Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. — John 8:58
It is our nature to try to relate people to those we know. We relate them to places they work, the type of work they do, or even the type of car they drive. We come to expect people to be in certain places, wearing certain things, and even looking a specific way. We put people into our perception of what they should be.
That is exactly what the Jews were doing here in the passage of our verse. Jesus was trying to teach the people that He was different than Abraham and anyone else that had come before. They wanted to try to relate Him to the greatness that they knew from days gone by. Jesus was far different than anything they had ever experienced.
They questioned Jesus’ statement about Abraham and Jesus made the statement before Abraham was, I am. As they were trying to fit Jesus into the mold of what they wanted Him to be, they lost sight of who He was. He was not just another person, He was the Son of God! He was not a figure from the past, but rather God in flesh in front of them!
In our human minds, we often try to do the same thing with God. We try to fit God into the idea of what we want Him to be. We place restrictions on God and how we expect Him to respond in our situations. To do such a thing does not benefit our situation, but rather restricts God!
God is the great I am. He was present thousands of years ago doing great work in the Old Testament and He is still present and able to help in our situations. Don’t try to restrict Him, but instead let Him freely work in your life today.
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