Notes on John 8:12-30
“I am.”
To most people, hearing those words would seem totally inconsequential. For most Christians, they would have to hear them in a particular context before they took on any significance. If a Jew in the first century heard those words, the meaning should have been perfectly clear.
I am God. I am YHWH. I AM.
These are the words that Jesus spoke to the people after He stood in the temple courtyard, telling them that He was the one that the water and the light was pointing towards. He was the one who, through things such as water in the desert and a pillar of fire, God was directing Israel to for millennia.
Now He was standing in the presence of all Israel, proclaiming this wonderful truth. And they sought to seize and kill Him. Sin, of course, was the cause of their blindness. But on the surface, they were seeking to put the messiah to death because Jesus didn’t fit their expectations.
To the Pharisees, He wasn’t on their side. Their self-righteousness had them so twisted up that they were unable to put two and two together from the Law they knew so much about. Even though they memorized their scriptures, they couldn’t glean the most vital truths. It is that sin-fueled, myopic, self-centered mindset that pitted “God’s people” against God Himself.
It was a similar mindset that led the common people to shout crucify Him! months later. He didn’t deliver them from Rome, then and there, and had stopped filling their bellies with bread.
It was a similar mindset that led the Sadducees to see Him as a threat instead of a deliverer, the rich young ruler to walk away dissatisfied, and the thief on the cross to mock Him.
It is also the similar mindset present today, as many reject, walk away, or mock Jesus because they believe that He never claimed to be God.
In just the passage in question, Jesus identifies Himself as the God of the Old Testament twice.
“…unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (24)
“When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He” (28)
Most scholars believe that Jesus was specifically referencing this passage in Isaiah when He said “I am He”:
“You are My witnesses,” declares the Lord,
“And My servant whom I have chosen,
So that you may know and believe Me
And understand that I am He.
Before Me there was no God formed,
And there will be none after Me.” (43:10)
Yet because Jesus doesn’t say “I am God” in the manner that satisfies the contemporary demands of skeptics, their lack of faith seems justified. Ultimately, it is their sin that is blinding them and keeping them from seeing the truth. Still, it is important to note for the sake of apologetics and for our own edification that their reasoning is unfounded, faulty, and, again, myopic.
Christ revealed Himself, including His deity, in a manner that was perfectly clear. With only a little bit of perspective, we can appreciate how clear His message was then and still is today.
