Bringing Light Into The Darkness

I am a person who enjoys words. When I study a passage of scripture I like to look up the origin of words and see what they mean in the original language. I like to put words together to convey my thoughts and often write them down in poetic form, so the first chapter of John really intrigues me.

In the beginning was The Word and The Word was God, He was in the beginning with God.

John starts his gospel by referring to Christ as the Word of God. It is interesting that John alone refers to Christ as the Word of God. He refers to Christ in this way in the this first chapter of John, in I John 5:7 where he states "there are three who bear witness in heaven the Father, The Word and the Holy Spirit and these three are one". He also refers to Christ as the Word in Revelation 19:13 when he states "He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood and His name is called The Word of God"

Other writers call the scripture the word of God and there is a direct correlation between the scripture and Christ as we will see later, but John alone refers to Christ as The Word using a proper noun.

Did you ever wonder why John used the phrase "The Word" to describe Jesus Christ?

There are several possibilities:

1. Language is the means that man uses to communicate with each other. Almost without exception words are descriptive of something. DESCRIBE SOMETHING. Christ is the Word of God! What this means literally is that Christ alone describes God.

In Matthew 11:27, Luke10:22 Christ tells us that No one knows the Father except the Son and only those who the Son reveals God to will know God.

John tells us in verse 18 of the 1st chapter the no one has seen God at any time and the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father has declared Him.

How does Christ reveal God and His plan for humanity to us? He does it through His word - the scripture. The scripture then is the word of God given to us by The Word of God Christ so that we may understand God and know His will and desire for us.

This is very important for us to understand in this day and age for many declare that they know God. Many religions and many isms which have sprung from Christianity declare that those who they worship have revealed God to them. Almost all of do not deny that Christ gave us the word of God they claim that Christ was not the sole dispenser of God’s word. This leaves us with a dilemma. If Christ is not the sole dispenser of God’s word then He is a liar, for He claims that He alone can reveal the Father to us.

2. John may be taking us back to the beginning to creation. Genesis 1:1-2 tells us: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. The Hebrew word for without form in this passage is tohû and gives us a picture of confusion and chaos. So we see the earth is empty, it’s full of confusion and darkness surrounds. A picture of total desperation. The earth was literally drowning in despair. BUT LOOK AT THE SECOND PART OF THE VERSE - the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. This is an awesome truth! God is omnipresent and should bring great peace to the believer for no matter where you are no matter what circumstance faces you God’s Spirit is present hovering over the waters. Then something wonderful happened. GOD SPOKE. The Word of God, Jesus Christ pre-incarnate, created light in the darkness.

Is your world full of chaos? Are you drowning in despair? Are you surrounded by darkness? God’s Spirit is present He knows what you are going through. Allow Christ to speak in your life through His word. He will shed the light of truth on the situation and bring peace and understanding into your life.

3. By declaring that Jesus Christ is the Word of God John also reveals to us a basic rule of Biblical interpretation which many evangelicals in the past century have forgotten. When God speaks the object and means of His interaction with this world is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the focus of all that we receive from God. Jesus Christ and His body (the church) is the reason for the creation of the world and this world will exist only until that kingdom is complete. All of history is His story. From the moment He spoke light into the chaotic cosmos in Genesis until the "Surely I come quickly" of Revelation 22:20 all of scripture points to Christ and has the sole purpose of guiding His subjects to Himself and equipping them for service in this world. When you study that precious book you hold in your hands don’t seek for a vision into the future or you will may lead yourself into error. Seek Jesus and His righteousness in each and every page and you will be led into eternal life.