8:58 I am. This is probably the most unmistakable claim of deity yet made by Christ, and the Jewish leaders clearly understood what He was saying. He not only was referring them back to Abraham’s vision (see note on John 8:56), but also to Exodus 3:14, when Moses asked God His name, and received the reply: “I AM THAT I AM.” That is, God told Moses (and Jesus told the Jews) that He was the eternally existent One, the Creator and Sustainer of all things. “Before Abraham was [i.e., ‘was born’], I am.”