Purity said:
How does it relate to Abraham seeing Christ afar off?
“I Am” – 1 Pet 1:20 Grk: “proginosko” = “know beforehand” cp John 1:30
Im sorry but I don’t see how "I am he" does anything to credit Jhn8:56 with the sheer outrage they experience in Jhn8:57. It seems to do very little in clarifying his divinity, the question would still come "He who?" I fail to see why the questioning would stop there in outrage.
It would prompt the Jews to ask him to clarify his statement.
And then they tear their clothes and pick up stones.
"I am" is a direct and deliberate identification and is very obviously a direct referral to the “I am” of exodus and cause for them to call him out for blasphemy instantly, after all that’s what he was killed for. They were trying to pin something on him, but some magician calling them names and calling himself the coming Messiah would not be enough.
"I am he" Is a flimsy statement and holds little confirmation, if it were "I am he" then Jesus's true identity would soon be called in to question and more so today.
It would only serve to irritate them if anything at all.
As for calling them children of the devil and so on being the fuel to the fire, he was not the first to do it and live.
John the Baptist had no problem calling them out.
(Matthew 3:7)
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?”
Remember it wasn’t the Pharisees who had his head cut off.
During the entirety of Jesus's ministry he refers to himself as being one with the Father, he performs great miracles right in front of them and calls them out on all their shenanigans, and all the while they plot to kill him, they just need the one statement from him to put him away for good and it certainly will need to be something condemning, and what more condemning then the direct referral to himself in the oneness he has been talking about since the day he began preaching.
Moses was told to go and set Gods people free, and when Moses asks who shall I say sends me God says tell them “I am who I am.” Tell them that “I am” sends you.
It will be the great “I am” who will set the people free.
Jesus here is on the verge of setting his people free, and when the “Pharaohs” of the Old law badger him as to his Authority, comes the echo from past, Jesus stands before them and exclaims “I am.”
This is a direct slap in the face, it is purposeful = purposely referring to the "I am" of Scripture, historical Scripture they know better than any man and they know the story of Moses back to front and inside out and they understand the impact of this most sacred of names.
It is confronting = They are face to face with a man referring to himself as not just a divinity but God himself, the one they profess as their God.
Convicting = They are the ones God is setting his people free from, out with the old and in with the new. their ways have been judged and they have been found wanting.
This is what sends them in to a frenzy, this is what gets Jesus nailed to a cross.
Dress up "I am he" all you like, compared to relevance of "I am" especially at this particular moment of extreme pivotal importance is insulting and demeaning.