23/12/2024
1 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘎𝘰𝘥. 2 𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨. 3 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥. (John 1:1-3)
The story of Jesus’ genealogy varies in the gospels. Matthew traces his lineage back to Abraham, the father of Israel. Luke would trace it back to Adam. But John would open the doors to eternity, and go beyond time to declare that in the beginning…was the Word. These echo the first words of the Bible:
𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩. (Genesis 1:1).
Just a few words, but are full of meaning. First it declares that God stands outside and apart from creation, for He alone is the eternal creator, the source, the beginning, the power that caused all creation to come to being ex nihilo – or out of nothing. Then it demonstrates the powerful, irresistible power of the creator. Eight times in Genesis 1, “God said..” and it was done.
In a sense, the synoptic gospels would demonstrate the humanity of Christ without denying His deity, but John’s gospel would declare His deity for all to see. This Word, this Logos, was with God, and was in fact God. John1:3 shows that He was active in creation, and nothing, absolutely nothing came to be apart from Him.
Now we may ask, why did John call Him “logos” or “Word?” To the Jew, the idea of the word relates with the power of Yahweh. In Genesis, Yahweh spoke, and things came to being. Psalm 33:6 declares:
𝘽𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙔𝙖𝙝𝙬𝙚𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙨 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚,
𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙤𝙛 𝙃𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙩.
Now to the Gentiles, particularly the Greek, they conceived of a “logos” as well. In 500 BC Heraclitus taught that the universe operates by a unified ordering principle, a rational principle which he called the logos. Later, stoic philosophers would describe this logos as the one that gives life to the universe.
So when John uses the same word, he is bridging the message to both Jews and Greeks. To the Jew, He says, “the creating, upholding power of God is in the eternal Word” and to the Greek he is saying, “This logos you conceive of is not an impersonal force but a person. To both John is saying: this logos, this power that "upholds all things by the word of His power" and the one from who is Life itself has a name - 𝗝𝗲𝘀𝘂𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗚𝗼𝗱.
14 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘩, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩. (John 1:14)
The Word became flesh. The Word became flesh. To the Jew, this would be shocking: how can the invisible, totally transcendent, holy, holy, holy God become flesh? Literally, it means he became meat. To the Gentile, it would be just as shocking: pagan gods sometimes assumed human form, but they never became flesh and blood like us.
The Word dwelt, tabernacled, among us. The Jew would immediately see the parallelism: just as Yahweh tabernacled among His people in the Old Testament, the Word would dwell, would live, among us – yet not only in terms of proximity but in terms of identity: for He took on all that we are, except for sin.
The eternal, most holy, most powerful Word of God, came down, went down to our level, to dwell among us, to be one like us, to take on flesh like us, to breathe like us He dwelt among us…tabernacle among us, lived among us, became one of us. He would live as one of us, teach and preach to us, calling us to repentance, and finally, die in our place.
𝘸𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳,
John spoke of His glory: a unique, incomparable glory that can only be the same glory of God that Moses beheld, now in the flesh. Now walking among us. Perhaps John was referring to the transfiguration, where Jesus’ glory shone, where His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light (Matthew17:1) but I believe it referred to the whole experience of being with Jesus, talking to Him, observing His ways, hearing His words. The glory then is not a singular experience but the totality of His being: they beheld Jesus’ glory because Jesus is Himself glorious, for He is 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩.
Jesus came and dwelt among us. The light, the life, full of grace and truth, the eternal Word, eternal Son of God came among us, but many would reject Him. But there are those who accept Him for all that He is: Messiah of Yahweh, Savior and Lord.
12 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦, 13 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘩, 𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘢𝘯, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘰𝘥. (John 1:12-13)
Jesus gives the promise that all who receive Him He will make into God’s children. But what does it mean to receive Him?
• To receive Him means that we first acknowledge that we are sinners undeserving of any mercy and deserving only punishment.
• To receive Him is to recognize that Jesus is our only savior and hope, that He died on the cross for our sins, and rose on the third day to give us new life.
• To receive Him is to believe Him, to trust Him completely and fully as our savior and submit to Him as our Lord.
• To receive Him means to turn away from our sins, and by His power and grace, to resolve to live lives that are pleasing to Him.
John also writes that this is more than just a human decision, because on our own, our sinful hearts will lead us to reject Jesus. God has to first work in our heart, convicting us of sin, and drawing us to Christ.
The spiritual rebirth, the act of being born again, is something that God alone does. He gives life to what once was spiritually dead, like the vision of Ezekiel in Ezekiel 37 where God causes the valley of dry bones to live. In the same way, Ephesians 2:1-3 describes us as dead towards God and alive towards sin…
4 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙂𝙤𝙙, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺, 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘶𝘴, 5 𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙪𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝘾𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴. (Ephesians 2:4-5)
It was God, not us, who made us alive, who caused us to see the sinfulness of sin, and the great grace and love of the Savior. It was God who caused our once rebellious hearts to bow in submission and receive Christ with joy and gratefulness. Such grace, such undeserved favor, such unmerited love, when we truly understand it, leads to worship and grateful obedience.
The good news of Christmas is that God has not left man in despair and sin. He sent a Savior, His Son Jesus Christ, to live among us and to die for sinners like us, promising salvation, eternal life, forgiveness, a new heart and a new beginning to all who receive Him. Have you received Him? Have you trusted Him? Have you repented and come to Him in humble faith?
16 “𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙂𝙤𝙙 𝙨𝙤 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙, 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙎𝙤𝙣, 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙤𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙝 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚. (John 3:16)
