John 8:56-59 - Before Abraham was , I am

8:56,57

Jesus now turns the screw even tighter. “Abraham rejoiced to see my day”. As it says in 1 Peter 1:10-12 the prophets looked forward to the day of Christ. But Jesus adds even more, “He saw it and was glad”, “it” being “my day”. It is not clear what precisely Jesus means by that. It could be that the “day of the Lord”, which is frequently referred to in the prophets, has now become “my day”, the day of Jesus. There are some more mystical interpretations as well. However, it is clear what the religious leaders thought. They took it as meaning that Abraham had seen Jesus, and they regarded this as impossible as Jesus was “not yet fifty years old”, i.e. it was physically impossible for Abraham to have seen Jesus. As an aside, the “not yet fifty” does not imply that Jesus was 49! It is just a rounded number. 

8:58,59

Yet again, Jesus corrects their thinking by making an even more audacious claim. “Before Abraham was, I am”. This is introduced by “Truly, truly”, so it is certainly a claim that is meant to be taken most seriously. It is generally believed that the “I am” statements refer back not to Exodus 3:14, but to Isaiah 40 to 55. Either way, it does not lessen the magnitude of the statement that Jesus is making. Jesus is eternal. This statement drew the expected reaction from the religious leaders. They picked up stones to throw at Him, but He hid himself and escaped.