Moses said to God that the children of Israel will ask the name of the one who sent him, then asked what name shall he tell them: "Καὶ εἶπε Μωυσῆς πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἐξελεύσομαι πρὸς τοὺς υἱοὺς ᾿Ισραὴλ, καὶ ἐρῶ πρὸς αὐτοὺς, Θεὸς τῶν πατέρων ἡμῶν ἀπέσταλκέ με πρὸς ὑμᾶς: ἐρωτήσουσί με, τί ὄνομα αὐτῷ; τί ἐρῶ. πρὸς αὐτούς; Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Θεὸς πρὸς Μωυσῆν, λέγων, ἐγώ εἰμι ὃ "Qu: (
I AM THE BEING): καὶ εἶπεν, οὕτως ἐρεῖς τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραὴλ, ὁ Ὧν ἀπέσταλκέ με πρὸς ὑμᾶς (say to the children of Israel
THE BEING has sent me to you)." (Ex. 3:13-14)
Fast forward to the scene of Jn. 8:58, where Jesus claimed to be eternal and to have existed before Abraham, but more importantly, He called himself by the ancient title ascribed only to God Himself: "...πρὶν (
before) Ἀβραὰμ (
Abraham) γενέσθαι ἐγὼ (
I) εἰμί (
AM)." The Pharisees knew exactly what Jesus meant by this. From their perspective, Jesus said specifically, “I am God.” How do we know this was their interpretation of His words? We know it from their reaction. They responded by attempting to stone Jesus for claiming to be God (an act of blasphemy they considered worthy of death): "ἦραν (
picked) οὖν λίθους (
stones) ἵνα (
to) βάλωσιν (
throw) ἐπ' (
at) αὐτόν (
him): Ἰησοῦς δὲ ἐκρύβη καὶ ἐξῆλθεν ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ," but He escaped them (Jn. 8:59).
Now,
how was Jesus existing
before Abraham was born? As He's always existed: as the Word
with God (ὁ (
the) λόγος (
Word) ἦν (
was) πρὸς τὸν (
with) θεόν (
God), and at the same time also
as God (θεὸς (
God) ἦν (
was) ὁ (
the) λόγος (
Word) (Jn. 1:1), the eternal God "Θεὸς αἰώνιος" (Gen. 21:33),
and the Word (God) became flesh and dwelt among us (Jn. 1:14).
In Jn. 10:22-36, again the Pharisees understood Jesus was calling Himself God, and they wanted to kill him for it, for they said: "ἀπεκρίθησαν αὐτῷ οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι, Περὶ καλοῦ ἔργου οὐ λιθάζομέν (
stone) σε (
you) ἀλλὰ περὶ (
for) βλασφημίας (blasphemy), καὶ ὅτι σὺ ἄνθρωπος ὢν ποιεῖς (
making) σεαυτὸν (
yourself)
θεόν (
God)" (Jn. 10:33), and Jesus didn't deny it because He did as He's God Incarnate.