"I Was Here Before You"
He Is Here • Sermon • Submitted
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· 11 viewsJohn identifies Jesus as God’s Logos, which means that Jesus existed before creation and must be identified with God.
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Big Idea of the Series
Big Idea of the Series
This three-part Christmas series unpacks each word of the title. It will challenge students to recognize the significance of Jesus’s incarnation for our daily lives.
Jesus the White Light
Jesus the White Light
In white, all the colors are blended. A perfectly white substance combines all the colors of the rainbow merged in true proportion, but green and indigo and red are only the reflections of a part of the solar rays. So John, Peter, Paul are parts of the light of heaven; they are differing colors, and there is a beauty in each one of them. But if you want to get the whole of the rays of light, you must get to Christ, for all light is in him. In him is not simply the red or the blue, but in him is light, the true light, the whole of light #HeIsHere
Big Idea of the Sermon
Big Idea of the Sermon
Jesus’s identity as the Son of God, preexistent before creation, is crucial for our faith. If we want to know God, we must consider the significance of the incarnation.
John the Beloved
John the Beloved
John, the Beloved disciple, the one who leaned on Jesus’ breast at the Last Supper writes his account of Christ making the argument that his teacher was in fact God in flesh (1:14). John’s gospel is not part of the synoptic gospels as he presents more of Christ’s person and less of his performance of miracles. He wanted to provide reasoning for the performance of miracles because he is God in flesh. He was the only of the twleve disciples to be present at the cross, and along with Peter was present at the empty tomb. After Jesus appears to the disciples on the shores of Galilee, it was Peter who question Jesus in John 21:15-19
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”
It was thought John would never die, but remain until Jesus returns. Other disciples were martyred for the cause, while it seemed like John would not cooperate with death, eventually exiled to the isle of Patmos and received the apocalyptic book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Eventually, he dies on the isle of Patmos at a ripe old age.
The Main Theme of John
The Main Theme of John
N. T. Wright introduces the main theme of John 1:1-18: “Verses 1-2 and 18 begin and end the passage by stressing that the Word was and is God, and is intimately close to God. John knows perfectly well he’s making language go beyond normally possible, but it’s Jesus that makes him do it; because verse 14 says that the Word became flesh—that is, became human, became one of us.
He became, in fact, the human being we know as Jesus. That’s the theme of this gospel: If you want to know who the true God is, look long and hard at Jesus. The rest of the passage clusters around this central statement: The one we know as Jesus is identical, it seems with the Word who was there from the very start, the Word through show all things were made, the one who contained and contains life and light. The Word challenged the darkness before creation and now challenges the darkness that is found, tragically, within creation itself. The Word is bringing into being the new creation, in which God say once more, “Let there be light!”
The Pre-existent Christ
The Pre-existent Christ
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’s opening argument describes the Christ in four distinct ways:
Past—In the beginning was the Word
Power—And the Word was with God
Person—and the Word was God
Permanence—He was in the beginning with God
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.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
John uses these first five verses from Genesis to establish the “Word” as a preexisting agent of creation present with Yahweh in the beginning. When you read the creation account in Genesis, we see God’s acts through his “Word,” and John’s aim is to establish Jesus’s preexistence to combat current and future debates about Jesus’s divinity. Hebrews 1:1-2
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
John uses the term “Word” as a title for Jesus throughout his prologue. He doesn’t specify that “Word” refers to Jesus until John 1:17. The Greek term here is logos, a concept-word in the Bible symbolic of the nature and function of Jesus Christ. Logos simply means “word” that this written. The Bible you hold or read is the logos, or written word of God. In the New Testament, logos means:
A standard meaning designates a word, speech or the act of speaking (Acts 7:27)
But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?
2. A special meaning refers to the special revelation of God to people (Mark 7:13)
thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
3. Personifies the revelation of God as Jesus the Messiah (John 1:14)
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 premise is that Jesus is the Word: the Word that existed prior to creation, the Word that exists in connection to God, the Word that is God, and the Word that became human, cohabitated with people, and possessed a glory that can only be described as the glory of God. God’s Word in the OT is his powerful self-expression in creation, revelation, and salvation, and the personification of that “Word” makes it suitable for John to apply it as a title to God’s ultimate self-disclosure, the person of his own Son. John presents a three-pronged foundation confessional: (1) that the Logos has an origin that supersedes the created order of time and space, (2) that this Logos has an identity distinct from the previously understood designations for God, and (3) that the Logos must also be understood as part of the unity of God. Here John is describing the Trinity the God-head
The Present Christ (Creative Christ)
The Present Christ (Creative Christ)
All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Paul confirms John’s argument here at the church in Colossae:
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. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
The pastor in Hebrews 11:3
By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
Nothing you see here physically came to be without God’s word
John again uses the creative story to show Christ’s participation in creation with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. The word “through” is a marker of intermediate agent, with implicit or explicit causative agent; the implication of an agent being used as an instrument. The concept of creation through the divine Word reflects Yahweh’s act of of speaking the universe into existence (Genesis 1:3-26). (1.) Expressly asserted: All things were made by him. He was with God, not only so as to be acquainted with the divine counsels from eternity, but to be active in the divine operations in the beginning of time. Then was I by him, Proverbs 8:30. God made the world by a word (Ps. 33:6) and Christ was the Word. By him, not as a subordinate instrument, but as a co-ordinate agent, God made the world (Heb. 1:2), not as the workman cuts by his axe, but as the body sees by the eye. (2.) The contrary is denied: Without him was not any thing made that was made, from the highest angel to the meanest worm. God the Father did nothing without him in that work. Now, [1.] This proves that he is God; for he that built all things is God, Heb. 3:4. The God of Israel often proved himself to be God with this, that he made all things: Isa. 40:12, 28; 41:4; and see Jer. 10:11, 12. [2.] This proves the excellency of the Christian religion, that the author and founder of it is the same that was the author and founder of the world. How excellent must that constitution needs be which derives its institution from him who is the fountain of all excellency! When we worship Christ, we worship him to whom the patriarchs gave honour as the Creator of the world, and on whom all creatures depend. [3.] This shows how well qualified he was for the work of our redemption and salvation. Help was laid upon one that was mighty indeed; for it was laid upon him that made all things; and he is appointed the author of our bliss who was the author of our being.
Application Point: Nothing before, now, or after happens outside of God’s word. God speaks, Jesus Reveals and the Spirit seals…Christians manifest God’s Word
The Power of Christ
The Power of Christ
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.
The Word is the source of life, both physical through the creation of all things and spiritual. A key word for John is the life, as he uses it 36 times in the Gospel. This Gospel and other NT writings associated with John account for more that 40 percent of the total occurences of this world in the NT. For John, Jesus’ ability to grant life to those who walked in “darkness” or “death” is the key issue at stake. Jesus has the ability and authority to do so because He was there in the beginning when God’s creative works took place. Genesis 1:2 describes the scene directly after God created the heavens and the earth, describing a created world without “form and void, and darkness upon the face of the deep.” The tension is that God apparently created the heavens and earth but they are covered in darkness. The first act of creation through speaking is creating light, suggesting that light was present. John alludes to the initial act of creation involving light (Genesis 1:3) and invokes the association of light with divine glory: Isaiah 60:19
The sun shall be no more
your light by day,
nor for brightness shall the moon
give you light;
but the Lord will be your everlasting light,
and your God will be your glory.
Light is often used in the OT as a metaphor for salvation and spiritual awaken Isaiah 51:4
“Give attention to me, my people,
and give ear to me, my nation;
for a law will go out from me,
and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.
The contrast between light and darkness is prominent theme in John’s Gospel. This antithesis draws on Genesis 1:1-5 as well as OT traditions of the advent of the Messiah as a light dawning over a world of physical and spiritual darkness Isaiah 9:2
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.
The original of life and light that is in him: In him was life, v. 4. This further proves that he is God, and every way qualified for his undertaking; for, (1.) He has life in himself; not only the true God, but the living God. God is life; he swears by himself when he saith, As I live. (2.) All living creatures have their life in him; not only all the matter of the creation was made by him, but all the life too that is in the creation is derived from him and supported by him. It was the Word of God that produced the moving creatures that had life, Gen. 1:20; Acts 17:25. He is that Word by which man lives more than by bread, Mt. 4:4. (3.) Reasonable creatures have their light from him; that life which is the light of men comes from him. Life in man is something greater and nobler than it is in other creatures; it is rational, and not merely animal. When man became a living soul, his life was light, his capacities such as distinguished him from, and dignified him above, the beasts that perish. The spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord, and it was the eternal Word that lighted this candle. The light of reason, as well as the life of sense, is derived from him, and depends upon him. This proves him fit to undertake our salvation; for life and light, spiritual and eternal life and light, are the two great things that fallen man, who lies so much under the power of death and darkness, has need of. From whom may we better expect the light of divine revelation than from him who gave us the light of human reason? And if, when God gave us natural life, that life was in his Son, how readily should we receive the gospel-record, that he hath given us eternal life, and that life too is in his Son!
The manifestation of him to the children of men. It might be objected, If this eternal Word was all in all thus in the creation of the world, whence is it that he has been so little taken notice of and regarded? To this he answers (v. 5), The light shines, but the darkness comprehends it not. Observe,
(1.) The discovery of the eternal Word to the lapsed world, even before he was manifested in the flesh: The light shineth in darkness. Light is self-evidencing, and will make itself known; this light, whence the light of men comes, hath shone, and doth shine.
[1.] The eternal Word, as God, shines in the darkness of natural conscience. Though men by the fall are become darkness, yet that which may be known of God is manifested in them; see Rom. 1:19, 20. The light of nature is this light shining in darkness. Something of the power of the divine Word, both as creating and as commanding, all mankind have an innate sense of; were it not for this, earth would be a hell, a place of utter darkness; blessed be God, it is not so yet.
[2.] The eternal Word, as Mediator, shone in the darkness of the Old-Testament types and figures, and the prophecies and promises which were of the Messiah from the beginning. He that had commanded the light of this world to shine out of darkness was himself long a light shining in darkness; there was a veil upon this light, 2 Co. 3:13
not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end.
(2.) The disability of the degenerate world to receive this discovery: The darkness comprehended it not; the most of men received the grace of God in these discoveries in vain.
[1.] The world of mankind comprehended not the natural light that was in their understandings, but became vain in their imaginations concerning the eternal God and the eternal Word, Rom. 1:21, 28. The darkness of error and sin overpowered and quite eclipsed this light. God spoke once, yea twice, but man perceived it not, Job 33:14.
[2.] The Jews, who had the light of the Old Testament, yet comprehended not Christ in it. As there was a veil upon Moses’s face, so there was upon the people’s hearts. In the darkness of the types and shadows the light shone; but such as the darkness of their understandings that they could not see it. It was therefore requisite that Christ should come, both to rectify the errors of the Gentile world and to improve the truths of the Jewish church.