Open your Bible and read John 8:48-59
“Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
John 8:58 · ESVThe grammar in that sentence is broken on purpose. Before Abraham was, I am. It should read I was. He does not say I was.
Go read Exodus 3, where Moses asks the voice in the burning bush for a name and gets I AM. That name was so holy his listeners would not pronounce it. Then a carpenter in the temple courts puts it in the present tense and applies it to himself.
They understood him perfectly. That is why the very next verse has them picking up stones. There was no confusion in the room.
He could have explained. One clarifying sentence and the rocks go down. He walks out of the temple instead, and a few chapters later that same claim is what gets him executed. He knew the price and said it anyway.
Do this today
Read Exodus 3:13-15 and John 8:58 back to back, in that order.
An honest thing to say to God
“If he really said this, he is either the worst kind of liar or he is God.”