The Word Series

John 1.1-5

The Word

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

Today we are going to begin a study of the Gospel of John. It was written around 85 to 90 AD. This is around 40 years after our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ returned to His rightful throne in Heaven. The city of Jerusalem now lies in ruins for close to 20 years after the Roman army leveled it. I find it interesting that the Temple complex that was initially expanded by Herod was finally finished just a few years earlier is now destroyed.

There were three other reports that were previously written about the life of our Lord Jesus. The first one was penned by Matthew. He was an apostle who was selected by our Lord. Then we have the Gospel of Mark. If you read his Gospel you will see how he wrote himself into his testimony. He was the young boy who happened to be in the Garget of Gethsemane. The apostle Peter adopted him as his spiritual son and detailed to him his account of spending three and one half years with the Son of God. The next author was Luke. Luke was the man who accompanied Paul. He became for us a wonderful investigator. He took the time to sit down with the men and women who were disciples of The Lord Jesus. Most notably was his personal interview with our Lord Jesus’ mom Mary, From Luke’s Gospel we get the most information regarding the birth of the Lord Jesus. Then we have John’s Gospel. He was one of the first individuals to follow Jesus in His ministry. His fellow companion was Andrew.

I want to give you a term used a lot by religionist scholars and it is the term ‘Synoptic’. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as the ‘Synoptic Gospels’ because they include many of the same stories yet each one provides some extra detail that help us fill in the picture of what took place. John’s Gospel is 90% different the other three Gospels.

Although four individuals penned the words and actions of our Lord Jesus over many years we find interesting enough a harmony between them. This is because our Precious Holy Spirit was behind their writings. We read in the second letter of Peter chapter 1 verse 21 this, ‘for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”

Before the earth was created and before time as we know it began, our Holy God created angels. One unique group that was created we find out from our Bibles were Cherubim. The angels had special assignments given to them by Almighty God. Some were assigned to accompany the Lord’s chariot. Some as you know from the book of Genesis guarded the way to the tree of life. We also know one cherub was in charge of the worship in heaven. His name is Lucifer. Cherubim stand out from other angels in that our Holy Creator gave them 4 heads – Lion, Ox, Eagle, and that of a man.

There are also four ‘Living Beings’ called ‘beasts’ that are on duty around the four corners of The Lord’s throne. We read about this in the book of Revelation chapter 4 verses 7-11, “6 Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. 8 The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” 9 Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying 11 “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.”