Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto
you
Whether it will be believed or not, it is certainly fact:
before Abraham was, I am;
which is to be understood, not of his being in the purpose and
decree of God, foreordained to sufferings, and to glory; for so
all the elect of God may be said to be before Abraham, being
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world: or that
Christ was man, before Abraham became the father of many nations;
that is, before the calling of the Gentiles; for nothing is said
in the text about his being the father of many nations; it is a
bold and impudent addition to it: and besides, Abraham was made
the father of many nations, as Ishmaelites, Israelites, Hagarenes
long before the incarnation of Christ; yea, he was so from the
very promise in ( Genesis 17:5
) , which so runs, "a father of many nations have I made thee";
so that this appears a false sense of the text, which is to be
understood of the deity, eternity, and immutability of Christ,
and refers to the passage in ( Exodus 3:14 ) . "I am
that I am--I am hath sent me unto you", the true Jehovah; and so
Christ was before Abraham was in being, the everlasting I am, the
eternal God, which is, and was, and is to come: he appeared in an
human form to our first parents before Abraham was, and was
manifested as the Mediator, Saviour, and living Redeemer, to whom
all the patriarchs before Abraham looked, and by whom they were
saved: he was concerned in the creation of all things out of
nothing, as the efficient cause thereof; he was set up from
everlasting as Mediator; and the covenant of grace was made with
him, and the blessings and promises of it were put into his hands
before the world began; the eternal election of men to
everlasting life was made in him before the foundation of the
world; and he had a glory with his Father before the world was;
yea, from all eternity he was the Son of God, of the same nature
with him, and equal to him; and his being of the same nature
proves his eternity, as well as deity, that he is from
everlasting to everlasting God; and is what he ever was, and will
be what he now is: he is immutable, the same today, yesterday,
and for ever; in his nature, love, grace, and fulness, he is the
invariable and unchangeable I am.