If you haven’t seen the 1985 movie ‘Back to the Future’ more than once, you have more than likely had opportunity to. The premise of the story easily catches the imagination. ‘What would I do if I could go back in time?’ Of course, going back and participating in the events of your parent’s youth only heightens the imagination’s anticipation. One of Director, Stephen Spielberg’s jokes was the car used: The DeLorean—with the gull-wing doors. You’ll recall that it disappeared into the past at 88 miles per hour. The hidden humour was in the fact that a standard production DeLorean couldn’t go 88 miles per hour, even if it wanted to. The movie was yet another phase in the ‘Time Machine’ genre made famous by H.G. Wells in 1895. Being able to traverse time is an exciting prospect. Jesus stood in front to the religious leaders of his day and spoke as if he had personally met God, Abraham and the prophets. Ending the conversation, he said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad” (Jn.8:56). They didn’t miss his meaning. Thus, they challenged his notions of divine time-travel by asking, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” (Jn.8:57). Jesus didn’t walk off in disgust at their inane questioning. Instead, he specified exactly who he was in relation to time and eternity. Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am” (Jn.8:58). He claimed to be the answer to Moses question: “What shall I tell them” [your name is]? God answered Moses “I AM WHO I AM.” (Ex.3:13-14). The teachers of the Law of Moses knew exactly what Jesus was claiming to be—The Eternal God. This was, in their minds, blaspheme. A crime punishable by death by stoning. “Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple (Jn.8:59). We may feel we are stuck in a paradigm we know as time, but God isn’t. And that makes for a lot of exciting possibilities coming our way.
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