In John 8:58, Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.” In this verse, God speaks about his divinity. 

He is revealing that He is God himself, and is the father of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is the beginning and the end. He said ‘I am who I am.’ When he said that what was the reaction of the people?

John 8:59: So, they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. 

When Jesus revealed his identity, the people wanted to attack him. The moment they stopped believing in Jesus, they started attacking him. Though Jesus was in the temple at that time, he hid himself and went out of the temple. 

Normally, Jesus is supposed to be in the temple. But the day will come, when we stop believing in him, Jesus will go out of the temple. When we are not ready to believe and accept him. He will move away from us. 

Even when we pray in the temple, God will not be there; Jesus will not be there. We expect Jesus to be there in our houses or in our prayer rooms when we pray. 

But if we do not believe that he is God himself and he is the Almighty God, He will hide himself from us. He will move out of that place. 

That is why many of our prayers are useless and not heard. In many places of worships nothing great is happening. 

It is because the people who are supposed to come and worship God are not ready to accept Jesus as God, the Almighty and Saviour. They do not believe that God is alive and is in front of them. But instead, they wait to attack him.

In such situations God will hide himself and go out of the temple. A temple is the place where Jesus is supposed to be. It is the place where Jesus communicates with people. 

A Temple is the place where we can see Jesus. It is the place where you can get everything from Jesus. But if you do not believe in him, he will go away from you.

Genesis 17:1-4: The Sign of the Covenant ¹When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless.²And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” ³Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him,⁴ “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations.”

Here God speaks to Abraham and tells him that he is making a covenant with him. When God made a covenant with Abram, he was 99 years old. 

When God first spoke to Abram and told him to leave his native place and go to an unknown place and he will guide him, Abram was 75 years old. 

He didn’t know where he was going. He didn’t know anything about it. He didn’t have any idea. He was already 75 years old. But he trusted in God. He followed God blindly and in full faith. 

He went through a lot of crisis on the way. Many times, he was rejected, many times he was frightened. There were times when he even lied to escape situations. He went through many problems. 

Even at the age of 75, he was childless. But God promised him a child and Abram accepted and believed that something special will happen. 

But at that time nothing happened. Then he went to Hagar, the maid servant of his wife Sarai and they had a child, whom he named Ishmael. 

The first-born child was from the maid servant. After that, there were problems occurring between Sarai and Hagar. That time God told Abram to leave the child in the wilderness. 

He had to get rid of his first-born son, Ishmael, who was born with the maid servant. She was not his officially wedded wife. At that time, he was 86 years old. 

When God promised him a child he was 75 years old and when he got a child with Hagar, he was 86 years old. 

After that incident, God never spoke to Abram until he turned 99 years old. There was no communication between them. For almost 13 years God was silent.

Then God suddenly come after 13 years; when Abraham was 99 years old. At that time God enters into a covenant with Abraham. 

Genesis 17:5: No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations.

From his birth till he was 99 years old, he was called Abram. That means ‘exalted father’. At the age of 99 God comes and changes his name to Abraham. 

Abraham means ‘Father of all Nations’ and ‘Father of multitude of Nations’. That is how God changed his name.

Changing name is the sigh of Authority. It is a sign of possession. For e.g., when we adopt a pet, we give them a name. That shows our authority over that pet, or the ownership over that pet.

In the same way, by giving a new name to Abraham, God takes control over Abraham. When we receive Baptism, we are given a name. From that day through Baptism, God owns us. We are owned by God. We are possessed by God.

Abraham was possessed by God, when he was 99 years old, though he started his spiritual journey when he was 75 years old. 

When he was 99 years old God entered into a covenant with him. For e.g. when we are buying a property, we start a process. 

We go through all the terms and conditions, check all the documents, rules and regulations. We follow all the proper steps and then only do we sign the documents and enter into a covenant. In the same way, in our spiritual life, don’t expect every covenant to be done first. 

First you have to prove yourself. You have to prove your connection with God, your obedience to God, your faithfulness to God, your love for God. Then only you can enter into a covenant 

First you have to live your true Christian life. You have to prove that you love Jesus and that love should be manifested in your way of life.

If you see the life of the Apostles, Jesus called the 12 Apostles during his 3 years public ministry. 

He appointed them when he was doing his public ministry. He did not make them Apostles on the first day. He gave them authority only on the last day of his life; Authority to forgive sins, to heal the sick and cast away the devils. 

He gave them a special anointing only after Resurrection. He called the Apostles and said to them: as the Father sent me, I send you – to heal the sick and to forgive sins. All these things happened only after the Resurrection of Jesus.

He told them go to the ends of the Earth and proclaim the good news. That is after his 3 years of public ministry. 

God will use you powerfully; but first you have to be with God. That is why it is written in the Bible – The first duty is to be with him. The way the Apostles were with him during his public ministry for 3 years.

Prove yourself by being with Jesus, then, you will be sent out. Many people want to go out, but they don’t want to be with God. 

They want to be the Ministers of God, but they don’t want to pray. They want to do mighty things. But they don’t have the time to sit in the presence of God.

That is the problem with us. God will make a covenant only with those people who prove themselves to be with him. 

We should examine our conscience before entering into a covenant with God. Do we really love God? Are we really ready to be with him? Are we really faithful to our God? 

Until and unless we prove our love, commitment, faithfulness in reality, we are not able to enter into a covenant with God. We have to be with God; we have to be with him for a longer time. Then only we will be sent out to preach.

Transcribed by Greta Furtado