Who is Jesus Christ
Message 1
The year was about 85 AD – there was an old man known as “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” now living in Ephesus. It had been fifty years since the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and now, all the Disciples were dead except him. All the Books of the Bible were written except the books this Disciple would write, and much of the New Testament was already in circulation among the churches. At that time, the Holy Spirit would inspire the last Apostle to author the last Gospel, and he would also author the last book of the New Testament – Revelation.
In this Apostle’s life, God had become a man in a stable in Bethlehem, and this Apostle had become “his best friend.” He had seen God in the flesh heal the sick, feed the hungry, and teach the greatest of all eternal truths. And, he had seen his friend and his Lord betrayed, beaten, and crucified, but not to defeat, instead, to the eternal victory of the Resurrection leading to the supernatural birth of the New Testament Church.
Ten days after the Ascension of Jesus back to Heaven in a crowded upper room in Jerusalem during the Feast of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit would come like a mighty rushing wind, empowering the followers of Jesus, and 3,000 Believers would be baptized into the New Testament Church on its very first day.
But it had been maybe fifty years since that glorious day, and there had been a Jewish revolt that ended with the complete destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 AD. Jews and Christians alike had gone into exile and hiding. There was no Temple, no sacrifices, no Jewish capital city, and no king but Caesar. Rome had completely taken over.
The Jewish religious leaders still held tightly to their rejection of Jesus Christ as Messiah, ignoring so many of fulfilled prophecies that had occurred right before their eyes. And not only was the Jewish rejection staunch, but all kinds of false teachings were already creeping into the new Christian Church. Three or four major “ism’s.” The one that you might be familiar with is Gnosticism. But there were a number of them. People taking the words of Jesus and the teachings of the Apostle Paul and perverting it for their own good. It was already happening by 85 AD, so it’s no wonder that it’s still happening today.
And so, when John was an old man, the Holy Spirit commissioned “the disciple whom Jesus loved” to write not only three short Epistles, not only the Revelation of Jesus Christ but also the absolute crowning work of evangelism in the entire Bible. To this day, when people get saved, we tell them to read John, and we hand out the Gospel of John.
The Gospel of John shows Jesus Christ in all His Deity as the great Creator God of the universe. It conveys Jesus Christ as the one and only Savior of our souls because Jesus is the Only One who came from God, lived a sinless life, and died as a substitutionary sacrifice in our place, allowing us to receive His Righteousness before God in exchange for the just due wages of our sin.
In the Gospel of John, the gospel is so simple, and it’s so powerful that if someone will actually read it, and they open their heart to the Lord, the Lord will reveal Jesus Christ to them. Its depths are unreachable, yet its language is very simple; the vocabulary in the Gospel of John is under six hundred words. But the theology is as deep as it can get. The commentator and scholar Leon Morris says, “The Gospel of John is like a pool in which both a child may wade and an elephant may swim.”
Let’s start today with the summary verse that answers the question, “Why was the Gospel of John written?”
John 20:31 (NLT)
31 But these (things – meaning miracles) are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.
In sports, when you begin to get sideways, you go back to the basics. You go back and re-do the basics. That is the Gospel of John: get back to the foundation and remember WHO JESUS IS! We get so wrapped up in all these weird opinions and doctrines. Give me Jesus! That’s what the Gospel of John does; it gives you Jesus.
Two reasons why the Gospel of John was written:
1). That you that you may believe and continue to believe
2). That by believing, you may have life in His name
So, are you ready for verse 1? The simple sentence of verse 1 is one of the most compact and powerful theological statements in all of the Bible. Verse 1 is John’s purpose.
John 1:1 (NLT)
1 In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The phrase “the Word” is critical to understand (used three times in this verse.) It is both a title and a description of Jesus Christ. The Greek word LOGOS here means “the express image of God” or, better, “God in Expression.” And it is the title and description that John uses for Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is The WORD. He is God in Expression (communication) to us.
So, verse 1 begins In the beginning the Word (Jesus) already existed. The Greek verb tense here is expressing an existence that transcends time. We could say, “Before time began, Jesus Christ (the Word) already existed.” This is the Eternal Existence of Jesus Christ in the Trinity. It’s talking about eternality.
And then, verse 1 says, The Word was with God. The original language here means Face-to-face, literally, and is speaking of the deepest intimacy and communion, meaning before time began – Jesus (the Word) has always been in perfect intimacy and communion with the Father. This statement is showing the DISTINCT PERSONHOOD of Jesus WITHIN the Oneness of the Godhead. Jesus was WITH GOD (distinct Personhood), and Jesus WAS GOD (One in Essence).
Here’s the thing – if you think you can understand the Trinity, then you are God’s equal. We can’t understand the Trinity. The Trinity is beyond understanding – we just believe it, or we reject it. But we cannot reason it out. Don’t let anyone say, “The Trinity is like water, ice, steam, liquid.” Or like an egg. The Trinity is like nothing you know. You can’t know, but you can believe.
And that’s how John very decisively concludes this critical first verse. “And the Word was God.” Again, the same Greek tense is used, meaning before time began, the Word was always God. There is no time when this started; there is no time when it will end. There is simplicity and power in the Gospel of John because what you need to know is that Jesus Christ is God in Expression, he is Eternal, he is distinct in his Personhood, and he is God. All of that is in this verse.
The science of translation is really, really simple to apply in this verse. It’s not so in all of the Bible. In some of the Bible, some Greek can’t be translated into perfect English; it could be this, or it could be that. But there is absolutely no doubt in this verse. Translating the final statement from Greek to English in John 1, verse 1, is very simple and very clear. It is: The Word (Jesus) has always been God. If you ever see a translation where the simple English word “a” is inserted here before the word “God” as the Jehovah’s Witness Bible does, know that inserting the word “a” violates all rules of Greek translation and grammar and it cannot be remotely explained except as heresy.
The guy who started the Jehovah’s Witness cult was 19, and worked in a printing press. He started printing his own pamphlets and his own Bible studies, which eventually became the Watchtower Tract Society. He knew no Greek, no Hebrew, no Aramaic. He never studied the original languages. He wrote his Bible from his opinion from the King James Bible, (which isn’t a great source for translating the original). It is an incorrect translation.
Then, verse 2 reiterates the awesome truth John is conveying.
John 1:2 (NLT)
2 He (Jesus) existed in the beginning with God.
Jesus has always existed in perfect harmony with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, and not only has he always existed in the Godhead, but Jesus is also the Agent of Creation of the Godhead.
Each member of the Trinity has a role. In fact, our marriages are patterned after the Trinity and after Jesus and the Church, and each of the members has a role. One of Jesus’ roles is to be the Agent of Creation. This might be news to you, but everything that was created was created through Jesus Christ.
John 1:3 (NLT)
3 God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.
Jesus Christ is the “Agent of Creation” of the Godhead. Meaning “all things were created through him.” The Greek word here for “all things” means all things individually, every detail of everything that was created. It refers to the infinite details of creation, from the largest galaxies in the universe to the smallest building block of the atom. Jesus Christ created it all.
When I was in school, the Milky Way, we were taught, was the only galaxy. Now, they don’t really know how many galaxies there are, so last month, it’s estimated a billion. And then this month, it’s a trillion. And we don’t know what it’s going to be next month. The universe is expanding. You know why? Because Jesus Christ is a Creator. God is a Creator, and God continues to create, so the universe continues to expand. But we can’t even begin to grasp the magnitude, the massiveness of the universe – we can hardly grasp the massiveness of our little Milky Way that turns out to be just a little speck in the universe. It is phenomenal.
From the largest galaxies in the universe to the smallest building block of the atom, Jesus Christ created it all.
1 Corinthians 8:6 (NLT)
6 . . . And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created, and through whom we live.
Colossians 1:16–17 (NLT)
16 for through him (Jesus) God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth . . . Everything was created through him and for him.
17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.
Hebrews 1:3 (NLT)
3 The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command . . .
(Notice it doesn’t say he reflects God’s glory – that’s like saying the moon reflects the light of the sun. Jesus doesn’t reflect – he radiates because he IS the Glory of God.)
This is a great translation by the NLT because in the English that is “word,” but it’s a different word than the other words “word” in other places. This is the word RHEMA. It’s the spoken word. He sustains everything in creation by the power of his spoken word. His command.
Not only is Jesus the Agent of Creation in the Godhead, but he also sustains everything by the mighty power of his command.
Guys, we need a bigger vision of Jesus Christ. He is the force that holds all things together, from the greatest galaxy to the smallest atom. The more we see WHO Jesus Christ truly IS, the stronger we will grow in him.
John 1:4 (NLT)
4 The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. [repeat]
In Jesus, life itself existed, and he gave life to everything that was created and that includes YOU and ME.
His life brought light (illumination) to everyone.
Just yesterday, I checked what the three major theories are about the origin of life. The top one was the “primordial ooze.” The primordial swamp theory says that somehow there is a chemical reaction in there, and suddenly, the perfect chain of your DNA comes out of that primordial swamp.
Jesus not only created you, but he holds you together.
The most marvelous mystery and the greatest testimony of the Creator is the origin of life itself. If there’s one thing an atheist wants to steer clear of, it’s the initial origin of life. To take a “Designer” out of the phenomenally complex “design” of life is the single hardest thing the atheist scientific community has to prove because every cell, every membrane, every complex molecule, every strand of DNA screams, “This COULD NOT happen without a DESIGNER.”
And then, at the end of verse 4, he is the illumination of life to everyone. Life itself is the crowning glory of creation. Again, verse 4 says this.
John 1:4 (NLT)
4 The Word gave life (Genesis 1 says this is RUACH – it’s breath. He breathed the breath of life, not only into man but into everything that was created. The Word – Jesus – the Agent of Creation, gave life) to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone.
This phrase . . . and his life brought light to everyone is a phrase of communication. This verse is saying the Source of life itself came to illuminate life (show life) to everyone. The LOGOS – God in Expression came to illuminate life to us.
John 1:5 (NLT)
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.
Again, the Greek tense is “the light continually shines in darkness.”
So, we have a Creator of Life, bringing life to man as a light shines in the darkness. The One who said, “Let there be light” – The One who created life – he brought life to us as light rushing into darkness. And then comes the promise and the darkness can never extinguish it. Light can extinguish darkness, but darkness can never extinguish light.
You know what they say: darkness doesn’t exist. It’s just the absence of light. And same with hell, same with the spiritual principalities and powers, they’re dark because there is an absence of light. And so, the darkness can’t extinguish the light. That’s not what happens. When you turn the light off in a room, and it gets dark, the darkness didn’t extinguish the light. You shut the light off. But when you turn that light on, it extinguishes the darkness.
People have called us and have wanted us to pray over their house because they say there’s darkness in the house. And we take this seriously; it’s no small thing. We always say, sure, we’ll come. When we go, when we get there, we explain no matter what we do here; if there is darkness in your house when we leave, the darkness is going to come back in. If we bring the light of Jesus Christ into your house, but your house has darkness in it, as soon as the light leaves, it’s dark again. They’ll ask sometimes what we mean. And we’ll tell them if you have this, or this, or this, or this going on in your house, we can pray, but if you’re living in darkness, the darkness is just going to come back when the light leaves. So then, we teach them how to be the light.
Then, in verses 6-8, the Apostle John takes a break to introduce John the Baptist. (In the television series The Chosen, he’s called “Crazy John.”)
John 1:6–8 (NLT)
6 God sent a man, John the Baptist,
7 to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony.
8 John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light.
We’ll hear more about John the Baptist next week, but the context here is still God coming into the world to bring the LIGHT of LIFE – to shine into the darkness. And so we go right back into that context in verse 9.
John 1:9 (NLT)
9 The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
The true Light (Jesus) who gives light (or illuminates) every person was coming into the world. However, not every person was going to believe and receive the true light, who gives light to everyone.
John 1:10 (NLT)
10 He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him.
The God who created life came into the world HE created to BE the Light of Life for everyone but the world did not recognize him.
The Creator of the world walked the earth. The people beheld God Incarnate. But instead of recognizing him, they rejected him.
Write this reference in your margin.
Romans 1:21–22 (NKJV)
21 . . . although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
Instead of recognizing God, they rejected God.
And then read what verse 11 says.
John 1:11 (NLT)
11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him.
The phrase “his own people” is most likely speaking of the Jewish people.
Jesus had been preparing his own people for centuries:
The prophets foretold his coming
The sacrificial system screamed out the need for him
The Promised Land victories proved his presence
His arrival gave them reason to believe
YET – even they REJECTED him.
Caught up in their own religious system, claiming they knew everything about God, when God knocked on their door, they rejected him. Professing to be wise, they became fools.
But, all is not lost because today we can receive him. In verse 12, John gives us his first super-concentrated, powerhouse verse that so clearly spells out God’s plan of salvation.
John 1:12 (NLT)
12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.
Here, we see the life-changing and eternity-changing power of the simple GOSPEL.
. . . to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.
To those who believe in his name and receive him – to them he gives the right to become children of God. This is the formula for the new birth in Christ – in chronological order:
BELIEVE – RECEIVE – BECOME
The word believe means to put your full faith and trust in Jesus.
To receive (or accept) him means to receive him as your Savior
to become means that you will become a son or daughter of God
Your part is to believe and receive – from there, God takes over. He causes you to become a child of God, to be born again to a new spiritual life.
And John clarifies the way the new birth comes to us in verse 13. Let’s read both verses 12 and 13.
John 1:12–13 (NLT)
12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.
13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
That is such a powerful, compact explanation of the Gospel – the Good News.
BELIEVE – Who Jesus Christ IS
ACCEPT him into your life AS WHO he is
BECOME a son or daughter of God
BE REBORN with a new spiritual birth that comes from GOD
That is the simplicity and the phenomenal depth of the Gospel of John.
Have you done that? Have you considered it at that level?
Jesus, when I say “I believe,” am I really believing, or am I just going with the cultural norm so that I can “get my ticket punched” to go to the “amusement park of Heaven?” OR am I really standing in awe of WHO YOU ARE?
When you realize WHO HE IS and what he has done for you personally, it will make you shake. He left his throne, condescended to become a man, to be laid in a stable in a manger, to grow up in humility, in the humiliation of God becoming a man, living a perfect, sinless life, so that he could be the perfect substitutionary sacrifice for our sin. GOD HIMSELF (because nothing else could do it.) came to earth, lived a life so that he could become your sin, and then pay the full wrath of God on your behalf, in your place, for your sin, so that you could exchange your sin and the wages of your sin for the righteousness of God in Christ.
When we get a bigger and bigger picture of WHO Jesus Christ IS, more and more, we’re just in awe! We step back and say, “Whoa! You did that for me? I think you might have gotten a bum deal. You are God. You are the Creator. And you became my sin. And you paid the full price for my sin to save me. I’m not worth that.” But Jesus says, “Yeah, you are. You are my son. You are my daughter. I’ll give my life for you.”
It’s in a greater way than you would give your own life for your children.
Pray right now to receive Jesus Christ as your Savior.
In this Apostle’s life, God had become a man in a stable in Bethlehem, and this Apostle had become “his best friend.” He had seen God in the flesh heal the sick, feed the hungry, and teach the greatest of all eternal truths. And, he had seen his friend and his Lord betrayed, beaten, and crucified, but not to defeat, instead, to the eternal victory of the Resurrection leading to the supernatural birth of the New Testament Church.
Ten days after the Ascension of Jesus back to Heaven in a crowded upper room in Jerusalem during the Feast of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit would come like a mighty rushing wind, empowering the followers of Jesus, and 3,000 Believers would be baptized into the New Testament Church on its very first day.
But it had been maybe fifty years since that glorious day, and there had been a Jewish revolt that ended with the complete destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 AD. Jews and Christians alike had gone into exile and hiding. There was no Temple, no sacrifices, no Jewish capital city, and no king but Caesar. Rome had completely taken over.
The Jewish religious leaders still held tightly to their rejection of Jesus Christ as Messiah, ignoring so many of fulfilled prophecies that had occurred right before their eyes. And not only was the Jewish rejection staunch, but all kinds of false teachings were already creeping into the new Christian Church. Three or four major “ism’s.” The one that you might be familiar with is Gnosticism. But there were a number of them. People taking the words of Jesus and the teachings of the Apostle Paul and perverting it for their own good. It was already happening by 85 AD, so it’s no wonder that it’s still happening today.
And so, when John was an old man, the Holy Spirit commissioned “the disciple whom Jesus loved” to write not only three short Epistles, not only the Revelation of Jesus Christ but also the absolute crowning work of evangelism in the entire Bible. To this day, when people get saved, we tell them to read John, and we hand out the Gospel of John.
The Gospel of John shows Jesus Christ in all His Deity as the great Creator God of the universe. It conveys Jesus Christ as the one and only Savior of our souls because Jesus is the Only One who came from God, lived a sinless life, and died as a substitutionary sacrifice in our place, allowing us to receive His Righteousness before God in exchange for the just due wages of our sin.
In the Gospel of John, the gospel is so simple, and it’s so powerful that if someone will actually read it, and they open their heart to the Lord, the Lord will reveal Jesus Christ to them. Its depths are unreachable, yet its language is very simple; the vocabulary in the Gospel of John is under six hundred words. But the theology is as deep as it can get. The commentator and scholar Leon Morris says, “The Gospel of John is like a pool in which both a child may wade and an elephant may swim.”
Let’s start today with the summary verse that answers the question, “Why was the Gospel of John written?”
John 20:31 (NLT)
31 But these (things – meaning miracles) are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.
In sports, when you begin to get sideways, you go back to the basics. You go back and re-do the basics. That is the Gospel of John: get back to the foundation and remember WHO JESUS IS! We get so wrapped up in all these weird opinions and doctrines. Give me Jesus! That’s what the Gospel of John does; it gives you Jesus.
Two reasons why the Gospel of John was written:
1). That you that you may believe and continue to believe
2). That by believing, you may have life in His name
So, are you ready for verse 1? The simple sentence of verse 1 is one of the most compact and powerful theological statements in all of the Bible. Verse 1 is John’s purpose.
John 1:1 (NLT)
1 In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The phrase “the Word” is critical to understand (used three times in this verse.) It is both a title and a description of Jesus Christ. The Greek word LOGOS here means “the express image of God” or, better, “God in Expression.” And it is the title and description that John uses for Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is The WORD. He is God in Expression (communication) to us.
So, verse 1 begins In the beginning the Word (Jesus) already existed. The Greek verb tense here is expressing an existence that transcends time. We could say, “Before time began, Jesus Christ (the Word) already existed.” This is the Eternal Existence of Jesus Christ in the Trinity. It’s talking about eternality.
And then, verse 1 says, The Word was with God. The original language here means Face-to-face, literally, and is speaking of the deepest intimacy and communion, meaning before time began – Jesus (the Word) has always been in perfect intimacy and communion with the Father. This statement is showing the DISTINCT PERSONHOOD of Jesus WITHIN the Oneness of the Godhead. Jesus was WITH GOD (distinct Personhood), and Jesus WAS GOD (One in Essence).
Here’s the thing – if you think you can understand the Trinity, then you are God’s equal. We can’t understand the Trinity. The Trinity is beyond understanding – we just believe it, or we reject it. But we cannot reason it out. Don’t let anyone say, “The Trinity is like water, ice, steam, liquid.” Or like an egg. The Trinity is like nothing you know. You can’t know, but you can believe.
And that’s how John very decisively concludes this critical first verse. “And the Word was God.” Again, the same Greek tense is used, meaning before time began, the Word was always God. There is no time when this started; there is no time when it will end. There is simplicity and power in the Gospel of John because what you need to know is that Jesus Christ is God in Expression, he is Eternal, he is distinct in his Personhood, and he is God. All of that is in this verse.
The science of translation is really, really simple to apply in this verse. It’s not so in all of the Bible. In some of the Bible, some Greek can’t be translated into perfect English; it could be this, or it could be that. But there is absolutely no doubt in this verse. Translating the final statement from Greek to English in John 1, verse 1, is very simple and very clear. It is: The Word (Jesus) has always been God. If you ever see a translation where the simple English word “a” is inserted here before the word “God” as the Jehovah’s Witness Bible does, know that inserting the word “a” violates all rules of Greek translation and grammar and it cannot be remotely explained except as heresy.
The guy who started the Jehovah’s Witness cult was 19, and worked in a printing press. He started printing his own pamphlets and his own Bible studies, which eventually became the Watchtower Tract Society. He knew no Greek, no Hebrew, no Aramaic. He never studied the original languages. He wrote his Bible from his opinion from the King James Bible, (which isn’t a great source for translating the original). It is an incorrect translation.
Then, verse 2 reiterates the awesome truth John is conveying.
John 1:2 (NLT)
2 He (Jesus) existed in the beginning with God.
Jesus has always existed in perfect harmony with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, and not only has he always existed in the Godhead, but Jesus is also the Agent of Creation of the Godhead.
Each member of the Trinity has a role. In fact, our marriages are patterned after the Trinity and after Jesus and the Church, and each of the members has a role. One of Jesus’ roles is to be the Agent of Creation. This might be news to you, but everything that was created was created through Jesus Christ.
John 1:3 (NLT)
3 God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.
Jesus Christ is the “Agent of Creation” of the Godhead. Meaning “all things were created through him.” The Greek word here for “all things” means all things individually, every detail of everything that was created. It refers to the infinite details of creation, from the largest galaxies in the universe to the smallest building block of the atom. Jesus Christ created it all.
When I was in school, the Milky Way, we were taught, was the only galaxy. Now, they don’t really know how many galaxies there are, so last month, it’s estimated a billion. And then this month, it’s a trillion. And we don’t know what it’s going to be next month. The universe is expanding. You know why? Because Jesus Christ is a Creator. God is a Creator, and God continues to create, so the universe continues to expand. But we can’t even begin to grasp the magnitude, the massiveness of the universe – we can hardly grasp the massiveness of our little Milky Way that turns out to be just a little speck in the universe. It is phenomenal.
From the largest galaxies in the universe to the smallest building block of the atom, Jesus Christ created it all.
1 Corinthians 8:6 (NLT)
6 . . . And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created, and through whom we live.
Colossians 1:16–17 (NLT)
16 for through him (Jesus) God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth . . . Everything was created through him and for him.
17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.
Hebrews 1:3 (NLT)
3 The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command . . .
(Notice it doesn’t say he reflects God’s glory – that’s like saying the moon reflects the light of the sun. Jesus doesn’t reflect – he radiates because he IS the Glory of God.)
This is a great translation by the NLT because in the English that is “word,” but it’s a different word than the other words “word” in other places. This is the word RHEMA. It’s the spoken word. He sustains everything in creation by the power of his spoken word. His command.
Not only is Jesus the Agent of Creation in the Godhead, but he also sustains everything by the mighty power of his command.
Guys, we need a bigger vision of Jesus Christ. He is the force that holds all things together, from the greatest galaxy to the smallest atom. The more we see WHO Jesus Christ truly IS, the stronger we will grow in him.
John 1:4 (NLT)
4 The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. [repeat]
In Jesus, life itself existed, and he gave life to everything that was created and that includes YOU and ME.
His life brought light (illumination) to everyone.
Just yesterday, I checked what the three major theories are about the origin of life. The top one was the “primordial ooze.” The primordial swamp theory says that somehow there is a chemical reaction in there, and suddenly, the perfect chain of your DNA comes out of that primordial swamp.
Jesus not only created you, but he holds you together.
The most marvelous mystery and the greatest testimony of the Creator is the origin of life itself. If there’s one thing an atheist wants to steer clear of, it’s the initial origin of life. To take a “Designer” out of the phenomenally complex “design” of life is the single hardest thing the atheist scientific community has to prove because every cell, every membrane, every complex molecule, every strand of DNA screams, “This COULD NOT happen without a DESIGNER.”
And then, at the end of verse 4, he is the illumination of life to everyone. Life itself is the crowning glory of creation. Again, verse 4 says this.
John 1:4 (NLT)
4 The Word gave life (Genesis 1 says this is RUACH – it’s breath. He breathed the breath of life, not only into man but into everything that was created. The Word – Jesus – the Agent of Creation, gave life) to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone.
This phrase . . . and his life brought light to everyone is a phrase of communication. This verse is saying the Source of life itself came to illuminate life (show life) to everyone. The LOGOS – God in Expression came to illuminate life to us.
John 1:5 (NLT)
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.
Again, the Greek tense is “the light continually shines in darkness.”
So, we have a Creator of Life, bringing life to man as a light shines in the darkness. The One who said, “Let there be light” – The One who created life – he brought life to us as light rushing into darkness. And then comes the promise and the darkness can never extinguish it. Light can extinguish darkness, but darkness can never extinguish light.
You know what they say: darkness doesn’t exist. It’s just the absence of light. And same with hell, same with the spiritual principalities and powers, they’re dark because there is an absence of light. And so, the darkness can’t extinguish the light. That’s not what happens. When you turn the light off in a room, and it gets dark, the darkness didn’t extinguish the light. You shut the light off. But when you turn that light on, it extinguishes the darkness.
People have called us and have wanted us to pray over their house because they say there’s darkness in the house. And we take this seriously; it’s no small thing. We always say, sure, we’ll come. When we go, when we get there, we explain no matter what we do here; if there is darkness in your house when we leave, the darkness is going to come back in. If we bring the light of Jesus Christ into your house, but your house has darkness in it, as soon as the light leaves, it’s dark again. They’ll ask sometimes what we mean. And we’ll tell them if you have this, or this, or this, or this going on in your house, we can pray, but if you’re living in darkness, the darkness is just going to come back when the light leaves. So then, we teach them how to be the light.
Then, in verses 6-8, the Apostle John takes a break to introduce John the Baptist. (In the television series The Chosen, he’s called “Crazy John.”)
John 1:6–8 (NLT)
6 God sent a man, John the Baptist,
7 to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony.
8 John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light.
We’ll hear more about John the Baptist next week, but the context here is still God coming into the world to bring the LIGHT of LIFE – to shine into the darkness. And so we go right back into that context in verse 9.
John 1:9 (NLT)
9 The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
The true Light (Jesus) who gives light (or illuminates) every person was coming into the world. However, not every person was going to believe and receive the true light, who gives light to everyone.
John 1:10 (NLT)
10 He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him.
The God who created life came into the world HE created to BE the Light of Life for everyone but the world did not recognize him.
The Creator of the world walked the earth. The people beheld God Incarnate. But instead of recognizing him, they rejected him.
Write this reference in your margin.
Romans 1:21–22 (NKJV)
21 . . . although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
Instead of recognizing God, they rejected God.
And then read what verse 11 says.
John 1:11 (NLT)
11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him.
The phrase “his own people” is most likely speaking of the Jewish people.
Jesus had been preparing his own people for centuries:
The prophets foretold his coming
The sacrificial system screamed out the need for him
The Promised Land victories proved his presence
His arrival gave them reason to believe
YET – even they REJECTED him.
Caught up in their own religious system, claiming they knew everything about God, when God knocked on their door, they rejected him. Professing to be wise, they became fools.
But, all is not lost because today we can receive him. In verse 12, John gives us his first super-concentrated, powerhouse verse that so clearly spells out God’s plan of salvation.
John 1:12 (NLT)
12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.
Here, we see the life-changing and eternity-changing power of the simple GOSPEL.
. . . to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.
To those who believe in his name and receive him – to them he gives the right to become children of God. This is the formula for the new birth in Christ – in chronological order:
BELIEVE – RECEIVE – BECOME
The word believe means to put your full faith and trust in Jesus.
To receive (or accept) him means to receive him as your Savior
to become means that you will become a son or daughter of God
Your part is to believe and receive – from there, God takes over. He causes you to become a child of God, to be born again to a new spiritual life.
And John clarifies the way the new birth comes to us in verse 13. Let’s read both verses 12 and 13.
John 1:12–13 (NLT)
12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.
13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
That is such a powerful, compact explanation of the Gospel – the Good News.
BELIEVE – Who Jesus Christ IS
ACCEPT him into your life AS WHO he is
BECOME a son or daughter of God
BE REBORN with a new spiritual birth that comes from GOD
That is the simplicity and the phenomenal depth of the Gospel of John.
Have you done that? Have you considered it at that level?
Jesus, when I say “I believe,” am I really believing, or am I just going with the cultural norm so that I can “get my ticket punched” to go to the “amusement park of Heaven?” OR am I really standing in awe of WHO YOU ARE?
When you realize WHO HE IS and what he has done for you personally, it will make you shake. He left his throne, condescended to become a man, to be laid in a stable in a manger, to grow up in humility, in the humiliation of God becoming a man, living a perfect, sinless life, so that he could be the perfect substitutionary sacrifice for our sin. GOD HIMSELF (because nothing else could do it.) came to earth, lived a life so that he could become your sin, and then pay the full wrath of God on your behalf, in your place, for your sin, so that you could exchange your sin and the wages of your sin for the righteousness of God in Christ.
When we get a bigger and bigger picture of WHO Jesus Christ IS, more and more, we’re just in awe! We step back and say, “Whoa! You did that for me? I think you might have gotten a bum deal. You are God. You are the Creator. And you became my sin. And you paid the full price for my sin to save me. I’m not worth that.” But Jesus says, “Yeah, you are. You are my son. You are my daughter. I’ll give my life for you.”
It’s in a greater way than you would give your own life for your children.
Pray right now to receive Jesus Christ as your Savior.