Hi p_rehbein,
I quote again this from your post, where I Gave one response, but I want to give more on the term I AM:
John, Chapter 8:
58) Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
Exodus, Chapter 3:
14) And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
Response: --- In Exodus 3 when Moses went to see the burning bush “The Angel of the LORD” spoke to him and 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.”
--- It doesn’t identify who the Angel of the Lord is, but when ‘Angel’ is capitalized it refers to one that represents God. --- And they have been identified as “The Seven Spirits of God in Revelation 1:4. “The Seven Spirits that are before His throne.” --- And they have been identified as the Seven Archangels. --- We have Gabriel who appeared to Zecharias, and said in Luke 4:19 “I am Gabriel who stands in the presence of God.” --- Michael is called an Archangel in Jude 1:9, --- Raphael said this in the Douay Bible, Tobit 12:15 “For I am the angel
Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord.”
--- And another, Uriel, whose name means “God is light,” and the three others are not named here.
If these are the ‘Angels’ or special Messengers of the Lord, they can represent God, without being God. --- Notice again,
‘The Angel of the Lord’ said, “I
am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
He goes on to say in 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 will certainly be with you.”
13 Then Moses said to God (notice he called Him 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.’ ”
The term I AM can refer to heavenly Beings from what is called ‘Eternity past.’ --- That means before ‘time was recorded,’ as we know it. --- If we notice it is on Earth that days are measured, and the Sun and Moon were set in the heavens to mark times and seasons, days and years. Genesis 1:14.
Notice that it says in Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” --- (So the earth did not exist before that, and time was then recorded on earth.) --- Again it says in John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” --- So the Word existed with God in the beginning of Genesis.”
--- I want to show that heavenly Beings who existed in ‘eternity past’ have represented God on earth. --- Not only does it say, ‘the Word was God,’ but this archangel said ‘I AM the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,’ because He said, “I will send you to Pharaoh.” --- And when Moses asked, “Who will I say has sent Me? And the Angel of the Lord said, “I AM has sent you.” --- “The Present One,” --- “I AM WHO I AM.”
Next we will look at John 8 where Christ said, “Before Abraham was, I AM.”