10 26 14: John 1:4 The Word of Life: “In Him, Life was…”
John, the Jewish evangelist writes in John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (Clearly in every way, this verse describes Jesus Christ’s Eternality, His Deity, and His eternal existence in relationship with the Father.)
2 “He was in the beginning with God.” (This Word, this Jesus, co-existed with the Father as God.)
3 “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” (Jesus as Eternal Creator of ALL THINGS. He is Creator over all the created.)
4 “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.”
ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἦν καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων
en autos zoe eimi kai ha zoe eimi to phos anthropon
In Him Life was and the life was the light of men.
“In Him Life Was”
“In Him was Life:” The statement again supports the fact that the WORD, Jesus, is deity: He is God. The construction of the sentence tells us this: IN HIM LIFE WAS. The same verb and tense is used here, the imperfect active indicative tense, denotes continuous action in the past, and so the PRE-EXISTENT WORD is also the SELF-EXISTENT LIFE. John 5:26 says: “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.” Jesus existed in time past, in fact, BEFORE time, having life in HIMSELF: IN HIM LIFE continuously existed. “In Him Life Was and THE Life was the Light of men.” In Him life was, and that which has been made is LIFE IN HIM. (John will continue to build upon this truth throughout His Gospel, using the word “life”(zoe: zō-ā') 47 times, and the word “light” (phōs) 23 times!)
This verse reinforces what John already has stated in the first three verses, and then adds to it: Jesus has Life in Himself. The word used for life is “zoe” and means much more than physical existence; “zoe” is life in its fullest sense. THE WORD, the LOGOS, is the very LIFE OF THE WORLD. In the same way that “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being,” there is NO LIFE in the universe apart from Him. Life does not exist in its own right: In the same way that Created matter could not exist on its own but points to a power greater than itself, a Creator, in the same way that a leaf does not dance down the street on its own but needs a power behind it to do so, in the same way that the wind does not exist on ITS own, but there has to be a power greater than itself.
So LIFE DOES NOT EXIST by its own will, but there must be a power greater than life, a LIFE-GIVER…AND JESUS IS THE GIVER OF ALL LIFE. JESUS IS THE LIFE-GIVER. There is none other who creates LIFE. The WORD is more than SELF-EXISTANT LIFE to Himself: Jesus, the WORD, SHARES His life by giving LIFE.
Jesus, the Giver of Physical Life
“In Him LIFE WAS, and the life was the Light of men.” Jesus is the GIVER of Physical Life. We looked at the mountain of evidence around us visibly and scripturally last week to support Jesus as the Creator Word, but Jesus is also the LIFE-GIVER, not only creator of the created. When God works in human history he uses the VERY common and the VERY ordinary so that the glory is always to HIS NAME and not to man’s. When man was made, he was made, not from valuable or extraordinarily strong metals, such as gold, silver, iron or titanium, but Man was composed of DUST: We are just DIRT people. Man only came to life when God (Gen 2:7) “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”
What is God’s “breath”? It is His Spirit, the Holy Spirit which goes forth out of his mouth (“ruwach” which we mentioned last week, too. “Ruwach” has a breathy sound.) In Hebrew, “ruwach” is also associated with “spoken words”; God first SPOKE all the created into existence through His Word. (We studied Gen. 1 references.)
When God spoke forth life into man, John identifies the Lord Jesus Christ as THE WORD of LIFE and God does it in such a way that the Spirit of Life, who is His Holy Spirit, passes into man and causes him to breath and to share attributes of God, which are unique only to man, such as reason: We can know that we are beings Created by God for God’s Glory! So again we see the illustration of the role of the TRIUNE God in CREATION. Our physical LIFE comes from the WORD through the BREATH of God, by way of the Holy Spirit, but this is only the beginning of knowing Jesus as the Life-Giver.
Jesus, the Giver of Spiritual Life
Jesus, THE WORD is also the very source and Giver of the Spiritual Life we receive when we BELIEVE on Him (this past week’s study). To appreciate the importance of the gift of spiritual life from Christ, we have to realize that apart from the LIFE that is available only through Jesus, we are spiritually dead. We are not merely in a state of spiritual corruption (not just weak!): We are TOTALLY WITHOUT LIFE; we are dead. You might have physical life, but still be spiritually dead.
Look at Eph. 2:1-7: “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (The word in verse 5, “to be made alive” comes from the rootword, “Zao” to live, breathe, be among the living (it’s the opposite of being lifeless or dead. God breathes His Spirit people who are dead in their sins and brings them to life).
Look ahead to John 5: 21: "For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. 26 "For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself.” (His eternal pre-existence allows Him to give life to whom He wishes! The Father of John 5 is the God of John 1; the Son of John 5 is the Word of John 1. Jesus and the Father are ONE (John 10:10) They are unified not merely of will or of power but they exist as unity of essence.)
Think about these three examples in Jesus’ ministry when he raised the dead:
1. In Mark 5, the Daughter of Jairus was dead only a few minutes when the Lord reached the house. There was no decay in her body, but she was dead, she was lifeless. Vs. 40: “(He) entered the room where the child was. 41 Taking the child by the hand, He said to her, "Talitha kum!" (which translated means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!"). 42 Immediately the girl got up and began to walk, for she was twelve years old.” She was only twelve, innocent by the standards of the day, but none the less suffered death and Jesus SPOKE LIFE INTO HER gave her LIFE!
2. In Luke 7, Jesus comes upon a funeral procession near the city of Nain: They are carrying a young man (the text says, an ONLY SON) who had been dead several days in order to bury him….He was dead longer than the daughter of Jairus. In verse 14 we read: “And He (Jesus) came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, "Young man, I say to you, arise!" 15 The dead man sat up and began to speak.” Jesus again SPEAKS LIFE into the dead, He shares HIS LIFE with those who are dead so that they are raised to NEW life IN CHRIST, by THE WORD of CHRIST.
3. In John 11, Jesus’ friend, Lazarus, had already been dead for four days (a prelude to Christ’s impending death and burial). (vs. 17) His body would have already been offensive, then in John 11:25: Jesus said to her (Martha), “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world.”
Then in verse 39: “Jesus said, "Remove the stone." Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days." 40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?" 41 So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 "I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me." 43 When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth." 44 The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go." 45 Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him.
Jesus brought NEW LIFE to Lazarus as well as to others by SPEAKING. We are all absolutely dead in our sins apart from the life-giving Spirit/WORDS of Jesus. Everyone ever born physically is still DEAD SPIRITUALLY and need divine life from the Savior, the Lord Jesus. Because we were DEAD, God sent Jesus into our world to give life to all who would BELIEVE. Jesus breathes NEW LIFE into anyone who would believe.
Do you remember what Jesus did shortly after raising Lazarus from the dead? The Word sent from the Father was sent to the cross in order to bear our death penalty for sin and become sin for us, so that Jesus might also be the Giver of ETERNAL LIFE to those who would believe in Him as Savior AND LORD.
Jesus is the Giver of Eternal Life
Jesus is able to supply us completely and eternally so that we would have nothing else that we would desire. Physical life will pass, but when the Lord Jesus speaks spiritual life into a human heart, at the moment of belief in Jesus as Savior and LORD, He brings life that will last forever. He gives eternal life, life that is the LIFE OF God. It is Life that can never be lost! Not in a hundred years, or a thousand years or a million years.
John wrote in 1 John 5:10-13: “The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. 11 And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. 13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” THIS TRUTH HAS to make ALL THE DIFFERENCE in the world to you, if you have received this LIFE IN HIS SON!
Paul made the same clear in1 Corinthians 15:45: “The first man, Adam, became a living being; the last Adam, (that is, the Lord Jesus) a life-giving spirit.”
Matthew 7:14, Jesus said: “The gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” In John 6:68: Simon Peter answered Jesus, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.” Jesus has the words of eternal life because the WORD WAS ALWAYS and WILL ALWAYS be the ONLY LIFE-GIVER!
Jesus said in John 14:6: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ONLY Jesus is the gate for the sheep, ONLY He is the way to the Father, He and no other is the living water and the bread of life, He alone is the life-giver and the giver of eternal life, and He ONLY is the GOOD SHEPHERD who give HIS LIFE for HIS SHEEP.
No wonder the psalmist of Psalm 23 (ESV): says: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” Is Jesus, the Word, the Light of Your Life eternally?
Is your testimony that of Psalm 36:9? "For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light."
OUTLINE
ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἦν καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων
en autos zoe eimi kai ha zoe eimi to phos anthropon
In Him Life was and the life was the light of men.
I. “In Him life was,”
A. The Pre-Existent Word is SELF-Existent LIFE.:
B. The WORD is the LIFE OF THE WORLD, the Life-Giver.
C. The WORD shares His Life.
II. Jesus is the Giver of Physical Life
A. The “breath of God” (Gen 2:7) are the WORDS and SPIRIT of God.
B. We can know that we are beings Created by God for God’s Glory.
III. Jesus is the Giver of Spiritual Life (Eph. 2:1-7, Mk 5:40-42, Luke 7:14-15, Jn 11:39-45, 5:21)
A. Apart from the Life of Christ, we are spiritually DEAD.
B. Jesus brought NEW LIFE to Lazarus and to others by SPEAKING.
IV. Jesus is the Giver of Eternal Life. (1 Jn 5:10-13 ,10:10, 6:68, Ps 36:9)
A. He gives eternal life, life that can never be lost. (1 John 5:10-13)
B. He gives abundant life to share in the Life of God. (John 10:10)
Psalm 36:9: For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.
“The significance of man’s created nature is seen most clearly when he is contrasted with the Lord Jesus Christ. In the great resurrection chapter, 1 Corinthians 15:45: ‘The first man, Adam, became a living being; the last Adam, (that is, the Lord Jesus) a life-giving spirit.’ Even though we live by the breath of God, we do so only by inhaling. Christ lives by exhaling. Thus, we know that we are his creatures and He is the Creator.” (p.40 J.M. Boice Exposition of John, vol. 1)
