Jesus is the Great I Am

Answers Bible Curriculum Year 3 Quarter 2 Lesson 10

This week, the theme for Sunday school is: Jesus, the I AM. Did Jesus claim to be the Jehovah (LORD) of the Old Testament?  Did those whom He spoke to understand His claim to such? Also, does it really matter whether Jesus is fully God? To answer these questions and others, we’ll be looking at the several “I AMs” in John’s Gospel.

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all right let’s begin let’s open in prayer dear God and father we thank you for your mercy and grace to us in Christ Jesus our Lord we just thank you that all three members of the Godhead would come together and desire to have fellowship with created beings and we’re just awed by the fact that it was through the death burial and resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ that we have this grace in which we stand just we just pray that we are attentive to what has spoken I pray for myself that what I speak would be as from your word and encouraging and edifying and we pray this all through Christ’s name Amen so the next series the next lesson in the Answers in Genesis is Jesus Christ the I am I’m gonna only spend about there’s been a lot of things that have come along in my way the past few months and a lot of thoughts and questions and situations and it and it dovetails into this the Jesus being the I am the deity of Jesus Christ so I’m only gonna take about 60% maybe 70% of the answers and what was that movie The DaVinci Code I have family who are Jehovah’s Witnesses and they come along and they say well you know they invented that Jesus was was God and the counsel of an idea and ICEA and that no they throw-in Constantine the Emperor etc etc etc that’s just not true you don’t take you don’t just come out of thin air and say we’re going to make Jesus God there have been constant challenges to Christ deity I was as I was meditating upon some of my notes I mean doesn’t that one of the reasons why they wanted to stone Jesus because he claimed to be God and they didn’t believe it so I mean it started even back then when Jesus was here but one of the biggest ones was Arius a teacher named arias and that’s where we get the word arianism he was a teacher in the fourth century that means the three hundred so I always get that wrong I think fourth century is like four hundreds but you got to subtract one that’s like I was born in 1959 so I just take 1960 and subtract one whenever I figure out my age remember it he taught that Jesus was God’s first act of creation but if we look in first John three I would remember but that vice’ if somebody can stand up and read first John sorry John Gospel of John chapter 1 verse 3 anybody have that robbed so if Jesus was made and then if not all things were made without him and how could he be made so that verse just clearly contradicts that teaching he also taught that Jesus had divine attributes but he wasn’t God and he could do godlike things but he wasn’t God himself but in Philippians chapter 2 verse 6 and where I think a lot of us are familiar with that verse can somebody come up with that one didn’t know this is gonna be a sword drill did you I grew up with a lot of sword drills Rob do you own it you have your Oh Mary so there it is right there Jesus is deity he was he was divine well why did this come about why it was the Council of Nicaea there to define the divinity of Jesus Christ whether they develop they were developed to define the biblical and Orthodox view of Jesus nature it’s very very important because he’s a member of the Godhead and I know if you can see in the background you’ve got the burning bush there where the Lord revealed himself to Moses as the I am he says Moses take off your shoes we’re on holy you’re on holy ground we’re not a holy ground here because we’re talking about a person of the Godhead you know so getting this right is getting God right so the council came together and they said listen this is the biblical view and this will be the Orthodox view of Jesus’s nature he is fully God I just want to go into a little bit of some of the where we might find that in the New Testament we look in Titus 2:13 we find it in the New Testament writings looking for the Blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus but what about outside of the New Testament outside of the New Testament well we have the 1st century into the 2nd century a man named Polycarp Polycarp it’s not a multi-headed fish that was his name so he was actually a disciple of the Apostle John and he wrote a letter to the Philippians and he said and to us with you and all those under heaven who will yet believe in our Lord and God Jesus Christ and in his father who raised him from the dead so it went from the 1st century into the 2nd century I just and there are other people who wrote about this these are just some of my favorite quotes Justin Martyr a dialogue with try pho and his writing there for a few it understood what had been written by the prophets you would have not denied that he was God son of the only unbegotten unutterable God so there you go and now into the second century and in 2nd century into the 3rd Tertullian treatise on the soul for God alone is without sin and the only man without sin is Christ since Christ also is God so we have that flow from the early scriptures all the way up to the 3rd century the belief that Jesus Christ was God it wasn’t something that was invented was something that was held on to by the early church and the early church fathers Wow I spent a lot longer of rehearsing this I’ll slow down so there’s a lot of this continual challenges to the deity of Jesus Christ them the mid-1800s was really a tumultuous time for the world in Christianity the French Revolution was done there was a lot of craziness going on there’s a lot of Biblical prophecy that people had there’s what they call a day Age theory where they took a certain number of days and convert it into years and you go into revelation you look at twelve thousand six hundred sixty by the top 1260 and they converted those years and they thought that this was the time when if you do it from certain Prof what they called prophetic events you’ll get into the 1800s and there was just a lot of thoughts and craziness going on one of which was a pastor who came up Charles taze Russell and he invented if you read the writings from the 1800s you’ll see they called it Russell ISM named after Charles taze Russell and he’s the basically the father of Jehovah’s Witnesses that’s my little dig so called witnesses they don’t have the Trudeau they’re teaching teach that Jesus was the first creation of God again like Arianism that he was the first created being they also teach that Jesus was Archangel Michael before his birth so in his incarnation he was Jesus but before that he was the mike Archangel Michael it just but it gets even more bizarre than that Joseph Smith who is the founder of Mormonism or what is called the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints that started again in the mid 1800s it’s interesting that excuse me usually after a lot of these leaders passed away like Charles taze Russell and Joseph Smith a lot of these cults went into a hiatus because they didn’t know what was gonna where to go next with them with the mainline group of Mormons that followed under Brigham Young and they went out to Salt Lake City they started around Ohio Illinois area even though Joseph Smith was from upstate New York but there’s a there’s still a heavy group there that’s in that Ohio Indiana area but with Charles taze Russell the largest group that we know of is the Jehovah’s Witnesses but there’s about at least at least three other splinter groups and same thing with Joseph Smith it’s interesting that Brigham Young took the largest group went out to Salt Lake City but somebody came up with a revelation that it was actually following through his son so he actually had a series of progenitors unfortunately that ended about like twenty or thirty years ago because there was no more descendants of Joseph Smith so they came up with another revelation that it would follow another person who is not of the descent of Joseph Smith so it’s interesting how these these churches these groups I don’t want to call them Church it’s it’s an interesting of these groups just morph with divine revelations to go in whatever direction they want to go in there’s actually a few other ones under Mormonism JJ Strang I think his name was and there was a group called a Strang i’ts and I think there’s like one Church left out in Michigan or Wisconsin somewhere so it’s all but died out but the next the reason I bring this one up the are the reformed sorry the reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints the are LDS they’re now called communities of Christ and it’s interesting because you might pass by their church I think they have a church off of Route 28 in like Bound Brook Middlesex area it’s like I was driving by and I saw this when I said community to Christ I said wow that really sounds a nice Lindsay Lindsay that you okay maybe not there’s a but you know just to warn you if you see something like communities of Christ they’re not true believers they follow after Joseph Smith they hold to a lot of his teachings in regular Mormonism they teach that Christ was first begotten as a spirit he teaches firstborn offspring of God the Father Elohim and one of his heavenly wives I would encourage everybody to Google Mormonism there’s a cartoon about it I don’t wanna say cartoon it’s an animation about it that presents a lot of the truths of this it’s just very very interesting of what they believe but that they believe that the Jesus was the firstborn offspring of God the Father Elohim and one of his heavenly wives they also teach that Jesus and Satan are half-brothers and from the same father but not the same heavenly wife they also teach that that Jesus came up with a plan to redeem humanity and so did Satan but God Elohim preferred Jesus as one over Satan’s and that’s why there’s a there’s a fake between the two it just gets it just spirals out of control they teach the Incarnation between a heavenly father and Mary and continued bizarreness Adam was Michael the Archangel and he was our Father in God so it just it just spirals off into two crazy kin craziness some of the things that I’m surprised some of these these cultures still around today I mean from a biblical point of view they can be easily destroyed but even from a practical point of view one of the things nowadays that I don’t understand how Mormonism survives and in fact it’s to the point of some of the reading I’ve been doing that Mormons don’t even believe that the Book of Mormon is inspired and the reason being is that DNA evidence one of the things that the Mormons believe is that some of the Lost Tribes of Israel came over to America and they became now the Native Americans or Aboriginal people or what used to be called on politically correct Indians they were actually the Native Americans were actually descends of Jews and DNA evidence just blew that out of the water they said there’s no possible link between the two and there’s other things that totally destroyed can destroy them yet Mormonism is still thriving and growing Jehovah’s Witnesses have had bad prophecies and times of Christ’s return and I’m surprised they’re still around finally Sir Isaac Newton a lot of people know Sir Isaac Newton he was he didn’t invent gravity he discovered gravity a lot of people say he was a great scientist and he was but he was actually a heavy theologian unfortunately he had issues with the Trinity he thought it was contrived and that the rest of Christianity was a bunch of heretics so the material for the Jesus statements of the I am I just wanted to before I get again before I get into the total material of the Answers in Genesis just some other things that have come on to my heart a lot of people say well the focus of John’s Gospel is that Jesus Christ is God this done I don’t disagree with that it’s just that let’s just look at what the purpose is and that is John says but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ and the word Christ to a person in the time of John’s writing would be the Messiah he’d be the prophesied Messiah the Son of God and that by believing you have life in his name and the reason i bring that up is because some people have argued that jesus was not saying he was God in the Iams but merely christ in other words except you believe that I am or when he before Abraham was I am not all not all theologians believe that that that is connected with what was said to Moses and the burning bush however equating Christ with the Son of God means deity and to prove that there’s several verses John 1033 I and the father are one the Jews took up stones again to stone him jesus answered him answer them I showed you many good works from the Father for which of them are you stoning me the Jews answered for good works went on stone you but for blasphemy because you being a man make yourself out to be God so that I was challenged by somebody to say well you know when Jesus said the I am he wasn’t saying the I am of the Old Testament but he really was you know you make that Association that if Jesus is the Christ and Christ is the son of God then therefore he’s deity he has God the son John 5:18 that Jesus saw all the more to kill him because now he not only broke the Sabbath but he said that God was his father making himself equal with God so if God is his father and jesus is the son he is equal with God the Jews totally understood that the people of his time totally understood that they just had a hard time with it and didn’t believe it and finally in John 19 7 the Jews answered Pilate and said we have a law and by that law he ought to die because he made himself out to be the Son of God and the death penalty was for being equal with God and finally we look in the Old Testament the prophecy of the Messiah to prove that Messiah is deity for a child will be born unto us a son will be given to us the government will rest on his shoulders and his name will be called wonderful counselor mighty God Eternal Father and Prince of Peace the reason I put into brackets the the Eternal Father has father returned that’s more the literal translation it’s like saying Thomas Edison was the father of the light bulb so he didn’t really give birth to the light bulb he just he brought it into being and the same way for us eternal life is brought to us by Jesus Christ and then finally Christ embody the fullness of the Godhead and Paul wrote this to the Colossians because in him death Tabernacle all the fullness of the Godhead bodily I wanted to put that in the Youngs literal translation because it kind of gives a more accurate sense of what it’s saying so in his body all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt so that if that isn’t to me that’s like the the seal in fact that Jesus is a member of the Godhead we’re going to now focus a little more on the Answers in Genesis piece and John chapter let’s open our Bibles and turn to John chapter 8 and start with verse 12 and this is a rather long section so John chapter 8 with verse 12 and I’ll read to the end of the chapter then Jesus again spoke to them saying I am the light of the world he who follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of Life so the Pharisee said to him you’re testifying about yourself your testimony is not true jesus answered and said to them even if I testify about myself my testimony is true or it’s valid for I know where I came from and where I am going but you do not know where I come from or where I’m going you judge according to the flesh I am not judging anybody but even if I do judge my judgment is true for I’m not alone in it but the father who sent me even in your law it has been written that the testimony of two men is true I am he who testifies about myself and the father who sent me testifies about me so they were saying to him well where is her father jesus said you neither know me nor my father if you knew me you would no my father also these words he spoke in the Treasury as he taught in a temple and no one sees them because his hour had not yet come then he again said to them I go away and you will seek me and will die in your sin where I am going you cannot come so the Jews were saying surely he will not kill himself will he since he says where I am going you cannot come and he was saying to them you are from below I am from above you are of this world I am not of this world therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins for unless you believe that I am you will die in your sins so they were saying to him well who are you jesus said to them what I’ve been saying to you from the beginning I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you but he who sent me is true and the things which I have heard from him these I speak to the world they did not realize that he had been speaking to them about the father so jesus said when you lift up the Son of Man then you will know that I am and I do nothing on my own initiative but I speak these things as the father taught me and he who sent me is with me and he has not left me alone for I always do the things that are pleasing to him as he spoke these things many came to believe in him so Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed in him if you continue in my word then you are truly disciples of mine and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free they answered him who we are Abraham’s descendants have not been enslaved to anyone how is it that you say we will become free jesus answered them truly truly I say to you everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin the slave does not remain in the house forever the son remains forever so this if the son makes you free you will be free indeed I know that you are Abraham’s descendants yet you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you I speak the things which I have seen with my father therefore you also do the things which you have heard from your father they answered and said to him Abraham is our Father and Jesus said to them if you’re Abraham’s children do the deeds of Abraham but as it is you are seeking to kill me a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God this Abraham did not do you are doing the deeds of your father they said to him we are not born of fornication we have one father God jesus said to them if you were if god were your father you would love me for I proceeded forth and have come from God for I have not come on my own initiative but he sent me why do you not understand what I am saying it is because you cannot hear my word you are of your father the devil and you want to do the desires of your father he was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him whatever he whenever he speaks a lie he speaks from his own nature for he is a liar and the father of lies but because I speak the truth you do not believe me which of you convicts me of sin if I speak the truth why do you not believe me he was of God hears the words of God for this reason you do not hear them because you’re not of God the Jews answered and said to him do we not rightly say that you are a Samaritan have a demon jesus answered I do not have a demon but I honor my father and you dishonor me but I do not seek my glory there is one who seeks and judges truly truly I say to you if anyone keeps my word he will never see death did you said to him now we know you have a demon Abraham died and the prophets also and you say if anyone keeps my word he’ll never taste of death surely you’re not greater than our father Abraham who died the prophets died to whom do you make yourself out to be jesus answered if I glorify myself my glory is nothing it is my father who glorifies me of whom you say he is our God and you have not come to know him but I know him and if I say that I do not know him I will be a liar like you but I do know him and keep his word your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day he saw it and was glad so the Jews said to you are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham Jesus said to them truly truly I say to you before Abraham was born I am therefore they picked up stones to throw at him but Jesus was hidden himself and went out of the temple I know that’s really a long section but hopefully we’ll get through it relatively relatively smoothly so in this section there’s lots of theological points but let’s focus on the Iams let’s kind of look at the whole scenario here so this is gonna be kind of a question-and-answer so I’ll ask the question you have to answer okay that that makes it easier for me so so how did Jesus identify himself in verse 12 yes right Jesus is the light of the world I was also thinking in in first John 1 verse 5 it says this is the message which we have heard from him Christ that God is light and in him is no darkness at all so if Jesus is the light of the world and God is light it makes him God what is truth of those who follow Jesus because he is the light of the world will keep his word Craig correct and and a precursor to that they will not walk in darkness but have the light of life in verse 13 what did the Pharisees accused Jesus of Jenny sorry right and basically it was an inadequate witness you know he was claiming his own authority but that wasn’t true so how did Jesus counteract their acts there how did he counter their accusations I’ll give you a hint verse 18 correct it was a he clearly told them that his witness was true and that the father bore witness of him who do Jesus claimed had sent him well he basically said that already his father right by the way I was just trying to think how did the father bear witness of Christ that just kind of came to me I mean he says he says my father’s bearing witness of me so how is he bearing witness of Christ this was come kind of thinking on my feet here because I didn’t really rehearse this way it just came to my mind I think I think one of the ways is somebody have something sorry yeah so jesus said the father bore witness of him well how did the father bear witness of Christ Roy and Dwayne where you get I see you shaking your head good Caleb yeah I and I I’m I’m agreeing with everything I was thinking along the same along the same lines definitely at his baptism right this is my beloved son you know listen to him and and the miracles themselves were just proof that God was with him in fact that’s I can sometimes I just try to take and put my head into like a person’s shoes when they’re in the in any of the narratives I think of Nicodemus when he came to Jesus he’s kind of like he I can just just me so you don’t have to it did bear with me and but you know I just think okay here I am Nicodemus I’m in my you know whatever Sanhedrin robe or whatever it is here you’re walking up and you’re like it’s night right because you got to go to Jesus at night because you don’t want people seeing you right so he comes with to Jesus and he’s got a lot and it’s mine and I feel like he’s almost stumbling over his words he’s saying like wait you’re you’ve got to be a man from God because nobody can truly do the things that you do unless God is with them you know and I could just see you know I get that way a lot too you got a lot of thoughts in your head you wonder how how this is and I could see and then Jesus goes boom right into well except them have you born again he can’t see the kingdom of heaven you know so I think in that way he saw he saw what was going on Nicodemus saw it was no one not and he saw that that was God was truly with him and that God was actually was giving validity to his sayings yet what Jesus was saying was so contrary to what especially him you know being part of the council you know Jesus kind of went against that but all these miracles that he did God was truly with him so this is given validity to the word of what he said sorry that was off more off-the-cuff who knew Jesus claimed to attend some of his father why was it important for Jesus to have another witness to vouch for his claim and I think halo pew you you mentioned that in the Old Testament Jesus pointed to what was written in the Jewish law that two or three witnesses establish a matter Deuteronomy 716 I’m all I was also thinking last minute matthew 18:6 team ever if your brother sins against you if he listens to you good if he doesn’t so here you are and he says take one or two others so if you take one or two others you have the two or three so one plus e was – one plus u plus two others is three so that’s the matter then when you bring it before the church or or others who have the two or three witnesses not that your witness is invalid is that yours plus another is valid Rob yeah exactly exactly 19 first 19 how did Jesus relate himself to the Father well you drew a very close connection knowing the Sun is knowing the father in fact he what’s he that has seen me has seen the father like Jesus had to tell that to one of his disciples right wasn’t it I forget which one it is now Thomas was it what did reveals what did Jesus reveal to the Jews about their fate in verses 21 and 24 and I think this is really a an important point okay exactly right he told them they would die in their sins and I’ll get into that a little bit more heavily but that’s to me that’s a precious but a but a sober verse okay let’s continue on well why did Jesus say they would die in their sins yes absolutely verse 24 he said that they would die in their sins because they did not believe that Jesus is the I am just a little point of reference some of you in your Bibles if you see the word I am he the word he is in italics side ways and means that’s not really in the original Greek they do that to try to help you along but sometimes it’s not always helpful sometimes it kind of distracts and in this case except you believe that I am NOT I am he but I am and that is a reference to most I’m going to be carefully are most the licious related to the the burning bush and the Lord revealing himself to Moses um do you not happen to me it doesn’t matter either way if he’s saying that I am Christ that means he’s still deity but you must believe that Jesus is the I am everybody just flown just came to my head everybody remember that song let’s talk about Jesus how many people remember that song let’s talk about Jesus the king of kings is he I’m doing a solo here the Lord of all dream through all eternity he’s the great I am the way the truth the life the door let’s talk about Jesus more and more could be a brethren song yeah now I was actually where there’s actually a radio program guy named Wayne mom blow back and remember him yeah let’s talk about Jesus okay okay all right well now you see why I’m not up here where did Jesus’s message come from according to verse 26 I heard the father yes he spoke what he heard from the father did the Pharisees understand his reference to God the Father verse 27 nope simple answer what event was foreshadowed in verse 28 he said he’s lifting up the son of man what is that a foreshadow of the crucifixion right so lift up the son of man as a foreshadowing of the crucifixion in fact I think in John 3 but like with Nicodemus you know it’s after that as a certain as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so must the Son of Man be lifted up all right what was the result of this dialogue in verse 30 yes mate word-for-word that’s very good thank you who did Jesus turn his attention to in verse 31 well he was no longer speaking to the Pharisees directly but those who believed in what he was saying so we have so Jesus spoke all these words right then many came to believe in him and then he turns his attention to them in verse 31 what makes someone a disciple or follower of Jesus absolutely abiding in his word or his teaching you know living it out you know it’s it’s a I like what James has to say you know be a doer of the word and not just to hear or only so not that works saved but work certainly is one of the evidences of your salvation what is the result of knowing the truth it sets you free very good just a few more questions based on the reaction from the Jews in verse 33 what type of freedom did they think Jesus was talking about right the Roman government they must have thought he was talking about freedom from political and personal slavery rather than spiritual slavery since they claim to have never been advantage to anyone actually this is a silly claim since the Jews had been in slavery to many different people groups since Abraham right so you know whether you got the Medes and the Persians and now particularly the Roman government they were in bondage in the past physical bondage how did Jesus correct their misconception though verses 34 and 35 that’s a good question you know I honestly I don’t have a good answer for that one I’m thinking you know I was trying to think of all the different questions that people would ask and I didn’t think of that one anybody might have an idea why did people think that yeah that’s interesting too because I’m I wish dad were here yeah what would Dave do so days to it but I think a lot of what he had taught us in the past you know about the type of the type of overtaking that the Roman governments would do was that they would give a lot of people a lot of the religious freedom but it wouldn’t be true freedom but it would certainly be enough where they felt that they were free you know rather than coming in and in forcing them to be Roman citizens and worshipping the Roman god they were allowed a certain amount of freedom but you know I don’t maybe they were also very short-sighted because a lot of things that happened in the past I mean they were dragged out of their their homes you know here they were still in Jerusalem in a lot of the Old Testament when Babylon came along you know they dragged they dragged a lot of them out so maybe they just also had short memories good question though so how did Jesus correct their misconception he was speaking to them of slavery to sin not another form he had come to set them free from the slavery to sin what did you just say the people desire to do too yep that’s true yeah they were seeking to kill him by the way if if you’re gonna do any homework I encourage you to read John chapter 7 because it’s a precursor to John chapter 8 and you’ll see a lot of parallels between that chapter in this chapter and he talked about them trying to kill him in that chapter also that’s interesting the parallel between the two how did Jesus use the contrast of the two fathers to point to the sinfulness of the people he said they were what he was a yes he told them that if they were of his father God then he would believe him fully since they did not the devil was their father and again what was the content of this who is he talking to he’s talked to the people that said they believed that oh you know Jesus would not be a popular preacher today would he he would not want to offend his congregation Jesus told it like it is you know a lot of people you know brand the name Christian and I just thought just came to my head you ever realize that when the Mormons and we’re talk about Mormons Jehovah’s Witnesses they want to consider themselves as Christians right they want to they want to in the fold of what is generally called christened them anybody who professes Christ yet all their founders will tell you that unless you would join their church you weren’t a believer you know you’re condemned to hell so they want to be considered as Christians but they don’t consider the true Christians as Christians just there of their father the devil unfortunately from verses 45 to 47 why did these people not fully believe in Jesus No yes yes he gave tubers he told them the truth and they were not of God so they do not hear his words very good thank you there we go one abilities so quickly because I’m spending more time than I should how did they seek to discredit Jesus well they said he was born of fornication and said he had a theme and he was a Samaritan which basically means he worship God wrongly remember Jesus told the Samaritan woman you don’t even know what you worship we know what we worship because salvation is of the Jews so and it’s always interesting that you know when I don’t want to drag politics at the things but if you try to follow the political scene everybody’s always yelling at each other and calling them bad things you know Jesus called them out and said you know there are false attacks because there was no actual sin in his life to discredit him people would just say oh he’s a jerk he’s an idiot he’s or whatever but they don’t really go to the issues they just try to make you know blanket statements without any facts behind them so Jesus says really attacked them with the facts he says which of you convicts me of sin nobody could raise their hand right he was sinless when Jesus said that all who keep his word will never see death who did the Jews point to as someone who had died they all pointed to Abraham and the prophets as someone who died even though he was righteous this reinforces that they were still thinking earthly terms and I heavenly are spiritual terms and what did Abraham say what did Jesus say abraham rejoiced to see Abraham saw Jesus’s day and was glad for it now how does that come about one explanation is we should understand this as Abraham seeing forward by faith to the day when the Messiah would come he saw the beginning of the promise fulfilled in the birth of Isaac the son of promise can somebody read Galatians three chapter eight real quick Rob what Glacius 3 yeah sorry glaciers chapter 3 verse 8 so people always ask you know how did the Old Testament people get saved well there it clearly says Paul tells the galatians abraham had the gospel preached to him what was that gospel in thy seed all the nations will be blessed when abraham saw that seed not only did he get his fulfillment of you know having multiple children eventually but also through that seed the nations will be blessed there would be a messiah and that messiah would be the savior so abraham actually saw that had the jews misunderstand jesus is claimed by abraham I’ll quickly again they saw it as an earthly expression since Jesus was not yet fifty years old and Abraham could not have been alive at the same time it’s interesting one of the church fathers and I won’t mention their name he actually takes this verse and he says well you say Jesus had to be close to 50 years old he was not very very good with timelines so he took this verse very literally and said that oh Jesus had to be like around you know in his 40s for this to be able to be true but we know Jesus passed away when he was around 33 how did Jesus respond to that in verse 58 he told them what before Abraham was I am again if your translation has the word he in there take that out Jesus is claiming to be the Messiah to be God herself he was claiming to be God and to have existed before a.m. this was a clear claim of deity and did the Jews understand his claim accurately yeah they did didn’t they and what and what was the result of their understanding that he was making a claim to deity that’s right because they have stones to stone up they realized his claim identifying himself as God they considered it blasphemy and repair to actually take punishment write that in there and how did Jesus escape their wrath yes he hid himself and walked through the midst of them and looking back to verse 20 we know that his hour not yet home I don’t think Jesus became invisible I just think that they were blinded to see what happened I think sometimes I like reading the Youngs literal translation it says he was hidden from them so I think that there was a blindness on their part that God had just miraculously done to let them pass pass through with that even you know with some in the context it is but you know I I think Jesus was focusing his attention on his believers but I believe the other people were there so you know in John chapter 6 we saw that same thing he says you know he my flesh and drink my blood you know I don’t think I think I mean his disciples were there and that didn’t live down so you know there’s a dividing line between those who really did believe on him of those who have a superficial ungrounded yeah you might have saw the miracle they might not like what he said in fact that’s why I want you to read chapters chapter 7 because you’ll see that even the Roman soldiers I’m sorry I don’t know if they were Roman soldiers the soldiers who went there to take hold of Jesus they heard his word doesn’t like nobody spoke like this you know and you know the leaders are like what did he deceive you too you know so we know that to do true believers like do that but they’re just some people who you know they may make refreshment of say I believe that he’s a redeemer and an earthly sense you know where he comes and he delivers it from the Romans but then cleaning you see he’s just out of there out of the realm of understanding I just want to look briefly I have 10 minutes left oh yeah that’s such when the Old Testament the Jews have connected with the Saints to be I am okay I get it quick thank you they would thought of his identification of Moses what two attributes of daughter found Jesus claimed to be I am identifying him as God who existed before Abraham he was claiming to be the eternal in the name I am which is a statement of God’s independence God’s eternal ‘ti and his independence and I just want to look to where Jesus used the few Iams in the in the Gospel of John John chapter 6:35 anybody just kind of off the top of their head Jesus said I am the I am the bread of life oh I gave Jesus is the true son and it’s from the father sustaining the soul God’s grace and mercy or displayed there I am the light of the world that’s the section we’re just in right now right Jesus is the light that allows all to see and walk in truth God’s holiness and wisdom or displayed there I am before Abraham was Jesus identifies himself as the eternal infinite God that’s independent in each other are displayed by the way I if you want these notes I would I would look at the agretti Iams the of the Gospel of John because there’s some did you just make the statement but he’s certainly there surrounded by the actual stories themselves as the white he said that so he makes the identification to them in a real way I am the door of the Sheep Jesus is the only entrance by which she entered to be saved God’s grace and mercy are displayed there I am The Good Shepherd so not have only he the door of the Sheep he’s the Good Shepherd Jesus gives his life for the Sheep sacrificing himself that they may have life God’s holiness justice mercy and grace are displayed I am the resurrection and the life Lazarus raising it from the dead Jesus offers eternal life to all the trust in him God’s omnipotence and faithfulness to his promise around display I am the way the truth and the life Jesus is the only way to receive salvation and eternal life got wisdom holiness and mercy are displayed a lot of people not a lot of people some people might say well you know there’s no definite article in the brief I am way truth and light heat and in fact that’s what most people believe today well Jesus is just one of them anyways you know and that’s what you believe in that’s all okay jesus said no one comes to the Father except through me he made that whatever whatever you believe about the first part it’s gonna be dictated by the second part where he said no one comes to the Father except through me that’s the exclusivity of the only way of Jesus of salvation john 15:1 i am the vine settled hope you’ll remember keep bringing the musician Keith green kill you he has a song where Jesus says he has divined here at the branch some of you got okay I had to find Jesus is a source of life for all who abide in him God’s grace and this way now to wrap up an application why is it essential to believe Jesus is the Christ or Messiah the Son of God me I am why does that have work it’s based on one of the verses that we did in John John 8:24 yes fundmental jesus said I said therefore to you that you will die in your sins for if you may not believe that I am you will die in your sins I you really can’t get any more succinct than that right I mean that’s it’s a fundamental principle believing that Jesus is the Messiah the Christ the Son of God deity in flesh and I want to wrap up with this verse this wasn’t in the Answers in Genesis but I really forgiveness the sin with this next verse I love this verse I put this one at the bottom not my chest a lot of times for him who did not know sin in our behalf he didn’t make sense that we might become religious this to me is an expression of the dual nature of Christ the hypostatic Union the full deity the full humanity can anybody explain why I like this verse now if Jesus was a fully human he couldn’t represent us on the cross suffering God’s wrath taking the punishment if he was just a mere created Bane he would it wouldn’t be like us right he’d be some other type of being but he was fully human therefore he could justifiably be the wrath fair of God of God wrath but on the other hand being fully deity we might become the righteousness of God and you know you can be forgiven your sins right but to have an even higher level of righteousness a righteousness that’s not here it’s the righteousness of God we have been imputed to us now Jesus wasn’t a sinner and and in and of ourselves were not righteous Jesus had because he was fully human could be imputed that wrath of God and be punished as a as a sinner as we now get to our account the righteousness of God and to me you know that is such a glory that I got good it’s just beyond my total comprehension you know a lot of the difficulties in all of these things of understanding the nature character of God I want to safely say that it’s impossible in our finiteness to know God fully I mean we have the scriptures we have the Bible to me that’s good enough God and God feel like God ordained that that his word would be good enough to know him you know I mean yes God is infinite and he is like beyond finding out us Paul would say his ways are past find his ways are past lining up but he is fully knowable and by fully knowing him we can fully love him we could fully honor him absolutely praise Him we worship Him so praise the Lord for his revelation of himself to us and and giving us a price as it says in caution in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form you want to know what God really looks like you know Jesus said he was seen me has seen the father you wonder what Kaaba looks like studying the Scriptures even the Old Testament that Jesus said you know it is they which testify of me Old Testament and New Testament you could spend a lifetime spend a hundred years understanding the scriptures and never not fully grasp all the riches it’s like you know how many people seen the movie Aladdin right remember when he walks into the Cave of Wonders and there’s all these tractors and stuff like that I imagine you know if you could there’s more there than you can grasp your hands around and God is just so infinite but we’re so grateful that he came in the person of Jesus Christ someone we couldn’t understand and we follow so let’s just close the prayer Lord Jesus it’s a truly precious that you’ve revealed yourself to us in the word and you are the great I am and you are the way the truth the life the door and where Jesus may impress upon us the holiness of your character in person the uniqueness being fully God in human flesh and for that we thank you for revealing these truths to us maybe taking to heart may we love God through you and give him all the glory in your name