Christ in John -- The Word

The fourth of the gospel books is John, written sometime between 80 and 90 A.D., and it was written by the man who was probably the closest, most intimate friend and apostle of Jesus.  He referred to himself as “the one whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23, 19:26, 21:7).  John’s story of the Good News, the life of Christ, is different from the first three, referred to as the synoptic gospels.  (Synoptic means “to see together.”) The first three Gospel books cover pretty much the same material, but from different points of view.  But John’s gospel, although he does cover some of the same material, focuses more on who Jesus is, rather than what He did.  Each event John chronicled points to who Jesus is, not to the event itself.  Because his book was written so much later, some might say that John had forgotten a lot of the events that the other writers included in their books.  But I don’t believe that for a minute.  John had not been silent for all those years after the resurrection of Jesus.  He had been preaching and teaching about all he had seen and heard while he walked with Jesus.  Those events had a profound influence on him, and nothing could have erased any shred of detail from John’s memory. His book was intended to serve a different purpose than those of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  And John begins in the very first verse of his book to achieve that purpose – to put into words all that he knew about who Jesus was, has always been, is, and always will be:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1-5)

Here John referred to Jesus as the Word.  The word John used was the Greek word, Logos.  It means the same today as it did then.  When we speak, and when we write we use words to express what is in our minds.  That is the only way anyone can know what we are thinking.  And what we think defines who we are.  John is telling us in his book that Jesus came as the Word of God to tell us and to show us who God is and what God thinks.

John goes on to say that the Word was God.  Jesus also told us that He was God:

“I and the Father are One” (John 10:30).

So God came to us, in the flesh of a human Man so that we can know Him.  What is more, John tells us that Jesus was with God “in the beginning” before creation began.  So when we read the creation account, we can know that it was the Word, Jesus, who spoke the universe into existence:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light (Genesis 1:1-2, emphasis added).

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness” (Genesis 1:26a, emphasis added).

John elaborates on the fact that Jesus was with God in creation when he tells us that through Him all things were made.  In fact, he says if anything was created, He created it.  And when we see the creation of man in Genesis 1:26, we see the plural word “our” which removes any doubt that Jesus was an active participant in creation, as was the Holy Spirit.  We were created in the image of God, with an eternal spirit, just as God is eternal and is spirit, just as Jesus is eternal and shares the Spirit of God. We were created in His image.  Wow!  I don’t know about you, but that makes me stand in awe, humbled to think of all the possibilities God has given to us.  But it also makes me realize just how small I am, and yet He knows me inside out, better than I know myself, because He created me and gave me a spirit that is capable of communicating with Him.

John goes on to say that in Jesus there is life.  We are alive in our bodies for awhile, but the life that Jesus gives us is eternal, either with Him or separated from Him:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

And John tells us that the life that Jesus lived brought light to the world.  Light exposes things.  Have you ever tried to read a book in the dark?  That would be silly.  We need light to expose the words to us.  And that is just what Jesus did.  He came as Light to the world, so that we can see who God is.  He exposes the good things, but He also exposes evil.  Evil does not want to be exposed, so the world tried to extinguish the Light that God sent.  But there is something about light – dark cannot extinguish light, but light extinguishes darkness!  And Jesus could not be extinguished – not 2000 years ago, and not today!  His Light still shines brightly, exposing all the evil of sinful man.  No matter what we call evil, even if we call evil “my right,” or “normal,” or “politically correct,” evil is still evil. The Light we call Jesus exposes all evil:

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God (John 3:19-21).

If we see so much of who Jesus is and who God is in these first four verses of John’s gospel, just think how much more we will learn as we read the rest of this marvelous book!  My time and space is limited, so I pray that you will study the entire book for yourself.  Begin by studying the seven “I am” statements that Jesus made about Himself:

1.  “I am the Bread of Life” (John 6:35-51)
2.  “I am the Light of the world” (John 8:12, 9:5)
3.  “I am the Door” (John 10:7-10)
4.  “I am the Good Shepherd” (John 10:11-18)
5.  “I am the Resurrection and the Life” (John 11:25-26)
6.  “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6-7)
7.  “I am the True Vine” (John 15:1-8)

Then you might want to study the miracles that John recorded in his book.  Each of these miracles reveals to us at least one attribute of God:

1.  Changing the water to wine (John 2:1-11) reveals His blessing, His sufficiency, His superior provision
2.  Healing the son of a royal official (John 4:46-53) reveals His power over illness, that He is trustworthy
3.  Healing the paralyzed man (John 5:2-8) reveals His compassion, His enabling power
4.  Feeding of the five thousand (John 6:1-15) reveals His bountiful provision, His involvement of men in achieving His plan
5.  Walking on water and calming the storm (John 6:16-21) reveals His comfort, His power over nature and the laws of physics
6.  Healing the blind man (John 9:1-41) reveals His power over blindness, both physical and spiritual, His sinlessness, His judgment
7.  Raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-44) reveals His power over death, His compassion, the fact that He works in His own timing, not ours

John tells us himself why he wrote his book:

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name (John 20:30-31).

And that is my prayer for you this week – that you believe and have life in His name. 

 

All scripture references are from the New International Version.