John 1:1 The Word of God

Intro

What does it mean when we say that Jesus is the Word of God?

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

I love asking questions like this.

I love digging into things in the Bible that are so familiar to us, that their familiarity makes us actually forget what those things actually mean.

Where words become so familiar that ironically what they mean becomes unfamiliar.

The Gospel of John was written for one singular purpose: to exalt the glory of Christ and inspire faith in His Name.

John tells us so with the purpose statement of his book.

John 20:30-31 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

1. The Gospel of John so that you would know one singular thing. One glorious truth.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

And with that goal in mind, John starts his Gospel by calling Jesus the Word.

Why?

It’s intentional. There is something about the Word tells us about the glory of Christ, who he is, what He’s done, and how we might have life in His Name.

And my hope is to give a bigger picture of Christ.

That you would see His glory as the Word of God and leave here today loving Him and worshiping Him more than you did before.

But first, some background on the Gospel of John.

Gospel Background

The Gospel of John is one of the most beloved books of the whole Bible.

For many people its their favorite gospel.

And when somebody becomes a Christian people usually say the first book of the Bible they need to read is the Gospel of John.

Why?

Well, because John tells us everything we need to know about Christ and His saving work.

If you want to know who Christ is and what Christ did, you need to look no further than the Gospel of John.

Martin Luther, the great Reformer, even called the Gospel of John the “chief Gospel.”

And he even said “Should a tyrant succeed in destroying the Holy Scriptures and only a single copy of the Epistle to the Romans and the Gospel according to John escape him, Christianity would be saved.”

(Phillips, John, Reformed Expository Commentary, 5).

John tells us everything we need to know about who Christ and what He did, how we can be saved and have eternal life through faith in His Name.

That’s why we are going to study this book.

Why we are going to really dig in and take the time to squeeze everything that we can by the grace of God from this gospel because I want all of us to know Christ more.

Because the more we know Him, the more we love Him. And the more we love Him, the more we’ll live for Him.

And that’s my hope and prayer.

I hope that Gospel of John will help our church, our families, and all of us as individual followers of Christ know Christ more.

Get a bigger picture of who Christ is in all of His glory so that in seeing His glory we would trust in Him and live more and more of our lives for the glory of His Name.

Author

The Gospel of John was written by the Apostle John. A Son of Thunder.

Jesus gave him and his older brother James that nickname because they were both zealous for the glory of God.

He was one of the 12.

An eyewitness to the ministry of Jesus.

He starts off the first epistle that bears his name with that which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, and which we have looked upon and touched with our hands (John 1:1).

John knew Jesus.

And John knew Jesus up close and personal.

John, along with Peter and James, was a part of Jesus’ inner circle.

One of Jesus’ closest friends

in fact, five times throughout the Gospel, John refers to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved (Jn 13:23, 19:26, 20:2, 7, 21:20).

And we know this is John because in chapter 21 he says This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things.

I love that this is how John describes Himself.

The disciple whom Jesus loved.

This was fundamental to his identity and defined everything he understood himself to be.

He never even refers to himself by his own name in the gospel. Its only the disciple whom Jesus loved.

And before you start thinking that that sounds kind of arrogant of John, you need to understand that this is not a statement that talks about how great John was.

This isn’t a statement that is as much about him as it is about Christ.

Its not like John heard all of Jesus’ teachings that the first would be last and the last would be first and then sat down to write his gospel only to say, “You know? I’m really the best. I’m really the one Jesus loved most.”

That’s not what John was doing.

What John was doing was marveling at the greatness of Christ.

You mean the God, Savior, and Sovereign of the whole universe loved me? Me?!

He died for me? He washed my feet? What kind of God would do that?

It practically leaps off the page. The disciple whom Jesus loved shows John’s awe and wonder that Jesus Christ would love him.

Next to that, for John, nothing else mattered. Not even His own name.

He was the disciple whom Jesus loved, and that was enough.

Application

And I pray for God’s grace for that to be all of us.

That all of us, like John, would find our identity in Christ as the disciple whom Jesus loved.

That one truth, if we truly believed it and built our lives on it, would change everything.

First, it would give us a bigger picture of Christ’s mercy and grace.

You mean Christ loved me? He died for me?

Who am I? I am nothing.

I am an unworthy sinner and Christ has loved me more than I ever deserved.

If that was who we are, you don’t think you don’t think we would start living all of our lives for the glory of Christ?

Every day, every moment, would be a constant reminder of how great He is. How worthy He is.

If that was our identity, the love of Christ would be poured into our hearts and it would overflow in a life of holiness and obedience.

Does John not also say We love because He first loved us? (1 John 4:19).

This is a major theme for John. In John 14:15 Jesus said If you love me you will keep my commandments.

Let me tell you what most Christians don’t understand about the Christian life.

We don’t will ourselves to holiness.

I see so many Christians try to live the Christian life like Sisyphus trying to push the boulder of obedience to the top of the mountain in their own strength and power only to see that stone roll all the way back down the hill.

No. we do not will ourselves to holiness. The love of Christ draws us to holiness.

The more we know Christ, the more we know His love. And the more we know His love, the more we will love Him in return, and out of that love, not our will power and religious legalism, we will obey and follow Him.

That’s why his commands are not burdensome to us, but a joy to us.

They are the overflow of our love which is the overflow of Christ’s love for us.

They are the tangible ways we get to love Christ in return for loving us beyond what we could have ever hoped or dreamed.

So if you’re trapped in sin, the answer isn’t to try harder and get it together.

Listen there’s discipline there. You need to make every effort to put your sin to death and resist temptation. But not by the power of the flesh.

Its like we think God forgives us by His grace in Christ, but then its on us to obey. Its on us to live a life of holiness.

But listen to me: Everything about your salvation, from beginning to end, including your sanctification, is 100% by Grace Alone through Faith Alone in Christ Alone.

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Phil 2:12-13).

The Bible says If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live (Rom. 8:13).

Do you want to be free from your sin? The answer isn’t to try harder. Do better. Obey in the power of your flesh.

The answer is look to Christ.

Study His Word, see who He is with the eyes of faith. Constantly feed on His Word and preach the gospel to yourself. Pray about Christ and give thanks to God for all that he did and all that He continues to do.

In every way, however you can, behold the love of Christ and all His glory.

That, by the way, is what all the spiritual disciplines are about.

Reading the Bible, going to church, and prayer are not designed to just give you new activities to do as if thats just what Christians do.

Spiritual disciplines are designed to give you new affections.

To see Christ for all He’s worth and love Him more. That’s how the Holy Spirit changes us.

As you look to Christ, the founder and perfecter of our faith, and behold His love and glory the Holy Spirit begins to change you from the inside out.

He draws your affections, your will, and your desires away from sin and towards Christ so that as your love for Christ grows and grows and grows by the power of the Spirit, your love for sin begins to wane until, one day, it fades away and grows small.

Not that its never a temptation again, but that the sin you once loved becomes absolutely detestable to you because of the surpassing worth of Jesus Christ.

Do you see why we are studying the Gospel of John? Why I want our church to read this Gospel and fix our eyes on Christ?

Glorifying God, being forgiven of sin, and walking in the newness of life all begins with beholding the glory of Christ and truly seeing the magnitude of what it means that we are all the disciples whom Jesus loves.

That truth must be the foundation of our life. The core of who we are.

It must define everything about us and work itself into everything that we do.

Because only then will we see Christ for all He’s worth and live all of our lives for the glory of His Name.

And that takes us to the Word.

The Word

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Overall, what John is saying in this verse is really pretty simple.

It is so simple, even child can understand it.

And yet...it so profound that we will spend all eternity plumbing its depths.

Jesus is God.

Verse 14, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, [that can only be Christ] and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus is the Word.

And In the beginning, before anything that was made was made, Jesus was. He was with God and He was God.

Now this is the foundational truth of our faith.

Everything we believe as Christians rises and falls on Jesus Christ being God. The Son of God. The second person of the Trinity incarnate in human flesh.

Now we'll look at Trinity and what all that means next week, but for now I only want to focus on what John means when he calls Jesus the Word.

What does that tell us about the glory of Christ?

About who He is, what He’s done, and how we might have life in His Name.

That’s our big question today. Who is Christ as the Word of God?

Now this is not going to be an exhaustive list. The Word of God has a rich background in the Old Testament and everything that you could possible say about the Word of God could properly be said of Christ.

He is true. Perfect. Righteous. Just. The list could go on.

But I want to highlight three things about the Word of God and look at how they point to the glory of Christ as the Incarnate Word. The Word made flesh.

Who is Jesus? He is the Word of God. And as the Word we’ll have three points:

Number 1: The Word of God Reveals Who God Is.

Number 2: The Word of God Gives Life and Salvation

And Number 3: The Word of God is the Absolute Truth, Source, Purpose, and Meaning of All Things.

Let’s start with number 1...

I. The Word of God Reveals Who God Is

Hebrews 1:1-3 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. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

Without Christ we would never truly know who God is.

We would be lost and blind in sin and ignorance.

We would never be able to worship God rightly because we would never know who we would be worshiping at all.

The only way we know who God is, is by God speaking.

And in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus is God’s last and final word.

The full manifestation of who God is in all His glory.

Right here in Hebrews it says that Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature.

In Colossians 1:15 that He is the image of the invisible God and just one chapter later that in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily (Col 2:9).

Jesus even goes so far to say in John 14:9 Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.

The grace of this statement is only seen when we remember what God said in Exodus 33:20 You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.

But Christ has made Him known (John 1:18).

Why is this good news?

Because God created us to know Him. Love Him. To worship Him for all that He’s worth.

To find all of our life in Him and Him alone.

That's why Jesus said in John 17:3 This is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

True life. The fullness of life. The life abundant is only found in knowing God and worshiping Him.

And the only way to do that is by knowing Him through Christ whom he has sent.

Without Jesus, you and I would never know God.

We would be eternally lost and dead in our sins, forever ignorant of who God is, and barred from eternal life.

But Christ reveals Him to us.

In Christ we see all the glory of the Father. We know God just as He created us to. And for the first time since the Fall, we are able to worship Him for all that He’s worth.

Just look at the cross. Look at what the cross reveals about God the Father.

Holy

God is Holy.

God is light, and in him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5).

Sin has no part in Him. God cannot even be tempted with sin (James 1:13).

He is perfect, pure, unapproachable light (1 Tim 6:16).

Therefore no one can draw near to Him in their sin. There must be a sacrifice to atone for sin and cleanse the sinner.

Justice

We see His justice.

God does not just sweep our sin under the rug.

He pours out the full penalty of our sin on Christ.

And in so doing we also see His wrath. We see the evil of our sin and what it truly deserves.

But that’s not all.

Goodness-Mercy-Grace

We see God’s goodness and kindness, in sending His Son to die in our place for our sins.

We see God’s mercy because He does not give us what our sin deserves but saves us from His wrath.

And we see God’s grace because even though we did nothing to deserve it, He gave us the gift of eternal life and righteousness in Jesus Christ.

Love

But most of all we see God’s love.

Love is who God is. He is a Father. The Bible says God is love.

And that love is most clearly seen in Jesus Christ. While we were still sinners, Christ died for the ungodly (Rom. 5:8).

We could go on but you get the point.

In Christ we see the fullness of who God is. He is God’s Word. The fullness of God’s revelation of Himself that we might know Him, love Him, and worship Him for all He’s worth.

That’s why Jesus says I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).

He is the only way by which we may know God.

As 2 Corinthians 4:6 says “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Jesus Christ, the Word of God, reveals who God is.

Number 2...

II. The Word of God Gives Life and Salvation

Obviously God spoke the world into existence. He spoke all life into being.

But let’s go to a famous passage on the Word of God from the Old Testament that ultimately tells us about Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 55:10-11 For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Here God is promising salvation and deliverance.

In verse 1 of this chapter Isaiah says Isaiah 55:1 Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

And this is quoted by Jesus (John 7:37) and elsewhere in the NT as a promise of the free gift of the gospel.

And God says that just as rain and snow goes out to water the earth to make it sprout and bring forth life, so will God’s Word water the earth and bring eternal life.

It will accomplish precisely what He has purposed.

Verses 6-7: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

God’s purpose is to save sinners and that’s what He sends the word out into the world to do.

Water the earth and bring forth life and salvation.

That’s why the very next verse right after God says my word shall not return to be empty He says...

For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off (Isaiah 55:12-13).

Earlier in Isaiah briers and thorns were signs of God’s judgment (Isaiah 7:23).

But now, the Word of God goes out to all the earth transforms those thorns and briers into beautiful trees like trees that were in planted the Garden of Eden.

Now instead of judgment…salvation, blessing, and the abundance of life.

And from that blessing, joy and peace fill the earth.

All creation breaks forth in singing, and praise, and rejoicing in the glory of God.

Joy, life, the fullness of salvation. That is what God promises the Word will succeed in the thing which God has sent it to do.

That takes us to John 6. What does Jesus, the Incarnate Word, say?

John 6:38-40 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.

I am the Word sent out to water the earth.

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

If God’s Word always accomplishes that which God has purposed, then Jesus, the Incarnate Word, truly has accomplished salvation on our behalf.

Everyone who believes in the Son has eternal life.

They will never be lost, and Christ will raise them up on the last day.

Its guaranteed because God never lies and Jesus Word who does not return to God empty, but accomplishes exactly what God has purposed.

Jesus is God’s Word of Salvation who alone gives eternal life.

What that means for us is that you must believe in Christ to have life in His Name.

There is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).

If you believe in Christ, then you can rest assured that you will be saved on the Last Day.

Christ has accomplished everything needed for your salvation.

All of your sins?

Paid for and forgiven.

The righteous requirement of the Law, the perfect obedience you owe God as a creature of the Creator?

Fulfilled in Jesus Christ our righteousness through His perfect and sinless life.

Jesus is God’s Word. God’s message of salvation.

He accomplished everything required for our salvation in His life, death, and resurrection.

Through His blood He has secured for us an eternal redemption.

And just like the water of the Word in Isaiah, Jesus says “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” (John 7:37).

And if we drink of that water, the water of the Word, the water of the good news of Jesus Christ, Jesus promises we will never be thirsty again (John 4:14).

May we have the faith of the Samaritan woman to say “Lord, give me this water always” (John 14:15).

And then you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace with the mountains and hills singing before you because Jesus is the Word of God who gives life and salvation and accomplishes all that God had sent Him to and purposed, namely, our eternal life.

Finally, number 3...

III. The Word of God is the Absolute Truth, Source, Purpose, and Meaning of All Things

This is probably what John most had in mind when he called Jesus the Word of God and it is a huge and etherial concept that I will try and simplify as best I can.

Right after John says In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, he says in verse 3: All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

So the Word is directly connected to God’s work in creation, and this would have had far reaching implications for both of John’s Jewish and Gentile audience.

Jewish

The Jews obviously would have thought of Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Well now John is saying In the beginning was the Word.

So a Jewish person would be reading this thinking that the Son was there with God in the creation of the world and everything that was made by the power of God was made through Him.

This is a clear picture of Jesus’ divinity and a powerful testimony that He is eternal God.

Not only that, but when God spoke the world into existence he brought order out of chaos. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was without form and void.

This is what God’s Word does. It rules everything. It brings order out of chaos. Light out of darkness.

It is all powerful all authoritative. It brings everything into being and governs the whole universe.

This is similar to what the Gentiles said.

Gentile

Greek philosophy was infatuated with this idea of the Logos, the Greek word for Word.

Basically the idea was, Why is the world not utter chaos? What keeps the stars in place? What controls the seasons?

What gives order and purpose and meaning to everything in the world?

For the Greeks, it was the Logos, this impersonal force or principle of reason that brought order and harmony out of chaos and held everything together.

And John pounces on this word and says to both Jew and Gentile that Word is Christ!

He is the absolute truth, source, purpose, and meaning of all things.

He is the Creator of the world and in Him all things hold together.

For the Greek He brings order out of chaos and the Jew takes it one step further and knows that Christ brings order and harmony, or in other words shalom and all the blessings of God, out of the chaos of our Fall and sin.

All this stuff is wrapped up in Christ being the Word.

So let me try to help bring it down. I want to say three things that this idea of the Logos and His creation of and bringing order to the world says about Christ.

Look at...

Colossians 1:15-19 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 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. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.

So first as the incarnate Word...

1. Jesus is Worthy of all Glory and Praise

All things were created through him, same as in John 1:3, and here’s the key, all things were made for him.

All glory, honor, and praise belong to Christ. That in everything he might be preeminent.

First. Only. Our highest devotion.

As Romans 11:36 says For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

As the incarnate Word of God, Jesus deserves all your praise.

You exist by Him and for Him.

Do you live your life for the glory of Christ or something else?

The whole reason we exist is for Him. Are we in line with that absolute truth? Living all of our lives according to that reality?

Or are we out of step?

Is Christ the ultimate goal, aim, treasure, joy of all our life?

Number 2...

2. Jesus is the Truth We Should Ground All of Our Lives In

Paul says In Him all things hold together.

He is the source, meaning, and purpose of everything in our life.

He is the moment-by-moment Sustainer of the universe and Hebrews 1:3 say He upholds the universe by the word of his power.

This is where the Word of God starts to make a practical difference in your everyday life.

If the whole universe is held together in Him, how much more do we need Him?

The righteous shall live by faith. Complete and total dependence on Jesus Christ.

Everything comes apart without Him. And listen, this is convicting for me.

Do I anchor all of my life in Christ and constantly depend on His power and His grace to sustain me every moment of every day?

Or do I live by my own strength and power thinking I got this. I’m self sufficient. I’m ok.

Jesus said abide in me for apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:5).

All of our life depends on God’s grace. When we buy into the lie that we are self-sufficient, that all of our life is not held together in Him, we start to walk in Pride and fall into sin.

Faith in the Word that holds all things together looks like saying my marriage holds together in Him.

My parenting and family falls apart apart from Him.

This church, our jobs, everything about our life is held together in Him.

Do we live like it?

Constantly coming to Christ in prayer to find grace to help in time of need (Heb. 4:16).

Do we look to His Word and say what is your will and follow it.

Because Christ holds all things together, all of our lives need to be anchored in Him. Otherwise they will all fall apart.

Number 3...

3. Jesus has the Power to Save and Make All Things New

This is one of my favorite ones.

Paul says By Him all things were created.

Everything that was made was made through Christ.

Everything.

God created the world, the universe, the furthest galaxies, all the stars of the heavens, all the mountains and depths of the sea, everything there is out of nothing by the eternal Word of His power.

If God through Christ has the power to do all that, then surely God through Christ has the power to save us from our sins and make all things new.

We are talking about salvation here.

Because of sin, the whole world was put under a curse.

Everything was twisted, gnarled, and corrupted.

The Harmony and Peace, the Shalom God originally created the world with was all lost.

Now nothing is right, everything is broken.

And that’s the glory of the Word of God who has the power to save and make all things new.

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come (2 Cor 5:17).

Through Christ, we are born again, recreated, redeemed from sin and death.

Just as He did in Genesis, God speaks the Word, Jesus Christ, and says Let there be light, and the light of Christ shines in our hearts to dispel the darkness and give us new life.

Like the first Adam, God breathes new life into us by His Spirit and we are recreated to glorify Him just as He originally created us to new creatures, new creations in Christ.

And one day, Christ will wash away every trace of sin, death and the curse in a fully glorified New Heavens and earth.

Where the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

The eternal Word, the Logos, will bring order to chaos.

Harmony and peace out of sin and curse, and make all things new.

That is our great and glorious hope.

In the beginning was the Word. The idea is that with Christ there is a brand New Genesis.

A New Creation coming into existence washed in the blood of the Lamb restored to what God originally created it to be.

And just as Christ had the power to make the first world, the Word has the power to save it and make all things new.

Conclusion

What does it mean that Jesus is the Word of God?

Its amazing. With that one little word John tells us so much about the glory of Christ and calls us to believe in Him.

He is eternal God.

The One who reveals who God truly is in all of His glory. All of His holiness, righteousness, justice, wrath, mercy, grace, and love.

And as the Word, the full revelation of God Himself, He is the only way to worship God and have eternal life.

He is the Savior of the world.

Sent from heaven to accomplish the will of God which was to save sinners and give them life giving water and the fullness of joy forever more.

And He is the Absolute Truth and Sovereign of all things.

All things were made through Him and for Him.

To Him and Him alone belongs all glory, worship, and praise.

In Him all things hold together so all of our lives must depend on Him in constant faith.

And just as He had the power to create the world, He has the power to save and make all things new.

The Word of God is a glorious Name for Jesus Christ because it tells us the glory of who Christ truly is.

Let’s Pray

Philippians 2:6-11 Christ Jesus who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.