Have you ever had an “AH Hah” moment. You know, when you suddenly understand something that had eluded you earlier. I usually am impressed with how simple and obvious this previously hidden fact is now that I know it. (“I see that now. Sure, that makes sense”).
I wonder how many AH Hah moments the apostles had after Jesus went back to heaven.
As John was writing late in the first century (both his gospel, and the epistles of John) he seemed to be connecting the dots.
- · John 2:19-22 – 19 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22 Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.
Wisdom, age, study, and reflection can greatly enhance our understanding of any event. But John also has been given a deeper revelation. The Holy Spirit is also guiding him. Jesus promised the apostles that the Holy Spirit would reveal all truth to them and bring to their remembrance all that Jesus had taught them.
The focus of John’s gospel is the personal divinity of Jesus. This is what John wants us to see in his biography of Jesus. John 20:30-31 30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? Do you believe that Jesus is divine? This is at the heart of our faith as Christians. We have confessed it.
I. Jesus is God’s Word: John 1:1-3 – 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.
A. This text is talking about Jesus. Notice the proper promoun “HE” in verse 2, and “HIM” in verse 3. Jesus is the Word. This is made clearer in vs. 14 – John 1:14 – 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Do you believe that Jesus is the Word of God? What does that mean? Let’s look closer at this text:
B. John makes three important points here about the deity of Jesus in vs. 1:
1. “The Word was in the beginning…” The Word (Jesus) was in existence before the worlds were created. He is therefore , not a created being, but preexistent. Since time began with the creation of the physical universe, whatever existed before that creation is eternal.) “The Logos [Word] did not then begin to be, but at that point at which all else began to be, He already was. The imperfect tense of the verb confirms this meaning – continuously in existence.
a. In the beginning … is like the opening words of Genesis. Burton Coffman says… “by such a choice of words, the apostle John evaluates the new creation through Jesus Christ in the same category of importance as the physical creation itself, and, in fact, being another creative act of the same Word which was active in the first.” We noticed this morning that the word of God was the active force in creation (God said). Thus Jesus is not just present but actively involved in creation. Col 1:16-17 – 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. Jesus claimed His own divine preexistence in John 8:58 – 58 Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
2. “The Word was with God…” The original words (pros ton theon) mean more than that Jesus existed with God. It gives the picture of two personal beings facing each other and engaging in discourse. MacArthur says… From all eternity Jesus, as the second person of the trinity, was “with the Father… in deep, intimate fellowship. Perhaps pros ton theon could best be rendered “face-to-face.” The Word is a person, not an attribute of God or an emanation from Him. And He is of the same essence as the Father. Jesus often spoke of being with God before His incarnation.
3. “The Word was God.” – The first two phrases point to their climax in this one. Jesus (the Word) was God. These 4 words (in English and Greek) are the clearest declaration of Jesus’ divinity in scripture. Col 2:9 – “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, for you are omplete in Him who is the head of all principality and power”
4. Each of these three statements complements the other and form succession of thought. Each one seems to correct any misapprehension formed by the previous one.
a. The Word was eternal;
b. Yet this was not the eternity of the Father, is the Word simply an attribute of the Father, but a distinct personality;
c. But neither is this the distinctness and fellowship of two different Beings mean that there is a plurality of Gods. There is one absolute Godhead.
C. What does “Word” mean? Words are the main ingredient of communication. If I want you to understand me, I have to use my words. Emotions are non-specific; actions are often ambiguous; if I need to get thoughts that are in my brain into your brain, it’s going to take words.
1. The Greek word for word is logos. Logos in classical Greek meant a thought expressed, or something said.
a. The Greeks saw logos as reason or wisdom. In the Greek worldview, the Logos was thought of as a bridge (go between) between the transcendent God and the material universe. Therefore, for his Greek readers the use of the term Logos would have likely brought forth the idea of a mediating principle between God and the world.
b. The Jewish readers would have easily been drawn to the O.T. connotations of the word of God as the creative force in Genesis. It denoted the revelation of the mind of God. “Hear the Word of the Lord” is a phrase constantly used by the prophets to accentuate God’s communication. For God communicates with words.
D. Jesus as the Word: But John goes beyond the familiar concept of Logos that his Jewish and Gentile readers would have had.
1. Jesus, as the word of God is not just a force or principle. He is a person (as John goes on to emphasize His physical appearance in the incarnation).
2. Jesus is also not simply a personification of God’s revelation as the Jews thought, but was indeed God’s perfect revelation of Himself in the flesh. As the Word of God fully makes known His mind, so Jesus, as God in the flesh, fully made known God. John 14:9 – 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
3. Here is the point. Everything we can know about God is revealed in Jesus. Christ as the Word (logos) constitutes the complete and ultimate divine revelation.
- Hebrews 1:1-2 – God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
- Only such a Being coming forth from “the bosom of the Father” could, as a distinct Person of the Godhead, “explain” the Father -John 1:18 – 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
4. Jesus is not merely a representation of the Word – He is the Word of God. There are other ways we can see that Jesus and scripture are one. Notice these connections:
Scripture Jesus
Psa 33:6 “by the word of the Lord were Col 1:15-16 “for by Him all things were the heavens made” created… all thing created for Him”
Psa 119:140 “Thy Word is very pure” Jn 19:4, 6 – Pilates finds “No fault in Him”
Pro 30:5-6 “Every word of God is pure” 1 Jn 3:3 – “Every man has this hope purifies himself as He is pure”
Psa 119:105 – Thy Word is a light to my path Jn 1:4 – In Him was life and light of men
Gal 1:16 – “That I might preach Him among the gentiles” (Note: “Preach Jesus”)
Acts 8:35 – “And beginning with that Scripture He preached Jesus unto him”
E. To Listen to Jesus is to Listen the Word Revealed in Scripture. John 5:37-40 – 37 And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. 38 But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. 39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. 40 But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.
- Jesus scolded the Pharisees because they searched the scriptures and did not find Jesus, because the scriptures spoke of Him.
- When Jesus was here, those who refused to listen to Him could not claim to be listening to the scriptures
- When He is not here, those who refuse to listen to scripture cannot claim to be listening to Jesus.
1. If you could meet Jesus what would you do? Talk all the time… dominate the conversation… or would you ask questions and listen? Would you cherish the moments with Him? Would you invite distractions? Or would you put Him first. Note: When we get in the Word we’re meeting Jesus!
2. Bible reading is important. But Bible study is vital to our spiritual health. – Acts 17:11 11 These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.
3) I am Purified by the Word of God. Jesus is My Savior. He cleansed me from my sins. But the Bible also describes a cleansing by the word of God
- o Eph 5:26 “That he might sanctify and cleanse it (church) with the washing of water by the word”
- o Jn 17:17 – “Sanctify them in truth, they Word is Truth”
Conclusion: God’s Word is powerful. Jesus is the Eternal Word of God. I cannot think of God’s word as just a book or collection of Writings. The Word of God is the person of Jesus, revealed and made known for me. Revelation 19:13 – 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.