The Tetragrammaton

Jesus' Claim To Be YHWH JOHN 8:23-58

The most outrageous of the claims Jesus made was that he was/is God incarnate - the Messiah. In verses 23-24, 28 and 58.

Jesus made the most astonishing claim to be  I AM - in Hebrew YHWH (as in the image above) - The Tetragrammaton or Jewish four-letter representation for GOD (in English YHWH or YAHWEH, sometimes rendered JEHOVAH).

“You are from below; I am from above. You belong to this world; I do not. That is why I said that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I AM who I claim to be, you will die in your sins.” (Verses 23-24 )

Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man on the cross, then you will understand that I AM. I do nothing on my own but say only what the Father taught me." (Verse 28)

The Religious Leaders' Response To Jesus' Claims

The people said,

“You aren’t even fifty years old. How can you say you have seen Abraham?”

Jesus answered,

“I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I AM!"(Verses 57-58 )

To understand the stunning significance of these words, we need to go to The Book of EXODUS in the Old Testament and to the account of Moses' encounter with God at the Burning Bush.