Conclusion of "If Not Good - Not God."

Conclusion of:

If Not Good - Not God. 

by I.M. Haldeman

On one occasion when talking to the Jews Jesus said that Abraham had rejoiced to see his day, had seen it and was glad. They turned upon him and reminded him he was not yet fifty years old, how then could he have seen Abraham, or Abraham him - that Abraham who had been dead nearly two thousand years?

He faced them and said, "Truly I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am."
There is one place in Holy Scripture where this phrase is supremely used. In the third chapter of the book of Exodus it is recorded that God manifested himself to Moses at the burning bush, and there declared himself to be the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He commanded Moses to return to Egypt, appear before Pharaoh and demand the release of the children of Israel from their cruel bondage; and when Moses inquired by what name he should speak to the people, he answered,

"Say unto them, I AM has sent me to you."
"I AM."
To the Jew these two words set forth the supreme name and title of the eternal God.

In saying, "Before Abraham was - I Am," Jesus announced himself to be the eternal, self-centered, supreme being, Almighty God. When he said this, and because they understood him, because they knew exactly what he meant by these words, the Jews took up stones to stone him.

Jesus asked, "For what good work do you stone me?"
They answered, "For a good work we do not stone you but for blasphemy; because you, being a man, make yourself out to be God."

The Jews were not deceived. They knew what he had done. They knew he claimed to be no less than very God himself.

Therefore: If Jesus Christ were not Almighty God, he was not a good man.
No mere man can claim to be God and be good.
He who, as mere man, claims to be God, robs God of the glory that is exclusively his.
No man who robs God of equality and who deceives men into believing that he is God, can be good - he is a wicked and blasphemous deceiver.