It is true that Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, but it is also true that the Son of God who came into the world in human form did not begin at Bethlehem. Yes, there was a birth and a beginning of the God-man, but the second member of the Trinity was around before Bethlehem. He just took on human form. Welcome to Grace to You, featuring the Bible teaching of John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson.
Some cows and sheep, some shepherds, Mary and Joseph, probably an angel, and a baby resting in a manger. The traditional Nativity scene, at the very least, it gives an idea of what was going on the night Jesus came to earth. Question is, have you ever gone beyond the circumstances of Jesus' birth to really consider the person of Jesus Himself and the response you should have to the mysterious Jesus, the miraculous Jesus, the majestic Jesus, who came to earth and will reign for ever? Today John MacArthur helps prepare you for a Christmas of genuine worship. He'll be approaching Christmas truth from some angles you might not expect.
So stay here as he continues his timely look at the Jesus of Christmas. And now here's John with today's lesson. I want you to turn in your Bibles to a text which may not on the surface seem to relate to Christmas. But it does John chapter 8. John chapter 8.
And I want to read to you a fascinating account. Of Jesus. and the Jewish leaders. In John chapter 8, beginning at verse 51. Jesus said, Truly, truly I say to you, If anyone keeps my word, he shall never see death.
The Jews said to him, Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died. And the prophets also. And you say, if anyone keeps my word, He shall never taste of death. Surely, you are not greater than our father Abraham, who died.
The prophets died too. Whom do you make yourself out to be? Jesus answered. If I glorify myself, My glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say he is our God.
And you have not come to know him, but I know him. And if I say that I do not know him, I shall be a liar like you. But I do know him. and keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day.
And he saw it. and was glad. The Jews therefore said to him, You are not yet 50 years old, and have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, Truly, truly. I say to you, Before Abraham was born.
I am. Therefore, they picked up stones to throw at him. that Jesus hid himself. and went out of the temple. When you think of Christmas, You think of a baby being born.
When you think of the birth of a baby, you think of a beginning. The baby born in Bethlehem. Was a beginning. The beginning of the incarnate God in human flesh, the God-man Jesus Christ. But here, would you please note?
That the very one, Jesus Christ, who was born at Bethlehem, said. Before Abraham was born, I am. And so as you look at Bethlehem, and think of a beginning, you have to also realize that while there was the beginning of a life. The life that began Was the life of one who had no beginning. Jesus makes that abundantly clear in one of the most shocking statements he ever made.
Before Abraham was born, I am. When Jesus Said that Abraham saw his day and was glad. In verse 56, the Jews were absolutely shocked. What do you mean Abraham saw you? They knew that Abraham could not see into the future.
And so they rightly concluded that if Abraham saw you, it isn't because he's alive now, it's because you're claiming you must have been alive then. If Abraham saw you, you must have seen him. That shock. Registers their response in verse 57: You're not even 50 years old. How have you seen Abraham?
The number fifty is a round one, commonly referred to reaching maturity or agedness. You're not even an old man. You're not even mature yet physically. How could you ever? Make us to believe that you saw Abraham.
who has been dead for millennia. And the Lord's responding statement is monumental. Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born. I am. What a claim.
If we were to translate the Greek literally in verse 58, it would read like this: Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham became. What it means is, there was a definite point in time when Abraham began. A point in past history when the men who did not exist. came into existence. Jesus says, Before that I am.
That's the eternal present that indicates no beginning. To become is to pass from nothingness and non-existence to existence. But I am denotes a mode of existence which is not due to any such transition. It is a statement about eternality. It is a statement about everlasting life.
No beginning, no end. And thus does Jesus attribute to himself eternal existence in the absolutely divine sense? And even the word before is symbolic. It is a concession to human comprehension of time. For in the life of God there is no before and there is no after.
Jesus says, then I am the eternally existing one who eternally existed, whereas Abraham at some point in time began. And thus is Jesus claiming to be the eternal God. Psalm 90, verse 2 says, Before the mountains were born, or thou didst give birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. You are God, not you were, you will be, you are, the eternal present. Frankly, based upon the laws of grammar, that reflects.
An impossible statement unless the speaker is God. And indeed he is. And I believe of all the majestic and astounding claims that Jesus made in the New Testament, none has more elevated solemnity than this one. This phrase Before Abraham was, I am, harbors within it the most authentic, the most audacious, and the most profound claim Jesus ever made regarding his being. And the Jews didn't miss it.
They knew exactly what he was saying. They knew he was claiming to be the eternal one. The timeless one. The God who is from everlasting to everlasting. They knew, therefore, that they must fall on their faces immediately and worship him as the creator God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the eternal God, or else they would stone such a claim because of its blasphemy.
So they made their choice in verse 59. They took up stones to stone him. Any man. who would stand In the personification of such a claim, blasphemously claiming to be the eternal God. In the temple making such a claim.
Should have his life crushed out. And so they attempted to do it and he escaped. But when he said before Abraham, began I am In that little two-word phrase, I am. Jesus opened up. Vast understanding for us about who he is.
The familiar Greek words are ego, i, ami, am. Familiar words. They are really the Greek equivalent of an Old Testament name for God that we call Yahweh. It's called the tetragrammaton, made up of four letters. It is the name of God.
In the Old Testament. Use 6,800 times. I believe it comes from the Hebrew verb to be. And it is the Old Testament way of saying, I am. The Jews knew the name of God to be I am.
When Jesus said I am, they knew he was claiming to be God. To give us an understanding of the greatness and the vastness of this name, we need to go back to the Old Testament.
So, turn in your Bible to Exodus chapter 3. I believe you're going to be immensely enriched as you come to grips with the fullness of this name. In Exodus chapter 3, I call your attention to verse 13. God has made himself manifest to Moses in a most startling, shocking way in a burning bush. And God has commissioned Moses to lead.
Two million or so Jews out of Egypt to the promised land. In verse 13, Moses speaks to God. Behold. I'm going to the sons of Israel. And I shall say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you.
Now they may say to me, What is his name? What shall I say to them? There were many false gods. They all had names. Moses said, Now, when I go to them and say, I'm coming from the God of your fathers, and God has sent me to lead you out.
And they say to me, well, what God? What is his name? What do I tell them? Verse 14. God said to Moses, I am Who I am.
And he said, thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I am has sent me to you. I am. That's his name.
Now, what is bound up in that name?
Well, certainly eternal existence. the ever-living one, the continual eternal present tense. God has no before and no after and no past and no future, one eternal existence. That's bound up in I am. But that's not all, and I think most people stop at that point.
That's not all. Go back to verse 11 for a moment. Moses said to God, Who am I? that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt. What he's really saying is, Lord, you are overestimating my leadership ability.
Who am I to pull that off? Verse 12. And he said, Certainly. I will be with you. And this shall be the sign to you.
That it is I. who have sent you.
Now we learn a second thing about I am. I am is the eternal one. who is present with his people. I am, not in a distant sense. I am.
in a near sense. What does it matter to me if God is the eternal present, if He is not present with me? God says, I am the I am. I am the eternally living one who is present with his people. I will be with you.
present with his people. Go down to verse 17.
So I said. I will bring you up. out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, Amorite, Perizzite, Hivite, Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is a third element in the name I am, and he says, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt. I am not only the ever-present one.
I am not only the ever-present one who is near his people, I am the ever-present one near his people who delivers them. Who redeems them. And now the richness of his name starts to become visible. He is present. permanently.
He is not only present in the vast sense, but he is near to his people, and he is near with a particular desire to redeem and deliver them. This is greatly enhanced if you'll turn to chapter 6 in one of the most remarkable of conversations. God and Moses are still talking as Moses tries to figure out what the name of God fully means. And God in verse 2 says to Moses, I am the Lord. Would you please notice the word Lord?
If you have one of the newer translations, it should be in all uppercase letters, all capitals. That is how the translators have translated the word Yahweh, I am. If you see Lord with a capital L and small letters, O R D, it is Adonai, the word for master. If it is the I am, they are all capital letters. God says again to Moses, I am the I am.
I am the eternal one who is near his people with a purpose of redeeming them. And then in verse 3, the most remarkable thing. And I appeared to Abraham. Isaac and Jacob. As God Almighty, stop right there.
He says, Abraham knows me. Isaac knows me. Jacob knows me. Because I appeared to them, but I appeared to them as God Almighty. That's El Shaddai.
God the Almighty One. I appeared to them in strength. I appeared to them in power. I appeared to them in might. But back to verse 3.
But By my name, Lord, which is I am, by my name I am, I did not make myself known to them. Isn't that interesting? They knew me as El Shaddai. They knew me as Almighty. They knew me as powerful.
They didn't know me as I am.
Well, you say, now, wait a minute. Are you saying that the Tetragrammaton Yahweh doesn't appear in Genesis. No, it appears a hundred times, but it's not fully defined. Yes, they knew he was the eternal God. Yes, they knew he was near, and they drew near to him, and he to them.
But what they didn't know was God's the Redeemer. They didn't know that God was the rescuer of his people. God had revealed himself to the patriarchs in supernatural control over nature, supernatural control over history, supernatural control over people, supernatural control over events. They saw God as El Shaddai, the powerful one, but they never really knew him as the saving God of. of the covenant.
The quality, the full, rich quality of his name, I am. was now to be revealed for the first time in its fullness. In what sense? Verse 4. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned.
And furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant, that is the promise to give them the land. Say therefore to the sons of Israel, I am the Lord, I am the I am, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also, there's the key word, redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. God had never done anything like this before.
Now you will not only know that I am the eternal one, that I am eternally powerful, that I am eternally near my people, but now you're about to see my great strong arm of redemption. Verse 7: Then I will take you for my people. And I will be your God. And you shall know that I am the I am your God. who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
And I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession. I am the I am. And you see, God is defining what it means. Who is the I am, the eternal one? The eternal one who comes near to his people, the eternal one who redeems them, and then, according to verse 7, who takes them for his own people, becomes their God.
Verse 8 does all that that he might pour out blessing upon them. That's the redeeming, saving God.
So when you Hear God called the I am, you're not just talking about his eternality, you're not just talking about the fact that he is everlastingly existing. Much more than that. He is ever near to redeem, to form a people, and to be their God for the sake of their blessedness. He is the I am. The Savior, the Deliverer, the Redeemer, that is the essence of his name because that is his person.
God is not just an eternal being. He is an eternal being who draws near to men because he loves them. He does not just draw near, he redeems them. Not just redeems them, but makes them his own people and he their God, and then pours out endless blessing upon them. That is who God is.
And when you say, I am, all of that is summed up in that. Great name. Exodus chapter six, then, is a monumental text. in the definition of the very identity of God. It is a salvation name.
God is a God who has come to redeem his people. Who's come to make them his own and to give them a new quality of life forever? The whole saving enterprise of God is wrapped up in the name I am. The whole redemption that God has worked out from the beginning until now is bound up in the name I am. And so when Jesus comes into the world as the Savior, he must then be the I am, the saving God.
I am the eternal, transcendent God, he was saying. I am the eternal, transcendent God who has come to rescue his people from sin's bondage and to bring them into an eternal relationship with himself. I am, he is saying, the one who will make them my people that they might enjoy the unimaginable bliss of my blessings in this life and in the life to come in the glories of heaven. To know the meaning of that name is to understand God's redemptive purpose from the beginning to the end. This is an honored name.
This is an awesome name. This is a blessed name. The Jews knew it. And when Jesus said, I am, they picked up rocks to kill him because the blasphemy overwhelmed them because they knew exactly what he was claiming. And as I noted earlier, they had a choice, either fall on your face and acknowledge the God of creation and redemption, or stone this blasphemer who has the audacity to come into the temple and do this.
They made the wrong choice. He is the I am. John loves that term. He tried to capture the essence of the I am. in the words of Jesus when Jesus said, I am The bread of life.
When Jesus said, I am. The light of the world. When he said, I am the door, I am the good shepherd, I am the resurrection and the life, I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the true vine. John, by quoting him in all those phrases, is using those substantives to fill up the content of who the I am is.
He is the bread of life. That is, he is the one who savingly feeds the hungry soul. He is the light of the world, the one who savingly leads the sinner out of darkness into light. He is the door, the one who savingly opens the way to the kingdom. He is the good shepherd, the one who in salvation protects and guards and feeds his flock.
He is the resurrection and the life, the way, the truth, and the life. He is the true vine through whom we can produce fruit unto the glory of God. That's who the I am is. All of those are saving titles. and they fill up the content of the I am.
The Jews. Should have made the right choice. I made the wrong one. That is the most serious crime to be committed in the universe. In Deuteronomy 28, verse 58, we read these words.
If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, listen, to fear this honored and awesome name, the I am your God. Did you get that? If you don't fear this honored and awesome name, the I Am your God. Then the Lord will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even severe and lasting plagues and miserable and chronic sicknesses, and he will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. Also, every sickness and every plague which not written in the book of the law, the Lord will bring on you until you are destroyed.
God says, if you don't honor the name I am in its fullness, I'll destroy you. He's done it. When Jesus came into the world and said, I am. And they would not fear this honored and awesome name. but they crucified him on a cross, God destroyed them.
A few years later, in 70 AD, came Titus Vespasian and the Roman horde, and in the city of Jerusalem alone, 1,100,000 Jews were killed, and in succeeding months, 985 towns in Palestine were destroyed by the Romans, acting as the arm of the judgment of God. You must fear this honored name. This awesome name. It's about more than a baby in a manger. Christmas is about the Savior of mankind coming to earth.
That's a crucial reminder from John MacArthur as he continues his study here on Grace to You titled The Jesus of Christmas.
Well, friend, with the weekend upon us and just under a week until Christmas, shopping may still be on your agenda.
So, if you've not checked off everyone on your Christmas list, I have some gift ideas that can make a profound spiritual impact long after December 25th. First is the MacArthur Daily Bible. It's a practical help to build a daily habit of Bible reading. It gives you a portion of the Old and New Testaments, Psalms, and Proverbs for each day of the year, plus helpful notes by John that deepen your understanding of the text. And then there's the MacArthur Study Bible, always a popular Christmas gift.
It comes in multiple English and non-English translations, as well as different binding options. And an important note on delivery, today is the last day we recommend placing a Christmas order using our next day shipping option.
So to place an order and have it arrive before Christmas, get in touch today. Call us at 8005 GRACE. or go to gty.org. Again, today is the last day we recommend placing Christmas orders to receive them before the holiday. You'll need to choose the next day shipping option when you talk to our customer service representatives by 4 o'clock p.m.
Pacific Time today, December 19th. Our number again is 8005 Grace, or you can also select the next day shipping option when you place your order online before 1159 p.m. at gty.org. That's our website, gty.org. And I'd also encourage you to visit there to review any part of John's current series, The Jesus of Christmas, that you may have missed.
Our website has thousands of free sermons from John, more than 3,600 in all. And for your mobile device, be sure to download the GraceTU app. It gives you access to all of John's sermons wherever you take your phone. The app and all of John's sermons are available for free at gty.org.
Now for the entire Grace DU staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Remember to watch Grace to U television this Sunday on DirecTV Channel 378, or you can watch anytime at gty.org. And join us again for another half hour of Unleashing God's Truth one Verse at a Time. On Mondays, Grace to You.
