All sermons preached by the webmaster may be freely copied, printed and distributed. We ask only that the site name and homepage URL be included in all copies distributed. Thankyou.
Last week we began our consideration of the Gospel According to John by asking the question, ‘why study John?’ and we identified six reasons as to why we should study John.
Two of these reasons were tied up within the very purpose of John as set out in John 20:31. These were:
(1) that we might believe for the very first time that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing we might have life in His Name; and
(2) that we might continue to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing we might have life in His Name.
One being the initial faith involved in becoming a Christian, and the other being that continuing exercise of faith by which we persevere in believing.
In what is known as the prologue to John’s gospel, 1:1-18, John launches himself immediately into his purpose.
In fact it is believed by many that this prologue was written after he had completed the main body of his gospel, and so he sets out here to give us a concise summary of the teaching of his book.
So you find here that John is introducing us to the subjects upon which he expands throughout the gospel, thus whetting our appetites, leaving us wanting more.
It shows us how God set about bringing into realisation His purpose of saving sinners through His Son, and seeks to establish us in the truth, that we might persevere in faith to the saving of our souls.
Yet this prologue section is perhaps the most difficult in the Gospel to understand. So much so that the greatest commentator ever to live, John Calvin, said, ‘ I refuse to philosophise beyond the grasp of my faith’ - yet this is exactly what so many have attempted to do, to reason with that which they cannot comprehend, and so have led themselves into a multitude of errors.
Rather we ought to satisfy ourselves with the plain teaching of Scripture at this point, and by so doing we will be enabled to resist those errors that have plagued the church throughout its history.
Let us therefore consider the plain statements of this passage set before us under the following points:
(1) the Eternal Word
(2) The Distinct yet Divine Word
(3) The Creating Word
1. The Eternal Word
In the Old Testament it is assumed that God is there - it is taken for granted, ‘In the beginning God... (Gen 1:1)’ In this Gospel we find something that closely resembles that first verse of Genesis - ‘In the beginning was the Word.’
What the Genesis verse says about the Father, this verse says about the Word. At the absolute beginning, when the world was created, the Word was there - but this passage says still more than that.
In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, His first act of creation was the Word... it was here that Jesus began to exist.
No! It does not say that - but that’s what the Jehovah’s Witnesses say, that He was the beginning of the creation of God.
No! But ‘in the beginning was the Word,’ the phrase clearly indicating, and emphatically so in the Greek, that the Word was already existing, and in fact was continuing to exist, having existed from even before this time. And then verse two repeats the thought in order to ram home this vital truth - the Word is Eternal.
What is this Word that predates creation? He is the Lord Jesus Christ, as the context makes perfectly clear.
READ JOHN 1:14,15
The Word identified by these verses is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. This is surely clear to anyone who reads this passage honestly - the Word is the Lord Jesus Christ, and He predates creation. He is eternal.
This is confirmed for us by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in John 17:5, ‘And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.’ As Paul says in Colossians 1:17, ’He is before all things.’
Never was there a time when the Lord Jesus Christ was not - He is eternal. If you could go back in what we know as time, back before the existence of the world, and if you could just keep going back, you would never find a time when the Word was not, He has always been.
But why does God call Him the Word - what is John telling us here?
Well the word translated as Word is the Greek ‘logos’. The Greek contains the idea of speech, of message, and focuses on the actual thing said.
In the Bible the Word of God is the revealed will of God, whereby God reveals Himself to men.
When we speak we reveal who we are, and what we are like. So it is with God. When He speaks He reveals what He is like. We get an understanding of God from what He says in His Word.
By calling the Lord Jesus Christ the Word, John is saying that this is what the Lord Jesus Christ is like. He reveals to us the Father in the same way that words reveal what we are like to others. He is like the words that I speak, that reveal what I am like to others; thereby revealing what God is like in His very Being. He is the outward expression of God, like words are an outward expression of who I am - when we see the Son, we see the Father.
READ JOHN 1:14,18
What we have in the use of the term ‘Word of God’ then as applied to the Lord Jesus Christ is that He is the ultimate revealing of the Father, ‘Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person... (Heb 1:3)’
The Word says, ‘If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? (Jn 14:7-9).’
So if you want to know what God is like - study the Word, know Him, for He is the perfect revelation of the Father. What the Word is like so the Father is like.
2. The Distinct Yet Divine Word
Having seen the eternity of the Word, a question now arises in our minds - Is the Word God? I mean who else could there be out there in eternity?
Some here are thinking, ‘well, yes He is.’ But is the answer a simple yes and no answer? It hasn’t been so for many people throughout the ages. What does our text say?
‘and the Word was with God.’ Now instead of there being one, there seems to be two out there in eternity.
The passage before us is at least saying that there is a distinction between the Word and God. Do you see that? The Word - was with God.
Here are two who are distinguishable from one another throughout the whole of what we call eternity, right back beyond the dawn of time when nothing had been created - ‘in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.’
Is this the only place where we come across more than one being indicated as inhabiting eternity? What about Genesis 1:26,27? ‘And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them (Genesis 1:26,27).’
Now granted that the work of creation had already begun, but doesn’t that passage sort of indicate the existence of more than one in the past eternity? Isn’t it an interesting passage? Our Image, Our Likeness - His Image. Very interesting!
What these verses are actually saying is that in what we know as eternity, ‘the Word was with God.’ And the word ‘with’ is a translation of a Greek word meaning toward or to, suggesting the idea of a close relationship between the Word and God. Some commentators suggest ‘face to face’ as an acceptable translation.
In fact the relationship is so close that the text goes on to say, ‘and the Word was God.’ The Word is distinct from God, and yet is God; distinct yet united.
So what we end up with here upon the plain meaning of Scripture, staring us right in the face, is that the Word whom we had earlier identified as the Lord Jesus Christ, is God. As the Father is God, so is the Word.
How can the Word be distinct and yet be God; and yet the Father also be God when there is but one God? Can you explain it? I can’t! Am I satisfied with that - you bet, for God says it and that’s enough.
I can’t fathom it - and eventually we are going to come across another who is God also, the Holy Spirit - which make three distinct Person’s who are but one God.
Do you see what the Word of God is saying at this point? It is not saying that the Word is a god, or that the Word is one of various forms or manifestations of the One true God, but that He is God, of the same essence as the Father, yet distinct from Him.
The purpose of John in writing this Gospel is ‘that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name (Jn 20:31).’
This Jesus whom John is putting before you is Almighty God ... what Jesus does, what Jesus says in this book are all the actions and words of God. The Jesus of history is not just a man who might happen to be a good role model to follow, He is God!
Now this ought really to change what you think of Christ. Was He a weak fellow killed by a brutal government, unable to resist? No. He is Almighty God who could call on 12 legions of angels if He so desired (Mt 26:53).
He is the One who has all the attributes of God. He see’s all, He knows all, He judges all in justice and righteousness, and He is the Wrath of God.
Remember who this Jesus is as we progress through John - He is God with whom you have to do. He is God, distinct yes, but still Divine.
3. The Creating Word
Having seen the eternity of the Word, and the Divinity of the Word, we come to consider the creating Word. When you think about creation do you tend to think of God as the Creator apart from the Lord Jesus Christ? You don’t tend to think of Him as the Creator do you?
Often times Christians seem to think, at least in their day to day lives, that the Son of God did not arrive on the scene until the Gospel accounts. As though before this, at least in the history of the world He had no part to play - but this is far from the truth.
What we have seen today is that the Lord Jesus Christ was around in His pre-incarnate Being before the Creation of the World. So what happened when it came time for the creation of the world to be accomplished?
READ JOHN 1:3
What happened at creation - this text tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ made everything.
All the works of God in creation are attributed in this text to the Word. He is the Creator God - His work was not just to come and save men through His life, death, and resurrection - but also to create.
READ COLOSSIANS 1:16,17
Though it is true that God in His Triunity created the world, it can be rightly said that it was the work of the Lord Jesus Christ to create the world, ‘by whom also he made the worlds (Heb 1:2).’
When Revelation speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ as ‘the beginning of creation’ what it means is that He is the Source, the Originator of the world, of creation.
How did the world come about? From a big bang? It came about through the work of the Word of God.
How broad was His work - it included everything that the word ‘all’ includes - ‘All things were made through Him.’ The Genesis account of creation therefore is in fact declaring the work of the Lord Jesus Christ in creation.
Having stated the truth positively, that 'all things were made through Him,' the text adds the same truth negatively, and 'with out Him nothing was made that was made.’
The structure of this verse leaves no room for doubt - as far as the Bible is concerned, creation is the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So when you hear the ‘scientist’ telling you the world was formed all those billions of years ago, and the rock layers were laid down by such and such a process - we can say confidently, that no, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself brought all these things into being.
And though I cannot debate with the scientist in any way that he finds acceptable, I know that God in the Person of His Son the Word of God, created the world and all that is in it.
So you see who this One is that you are to believe in for life - He is none other than the Eternal God, distinct from the Father yet united, equal in Divinity, the Creator God. It is He to whom you must direct your faith. The eternal Word is the Creator God, distinct from the Father, yet One with Him in Divinity.
I direct you to Him, who is far removed from the poor substitute that the form of false Christianity is offering up today. This is the real Jesus who I am portraying before you from His Word. As we continue through John I want you to meet the real Jesus, who is God of very God, who inhabits eternity, and who is in actual fact able to save the wicked - for He is the Almighty, able to do all that which is impossible with man. I want you to see a God who is able to save you from sin, and actually bring you into life - not some poor incapable being who stands at the door and knocks, and who cannot enter until you let Him in - this Jesus is God!
That you may know the real Jesus, who to know is eternal life - Amen.
Outpost Homepage
JOHN
SERMONS
SERMONS PAGE
NEXT
SERMON IN SERIES
TOP
10/10/2006
AN OUTPOST PRODUCTION