A New Beginning
Many people search for a new beginning. When life goes wrong, when we regret our past, we hope for new circumstance. Jesus is the only true way to a new beginning. In fact the coming of Jesus Christ changed our history whether for better, as we accept Him, or for worse if we reject Him. This is a sermon on redemption.
John 1:1-18
John 1:1-18 is about "A New Beginning" Simply and briefly, that with the coming of our Lord, God begins a new, and in fact, final stage in His redemptive plan. God had been working throughout history to redeem His people, this is what we call "redemptive history." And "redemptive history" began after the Fall of our first parents, Adam and Eve in the Garden. He began then to be gracious in redeeming a people for His own namesake. He continued it through a totally depraved world, bring only 8 people through the Flood to repopulate the earth. He continued this plan through Abraham, a pagan living in a land of utter idolatry. He continued it through Israel, a stiff-necked and stubborn people, who almost immediately after seeing God's great redeeming act, the Exodus, tested the LORD and worshipped the golden calf. He continued it through a divided, idolatrous, and unworthy nation during the days of the kings. He continued it in the Captivity in Babylon and through the rebuilding of the Second Temple in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah.
But now!, John says God is beginning anew!! All that has gone before was Gods gracious purpose throughout history, but it was incomplete. For it is only complete in Christ! As Christ says in Psalm 40:7, "Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of Me." As He says in John 5:39 to the Pharisees, "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me." Beloved in the Lord, with the coming of Christ, God ends the old order of things. Hebrews 1:1-2 teaches this as well, "God who in a partial way spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets has in the last of these days spoken to us in the Son." And in Hebrews 3:5-6 where Moses was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things to come; but Christ as Son over His house. And the beloved Apostle shows that God has begun a new beginning in redemptive history with three major themes in 1:1-18.
1. This New Beginning Surpasses the First Creation (1-5, 9-13)
Look at these comparisons of John 1 and Genesis 1.
"In the beginning God" (Gen 1:1) "In the beginning was the Word" (Jn 1:1).
"Created the heavens and the earth" (Gen 1:1) ñ "All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made" (Jn 1:3), "He was in the world, and the world was made through Him" (Jn 1:10).
"Then God said, Let there be light; and there was light" (Gen 1:3) "And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it" (1:5), "The true Light, which gives light to every man, was coming into the world" (Jn 1:9).
"Then God said, Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures" (Gen 1:20) "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men" (Jn 1:4). "Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image according to Our likeness" (Gen 1:26a) "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God" (Jn 1:12).
A. Christ is the Head of the New Beginning/Creation (1-3, 10)
By drawing from Genesis 1, John wants to show us how in Christ this new beginning is even more glorious. As we read in Genesis 1:3 and elsewhere, God created all things by His word: "Then God said." We are also taught this in Psalm 33:6, 9: "By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations." So it was by means of, through, God is word that He created. Now theologians have tried to grasp this for centuries, but somehow beyond our comprehension that "word" which God spoke to create was Jesus Christ, the Word who was in the beginning, who was God, and who was with God. Even more basic than the fact that John 1:1-3 says that Christ is God, and that Christ is the Creator is the affirmation that Christ is the Head of a new creation, a new beginning.
B. Christ is the Light of the New Beginning/Creation (5, 9)
Genesis 1:2 says, "The earth was without form and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep." The darkness of the first creation was because there was no created light as of yet; but the darkness of this new beginning is the darkness of sin, depravity, and wickedness. The entire kosmos, the universe, the "world" is simply put, "darkness." But Christ is the light who is shining into the darkness. And notice our text says, "but the darkness did not overcome it." The Greek word speaks of seizing by force, grabbing, overcoming militarily. Psalm 2 speaks of this. But the sovereignty of Christ, the light, is shown as despite the darkness desire to stamp out the light, Christ is not thwarted.
C. Christ is the Source of Life of the New Beginning/Creation (4)
In Genesis 1:11 we read, "Then God said, let the waters abound with every living creature." In the first creation God gave natural, earthly, physical life. But in this new beginning He gives eternal, heavenly, spiritual life. And the source of this eternal life, we are told, is Christ, "In Him was life."
Thus there needs to be new life given to a new people. The new beginning surpasses the first creation because it has a new people. In Genesis 1:26 God said "let us make man in our image and in our likeness."
So when Christ came He came to the Jews who said, "we have Abraham as our Father." They had pride in their human lineage and ancestry. They thought that their natural, earthly life was sufficient to get them into Gods kingdom. But this is not good enough to get into this new creation. So John uses a literary construction by piling up these three synonymous phrases to emphasize one point: natural life doesn’t get one into the new creation. Gods people are not Israel! It is true that He has an elect remnant according to grace, but as Paul says, "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly but he is a Jew who is one inwardly" (Rom 2:18-29). The new people, the new sons and daughters, the new male and female are a supernatural race. It is those who are "born of God" that are the true seed of Abraham, the true Israel.
2. This New Beginning Ends and Completes the Law (14, 16-18)
"For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me" (Jn 5:46). The entire Law of Moses was written to prepare, to prophesy, to foreshadow our Lord.
A. Christ is the New Temple (14)
Now, what is the pinnacle, the epitome of the Law? The Temple! And what better way to illustrate that Christ ends the Law than by showing how He ends the Temple in some way. The same eternal Logos who created all things now has "dwelt" among sinful humanity. This term "dwelt," I’m sure you know, can also be translated "tabernacled." The "Word became flesh and tabernacled among us." Let us turn to Exodus 24:15-16 - glory, 25:8-9 "And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them," Exodus 40:34 glory/tabernacle. But you may say to me, these verses only talk about the tabernacle the Temple is still awaiting its glorious fulfillment in the Millennium. Not so my friend. First of all the Tabernacle and the Temple have the same purpose and are the same structure, but one more permanent than the other. Their purpose was to have the presence of God amidst the covenant people. But second of all, these same words and ideas spoken of in Exodus and John 1 are used in 1 Kings 8:10-11.
And Jesus Christ, the eternal logos in flesh is also the glory of the Tabernacle/Temple. One of the greatest paradoxes in John’s Gospel is that Christ’s glory is not seen in outward splendor but in lowliness as He becomes flesh and suffers for us. Application: this is your Savior. The ceremonies and symbols of the law ceased at the coming of Christ, and all shadows are accomplished; so that the use of them must be abolished among Christians; yet the truth and substance of them remain with us in Christ, in whom they have their completion."
B. Christ is the Incarnation of Perfect Grace (14, 16-17)
Our Lord Jesus Christ is greater than the Law because He Himself is the source of genuine grace. Verse 14 - "Full of grace and truth" comes from Exodus 34:6, "And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, the LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abounding in goodness and truth." "Grace and truth" are two terms that speak of Yahweh is covenant keeping. And Christ is the fullness of the covenant keeping of God.
Verse 16 - "Grace upon grace" shows the abundance of grace, which is piled up in Christ. Its the inexhaustible resources of grace that we find in Christ. Verse 17 - Contrasting preparatory grace of the Old Covenant with the fullness of grace in the New Covenant.
C. Christ has Seen the Father and now Declares Him (18)
Our Lord is called the "Only-Begotten Son" and the "Only-Begotten God." And as such He declares to us the Father. For He alone has been in the "bosom" of the Father, that secret place of fellowship and intimacy. For He alone has seen the Father. Unlike Moses (Ex 33:18-20), Jesus has seen the Father and now He declares Him to us.
3. This New Beginning Fulfills the Witness of the Prophets (6-8, 15)
Lastly, and briefly, John the Baptist is the last and greatest of the Old Testament prophets (Lk 16:16). As the last and greatest prophet, his testimony sums up all of the prophets. Second, he comes "for a testimony in order to testify." This legal language, thus John is an official witness who testifies to this dark world that he is not the Light, but only a witness to the Light, Christ is that genuine Light, and that Christ preferred before him because He was before Him in eternity.
"Light" is spoken of in Isaiah 9:2, "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined." In Isaiah 42:6 Christ is given as a "light to the Gentiles." In Isaiah 60:1-2 the prophet utters that great prophecy, "Arise; shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the LORD will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you."
John’s Gospel has a purpose, and that purpose is summed up for us in 20:30-31, "And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name." With the coming of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ comes a new beginning because Christ’s new creation surpasses the first creation, ends and completes the Law, and fulfills the witness of the prophets.
Today this is proclaimed to you that you may believe in Jesus Christ and have eternal life in Him. And may God use us, sinful people that we are, to bring about a new beginning in the lives of our families, friends, co-workers, and neighborhoods. And let us go away knowing that Christ, the Light, is sovereign enough to change the heart of the darkest sinner you know. May he who has an ear to hear let him hear what the Spirit says to the Church. Amen.
