“Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?” (John 8:57).
The response of the Lord Jesus in the very next verse makes it clear that the claim made in our text was wrong. The Lord was very much older than fifty years. He was and is the great “I AM” of Exodus 3:14. Not only did He live before Abraham, but He was before time itself. Time is something our Lord created. There is irony in this. Creationists are frequently criticized for believing “young” vs. “old,” but here the supreme creationist corrects in the opposite direction.
This does not mean, however, that He, the Creator, holds to an older view of creation than Scripture—the notion that the original six days spanned aeons. He who was there at creation informs us that Adam and Eve, our first parents, though made on day six, were “at the beginning” (Matthew 19:4)—not millions or billions of years after “the beginning.”
Our first parents lived in a flawless world where everything was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). People today, living after the Fall and flood, stand on fossil remains of extinct animals and experience decay and disease, but there is no Biblical reason to believe that it was the same for Adam. Corruption and death came after they disobeyed the Lord.
He also corrects mistaken chronology in relation to our future. Many see physical death as final, but this also is wrong, for His life given to believers extends infinitely in the future. He said, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25).
Unbelievers of old and unbelievers today are confused about chronology; their perspectives exclude the Lord, the key to understanding time. May He who has shown grace and mercy to many in past ages extend, according to His good pleasure, similar grace and mercy to many who are confused about chronology today. PGH
