JOHN 1: 9-13
HOW TO BECOME A CHILD OF GOD
What an astonishing fact that God would come to earth, wrap Himself in human flesh and take up a human nature. Yet He most certainly did become a human being.
There is another even more astonishing fact than the incarnation of God. When God became flesh and dwelt among us, men rejected Him. There He was God in human form revealing Himself to men to identify with their needful condition, and men rejected His way, they rejected His word, and they rejected Him.
The tragedy of man’s rejection of God even when He powerfully reveals Himself to them still occurs today. The good news though is that those who will recognize and receive Him as the Lord of Life are born again into the family of God (CIT).
With which group are you identified? With those who push Christ away from their life, or with those who receive Christ into their life? Do you fellowship with those who reject Jesus because of what He stands for, or with those who receive Him and follow Him because of who He is and what He does?
I. JESUS REVEALED, 9-10b.
II. JESUS REJECTED, 10c-11.
III. JESUS RECEIVED, 12-13.
Our text begins with the all-inclusive supernatural revelation of the Christ in the inner person in verse 9. “There was the true Light which coming into the world enlightens every person.”
John begins his thought with why the world should recognized Christ with the fact that Jesus is the true Light. His light is the genuine, the authentic, the real - the original of which every other light is a pale copy. Other lights flicker of truth and some give faint glimpses of reality, but Christ is the genuine Light. He is the light that brings real illumination to men about the reason for life and the purpose of life and the true reality about life.
Each man coming into the world has experienced the true light. Christ has given a general illumination to man. This light of reason or understanding has been bestowed universally by Jesus so that each man has the understanding needed to realize their lostness and need for salvation and understand that it is found in Jesus Christ alone. This universal illumination justifies God judgement of man for turning away from Christ instead of toward Him (Rom. 1: 20-21). He is the Logos who enlightens every person. This enlightening is innate, a priori, or inborn within man. It is stronger than the revelation of God in creation or the consciousness of right and wrong which God has built into man. Scholars call it God’s general illumination of man. It is the truth that men must suppress within themselves in order to choose darkness. Yet, as our text says the true light enlightens every man. God bestows this truth within man because He desires all to come to repentance not desiring that any would perish (2 Pet. 3: 9). No man is destitute of the illumination of this light, for God has revealed something of Himself to all men (3:18–21; 9:39–41; 16:8–11; Rom. 1:20-22).
Verse 10 begins by speaking of Christ as the Creator purposefully coming into the world to reveal Himself to mankind. “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him.”
The pre-existent Christ was in the world because He created it and was the true light shining within man. He was in the world also because He was born into the world.
The second point of verse 10 is a reminder that the world owes its very existence to Him. The world was made through Him (1:3). Since the world came into existence by Him it certainly should have recognized Him when He appeared in its midst. Creation is marked by His nature and character. Man himself was created in His image (Gen. 1:26). Brute beasts might not recognize their Creator in the flesh, but certainly a world of intelligent, reasoning men should recognize Him and give Him worship and thanksgiving.
II. JESUS REJECTED (10c-11).
The concluding phrase in verse10 describes a world under the rulership, the darkness, the blindness of Satan (14:30) living in rebellion against its Creator. “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him....and the world did not know Him.”
The world of men and human society rejected God’s exposure of awareness concerning Christ’s real nature when Jesus revealed Himself to bear witness to them. No effort is made to explain this tragic non-recognition, maybe because no sufficient, or justifiable explanation is possible. The rejection of its Creator by the world is an unreasonable act. He that is the Word, the Light, and the Life could have overcome all deafness, blindness, and deadness. The world refused to acknowledge Jesus for whom the triune God bore witness to them that He is, the Lord of Creation and the Lord of all life. He was in the world, and the world came into being by Him, and yet the world refused to acknowledge Him (Ps 100:3).They wanted their darkness and self-deception (Jn. 3:19, 8:12). The world wanted its own way instead of His way. He was not the kind of King they wanted or want to follow or serve.
Verse 11 brings the tragedy to the heart of every living soul. “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.”
This verse is one of the saddest in the Bible. The Creator came to His own possession, to His own home and received no welcome. What tragic rejection! The words could be translated He came home and His own family rejected Him. He was not a stranger. He built and owns the home, or the world in which every one resides and every thing in it is His possession, and He was rejected.
Moreover, Jesus came to Israel and there was no reception. Had He come to some other people that had no written revelation knowledge and therefore less understanding of Him, of God, it would have been bad enough, but Israel had been prepared to receive their King. He did not go where He was not expected, where His way had not been prepared.
John does not say that His own people did not know or recognize Him, but that they did not receive Him. The verb receive (παρέλαβον) may be used of taking a person to oneself in intimate fellowship (Mt. 1:20, 24; Jn. 14:3). They recognized Him but they would not allow themselves to acknowledge Him or give Him His rightful place in their lives. They did not want Him in their life. Jesus came to the place and people He had created [soul, mind & body], nurtured, and had a right to rule. They inhabited His creation and received His provision and were prepared to receive Him, but they turned Him away in rejection.
The poem The Death of the Hired Man contains these lines: “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.”
Those words are deeply etched into my life because my parents expressed that kind of love and acceptance for me. I knew that my own family would warmly receive me whenever I came home.
In sharp contrast to my experience, Jesus “came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” He was rejected by the ones who should have accepted Him.
He was the One who created them (Jn. 1:3), and then at the right time in history He gave up heaven’s glory to dwell with them and lead them back to God. He came to His own people to be their Savior and King. He reached out to them (wisdom, healing and restoration) and gave them every reason to love Him. But they turned Him away and crucified Him.
This kind of blatant REJECTION HURTS. When candidate Adlai Stevenson conceded the U.S. presidential election in 1952, he said he felt like a grown man who had just stubbed his toe. He added, “It hurts too much to laugh, but I’m too old to cry.”
Little children also feel the pain of rejection when one of their peers is chosen instead of them to recite a poem or sing a song. As they grow older, some of them are not going to be chosen for the varsity team. Some of them are going to be turned down by a girl they want to date. Some may marry and have their mate leave them for another person. They may wonder why the Lord allows them to be rejected.
I have no easy answers for people who have been hurt like this. I can only suggest that they look to Jesus, remembering how He experienced rejection. He was scorned by His brothers, His hometown, and His countrymen. He heard the crowd He was giving His life for, demand His crucifixion (Mt. 27:23). On the cross, as our sin-bearer, He felt such abandonment by His Father that He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (27:46).
When you feel the deep hurt of rejection, remember that Jesus understands how you feel. He loves you. If you have believed on Him, He has accepted you - and He will never reject those who trust in Him (John 6:37). Jesus gave His life for us so that we could have His life in us. He walks with us & talk with us & lead us in the everlasting way. And He will never leave us or forsake us (Heb. 13:8).us!
III. JESUS RECEIVED (12-13).
All reject Jesus, all with the exception of those to whom reference is made in verses 12 & 13. The bulk of people do not respond but there were some who did. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,”
In sharp contrast with those who reject Him are those who receive Him. The world and His own people rejected the Savior, but not all mankind does. There are multiplied millions of individuals within the world who make the decision to receive Him. To receive is to welcome Him into your life (just as you would welcome one who built, provided, sustained, and owned your earthly home), to open your life up to Him.
An evangelist was trying to help a woman understand John 1:12, and what it means to RECEIVE CHRIST. “Your last name is Wilson, isn’t it?” he asked. “Yes,” she said. “How long has it been that?” “Ever since my husband and I were married 30 years ago.” “Tell me,” he said, “how did you become Mrs. Wilson?”
She paused. “It was at the wedding. The minister asked me, ‘Will you have this man to be your lawful, wedded husband?’ and I said, ‘I will.’ With those words I became his wife.” “Didn’t you say, ‘I hope so,’ or ‘I’ll try to take him as my husband’?” asked the evangelist. “No,” replied the woman. “I said, ‘I will and I did.’ That’s all there was to it.”
The evangelist explained that God wanted her to receive Christ as her Savior in the same way. She saw the point and exclaimed, “How simple!” Wondering why she hadn’t said “I will” long before. Right there she accepted Christ as her Savior, believing what the Bible says about Him - that Jesus is the Christ who died for her sins, was buried and rose again the third day. Have you made your commitment to Christ and received Him?
Verse 12 contains three important words for those who receive the Logos or the Christ. The first is gave. The story of Christ’s life is not the tragedy of rejection but the grace of acceptance. To those who opened their life to Him, Christ gave the free gift of redemption. Salvation is by grace alone. It is a free gift and never a human achievement. Yet the imparting of the gift is dependent on man’s reception of Christ.
Jesus gave them the right or the authority (ἐξουσίαν) to become (not be), to change the way they are into the way God is. They have the right and/or authority to pass from death into life (5:24), from children of darkness into children of light. If you have recieved Christ you also have the right to “become” Christ-like. By following or obeying Christ God transforms the children of God into Christ’s likeness.
The third word is children of God meaning they became partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). When they received Christ they were born again into God’s family. The gift, the privilege and the birth are for those who receive Jesus Christ into their life.
The definition of those who believe in His name is provided by equating it with receive Him. John uses the verb believe (πιστεύω) 98 times. He never used it as a noun. It is clear he thought of faith as an activity, as something men do that moves or changes them rather than a static state. When we truly believe we yield ourselves up to be possessed and changed by the Christ in whom we believe.
What they are believing in is Jesus’ name. The name expressed the whole person. It implies acceptance of Jesus to the full extent of His revelation. To trust Him as He is revealed.
Many people are confused about how they can be sure God has forgiven them and will welcome them into heaven. They don’t know what it means to receive, to believe in, or to accept Christ.
To help us understand this truth, Let’s suppose that a noted research scientist was here telling us he had discovered THE CURE FOR CANCER. He demonstrates to us the research and the tests and the case studies where the medical cure had worked in person after person. It had cure them of cancer -all types of cancer. Then he brings out person after person who testified that by taking this pill they had been saved from cancer. Marvelous you think and some say while we seat here.
But suppose there was a person in the audience who had been diagnosed with stage four (4) cancer. They heard the research described and the testimonies of the cured, and they “believed” them. Would they be healed also?
No, of course not. But if they believed and acted on that belief by running up to the front and receiving the medicine, they then would be healed by the miracle cure. As effective as the medicine might be, its benefits would never be enjoyed - unless you took it.
The same is true of salvation - being forgiven and going to heaven. Although Jesus has provided it for us through His death on the cross, what He accomplished there will do us no good unless we take Him into our life.
Have you ever by faith, believing everything the Bible says about Jesus, asked Him to be your Lord and Savior? Remember, those who have “received Him” become “children of God.”
Verse 13 speaks of the only one who can perform or bring about the new birth. “Who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
The new birth does not come of blood or by human descent or by genetic engineering. Nor is it of the will of the flesh or the result of a human strength or ability. Nor is the new birth of the will of man or the result of man’s willing it to occur. The three together emphasize emphatically the birth of a child of God is not a natural birth. Believers do not derive their birth or standing in any way from man. Where is it from then?
The new birth is of God! It is supernatural. The new birth is always a miracle of God. They can be born in no other way if they are to become part of God’s family. It is a spiritual birth. Nothing human, no matter how great or excellent, can bring about the new birth of the Heavenly Father. The new birth is a work of God’s Spirit.
In CONCLUSION & RESPONSE
Although Christ created the world, the people He created refuse to recognize Him and acknowledge Him for who He truly is. Even a people prepared by God to recognize the Messiah reject Him, in spite of a knowledge of the Bible that points to Him. They are content with copies of the True Light, because the True Light is too bright, too revealing. They prefer their own way, their lost way, their dark way.
Jesus gave those of His day and gives us in our day every opportunity to grasp the truth and believe in Him and be born again. Jesus is the way, but we will not walk with Him. He is the truth, but we will not believe Him. Jesus is the life, but we will not receive Him.
All who welcome Jesus Christ as Lord of their lives are reborn spiritually, receiving new life from God. Being born makes you physically alive and places you in your parent’s family (1:13). Being born of God makes you spiritually alive, gives you a new nature, and puts you in God’s family (1:12). Have you asked Christ to make you a new person? This fresh start in life is available to all who receive Christ.
Are you rejecting Christ and rejecting His will for your life? Have you accepted Christ and are you following His will for your life? [Through faith in Christ, this new birth changes us from the inside out - rearranging our attitudes, desires, priorities, and motives.]
Have you truly trusted Jesus Christ to save you? If you’re not sure, right now say from your heart, “Jesus, I turn from following my way and turn to your way. I will turn from my sin and receive You as my personal Lord and Savior.” Those are the most important words you can ever mean. Jesus gave His life for us so that we could have His life in us. Do you have His life? Have you let Him in?
