Jesus Declared Himself as the GOD "I AM" (JOHN 8:58 / EXODUS 3:13-14)

PEOPLE like MUSLIMS, MEMBERS of the IGLESIA NI CRISTO (INC) and JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES (JW) say that JESUS NEVER SAID that HE was GOD.

WRONG.

JESUS DECLARED in MANY and VARIOUS WAYS that HE was GOD.

ONE is by DECLARING that HE was the GOD who INTRODUCED HIMSELF to MOSES.

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In JOHN 8:58, JESUS SAID, "Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I AM."

The "I AM" is the GOD who INTRODUCED HIMSELF to MOSES in EXODUS 3:13-14.

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EXODUS 3:13-14
But Moses said to God, "If I come to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?"

God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." He said further, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

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So, in JOHN 8:58, JESUS DECLARED that HE was NOT ONLY GOD, but HE WAS HIMSELF the GOD of the JEWS.

HE was the "I AM."

The REFERENCE and DECLARATION of JESUS of BEING the GOD "I AM" in EXODUS 3:14 was SO CLEAR to the JEWS that THEY TRIED to STONE HIM. (JOHN 8:59)

In the BIBLE, STONING is a PUNISHMENT for BLASPHEMY, which in this case was WRONGLY THOUGHT by the JEWS when JESUS DECLARED HIMSELF as GOD.

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The declaration of Jesus being the GOD of the Jews is MADE CLEARER when He said that HE EXISTED "BEFORE ABRAHAM."

WHO in the NEW TESTAMENT could SAY that HE EXISTED BEFORE ABRAHAM?

NO ONE, EXCEPT GOD.

In JOHN 8:56, JESUS even DECLARED that ABRAHAM "rejoiced that he would SEE my day; he SAW IT and was glad."

ABRAHAM SAW the DAY of JESUS.

HOW? WHEN did ABRAHAM SEE the DAY of JESUS?

In GENESIS 17:1, GOD APPEARED to ABRAHAM: "When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, "I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless."

In GENESIS 17:15-16, GOD TOLD ABRAHAM that HIS WIFE, SARAH, would BEAR HIM a CHILD in her OLD AGE.

So, in the following verse in GENESIS 17:17, ABRAHAM LAUGHED--at first, a LAUGHTER of DISBELIEF which would later be REPLACED with GLADNESS when his SON ISAAC was BORN.

The name ISAAC means, HE LAUGHS.

In another incident, ABRAHAM SAW the DAY that GOD SAVED ISAAC from being a LIVING SACRIFICE. (GENESIS 22:1-14) And surely, ABRAHAM was so GLAD that he named the PLACE of SACRIFICE as "YAHWEH YIREH," which means "YAHWEH PROVIDES."

JESUS SAID that it was HIS DAY that ABRAHAM SAW. And what ABRAHAM SAW was the DAY of GOD.

So, in JOHN 8:56, JESUS was DECLARING that HE was the GOD whose DAY ABRAHAM SAW.

Clearly, JOHN 8:56 and JOHN 8:58 CLEARLY SHOW that JESUS had DECLARED HIMSELF as GOD.

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But ANTI-CHRISTS try to attack JOHN 8:58 by citing JOHN 9:9, where a man whom JESUS HEALED of blindness said "I AM."

So, those who deny Christ's divinity mockingly say that the former blind man was "ALSO GOD."

Not so fast.

In JOHN 8:58, JESUS DECLARED that HE was the "I AM."

In JOHN 9:9, DID the FORMER BLIND MAN also DECLARE that HE was the "I AM"?

NO. MUSLIMS, INCs or JWs only TRY to MAKE it APPEAR that way.

A simple analysis of JOHN 9:9 and its context would show that the FORMER BLIND MAN was only ANSWERING QUESTIONS about HIMSELF.

In JOHN 9:6-7, JESUS HEALED the BLIND MAN, who had been BLIND SINCE BIRTH, and HE BEGAN TO SEE.

In JOHN 9:8, the NEIGHBORS of the FORMER BLIND MAN SAW HIM and were SURPRISED. The NEIGHBORS KNEW HIM as BLIND SINCE BIRTH and could NOT BELIEVE that HE could ALREADY SEE.

FULL OF DOUBT, the NEIGHBORS began to ASK: "Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?"

So, in JOHN 9:9, the NEIGHBORS were ARGUING AMONG THEMSELVES if the man was the one who was FORMERLY BLIND.

To settle the issue, the MAN who was BLIND said that HE was the MAN they were TALKING ABOUT.

It was NOT a DECLARATION that HE was the "I AM" but a DECLARATION that HE WAS THEIR NEIGHBOR who WAS BLIND but COULD ALREADY SEE.

So, THERE is NO CONFUSION or INDICATION that HE TOO was CLAIMING to be GOD, as JESUS DID ni JOHN 8:58.

MUSLIMS, INCs and JWs are only trying to SOW CONFUSION to BELIE the DECLARATION of JESUS of HIS DIVINITY.

To these UNBELIEVERS, JESUS has a WARNING.

JOHN 8:24
I told you that you would die in your sins, for YOU WILL DIE IN YOUR SINS UNLESS YOU BELIEVE that I AM.

THOSE who REFUSE to ACCEPT that JESUS IS GOD "WILL DIE," JESUS SAID.

So, BETTER BE WARNED.