May 16
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The passage from John really speaks to how Jesus is the whole point of the Bible. Jesus gets into a pretty fierce debate about whether or not this group of Israelites understand the Old Testament. They are very proud of their status as the "children of Abraham" and not a slave to anything. Jesus is telling them that to be a child of Abraham is to have faith and obedience in the Christ, the Son of God, Jesus Christ. He also rewrites Israelite history, or rather describes what it's all about. To be a slave to sin ultimately means a slave to our own sinful desires. to be freed from slavery means to be freed from the corruption of sin, the pain and death it causes us. To follow and believe in Christ means to be transformed down to the core. To reject the Christ is to be a "child of Satan". Pretty harsh! But the truth is, you're either one or the other. You either follow Christ or follow evil. Then Jesus says what they think he's saying in very clear terms "Before Abraham was, I am", (Remember in John, this phrase "I am" comes up over and over) For Jesus to say "I Am" is to repeat what the Lord claimed for himself on Mount Sinai. Jesus is saying he is the God of Israel. They start to stone him because it would be blasphemy to claim that you are God... that is, unless it were the truth.
Isn't it cool that we don't have to be descendants of Abraham to be free from sin?
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