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Facing Jesus’ Claims of Divinity
By Jennifer McClure | May 30, 2008
Oh to be a fly on the wall when Jesus declared His divinity to the Jews of His day. Actually, I’d rather be something that was not so nasty. I guess being invisible would work. Anyway, I was reading in the Gospel of John earlier this week, and by the end of chapter 8, I found myself cheering for Jesus, pumped up for how directly he answered the Jews’ questions of who He claimed to be.
“ ‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I am!’ ” (John 8:58, NIV)
In my American mind, He doesn’t appear to have said, “I’m the Messiah. I’m the Son of God. I am God.” But the people He was speaking to that day knew what He meant. I believe they would have immediately associated His statement of “I am” with what God told Moses in Exodus 3:14.
Moses had asked God who he should tell the people it was that sent him. God replied, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” That Jesus’ statement would clearly connect to Exodus 3:14 offers a sound explanation as to why the crowd “picked up stones to stone Him” once Jesus said “I am.” They viewed His statement as claiming to be God, which was a crime punishable by death.
To Jesus’ audience, His statements were clearly claims of divinity. In that chapter alone, Jesus makes the following statements: “I am the light of the world (John 8:12). “I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me” (John 8:16). “I am from above. … I am not of this world” (John 8:23). “I am not possessed by a demon, but I honor my Father” (John 8:49). “My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me” (John 8:54).
Jesus proclaims himself as the Son of God made in verse 54 and as equal with God in verse 58. If Jesus was a good teacher, why would He make such claims and teach such things as, “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12) if they weren’t true?
Topics: Devotional |
