He meant Jesus was God…
John 8:58-59
58
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was,
I am.
59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. (KJV)
What was it about Jesus saying "I Am" that so caused the Jews to want to kill Him? "I AM" is the sacred name, Jesus was calling Himself God! Observe God's sacred name that he Himself spoke to Moses:
Exod 3:14
14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. (KJV)
Jesus was/is God and He stated so. While it is somewhat obscured in our English translations, the Jews knew full well that
Jesus claimed to be God in the flesh (for Jesus spoke to everyone in their native tongue, therefore when Jesus told them in Hebrew that He was the
"I AM," what He was saying was
'EHaYEH , or the title fully stated
'EhaYEH aSHER 'EYaYEH which means:
I AM THAT I AM, or I will be what I want to be –— I exist (by self), self existent, God Almighty, created by none, but simply became –— was –— is. To this day, Jews will not pronounce
'EHaYEH , for they reason that for a Hebrew in the Hebrew tongue, to say the name
'EHaYEH, is itself calling oneself God.
The point is that with this single utterance Jesus had at once claimed that He was God Almighty. For this the Jews sought to kill Him because
had it not been true (but it was) then it would have been blasphemy punishable by death for a man to make the claim. So in that the Jews could have meant 'well.'
BUT, Jesus was God, so it was not blasphemy for Jesus to say it. But the Jews did not believe that Jesus was the
Immanuel -
God with us (Isa 7:14) that the prophets of old had foretold of. But they should have, for he fulfilled over 300 Old Testament prophesies!
John 8:58-59
58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
John 5:18
18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. (KJV)
John 10:32-33
32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. (KJV)