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