“The Word”
[John 1:1-18]
December 30, 2012 Second Reformed Church
We consider, this first Sunday after
Christmas, who “the Word” is. The Apostle John wrote his gospel and began with
this imagery of “the Word” which we read this morning. It's helpful to know
exactly why John wrote his gospel: “Now
Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not
written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his
name” (John 20:30-31, ESV).
John
explained that he didn't write down everything that Jesus did and said, but that
he wrote down what he did so that everyone who read it would understand that
Jesus is: first, the Savior that God promised to send from the beginning – the
Messiah – the Christ. Second, Jesus is the Son of God – and he explores a very
particular meaning of that in his gospel – namely, that Jesus is God the Son – He
is Divine – One of the Persons of God. Third, that the readers of his gospel do
not have life unless they believe in Jesus Alone; life can only be found
through believing in Jesus. That's why John wrote his gospel.
We are only going to look at the
issues found in the first eighteen verses of his gospel – and those, even, very
briefly:
John begins his gospel, “in the
beginning,” and every Jew and every Greek who read those words would've immediately
been taken back to the first phrase of the book of Genesis. What does John mean
by “in the beginning”? The phrase that John uses means “the cut of the corner,”
“the edge,” “the first,” “before to begin the begin” – John is talking about
the moment before the material world existed – the moment before time and space
and stuff. Can you picture in your mind the moment before time existed? The
moment before space existed? The moment before anything of material substance
existed? I can't. But that's what he's talking about – it's a time that reaches
past our understanding, because we are all living within time and space and
material substance. “In the beginning” is right before that.
“In the beginning the word”– “the
logos” – what is this term but John is using? “The Word” can be as simply
defined as “the word”– and it can be defined in many similar ways having to do
with speech and language. But John means something more here – and we see that
as we go through these eighteen verses, but in this context, “the Word” is
“God's full self-revelation through Jesus Christ” (Bible Windows). In this context, “the Word” means what Paul wrote,
“For in [Jesus]
the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,” (Colossians 2:9, ESV). “The Word”
means God Incarnate – and it is not just the influence of God or a piece of God
or the power of God, but “the Word” is the fullness – the completeness – the
wholeness – of God dwelling in the human body. The point being, as we see in
the end of our text for this morning, Jesus is not merely a human being but He
is Very God Himself.
And so we look at a few items in our
text:
“In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
John begins by telling his readers
that “the Word” was not created at the time that Jesus of Nazareth the human
being was created – “the Word” was before any created stuff was – and “the Word”
was with God – “the Word” and God are distinct. And “the Word” was God – “the Word”
has the same deity as God. In talking in the Trinitarian language that we use,
we would say that there is only One God but God exists in more than one person
– and here we have the Person of the Father and the Person of the Son. “The Word”
and God are not two different gods. They are the same One God. But They are
distinct. That means that God the Father can be reigning from heaven while God
the Son is incarnate in the person of Jesus living in Israel. They are the same
One God. They are fully the same deity. The fact that they exist in persons
does not make one more or less deity than the other. They are exactly the same
deity – the same God – fully God – completely God. And yet God is able to exist
at the same time in different persons.
Almost
as an example, John says of “the Word”: "All things were made through him,
and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the
life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness
has not overcome it.
First. John tells us that “the Word”
is the Creator of everything that exists and that He is the One through whom
life is given.
And yet we read in Genesis, that God
created everything that is, and that the Holy Spirit created everything that
is: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth
was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the
Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters (Genesis 1:1-2, ESV).
Paul echoes John’s claim that “the Word”
is the Creator of everything by saying this of Jesus: "For by him all
things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether
thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through
him and for him
(Colossians
1:16, ESV).
So, in very short order, we have
laid the foundation for the Trinitarian understanding of the Godhead: there is One
and only One God, and that One God exists in Three Persons Who are each
completely the same One God – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father
and the Holy Spirit are spirits and have never put on flesh, whereas the Son
came to earth in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
And, when John speaks of “the Word”
being the life in the light of men, he does not only mean that Jesus gives
biological life to humanity, but also spiritual life to those who believe in Him
– as we shall see. The prophet Isaiah said prophetically of Jesus: “It is too light a thing that you should be my
servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of
Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach
to the end of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6, ESV).
As we saw during Advent, Jesus did
not just fall out of the sky, announcing Himself, but God sent His cousin, John
the Baptist, as a forerunner to announce the coming of “the Word” to earth in
the person of Jesus: "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe
through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
And so we continue with the
description of the Word Incarnate: “The
true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in
the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
John the Baptist prepared the way –
announcing that the Messiah had come – the long promised Savior had come into
the world. We saw through John's preaching and through his baptism that he made
it clear to all those who came to him that salvation was not through biology –
it was not through being a descendent of Abraham – but it was through being one
who believed in the promises made to Abraham – and the promises that God made
to send the Savior and to bless the world through that Savior – through the
descendent of Abraham – Who would come to save His people.
As we know, through reading the
Gospels, Jesus came into the world – “the Word” incarnate in the person of
Jesus – the Creator of the world – and even so, the world as a whole rejected
Jesus – they did not believe that He was the Savior that God sent. Even more
tragically, perhaps, He came to the biological descendents of Abraham – the
ones who should have recognized Him as the Savior that God sent – the ones who
had received the promises and the prophecies of the written Word of God for
them to hear and meditate – yet, they also did not believe Him – they, by and
large, rejected Jesus and did not believe that He was the Savior that God had
sent.
We might wonder why – why did most
of the Jews – and why do most of the people the world hear the promises of God,
hear the prophecies that were made, see them fulfilled in Jesus, and still
reject Him?
Jesus explained: “Then the disciples came and said to him, ‘Why
do you speak to them in parables?’ And he answered them, ‘To you it has been
given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been
given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an
abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and
hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case the
prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:
“You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but
never perceive.” For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears
they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see
with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and
turn, and I would heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your
ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous
people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you
hear, and did not hear it”
(Matthew
13:10-17, ESV).
Jesus explained that His rejection
was a fulfillment of prophecy – that it was never God's intention to save
everyone – in fact, most people were destined to reject Him. Part of Jesus' Mission
was to preach His Gospel and have it be rejected so that those who rejected it
would have no excuse.
But there always was and there
always will be a remnant – a remnant of Israel – a remnant in the world who did
receive Him – and who will receive Him – all those who do believe in Jesus Alone
for their salvation: “But to all who did
receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of
God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will
of man, but of God.
Notice that there are some who did
receive Jesus – just as there are some who receive them now, and those who do
receive Jesus Alone as their Savior – those who do believe the Gospel that God
– “the Word” – incarnated in the person of Jesus, lived a perfect life under
God's law, died for the sins of everyone who would ever believe, physically
rose from the dead and ascended back to His throne – will not just be saved
from the Wrath of God for their sins, but they will be given the right to
become children of God – they will be the ones who are allowed to call God, “Father”
– to know His Fatherly Love in all its fullness – to be received by Him forever
into His Kingdom.
But notice what John says – those
who do believe in Jesus Alone for salvation do not choose to do so of their own
will. No, anyone who believes in Jesus Alone for salvation – who calls God,
rightly, their “Father” – God made them children of God. If you believe, it was
not by any will of your own, but because God made you believe – God willed you
to believe.
Paul explained: “What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's
part? By no means! For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ So then it
depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the
Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I
might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the
earth.’ So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he
wills.
“You will say to me then, ‘Why does
he still find fault? For who can resist his will?’ But who are you, O man, to
answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made
me like this?’ Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same
lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if
God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with
much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known
the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand
for glory—even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the
Gentiles?” (Romans 9:14-24, ESV).
The point which Paul emphasizes
again is that since we are all born sinners, it is not possible for anyone by
his or her own will to choose to believe in Jesus Alone for salvation – God
must change the heart – the inclination – and make us believe – literally bring
us back to life from the dead – as Paul wrote: “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in
which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of
disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh,
carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children
of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of
the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our
trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and
raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ
Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his
grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved
through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a
result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should
walk in them” (Ephesians 2:1-10, ESV).
And so salvation is completely the Work
of God – a Gift of God, of whom no one is deserving.
John continues: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among
us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full
of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he
of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before
me.’”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
And so John emphasizes again “the Word”
existed prior to the Incarnation – “the Word” – the Son of God – existed as Spirit
with the Father and the Holy Spirit until the Incarnation. Then – “at the right
time,” as the Scripture puts it – “the Word” became flesh – the Son incarnated
– God became a human being without becoming less than God. In doing that, all
we who believe can now see the Glory of God. As John goes on to say. No one can
see the Father – no one can see God and live, but we can see God – the Glory of
God – mediated through the
Incarnate
Word Who is Jesus. And because Jesus is God and human, He is able to give us
grace upon grace. He is able to live a perfect life and impute that perfect
life – that righteousness – to us and He
was able to take upon Himself – in that moment on the cross, the infinite Wrath
of God against all of our sins – and rise again.
John ends this section, reminding
us, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus
Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he
has made him known.”
One of the purposes of the Law is to
show us our sin, but it is impossible for the Law to grant salvation – it was
never the purpose of the Law to grant salvation. As Paul wrote, “For by works of the law no human being will be
justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin” (Romans
3:20, ESV).
So Jesus, the Savior, brings us
grace and truth and salvation through Him Alone. We can see God. We can call
God our “Father,” we can be made right with God – righteous in His Sight –
forgiven for all of our sins. What great thanks do we owe “the Word” for
becoming flesh in the person of Jesus that we who God chose out of the
spiritually dead should know and live eternally with Him?
As we end the Christmas season, let
us remember that the little Baby Whose birth we celebrate is “the Word” – the Son
of God – full deity – Who chose to come to earth in the person of Jesus to save
a people for Himself through His Life, suffering, death, and Resurrection. Now
all those that He has chosen for Himself can see God and come into His Presence,
knowing Him as their loving “Father” – and Jesus, “the Word,” as our Elder Brother.
Let us ponder this mystery: the
Almighty God – the Triune God – before time and space and created stuff, chose
in the Second Person – Who is the Son – “the Word” – to create and then save a
people for Himself that we might know Him and His grace. Let us give thanks as
we receive the bread and the cup this morning – as we continue to receive His Grace
and continue to be made more able to do the work that is set before us – to see
Him more clearly – to be made more ready for the Kingdom.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You for this
revelation of Yourself to the opening words of John's gospel. Help us to
understand what You have said and still to be amazed and ponder the mystery of
what You have done. Keep thoughts of the Incarnation from being a once a year
event, but let us continually look and wonder at Your Glory and what You have
done for us. May Jesus Christ be praised, Amen.
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