Getting to Know Jesus by Name #37: I AM

John 8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” 57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

The Gospel of John is well-known for its great "I AM" statements, where Jesus uses different pictures to describe His character and His purpose, but none is more powerful than this simple statement here: I AM.  The verb AM means to be, exist; to have existence or being."*  There is no predicate nominative, leaving us to fill in the blank: "I Am before Abraham Existed... I am before anyone existed."  The implication of His statement was that He claimed to be God, and He was and is.  Such blasphemy moved these men to want to kill Him, because He had insulted their "father",  Abraham.  When Jesus claims to be I AM, He is saying He is equal with God, and as such is the source of all life, all being, all reality.  Jesus knew saying this would get such a response, and was ready to slip away, knowing His time had not yet come.  

*(Diann Cotton: 100 Days with Jesus)