- Unique Word of God
John’s Gospel opens with a brilliant description of Jesus as ‘the Word’. To us this seems like a strange concept, but to John’s original readers it would have been much more familiar. The idea of the ‘word of God’ would have been important to Jewish readers. They would have remembered the words of God in creation (Genesis 1), and all that the prophets had to say about the ‘word of the Lord’ (for instance Isaiah 40:6–8 and Jeremiah 23:29).
For Greek readers the idea of ‘the Word’ would have been associated with the search for the meaning of life. Philosophers often used ‘the Word’ as a shorthand way of referring to the unknowablemeaning and purpose behind the universe.
John’s opening words would have been electrifying to both groups. He was in effect saying, ‘I am going to tell you about what you’ve been searching for all this time.’
It is absolutely clear that ‘the Word’ that John is writing about is Jesus: ‘The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighbourhood’ (John 1:14a, MSG). Jesus was not only with God at the very beginning: ‘The Word was God’ (v.1, MSG). Jesus was and is God. - Unique Creator of all
‘Everything was created through him; nothing – not one thing! – came into being without him’ (v.3, MSG).
It is through Jesus that the entire universe came into being. ‘For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him’ (Colossians 1:16). - Unique light of the world
‘In him was life, and that life was the light of all the people. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it’ (John 1:4).
Light is a synonym of goodness and truth. Darkness is a synonym of evil and falsehood. Light and darkness are opposite, but not equal. A little candle can light a whole room full of darkness and will not be dimmed by it. Light is stronger than darkness; darkness cannot prevail against light. - Unique transformer of lives
‘Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God’ (vv.12–13).
Belief in Jesus brings about the biggest and most significant transformation possible. As you receive Jesus into your own life, so God receives you into his own family. - Unique revelation of God
‘No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known’ (v.18).
Everything in the Old Testament was leading up to God’s supreme revelation in Jesus. ‘We got the basics from Moses, and then this exuberant giving and receiving, this endless knowing and understanding – all this came through Jesus the Messiah’ (vv.16–17, MSG). This is why everything we read about in the Old Testament needs to be understood in light of Jesus.
Joshua and Caleb were the only two of the original group to enter the promised land because they were the only ones who obeyed God and followed him wholeheartedly. (Joshua’s name means ‘Yah Saves’, or ‘The Lord Saves’. ‘Joshua’ is the Hebrew form of ‘Jesus’.) Joshua foreshadows Jesus. Joshua and Caleb were exceptional but, unlike Jesus, they were not unique.
Hebron, a portion of land in Judah, was given to Caleb by Joshua (15:13) but he still had to go in and take it (v.14). Similarly, salvation, the greatest blessing of all, comes to us by grace as a gift, yet we still have to receive it and take hold of it for ourselves by faith. ‘Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ’ (John 1:17) – it is a gift given to us.
All the way through the Bible, God is looking for your response. He is looking for you to ‘seek God’ (Psalm 53:2) and ‘call on God’ (v.4). You have to take hold of the gift given to you and believe in Jesus. When you do, you are given the right to become a child of God (John 1:12).
Jesus is the unique saviour. There is nothing more wonderful than taking hold of salvation through faith in him and becoming a friend of Jesus.
No comments:
Post a Comment