This is one of the scriptural statements that declares the eternality or pre-existence of Christ. He was emphatically asserting here that he existed before Abraham. Nothing could have been more true, and yet the unenlightened Jews thought it could not have been more false. It is the same today. Those who are void of divine light and understanding no more believe in the divinity or deity of Christ than did these obstinate, hard-hearted Jews. They could not see past the human nature of Christ. They knew that He was less that fifty years old and therefore they concluded that it was impossible for Him to be older than Abraham. They had no knowledge of His divine nature, even though He demonstrated it on numberless occasions. How much do those miss who can only look on the outward appearance! Blessed are those who have spiritual vision.

There has never been a greater man apart from Christ than John the Baptist (See Matt. 11:11 & Luke 7:28), and he was fully aware that even though he was born before Christ, yet Christ, in His divine nature, existed before him. He said, "He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me" (John 1:15). We are not left to wonder what he who was the forerunner of Christ believed about Him. And of course John the apostle also plainly declared the pre-existence of Christ when he wrote, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1).

There are many other scriptures that declare the eternality of Christ, such as Micah 5:2, & John 17:5,24, but we need not multiply arguments. Believers will believe and unbelievers will not, but to God's humble followers the deity of Christ is a precious truth, for if He had not been God manifest in the flesh (I Tim. 3:16) then His death on the cross would have meant nothing and they would yet be in their sins and would have no hope of heaven.    ---Elder Ralph Harris