Thought from today’s Bible reading from John 7-8.
There are many people in the world who believe that Jesus was just a regular human being and that He never possessed the attributes of Deity. Some among our own brethren believe that Jesus surrendered His deity when He came to earth. Both of these theories are debunked by Jesus’ own words.
Notice the conversation Jesus had with certain ones of the Jews who did not believe in Him:
“‘Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.’ So the Jews said to Him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have You 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 hid Himself and went out of the temple” (John 8:56-59).
When Jesus used the term “I am” to describe Himself, He used the same name of God that had been revealed to Moses: “God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM’; and He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, “I AM has sent me to you”‘” (Exodus 3:14). By using this term, Jesus was unmistakably claiming to be God in the flesh. The Jews knew exactly what He meant and therefore, because they did not believe Him and His claims, tried to stone Him to death.
It is vitally important that we believe Jesus’ claim about Himself. He said earlier in the chapter, “Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24). If you read this verse in your Bible, the word He is likely in italics, which means it has been added by the translators. What Jesus was actually saying is that if we do not believe that He is the I AM (God in the flesh), we will die in our sins.
Let us not be like the Jews on this occasion who rejected Jesus’ claims about Himself. Instead, let us believe in Jesus Christ who, while He lived on the earth, was God in the flesh. Paul wrote, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9). This must be believed if we hope to have the forgiveness of sins.
Tomorrow’s reading: John 9:1-10:21
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
Daily Notes & Observations contains all 365 articles from this series and is available in paperback from Gospel Armory.
