I AM
When Moses asked God his name, God answered: "I AM WHO AM" (Exodus 3:14). It was the holiest name in Israel.
Then Jesus said this:
"Amen, amen I say to you, before Abraham was made, I am."
John 8:58
Not "I was." I am. The crowd understood him perfectly. They picked up stones to kill him for blasphemy.
Seven times in John
Seven times in the Gospel of John, Jesus says "I am," and each time he takes something the Old Testament says about God:
In the Old Testament, God fed Israel with bread from heaven in the desert. God is the light of his people. God is the shepherd of Israel. God gives life to the dead. Israel is God's own vine. Jesus didn't just borrow the pictures. He put himself in God's place in every one of them.
The Son of man
Jesus' favourite title for himself was "the Son of man." It sounds humble. It isn't. It comes from a vision in the book of Daniel:
"I beheld, therefore, in the vision of the night, and lo, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and he came even to the ancient of days... And he gave him power, and glory, and a kingdom: and all peoples, tribes, and tongues shall serve him: his power is an everlasting power."
Daniel 7:13 to 14
At his trial, the high priest asked him straight out:
"Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed God? And Jesus said to him: I am. And you shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of the power of God and coming with the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rending his garments..."
Mark 14:61 to 63
The high priest tore his clothes. He knew exactly whose title Jesus had just claimed.
He did what only God does
Some of his claims weren't words. They were actions. When Jesus told a paralysed man "Son, thy sins are forgiven thee," the scribes were horrified:
"Why doth this man speak thus? He blasphemeth. Who can forgive sins, but God only?"
Mark 2:7
They were right. Only God can. Jesus didn't back down. He healed the man on the spot, "that you may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins" (Mark 2:10).
He accepted worship
When a man fell at Peter's feet, Peter stopped him at once: "Arise: I myself also am a man" (Acts 10:26). Holy men and angels in the Bible always refuse worship.
Jesus never did. When Thomas saw him risen from the dead:
"Thomas answered and said to him: My Lord and my God."
John 20:28
Jesus didn't correct him. He answered: "blessed are they that have not seen and have believed" (John 20:29).
Why this is a big deal
A good teacher doesn't say "before Abraham was made, I am." A good man doesn't forgive other people's sins against God, or let himself be called "my God."
Jesus claimed the names of God, did the works of God, and accepted the worship owed to God. The people who heard him had only two choices: stone him, or fall at his feet.