The other day I was reading the discussion of Jesus with the Jews in John 8. The final question of the Jews is, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?" To this Jesus replied, "Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am."

It hit me when I read this that the verb "to be" is very foundational in God's declaration of who he is. When He said, "I AM" in revelation at the burning bush to Moses, that's all that needed said. Then here in John 8, Jesus references this once again in his declaration to the Jews. It's throughout Scriptures. The very basis of who God is, who He claims to be, and how He reveals to us these things of Himself, are all referenced to using the verb "to be."

And (this is the cool part), there is not one language I know of that doesn't have "to be" as the very central, most crucial verb in the language. I'm not a linguist, so there could be room for correction here, but it's amazing to me that when God divided the languages at Babel, He still included as the very core of each language the very verb that He needed to indicate just who He is.