Or who else could have said, "Before Abraham was, I am"? (John 8:58.)
Let us refer to another familiar statement: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." . . Do we think him presumptuous in this claim? No, we accept it. Why? "As the Father knoweth me, even so I know I the Father:" Conceive the magnitude of this claim which no one questions! "and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. . . I have power to lay (my life) down, and I have power to take it again. . . The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. . . . My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no one is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are One."
