JESUS THE WORD
John 1:1-5; 9-14
Greenmount and O’Leary Churches of Christ
January 17, 2021
Video Sermon Link: https://youtu.be/DX3V10YV3jw
INTRODUCTION:
1.) This morning I want us to begin a series of messages on the Gospel of John.
2.) This is a series of messages for the entirety of 2021, and possibly a bit more.
A.) As we get into our text, many feel these first fourteen verses of the gospel were in fact a hymn that would be sung by the early church.
B.) The first fourteen verses are in many ways an outline of the entire Gospel of John.
I THE IDENTITY OF JESUS AS THE WORD
1. The concept of Jesus as the word
A.) The “Word” Was a Greek concept.
aa.) “In Greek culture and philosophy, the "Word" or Logos referred to the bridge between the transcendent and material universe. [https://compellingtruth.org/Jesus-word-God-html]
B.) The “Word” also had a significance in Jewish writings.
ba.) Jews believed this world had been created by the power of the spoken Word of God.
bb.) In the account of creation in Genesis 1-2 several times the statement is made: “God said … and it was so.
bba.) By using the term “Word” John was making the declaration that Jesus was how God Almighty did his creative work.
bbc.) John presented Jesus as one with God the Father.
2.) The identity of Jesus as the Word. (1:1-2)
A.) John 1:1-2
B.) It is not an accident that John begins his gospel with words that move our minds to the book of Genesis.
ba.) John had in mind to establish Jesus as one of the Godhead and even God himself.
bb.) Our Old Testament Scriptures give allusions to the trinitarian aspects of God.
bba.) Yet it is not until the coming of Christ these concepts are developed in the God-Man Jesus.
C.) In the first two verses of John Jesus is introduced to us with attributes by which we have come to know God the Father.
ca.) The Word is eternal. (1:1a.).
caa.) It is a hard concept for us when we are talking about a human being.
.01) God had revealed this truth to John the Baptist.
.02) In next week’s message one of the verses we will cover in more detail is John 1:15 (He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.”
.021) Thus the greatness of Jesus over John is proven by both his eternality, and also his deity.
cb.) The Word was with God. (1:1b.)
cba.) Jesus is eternal and has always been with God.
cc.) The Word was God. (1:1c.)
cca.) If these previous two statements of Jesus as the Word are not shocking enough, John goes on to make the further declaration that Jesus the Word, is God Himself.
ccb.) We have believed this all our lives, but in the first century this was new teaching.
.01) It was a teaching which was hard to believe or to accept.
.011) Whenever Jesus put himself on par with God the Father people became angry.
.02) Like us they had difficulty in a physical man being elevated to the level of the eternal God.
.021) Many Jews accepted Jesus as a teacher, prophet, and great miracle worker who had come from God.
.022) Yet to go from that to being the Son of God, was a jump greater than many could make.
cd.) He was with God in the beginning. (1:2)
cda.) While these concepts about Jesus are challenging, John leaves us with no doubt that Jesus the Word is God himself.
II.) THE PREINCARNATE WORK OF THE WORD. (1:3-4a.)
1.) The “Word” is Creator. (1:3)
A.) “Through Him all things were made” (1:3a.)
aa.) Psalm 33:6-9
ab.) When Jesus returns to this world he is coming in the glory and the victory of heaven itself.
aba.) Jesus will come back wearing a robe that has been dipped in blood. (Revelation 19:13)
.01) Revelation 19:13 affirms His name is “The Word of God.”
.02) Behold the greatness of these statements and pictures:
.021) Jesus is described as “Word of God”.
.0211) It was as the Word of God Jesus created this world.
.0212) When Jesus returns in Revelation 19 it will be by The Word of God this world will come to an end.
.0213) When he comes his blood dipped garment will be a reminder that as the Word of God, Jesus would recreate us by His sacrifice on the cross.
B.) “Without Him nothing was made that has been made.” (1:3b.)
ba.) The “Word” is God in the flesh.
2.) The Word is Life and light. (1:4)
A.) “In Him was life” (1:4a.)
aa.) Jesus was not only the creator but is also the source of life and light for all creation.
aaa.) Anything or anyone in this world which has life has received that life from the Word.
aab.) Let us now proceed to also look at the Incarnate Word of God.
III. THE INCARNATE WORD OF GOD (1:4B.-5, 9-14)
1.) The Word came into this world as the light that gives life.
A.) Early in creation God brought light into the physical world of which we live.
aa.) Genesis, one declares light was created on the first day.
ab.) The greatness of the sun to our world is that it brings not only light but also life to all creation.
aba.) Without the light and the heat of the sun there could not be any life on this planet.
abb.) John uses this physical light as a metaphor for the light of Jesus Christ coming into this world.
B.) “That Life was the light of men.” (1:4b.)
ba.) Jesus is the only hope for this world.
bb.) As life could not exist without the sun, spiritually, there could be no life, or hope apart from the spiritual light of Jesus the “Word”.
C.) “The true light that gives light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.” (1:9)
ca.) The incarnation of Jesus, was and is a gift of God bringing the light of God to humanity.
D.) “The light shines in the darkness” (1:5a.)
da.) Later we will look at John 8:12 “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in
darkness, but will have the light of life.”
db.) Jesus the light shines in the darkness.
dba.) What happens to the darkness of sin in the presence of Christ?
dbb.) Answer: the darkness is revealed or removed by the light of Christ.
.01) The light of Christ reveals and makes known darkness and sin.
.02) When that darkness is revealed there is the awareness of sin.
.021) Those apart from Christ have been made aware of sin but choose to live in darkness.
.0211) We see with in those who have never come to Christ.
.0212) Sadly we can also see it in some who have come to Christ but choose to live in the darkness of sin instead of walking in the Light.
.03) It is in Christ alone that sin is not only revealed, but also removed.
E.) John further declares: “the darkness has not understood it.” (1:5b.)
ea.) That is so true. Those who are in the darkness of sin cannot understand the light of Christ.
eaa.) It is by the illumination of the Holy Spirit that a person can see, understand, and walk in the light of Christ.
eab.) The world therefore is uncomfortable, and even hostile to Jesus Christ, and His servants.
.01) A Christian without ever saying a word of Christ can be offensive to a world that does not know Christ.
.011) When we walk in the Light of Christ the world is uncomfortable because our life and values are different than those of the world.
2.) The Word was not received by the world. (1:10-11)
A.) “He was in the world though the world was made through Him, the world didn’t recognize Him.” (1:10.)
aa.) The incarnation of Jesus brought the presence of God in a personal human presence that man had never to that point experienced.
baa.) The incarnation makes God personal.
.01) By coming to this world as a man, God could connect with man in ways that he could never have done without flesh.
bab.) God sent Jesus to become personal, and part of us.
B.) “He came to his own” (1:11a.)
ca.) Jesus came initially to the Jewish people.
caa.) God had chosen the family of Abraham to be a people dedicated to the Lord.
cab.) The Word of God and the Messiah would come to bless the world through Abraham and the Jewish people.
C.) “but his own did not receive him.”
da.) Sadly, most Jewish people have never been able to accept Jesus as the Messiah of God.
3.) The Word was received by a few. (1:12-13)
A.) “Yet to all who received him” (1:12a.)
B.) “To those who believed in his name” (1:12b.)
ba.) This belief is not merely a head knowledge of Jesus.
baa.) James declared (James 2:19) “Even the demons believe and tremble.”
bab.) Biblical belief is to have faith that is fully surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
C.) “He gave the right to become children of God.” (1:12c.)
ca.) I want you to take note of this phrase. It was not that that mere belief had brought them to salvation, but it gave them the right (we might even say the opportunity) to become children of God.
D.) “children born not of natural descent nor of a human decision or a husband’s will but born of God.” (1:13.)
da.) In a few weeks we will look more at this spiritual birth when we come to Nicodemus in chapter 3.
db.) The spiritual birth is not something natural, but supernatural.
dba.) It would come through He who is the “Word”, the “Light”, and the “Life.”
4.) The incarnation of the “Word” would be a new revealing of God and His love to the world. (1:14)
A.) “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” (1:14a.)
aa.) The literal translation of this would be that he “tented” or tabernacled” among us.
ab.) At the very least this is a strange word picture of the incarnation of Jesus.
aba.) I do not believe it was by chance John used those words.
abb.) These words recall the Tabernacle in the wilderness, and later the temple in Jerusalem.
.01) This concept is further seen in the last half of this verse:
B.) “We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (1:14b.)
ba.) John testifies to seeing the glory of God which happened with James, and Peter at the time of the transfiguration.
bb.) Before this experience it was in the tabernacle and later the temple of God where the “Glory of God” could be found in the Holy of Holies.
bc.) John is showing that God has now chosen to reveal His glory, not in the Holy of Holies, but in the person and life of Jesus.
CONCLUSION:
1.) Today, we have seen a bit of the revelation of Jesus the word as God Incarnate from John 1.
2.) Throughout this year may we see and experience the Glory of God in the writings of John, and in the life of Jesus.
