Who is “The Word”?
How can the personality and life of Jesus Christ help us to know the Eternal God?
Many people have had their lives changed by encountering Jesus Christ, the rich, the poor, the famous, the unknown, the proud, the humble, people like you and me. For over two thousand years, the teaching and truth of His words continue to influence and change lives around the world. In fact His words have even become part of the everyday speech of people who do not even acknowledge He existed. Many know the sayings but not the truth behind them.
Can you think of any of Jesus sayings that have become part of everyday speech? For example, A baptism of fire (Luke 3:16) or the blind leading the blind (Matthew 15:14),
John 1:1-18 The Word Became Flesh
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning.
3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
6There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.
10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ “ 16From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. 17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.
Jesus teachings touch the world today
In the last session we looked at the fact that the coming of Jesus Christ is the centre of history. His birth split time into two. One simple birth, in a stable of all places, changed the world. People around the world use calendars and diaries with dates based on the number of years that have passed since the birth of Jesus Christ - even atheists and agnostics!
Every year millions of people around the world celebrate Christmas with only a passing acknowledgement to it being the time to remember the birth of Jesus Christ.
In a short earthly life of just thirty-three years Jesus impacted many lives. For only three years He preached and taught His disciples and crowds of people the truth. One gospel writer said “The large crowd listened to Him with delight” (Mark 12:37).
His 12 disciples were ordinary men, common people, fishermen, outcasts (even then the people disliked the taxman). He spoke to the rejected, the despised, the sick, the broken and people were changed. His words were scrutinised by the intellectual, the religious leaders and the proud.
Are there specific teachings of Jesus that have a special meaning to you?
At His birth He was given the name Jesus which means “Saviour”, to express the special office He would fulfil: “He will save His people from their sins” Matthew 1:21.
His title is Christ means “Anointed One”, someone who is appointed to a special position or service. The Apostle Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” Matthew 16:16. The title Messiah carries the same meaning and is used in both the Old and New Testaments.
Jesus, God incarnate
If I said to you, “If you know me, you know God”, your response may be that I need some serious medical help. You probably would not take my statement seriously.
When Jesus said “If you know me, you know God”, why did people take Him seriously?
Jesus made many statements regarding who He was, “I and the Father [God] are one” John 10:30. “If you knew me, you would also know my Father” John 8:19. “To see me is to see the Father” John 14:9 (The Message). “I am the way and the truth and the life” John 14:6.
The Apostle Thomas, on seeing Jesus alive, with scars on His hands from the execution declared Him “my Lord and my God” John 20:28. The Apostle Paul stated that through Jesus, “all things in Heaven and on earth were created” Colossians 1:16 and refers to Him as “the image of the invisible God” Colossians 1:15. “He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being” Hebrews 1:3.
“He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure village and worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty. Then for just three years he was an itinerant preacher.
“He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never owned a home. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put his foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where He was born. He never did any of the things that we normally associate with greatness. He had no credentials but himself.
“While he was still a young man the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves and his executioners gambled for the only piece of property he had on earth, and that was his coat. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
“Two thousand years have come and gone and today he is the central figure of the human race and the leader of the column of progress.
“All the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever sailed, and all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as has that one solitary life.” James Allen Francis
Jesus the Flawless one
Jesus had a life, character and behaviour without flaw. It is written that:
“He did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth” 1 Peter 2:22.
“He knew no sin” 2 Corinthians 5:21.
“In Christ there is no sin” 1 John 3:5.
Pilate the acting Roman governor said, “I find no fault in him” Luke 23:4.
Pilate’s wife stated, “This was an innocent man” Matthew 27:19.
Judas said, “I have betrayed innocent blood” Matthew 27:4.
The Roman centurion who watched Jesus being crucified said, “Surely he was the Son of God!” Matthew 27:54
When Jesus asked “Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?” (John 8:46), no one replied, for there was no evidence against Him.
Jesus the Miracle worker
This was no ordinary man, can you describe some of the miracles He performed?
At a wedding Jesus turned water into wine.
He fed over five thousand people with a borrowed packed lunch - only five loaves of bread and two fish.
He spoke and calmed a storm that was so violent even professional fishermen were scared and thought they would die.
To a man blind from birth, He gave sight by spiting in some mud and rubbing it in his eyes. (John 9)
He raised his friend from the dead.
He healed the demon possessed.
Jesus giver of forgiveness
Have you ever broken someone’s roof? What would you be willing to do to bring a friend to Jesus?
On one occasion recorded in the Gospel of Mark 2:1-12, Jesus was teaching in a small house. The place was packed. People packed the place to listen to His teaching. People eager to listen to His words blocked the doorways and windows. There were four men who carried their paralysed friend to see Jesus, but they were unable to get in. The men were determined that their friend would see Jesus. They climbed up onto the roof, pulled away the roof above where Jesus stood in the house below and then lowered their friend down through the hole they had made. They wanted Jesus to heal their friend.
When Jesus saw the sick man and the faith of his friends, Jesus simply said to the man “your sins are forgiven”. The religious experts that were there got angry – only God has the power to forgive sins. Jesus just told the sick man to get up, roll up his bed and walk. The Bible records that immediately, “He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all.”
The man that was healed had been paralysed all of his life! Jesus proved that He had the power to forgive sins. Jesus offers the good news of forgiveness to anyone that will trust Him. The enemies of Jesus called Him “a friend of sinners” (Matthew 11:19), Jesus answer to them was “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick?... I’m after mercy, not religion. I’m here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders” Matthew 9:12 (The Message). The truth is Jesus was like a magnet to hurting people, His compassion drew hurting people to Him.
Jesus the fulfiller of prophecy
Jesus went to the synagogue on a regular basis. There was one occasion when He attended the synagogue in Nazareth and one of the attendants in charge of looking after the scrolls handed Jesus the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Jesus opened the scroll and read aloud Isaiah 61:1-2: “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favour and the day of vengeance of our God.”
Jesus then rolled up the scroll handed it back to the attendant and sat down. Every eye in the place was fixed on Jesus, no one moved, everyone waited to see what Jesus would do next. Jesus stood up and said to the people: “Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21).
This was a prophecy that had been written 800 years earlier. The reaction of the people was one of wonder, as Luke wrote all were “amazed at the gracious words that came from His lips” (Luke 4:22). Everyone could see this was no ordinary man. The verses fitted what they had already seen in His life, there was a power in His words, there was a power in His presence. There was a restrained reverence that would soon turn to them demanding He perform miracles for them.
In His thirty-three earthly years, over sixty Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled making precise details of His life impossible to ignore. Most of the prophecies about Jesus were written more than 700 years before His birth. This would be the same as us predicting where a person born in 2710 would be born and what he would do.
Fifteen specific details about the death of Jesus appear in Isaiah 53:3-12: His suffering; His rejection by people; His silence before His accusers; His taking our sins upon Himself; His being treated unjustly and buried with rich people; His being raised from the dead. The probability of just eight prophecies being fulfilled in exact detail in one person is calculated as 1 in 10 to the 17th power – that is 1/100,000,000,000,000,000 – odds which defy imagination.
Jesus the bringer of change
For more than two thousand years Jesus has continued to impact and change the lives of people. Today, Jesus continues to connect with people, Jesus is still changing and healing and encountering people who need Him.
Jesus power has not diminished. His love and compassion have not grown cold, He offers peace to the weary, healing to the suffering, joy to the broken hearted.
“When the final history of the world is told, the names of great and small are listed, many with superb records of great deeds and accomplishments, we will salute them. Many deserve our attribution. Towering over all, alone on the stage of history will stand One, not just a fine, good man, but the only One who is God incarnate; the exact representation of God in Human form, begotten of God. The Deliverer and Saviour” Helmut Thielicke
“The Word [Jesus] became flesh and made His dwelling among us.”
John 1:14
For personal reflection
Which of the characteristics of Jesus are most helpful to you as you consider the idea that Jesus is God?
- His attitude toward people
- His power over nature, disease, demons, death
- His moral character
- His self-description as God
- His followers eloquent descriptions
- Fulfilled prophecy
- His good news of forgiveness
