f to
be, and without restraint, nothing less than Almighty God.

On one occasion when talking to the Jews he said that Abraham had
rejoiced to see his day, had seen it and was glad. They turned upon
him and reminded him that he was not yet fifty years old, how then
could he have seen Abraham, or Abraham him--that Abraham who had
been dead nearly two thousand years?

He faced them and said:

"Verily, verily I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am."

The striking thing in the statement is not the claim of pre
-existence--great as that is--not that he claimed to have been in
existence already--not fifty years merely, but two thousand--no! all
these utterances are remarkable enough, but these are not the
astounding thing he said. The astounding, the unspeakably
extraordinary thing he said is found in just two words:

"I am."

There is one place in Holy Scripture where this phrase is supremely
used. In the third chapter of the book of Exodus it is recorded that
God manifested himself to Moses at the burning bush, and there
declared himself to be the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the
God of Jacob. He commanded Moses to return to Egypt, appear before
Pharaoh and demand the release of the Children of Israel from their
cruel bondage; and when Moses inquired by what name he should speak
to the people, he answered:

"Say unto them, I AM hath sent me unto you."

"I AM."

To the Jew these two words set forth the supreme name and title of
the eternal God.

In saying, therefore, "Before Abraham was--I AM," Jesus announced
himself to be the eternal, self-centred, supreme being, Almighty
God. When he said this, and because they understood him, because
they knew exactly what he meant by these words, the Jews took up
stones to stone him.

If I were seeking to demonstrate by object lesson, and in a fashion
that would admit of no reply, that Jesus claimed to be Almighty God,
I would summon the mightiest and most masterful artist the world
knows to come and paint for me the scene which takes place a little
later as a consequence of that moment when he emphasizes his claim
by saying:

"I and my Father are ONE."

The picture would represent a great crowd of scowling, fierce, angry
Jews, their hands filled with stones--some of them drawn back, the
whole figure intense with readiness to cast the fatal stone--and
Jesus, standing a little distance apart, looking calmly on.

Underneath the picture I would have written i