The Word is God (John 1:1-5)

John 1:1-5

The Word is God

Sunday, November 27, 2022

Pastoral Prayer

Church- Wamac Missionary Baptist Church (Paul Holsapple)

Nations- IMB missionaries around the world

Rec. the Word

Introduction

Identity Theft….

This morning we begin a new sermon series through the gospel according to John. The gospel according to John is written by..you guessed it John. But who is this John? He is one of Jesus’ twelve disciples. In fact, he is one of the three closest disciples to Jesus. Peter, James, and John were in Jesus’ inner circle, they were the three who saw the Transfiguration with Jesus. These three went further with Jesus the night he was betrayed. And of those three, John is considered the beloved disciple. He is the one to whom Jesus loved deeply and even urged to take care of his mother. So John walked closely with Jesus. And it is his account of Jesus and his teachings that we begin to study this morning.

The gospel according to John is estimated to be written sometime between 70A.D. and 100A.D. in Ephesus. Making this the latest written account of the gospel. But not only is John written later than Matthew, Mark, and Luke, it also stands apart from those three. All four gospels work together, to teach us the one gospel, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came to take away the sins of the world. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as the Synoptic Gospels. That is, the three are very similar in what they present of Jesus and his teachings with some different emphasis or details here or there. But collectively they work together to present the same ideas from the perspective of each writer. John on the other hand presents certain things not found in the other three gospels, including the I Am statements of Jesus. And while all four gospels are written for the purpose of informing us who Jesus is, John has the clearest purpose statement given. For in John 20:30-31 we read, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

The gospel according to John is written so that we may know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God with the aim of persuading us to believe. But with such a purpose statement, some might wonder then why we as a church would study this particular gospel today, 2,000 years later, especially since we already believe this. The reason we here in 2022 aim to study the gospel according to John even as those who profess to believe is multifaceted. For starters, our belief is to continually be strengthened to help us grow into a rich, well-informed faith. Secondly, the more we understand who Jesus is, the better we are able to help communicate him to a lost and dying world. And thirdly, we pray that there are some who even join us along the way through this study and can come to understand who Jesus is! Therefore, we open the gospel according to John here this morning to see who is this King of glory who has come to rescue a people for himself. (READ John 1:1-5)

Main Idea: The Word, the Son of God, who was active in bringing about creation is the one who has come to restore creation.

The identity of the Word

The work of the Word

The identity of the Word

In approaching John 1:1, R. Kent Hughes in his commentary writes “The simple sentence of verse 1 is the most compact and pulsating theological statement in all of Scripture.” And the reason for this is because John 1:1 sums up the whole of the claims that the gospel according to John is making in regards to who is this Jesus. Who is it that we are to believe in? And then as we study through the whole of the gospel according to John, it will be important for us to consider these claims and whether or not Jesus backs up and proves these claims or not. But for now, we must consider these claims of who Jesus is from John 1:1 and work to understand them, to grasp them.

Eternally Preexistent

First, the beloved disciple writes, “In the beginning was the Word.” This communicates to us the eternal preexistence of the Word. That is to say that in the beginning, before creation was ever brought about, the Word existed. That he always was, that he lacked a beginning.

Of course, John 1:1 isn’t the only place in the Bible that we are met with such a statement in regards to who Jesus is. The author of Hebrews in Hebrews 7:3 writes, “He (Melchizedek) is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.”

And of course, the language of John 1:1a, “In the beginning was the Word,” is to draw a comparison to that of Genesis 1:1 which says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

By using this comparison language, the beloved disciple is aiming to make a connection between the Word and creation, which we will get to momentarily. But his biggest point in this first phrase is that this Word has always been from eternity past, it never was without existence, nor ever will be with the help from Hebrews 7:3.

This is a crucial claim for us to grasp as we consider the Word, this Jesus. For if we are to understand the Savior of the World, we must remember that he did not come into being like any other. While he certainly came and was born and laid in a manger, there was never a time in which Jesus did not exist. He existed before all of creation. In the beginning he was, as he had always done. As one put it, “Jesus always was wasing!”

Eternally in Relationship

The second claim, the beloved disciple makes is, “And the Word was with God.” Surely if this Word was in the beginning, he must be God would be the reader's natural inclination to hearing, “In the beginning was the Word.” But that is not the phrase he added next. He says, “And the Word was with God.”

This language communicates that the Word was distinct from God. That they existed there as two persons in close proximity to one another. As if they were in relationship with one another. Kent Hughes again is helpful here. He writes, “The preposition ‘with’ bears the idea of nearness, along with a sense of movement toward God.”

This distinguishing language begins to help us grasp that this Word we are being introduced to has always been in relationship with God.

Eternally God

And then the third claim of the beloved disciple comes, “And the Word was God.” Our minds begin to spin here a bit. We just read that the Word was with God, but now we read that the Word was God. Surely then the beloved disciple must be communicating that we are to believe in a plurality of gods. For the question certainly arises here how can the Word be with God and be God? This is precisely why this first verse in the gospel according to John is complex.

We are to grasp here the distinction between the Word and God and at the same time to understand that the Word is God as well. And here is where one of the most beautiful, yet underrated doctrines of the church comes into play, the doctrine of the Trinity. The word doctrine refers to a set of beliefs held regarding a matter. In particular here, the doctrine of the Trinity is referring to a set of beliefs regarding God existing as one God in three persons.

Now, if you are a skeptic and want to argue that the word “Trinity” is not in the Bible, you would be correct. The word “Trinity” itself is indeed not in the Bible. However, the concept is. In fact, the strongest picture of the Trinity is seen here in John 1:1 which is why we are getting into the weeds here a bit to rightly understand this passage.

The doctrine of the Trinity is crucial to rightly understand who our God is, including who is the Word, this Jesus. And this is why we read one of the historic creeds this morning in the Nicene Creed. The Nicene Creed was written in AD 325, with a slight revision in AD 381. As we read, the Nicene Creed focused on the three persons of the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Showing us that we believe in each person of this Triune God.

And while again, this is a complex doctrine, it is through the contemplating of this doctrine that we begin to rightly understand who our God is. For while we believe there are three persons in the godhead, we believe that there is but one God, as the Great Shema from Deuteronomy 6:4 teaches us, “Hear O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”

But how are there three persons and only one God? The 6th question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism gives us some aid here to understand this. It asks: How many persons are there in the Godhead? The answer: There are three persons in the Godhead; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.”

Again, this is how the church has historically put together the teachings of the whole Bible to sum up what we are seeing here in John 1:1. It aids us in understanding that the Word was with God and was God. But more importantly, it helps us to begin to understand how to fit together Genesis 1:1 and John 1:3.

The Word is the Creator of all things

For in Genesis 1:1 we read, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” And then in John 1:3 we read, “All things were made through him (the Word), and without him was not any thing made that was made.” We are left scratching our heads on this apart from an understanding of the Trinity. Understanding that Father and the Eternal Son, along with the Holy Spirit were present in creation. And that it is through the Son, the Word, that creation is created.

Consider what Colossians 1:16 adds to this, “For by him (Jesus) 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.”

Without Jesus, there is nothing that has been made. And all of creation was made for him. And this is why Jesus is being referred to as the Word. For it is through Jesus that the Triune God brings creation into existence. That is through a Word! For Genesis 1:3 tells us, “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”

The Divine Word goes out and creation comes into existence. It is through this same Word that reveals God’s word to Moses on the mountain, to Samuel, to Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the others. And it is too by the Word, the eternal preexistent Son that God the Father speaks to the world in revealing himself in the last days.

Hebrews 1:1-2 says, “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.”

These are the claims that the beloved disciple, John, is telling us about who Jesus is both here in the introduction and throughout the entire gospel account. This is foundational to the identity of who Jesus is. And it matters, because without understanding who Jesus is as part of the Triune God, we are left indifferent to the work of Jesus which we turn our attention to now in our second point this morning.

The Work of the Word

There is a great complexity to understanding the doctrine of the Trinity and the doctrine of Christ. But again, they are important in knowing our Triune God, but also in grasping the marvel of the work that Christ was entering the world to accomplish. For it is this second person of the Triune God who comes to take on human flesh in order to rescue a people perishing from sin.

The Word is the Giver of Life

For when Adam and Eve had disobeyed God by taking the fruit of the tree, death had entered the world. Death spread as people rejected God as their King. As they went their own way. Death proceeded from Adam and Eve through their descendents, through the generations. Just consider the repetitive phrase, “And he died” that scatters through Genesis 5.

But here, in John 1:4, we read, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” This phrase “in him was life.” is a shout that death is going to be overturned through this Word! That there is a way to life in Jesus! Maybe you are already familiar with the Gospel According to John and don’t need a reminder, but for those here who are unfamiliar or who are exploring the claims of Christianity, this idea of life is prevalent throughout the whole of John’s writing. In John 4, Jesus introduces himself as living water. In John 6, that he is the bread of life. In John 3 though, is the story of a new birth and the idea of eternal life to be found through belief in Jesus, the Son of Man.

In Jesus, the Word, there is life. And while some argue that the life that is being described here is merely referring to creation and sustaining life that Colosians 1:17 mentions, I don’t think we can ignore the overarching theme of eternal life here either.

This Word, this Jesus, who John is aiming to persuade us and others to believe in is the very one who holds life. And it is in Jesus that this life is being offered to the world if they will but believe in him. Life instead of death comes through Jesus! And not only that, through Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross and his rising from the grave, death itself will be undone in the end.

But don’t miss the whole of what John 1:1-5 is tying together. The very one bringing life, the Second Person of the Triune God, is the one we offended in our sin. God himself has come to rescue. But how?

The Word gives light

As the light of men. Verse 5 adds some context to this, saying, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Jesus, the Word, as the light of men shines forth penetrating the darkness of our hearts and minds. For while Jesus gives physical light through his glory, just consider his transfiguration on the mountain from Mark 9:2-3, the light here is referring to a light that penetrates the darkness of the world.

For through sin, darkness has entered the world corrupting our minds and our hearts. Like macular degeneration is able to lead to blindness, so too does sin work in the world. Sin blinds our hearts and minds to the truths of who God is and his good and right order. Sin distorts what we see, so that we are unable to see clearly. For example, I am near-sighted. I’m a -5 for those who understand that meaning. And that means that without corrective lenses, I can make out figures, but they are blurry and distorted. And that is what sin does to us. It makes things dark and unclear to see correctly.

But Jesus, being the light of men, enters the world to pierce through that darkness. He begins to open our eyes and our hearts through his teachings, through his gospel message along with the power of the Holy Spirit.

And little by little this light begins to show the darkness of our own hearts and our own minds, awakening us to the reality of our sin and our need for a Savior. To our need for Jesus!

Friends, if you do not yet believe in Jesus as the Savior of the world. If you do not yet trust in him to rescue you from your sins, I pray that the light of the gospel will penetrate the darkness of your mind and hearts this morning. See that Jesus has come to be the light to the world. Will you turn from the darkness of sin towards Jesus and the light today and believe in Jesus? I pray you will.

Brothers and sisters, we too must not miss that Jesus has come to be the light of men, the light of the world. When we are not seeing clearly, we must reset our eyes on Jesus! For when depression and anxiety creep into our hearts, we will need to refocus our hearts and our minds on the one who brings light. When sin becomes enticing and alluring to us, we need to see the light of Jesus and realize the darkness of sin itself. When we have sinned against God and one another, we must bring that sin to light in confessing that sin. For the longer sin remains in the darkness, the darker it will get. However, by bringing our sin to light in confessing it, healing can begin as Jesus works in the light.

The darkness has not overcome the light

And yet, there is a gloriously encouraging statement here at the end of our text this morning, “the darkness has not overcome it.”

UNFOLD

Let’s pray….