John 1:1-5 says,...



Today we start our morning studies on The Gospel According To John.  Let us see if we can get through verses 1 through 5 of chapter 1.

v.1 - "In the beginning"...and let us pause because doesn't that sound like Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1?  "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."  The Apostle John mimics the very first verse of the Bible because he is going to talk about what happens in relationship to creating the heavens and the earth in regards to Jesus.  

"...was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."  

Jesus is the Word and we find out that Jesus was not only with God in the beginning but He was also God in the beginning.  It was like God spoke things into existence and Jesus was the very words in which it happened.  The Apostle John is introducing us and those who read this gospel account of Jesus of Jesus' deity.  Jesus was not only there, He also was who made it all happen.  We are being introduced to the truth that Jesus was fully God, the God of creation.

v.2 - "He was in the beginning with God."

Let's say the statement a second time.  The Apostle John is telling them that the One they had observed and listened to was fully man but before He existed with the Father in heaven.  He came from there to here.  He made Himself known to us.  

v.3 - "All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being."

We know from the Genesis account that everything came into being by God speaking.  "God said" and it was so.  Jesus is the Word, the Logos, and therefore Jesus is God's speech to all of creation being in existence.  The Apostle Paul spoke of this in Colossians chapter 1 and verses 16 and 17, which reads,

"For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him.  He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together."

The writer of Hebrews starts with these words in chapter 1 and verses 1 and 2,

"God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in may ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed Heir of all things, through Whom also He made the world."

v.4 - In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.

The Apostle John now gives us another word about Jesus and it is "light."  Jesus is God's words and Jesus is God's light.  Jesus is the life of creation and at the same time the Light or the answer or the truth in contrast to darkness and deception.  Light in the Scriptures refers to biblical truth while darkness refers to error or falsehood.  The Apostle John uses the word "life" some 36 times in this Gospel and "darkness" 8 times.  Jesus is going to illuminate truth to men.

v.5 - The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

The darkness did not comprehend the Light, Jesus, but also did not overcome or conquer the Light.  We have experienced a single candle light in a dark room.  It overcomes or conquers the darkness.  It brings security and warmth.  It changes the whole atmosphere and you are drawn to that light.  What a beautiful picture of Jesus.  He is the One who is in the midst of darkness to show us who to come to.  In Him is the security of salvation and the warmth of God's love.  Jesus wasn't just the Word that brought about creation, He was also the Light to be the answer to creation.

And so the Apostle John pulls us back to the beginning when we think about the life of Christ.  He doesn't start at the manger in Bethlehem but at the right hand of the Father in heaven being His words for the world to begin and His light for men to be drawn to in the midst of the darkness of sin.  Let us pray.

"Father, thank You for giving us Your Word and Your Light.  Thank You Jesus for providing salvation to us through Your sacrifice on a cross and the rising from a grave.  We are so blessed to have the common grace of living in this beautiful world You spoke into existence but also blessed to have the saving grace of a begotten Son who gave His life to the answer of our sin.  Amen."

Pastor Adam
A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 38th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Galatians #15 - Galatians 6:11-18 - "On The Road Again..."

Image
  Another week closer and it involves some more travel for the Wolfgangs.  I feel like the Willy Nelson song, " On the road again... "  I don't know if I agree with the next line though. " ...I can't wait to get on the road again. " One of the members of the church in Wisconsin calculated that I will travel well over 10,000 miles to make this transition.  Traveling mercies prayers please. Last Sunday we will look at Paul's final words to the churches in Galatia.  He brought them the gospel (good news) message of Jesus and what resulted were churches forming throughout the region.  The letter is to defend that message that our salvation comes from and is in Christ alone.  Christ's sacrifice on the cross was sufficient for the forgiveness of our sins.  The summary statement of the letter is found in  Galatians 6:15 (LSB) .  " For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. "  Translated another way earlie...
Read more

God gave us a good weather window to travel...yeah God!!!

Image
  Berthoud Pass Here we are at the top of Berthoud Pass.  It was a whirlwind week to conduct a " hand off " service in Wisconsin on 3/17 and then preach a Palm Sunday sermon in Colorado on 3/24.  We give God all the glory for this happening.  So there are two video links at the bottom of this blog.  One is for the Wisconsin service and the other is for the Colorado service.  I racked up over 12,000 in the last 7 weeks.   I love to take these pictures sitting from the front row of chairs and listening to the one God has provided for the church I had been serving for 20 months.  I now have 3 and I am so thankful for the opportunity God gave us to serve Him in this type of ministry over the last 5 years.  It has been great to add to our daily prayer list Zach in Maine, Chris in Ohio and now Stephen in Wisconsin. This was our set up for the 2000+ mile trip.  No " hiccups " except for the strong eastern winds in Kansas.  Of course e...
Read more

Resurrection Sunday in a new space...Matthew 27.62-28.20

Image
  Resurrection Sunday has come and gone but it was a sweet day to be with the gathered saints of the Stillwater Community Chapel .  We are venturing through the Gospel of Matthew and this Sunday will take us back to Matthew 1.1 but last Sunday we were in Matthew 27.62-28.20.  It was a lot to cover so the white board was truly a help to keep me on track.  This year in my Resurrection Sunday message, I focused on the contrast of the cover-up story of the disciples stealing the body of Jesus fueled by a bride and the commission of speaking of a risen Lord fueled by boldness . After the service upstairs, we ventured downstairs to the lower level and had a great meal together.  The conversations around the tables allowed us to continue to talk about the passage of Scripture we covered upstairs.  Maybe this is a very informal picture of what happens at the  Waushara Community Church called the " Going Deeper " classes of the Come For More hour following t...
Read more