Only One Who can save you from the depravity of your sins. Not only will these demons not agree with your assertions about Christ, the Bible predicts that eventually, they will kill many of us who follow our LORD, and in doing so, they will further prove that they are far from God and are in fact, condemned to an eternity in Hell.
What are we to be doing, if all of this is going to possibly happen to us? We are to do exactly what the LORD has asked us to do; we must spread the Gospel, and we must pray that our Blessed LORD regenerate the hearts of those in our sphere of influence, those who don’t yet know and believe in our KING Jesus.
The most important thing that can happen to a person in his or her life is that he or she be granted faith in Jesus Christ by our Heavenly Father. Allow me to take you to a passage in the Bible where it is made abundantly clear by our Precious Holy Spirit that in our humanity, we can do nothing to understand who Jesus is. In Matthew 16:13-20, our Precious Holy Spirit teaches us the following:
“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’
And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’
‘But you,’ He asked them, ‘who do you say that I am?’
Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!’
And Jesus responded, ‘Simon son of Jonah, you are blessed because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the forces of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth is already bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth is already loosed in heaven.’
And He gave the disciples orders to tell no one that He was the Messiah.” (the HCSB version of the Holy Bible)
In this passage, Jesus clearly teaches that only God the Father can reveal to someone who Jesus is. Therefore, take great comfort, Christian, if you know that Jesus is your LORD, that He is your Blessed Messiah, that He has come into the world to rescue you from your sins, and to grant you Eternal Life in Him, then the truth and the whole truth is that God the Father Himself has revealed this to you. Mankind, your Parents, your Friends, your Pastors may have preached and taught the Gospel to you, which was a blessing, but only your Father in Heaven can reveal to you who Christ was and is and will be; in other words, only God the Father can cause the seed of the Gospel to grow in the hearts of believers, to regenerate them for His purposes. Our LORD Jesus is the Great I AM, and our Father is pleased to reveal that fact to whomever He wishes. Amen and Amen.