Intro

• Context and Structure of John
  • 3 Passovers (Hanukkah)
  • Jerusalem-centric
• Tabernacles for this account
• TRANSITION: Read 8:31-59

If the Son….I AM

• I AM – 8:58 is our primary text for this text as a part of this series
  • Of all the I AM statements in John this is the one where Jesus most explicitly, most directly ascribes to himself the very name of God…but is Jesus really taking the name as his own?
  • Their response shows how they heard it, and I would argue how it was intended to be heard.
  • This Side of the Cross: I AM – Aug 2014 - This is the 2^nd half of that sermon
  • My focus this morning is on the context of Jesus’ profound statement: Before Abraham, I AM
  • TRANSITION: note how many uses of father, son, descendants, family, children – 20
• Father and Son motif runs through the passage
  • Cultural understanding of father/son relationship
  • Father Abraham and his descendants
  • The devil and his children
  • Eternal Father and Eternal Son
• Father Abraham and his descendants
  • Reading responses only – their 1^st two responses
  • Jesus’ statements on descendants vs children – 37, 39, 56
  • Romans 9:8, Galatians 3:7-9 – true children of Abraham the man of faith
  • Conclusion – true children of Abraham are those who faith is credited to them as righteousness

8:44 Your father the devil – WOW! - Caustic exchange

• Twice he says they are looking to kill him because they don’t hold to his teachings
• 8:31 to the Jews who had believed in him…not referring to “saving faith”
• Those who have begun to follow him, because he may indeed be the Messiah, the king of Israel
• “Jesus is winnowing his followers”
• John 6:53, 60, 66 eating his flesh and drinking his blood, a hard teaching and many stop following
• I believe the answer why Jesus does this is found in John 6:15 – it’s a political motivation
  • We’re not slaves, we’ve never been slaves
  • Zealots
• TRANSITION: Mitchells - Listening with the intent to understand

Understanding Jesus’ teaching in the midst of the exchange

• Tangent on Amen! Amen! – slide of 8:58 in Greek
  • At the beginning – Truly! Truly! or Very Truly in NIV
  • At the end – Let it be so  Deuteronomy 27
• 3 times in this passage – 34, 51 and 58
• Jesus sent by his Father
  • 38 I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence
  • 40 the truth that I heard from God
  • 42 I have come here from God…God sent me
• To set the slave free – hold to my teaching and be set free, free from sin and death
  • 35-36 comments – Son vs son
• 8:53 Are you greater than our Father Abraham – 4:12  8:53  Before Abraham was born, I AM!
  • Because Jesus speaks with the authority of his father
  • Verse 36 – if the Son or if the son
  • Indeed he carries the name of his Father…I AM
• TRANSITION: Back to 8:58 As a young believer I found it grammatically jarring…

Be set free through his teaching and his eternal presence

• Present tense – Exodus 3:14, John 8:58
  • He IS revealing to Daniel what’s to come
  • He IS present with the exiles
  • He IS calling Ezekiel to be a living testimony
  • He IS in the fire with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego
  • Isaiah sees him seated on the throne, filling the temple with glory
  • He IS at the head of the armies leading Joshua to Jericho
  • He IS wrestling with Jacob, turning the deceiver into an overcomer
  • He IS telling Abraham and Sarah they WILL have a son
  • And He IS before Abraham, walking in the garden with Adam and Eve
  • John 1:1-3 IN THE BEGINNING was the Word…
• But I AM doesn’t just mean he WAS present but that he IS present, in our midst, advocating on our behalf, with us ALWAYS even to the end of the age
• There are two great promises here
• TODAY Jesus has been sent from the Father, the eternal Son with all the authority of the Father to set you and me free from sin and death.

BENEDICTION

• It’s the year 2020…
• 6 years ago… To know I AM is to know who I am
• I want to call us to revisit those passions which animate our actions
• Receive this blessing…

Research / Other

• Is the exchange with believing Jews?!?!
  • 8:33 They answered him
  • 8:39 they answered
  • 8:41 they protested
  • 8:48 The Jews answered him – a change? Referring to Jewish leaders?
    • Except in 8:44 Jesus calls them children of the devil

win•now wĭn′ō

To separate the chaff from (grain) by means of a current of air.

To blow (chaff) off or away.

To examine closely in order to separate the good from the bad; sift.

• Detailed Greek study of 8:58
  • Including Amen, Amen
• How does the Septuagint present Exodus 3:14?
  • 14καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεὸς πρὸς Μωυσῆν λέγων Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν καὶ εἶπεν Οὕτως ἐρεῖς τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραήλ Ὁ ὢν ἀπέσταλκέν με πρὸς ὑμᾶς.
• How does a Hebrew new testament express 8:58?
  • 58 וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵיהֶם יֵשׁוּעַ אָמֵן אָמֵן אֲנִי אֹמֵר לָכֶם בְּטֶרֶם הֱיוֹת אָבְרָהָם אֲנִי הָיִיתִי