Do you see that word, ‘
Before’… It means, by context:
- ‘GREATER THAN’
- ‘The Head of’
Jesus said the same when defending himself from the Jews who did not believe that he was the messiah, the Christ, because they were expecting a warrior Messiah to rid them of their persecutors, the Romans.
Jesus told them that if they listened to the words he was speaking to them then they would not die. So they retorted that:
- “Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?" (John 8:53)
Jesus spoke of Spiritual death - death of their Spirit - but they erred in thinking of death of their physical body.
- Jesus replied, "If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me… Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.".
Jesus reminds the Jews that
THE FATHER is whom they call ‘
GOD’ and it is that same Father that glorifies him. And that the glory of his (Jesus’) day, this day, was FORESEEN by Abraham. And the
foreseeing made Abraham glad knowing that the
MESSIAH was to come from the his family lineage…
The Jews are astonished at Jesus’ knowledge of the patriarchs and blurt out:
- “"You are not yet fifty years old," they said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!"
The ‘
not yet fifty years old’ refers to age of learnedness in the scriptures, the Torah. It was like saying, ‘You’re just a kid - what do you know!!?’
Jesus assures them that
HE IS GREATER THAN ABRAHAM (in answer to verse 53)
- "Very truly I tell you," Jesus answered, "BEFORE Abraham, I am!"
How on earth or in heaven do you read that Jesus saying that he was greater than Abraham turns into the meaning that Jesus is ALMIGHTY GOD, and especially as Jesus had just referred THE FATHER as ALMIGHTY GOD that the Jews claim.
So, it was Jesus’ EMPHATIC CLAIM that he was indeed greater than Abraham that caused the Jews to want to stone Jesus.
This is drawn out in another incident more directly related to the messiahship of Jesus wherein the Jews dragged Jesus off to Pilate and Herod (Luke 22:67 - 23:..)
And yet another incident when they falsely accuse Jesus of claiming to be almighty God - which Jesus emphatically denies (John 19:24)
So, ‘
BEFORE’, John the Baptist refers to Jesus as being ‘
BEFORE HIM’… meaning that,
- Though John was OLDER than Jesus, Jesus was ‘BEFORE JOHN’.
Clearly, this ‘before’ is not about age (Chronology) but rather, GREATNESS!
Hence, Jesus being ‘Before all things’ means that he is ‘GREATER than all things’ in reference to creation.
@
John 1.12, Who is greater:
- The one foreseeing the day of the coming messiah
or:
- The Messiah who’s day was foretold by the foreseer?
’Head of the body, the Church…’
@
John 1.12, :
- Jesus is the head of the church…
BUT WHO OWNS THE CHURCH? Who’s church is it that Jesus is the head of?
- Jesus is the Shepherd of the Sheep
BUT WHO IS THE OWNER OF THE SHEEP? Who’s Sheep is it that Jesus shepherds?@
John1.12, What is ‘the fullness’ that the Father was pleased that Jesus was filled with?
When did Jesus get filled with the fullness?
Wasn’t it at his anointing at the river Jordan written about and spoken of by the apostles, for instance:
- “You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached-- how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.“ (Acts 10:37-38)
Here again, you expose yourself… but that is good!
IF JESUS DID CREATE ALL THINGS then HE WOULD BE CALLED “
FATHER”.
But GOD is called “
FATHER” …
- “for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live” (1 Cor 8:6)
- “one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Eph 4:6)
- “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God,” (John 17:3)
and Jesus calls himself, “
SON OF MAN”:
- “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.” (Matt 25:31)
- “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (Mark 2:10)
- “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10)
And, what does ‘
Son’ mean to you in respect of the scriptures?
And, what does ‘
Father’ mean to you in regard to the scriptures?
And, what does the word, ‘God’, mean to you in any aspect?