Sermon Central
-
In The Beginning
Contributed by Hiram Withers on Dec 8, 2018 (message contributor)
Summary: As we celebrate Christmas, it is important to be reminded who we are celebrating.
“In the beginning.” The bible being made up of 66 books, when we hear these three words our minds often go to the book of Genesis yet, there is another book in the Bible the starts exactly the same way. There are only two books in the Bible the start this way one describes the creation of the world. The other describes the creator who through a miracle came and dwelt among his creation. Christmas is a celebration of that event a moment in history that changed to world forever. What caused that change is not found in the how or the when but in the who. Who was this child that they had the power to change the world? Why did he come? Where did he come from? The answers are found in the beginning.
John Chapter 1
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God all things are made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made in him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
“Word” comes from the Greek word logos and really has a deeper meaning than most of us would think. When we think of the word logos think of a logo such as the Nike swoosh or something else that represents a certain company. And in that sense Jesus became the representation of God on earth. Words are used by us to communicate thought and reason, so God sent The Word so that we could grasp a better understanding God’s message. Jesus revealed the thoughts of God to mankind. In Matthew Henry says,
“The plainest reason why the son of God is called the Word, seems to be, that as our words explain our minds to others, so was the Son of God sent in order to reveal his Father’s mind to the world.”
“In the beginning was the Word.” In human standards everything has a beginning. We live in a temporal world where time matters. I had a beginning my beginning as explained to me by my mother started about 4:20 AM on November 3, 1958 I was in a hurry to get here and was born on a gurney on the front lawn of St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nevada. We could even go back further and say that my beginning happened at the point of conception, which was sometime between February 6 and February 14 of 1958 In human standards it is hard for us to realize that something doesn’t have a beginning, yet that simple sentence in the beginning was the Word establishes one thing about Jesus and that is Jesus is eternal, he had no beginning. Before light, before the stars and before the creation of man there was Jesus. Jesus was there in the beginning and was there before the beginning. If Jesus is not eternal than what we believe as Christians becomes a lie. It is because Jesus is eternal and knows the beginning and the end that we can put our confidence and our faith in him for our salvation.
“And the Word was with God.” The second thing that we see here is that Jesus has a personal and deep relationship with God. Jesus is the power that fulfills the purpose of God. Jesus is the Creator. All things were made through him.
“For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether through dominions or rulers or authorities are all things were created through him and for him.”
He is a distinct personal being who has an eternal relationship with God and is in active fellowship with God.
“I have come in my Father’s name.”
These six words in John summarize this relationship and the importance of it. Jesus being the sole representation of the Father on earth and the results of this sole representation that we are justified before the Father through Christ. “For this is the will of my Father that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” It because of this personal eternal relationship between Jesus and the Father that we have access to the Father. “Whatever you ask in my name this I will do that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”
“And the Word was God.” Here, John expounds upon the divinity of Jesus, although a complete and separate personality from the Father. He is still part of the Father. He and the Father are one and he is not a created creature he is the Creator. He is a distinct personality of the Godhead. Jesus has always possessed total authority over heaven and earth. He was with God and he was and is God. The deity of Jesus is perhaps one of the most disputed points among those who do not believe. And even among some of those who claim to believe. Yet Scripture when read as it is written leaves us no room to argue when it comes to the deity of Jesus. C S Lewis once said that Jesus was either who he said he was, or he was the devil himself were worse a madman. Scripture declares “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” “I and the Father are one.”
