Am

“So they took up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple.” (John 8:59).

Justin Martyr (Unknown)

I have been thinking about the eternal nature of God.

After all, the planet earth has existed for hundreds of billions of years.  And the dinosaurs – which inhabited the earth for hundreds of millions of years – lived hundreds of millions of years ago.

And these creatures that existed and died out hundreds of millions of years before we humans were even created, were not the first lifeforms on the planet.  In fact, life began as single celled organisms and over a period of millions and billions of years, these organisms evolved into all the most complex forms of life that we have on this planet.

And that is how I have been reflecting on the nature of God as eternal.  When God created the universe, He did so with the intention to create humans in His own image.  And He planned that out eternally even before the beginning of time.  And the number – the scale of that is so huge to me and in my mind, that I am simply overcome.

And when I consider the words that Christ used as a Perfect Man in the Gospel, telling the Jews that He was “I AM”, I consider the eternal unchanging nature of God…

“Jesus said to the Jews: ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, if any one keeps my word, he will never see death.’  The Jews said to Him, ‘Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, as did the prophets; and you say, ‘If any one keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you claim to be?’...  Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.’  So they took up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple.” (John 8:51-59).

Christ knew exactly what He was saying by using those two small words.  He was talking about His eternal and Divine nature.  And the Jewish people understood this too.  And that was why they wanted to kill Him.  They could not fathom God in this human form as the Messiah, when He did not fit within any of their preconceived notions of perfection…

And the Early Christians supported these beliefs with their life.  In fact, Saint Justin Martyr, who was martyred in the second century AD, was beheaded for refusing to deny the Divinity of Christ.  His unwavering belief in Christ as I AM meant that he would witness to the Divinity of Christ by his very death.

And I have been thinking today, about all the various things that have led me to this point in my life, and I am completely overcome that before the beginning of time, my God planned them out for me…  Every single one of them…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.