Hi Bluto,
Quote from Post 909:
Please read John 5:17,18, John 8:56-58, John 10:30-37, John 19:7, and read the trial transcript at Matthew 26:59-67. I want you to notice what is the common theme in all these verses? Got to run!
Response: --- Let's examine the verses starting with John 5:
16 For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.
17 But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working."
18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.
19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.
--- From the time Jesus came He was called the "Son of God' and said God was His Father. --- So here the Jews try to accuse Him because He said 'God was His Father.'
They said because "He made Himself 'equal' with God."
We know that Jesus was born on earth without a human father, and 'He always did what pleased the Father.' --- But to do the work that the Father gave Him to do was simple obedience. --- It shows the subordination to the Father, does it not?
John 8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."
57 Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"
58 Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."
Response: --- It says in John 1:1 that there were two who were called God, --- Almighty God (Theov), and the Word called God (Theos).
--- All things were made through Him (The Word). --- And the Word could come to His own creation as it said in John 1:
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
--- So the Word could indwell Jesus and speak through Him, could He not?
We have to go back a little further to answer this. To Exodus 3:
1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
2 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.
3 Then Moses said, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn."
4 So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" --- And he said, "Here I am."
5 Then He said, "Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground."
6 Moreover He said, "I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.
--- Since Almighty God could never come to earth (His very approaching Presence would burn us to a crisp), --- then this appearance had to be the Word, who could not be seen, but spoke from the midst of the bush and said, "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
10 Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt."
11 But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?"
12 So He said, "I (the Word) will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain."
13 Then Moses said to God, "Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?"
14 And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’"
So we have the Word saying "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," and "I AM WHO I AM." or "I AM."
When it comes to John 8, the Pharisees were trying to discredit Jesus, so the Word was speaking through Him in John 8:
13 The Pharisees therefore said to Him, "You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true."
14 Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going.
21 Then Jesus said to them again, "I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come."
22 So the Jews said, "Will He kill Himself, because He says, ‘Where I go you cannot come’?"
23 And He said to them, "You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.
--- Only the Word or the Holy Spirit could speak prophecies through Jesus, and say, "You are from beneath; I am from above."
This was true, the Word was from heaven, and they were from the earth, beneath, --- Even Jesus was from beneath.
--- So the conversation continues until the Word says through Jesus, this statement:
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."
57 Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"
--- When did Abraham first meet the Lord? --- I Genesis 18:
1 Then the Lord appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day.
10 And He said, "I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son."
17 And the Lord said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing,
18 since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
19 For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him."
So the Lord had Known Abraham when Abraham was living and promised his son Isaac. --- The response was:
57 Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"
58 Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."
--- I will answer the others verses later.