Jesus and Advent: The Word

Who is Jesus? So some, he was a prophet. To others, a sage. Still to some, he was a good example only. For many, just a human part of history. A good man. But early 20th century Scottish evangelist Oswald Chambers has this assessment:

“Jesus Christ was born into this world, not from it. He did not evolve out of history; He came into history from the outside. Jesus Christ is not the best human being, He is a Being Who cannot be accounted for by the human race at all. He is not man becoming God, but God Incarnate, God coming into human flesh, coming into it from outside. His life is the Highest and the Holiest entering in at the Lowliest door. Our Lord’s birth was an advent.”[1]

This summation is important as we set out to answer the question over the next few weeks: “Who is Jesus?” Today, we will look at Jesus as the Word. Next week, Dr. Drake will help us see Jesus as the Light. Then, Rev. Julian will help us understand Jesus as the Glory of God. Finally, on Christmas Eve will show us that Jesus is Grace and Truth. All of these messages will come from John 1.

But regarding Jesus as the Word, we are dependent upon Jesus coming to us in our learning.

Christians read the Bible to discover who Jesus is.

We attend Sunday School and get a picture of Jesus.

We hear a sermon and learn something new about Jesus.

But we forget. And we forget every day.

And we hear other voices and we are tempted to entertain other thoughts on Jesus.

This morning, let’s take a look at John’s gospel and see that…

JESUS IS GOD’S MESSAGE OF LOVE, GRACE AND FORGIVENESS TO YOU AND TO THE WORLD.

In the first chapter of John’s gospel, there are several designations such as “word,” “Creator,” “Life,” and “Light.” All of this while John does not share a nativity narrative. Why? Because that was not His purpose. That had already been done with Matthew’s and Luke’s gospels. But John is the most theological of the four.

The purpose of the gospel is clearly stated in John 20:31 which says, “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.”

David Brown, the 19th century Scottish theologian and pastor writes,

“As the Fourth Gospel was not written until the other three had become the household words and daily bread of the Church of Christ- thus preparing it, as babes are by milk, for the strong meat of this final gospel… .”[2]

John’s is the more theological of the four gospels. The others are often called synoptic meaning with the eye. Robert Thomas and Stanley Gundrey note:

“John does not record the virgin birth, the baptism, the temptation, the trans-figuration, the institution of the Lord’s Supper, the agony in the garden of Gethsemane, or the ascension.”[3]

Noteworthy inclusions are the early Judean ministry in chapters 2-3 and the conversation with Nicodemus in chapter 3. The reason for these differences is thought to be John’s intention to write an independent gospel, though harmonious with the other three.

How we think about Jesus affects our worship of Him. John’s purpose for writing was more doctrinal, telling us why Jesus came and who He is. What John is offering, is what you and I need: a fuller theological understanding of Jesus.

Today, let us look at Jesus as the word incarnate. John 1:1 states: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

The word mentioned in John 1:1 is none other than our Lord Jesus. Notice what John says in just a few verses later in verse 14: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” One commentator states,

“In Greek philosophy, the Logos was “reason” or “logic” as an abstract force that brought order and harmony to the universe. But in John’s writings such qualities of the Logos are gathered in the Person of Christ.”[4]

It’s important to look at the word as a title for Jesus Christ. As our words tell others who we are, Jesus, being God’s word in flesh, tells us who He is. John 1:17:

“For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”

Other translations say: “He has explained Him.” Whereas truth came through God’s law. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

And Jesus did explain the Father. He would say such things as to Mary and Joseph, when they lost him in the caravan back to Nazareth, they found him listening to the teachers in the temple as a teenager. Mary asked why Jesus had stressed them so. He responded: “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

Or in John 14:6, He would tell the twelve of His soon departure through His death on the cross:

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” 8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.”

The real question is, how must you respond to Jesus, this gift from the Father?

YOUR RESPONSE TO THE WORD IS CRITICAL.

Advent is a time of repentance and celebration. As we light the candles, we are reminded of the hope, love, joy and peace that we have through Jesus Christ. And so a response is necessary. Not indifference.

One response is to listen with expectant awareness. Many Old Testament prophets foretold of Jesus’ birth. Isaiah is the one that is most popular in this sense. In Isaiah 9, we are told of several titles that Jesus has. He is Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, and Prince of Peace. These titles were proclaimed concerning Jesus several hundreds of years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. They reveal His true identity of the One who was: “begotten, not made,” as the Nicene Creed teaches us.

The prophets were God’s spokespeople to tell of the magnificence of the Christ. But today, there are many voices about who Jesus was. For instance,

Hinduism believes that he was one of many gods.

Islam claims him to be a prophet only.

The Jews claim that He was not the Christ.

And still others doubt that He even existed. Most of British youth do not believe there ever was a Jesus.

But here are some things to consider from Simon Gathercole who is a scholar in New Testament Studies at the University of Cambridge.

First of all, there are outside, non-believing sources that do affirm in an historical Christ. For instance, the Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, in AD 93 references Jesus twice in his writings. On one occasion, he states: “James, the brother of “Jesus, the so-called Christ.”

Twenty years later, Roman politicians Pliny and Tacitus tell us that Jesus was executed while Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor in charge of Judea and Tiberius was emperor. They accuse him of being the “illegitimate child of Mary, a scoundrel and a sorcerer,”[5]but never a trace of ancient sources deny his existence.

Scripture says He was the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us. What significance is that to you? You hear lots of voices, but only one that counts. You hear lots of words but only one that embodies the love, grace and power of God. Humankind’s greatest need was satisfied in the coming of Jesus.

Another response is worship. Joy-filled and hope-filled worship. To know that God looked upon your greatest need and provided His most precious Son to fulfill that need. And it would cost Him His life.

Charles Sell states[6]:

If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator.

If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist.

If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist.

If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer.

But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.

CONCLUSION

When you think about it, Jesus is the long awaited and much needed message to the human race. It is the word of love, of freedom, of forgiveness and of blessing. It comes to us from the outside.

While waiting in a Nazi prison cell in 1943 a few weeks before Advent, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a friend, "A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes, does various unessential things, and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent."

Shortly after penning those words, the Nazis executed Bonhoeffer. But he was right: the door of freedom for him and for us today is still opened from the outside by the coming and second coming of Jesus Christ.

[1]Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, (Westwood, NJ: Barbour, 1963), 360. [2]David Brown, The Four Gospels, Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1969), 346. [3]Thomas and Gundry, Harmony, 287. [4] The New Geneva Study Bible, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 19??, 1658). [5] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/14/what-is-the-historical-evidence-that-jesus-christ-lived-and-died. [6] Charles Sell, Unfinished Business, (Multnomah, 1989), 121.