The Word - Advent 2024

Introduction

Well, good afternoon…Merry Christmas!

If you have a Bible and I hope that you do, open ‘em up with me to John chapter 1.

As a ministerium, we’ve decided to walk through the Christmas story, this year, looking at the first parts of John. And so, that’s where we’re gonna be this Advent season.

Of course, we know, the start of this Christmas story, it starts with a baby in a manger, born to a virgin…there’s shepherds involved, angels, we got some wise men. But have you ever just stopped to ask, “Who was Jesus?” Like, why’s He so important in this story? Why did God need a baby to redeem us? What’s the significance of this baby Jesus?

Years ago, Time Magazine, they actually asked that question on the cover of their magazine, “Who Was Jesus?” They went on to ask more questions in their article:

How is Jesus to be understood? Did he stride out of the wilderness 2,000 years ago to preach a gentle message of peace and brotherhood? Or did he perhaps advocate some form of revolution? When did he realize his mission would end with death upon a cross? Did he view himself as the promised Messiah? Did he understand himself to be both God and man?

Guys, when it comes to Christmas…and quite frankly our salvation, these are questions we have to ask and answer. We live in a culture where people are becoming more and more spiritual but yet they’re not willing to commit to one absolute truth. To many, even within the church, Jesus was just a good teacher…or a wise prophet…He was simply and only the Son of God. Some see Him as just a good man with important things to say. There’s all kinds of views on who this man was…which is exactly why John starts his gospel off the way he does. Before he gets into anything else, he shows his reader exactly who this man, Jesus, was and is today…and listen, according to John, he shows us in these first 5 verses that Jesus is God…Jesus is Creator…and Jesus is light…which is my three points this afternoon.

Understanding Christmas…understanding it’s significance…it’s understanding exactly who Jesus was and is today.

And so, with that…let’s jump into this first point together.

I. Jesus is God (vv. 1-2)

Jesus is God.

John says in verses 1 and 2, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.”

And so, according to John…the main character of his book…it’s the Word…which of course, if you go to the end of the book, John gives us his purpose in writing…its to tell the story about Jesus so that we might believe. And so, everything we see about the Word here in this chapter, it’s a direct reference to Jesus. And what you’ll notice if you read through John chapter 1, there’s actually a pattern and a theme here. In the first 5 verses, John talks about the Word…and then in verses 6 through 9 He’s the witness…in verses 10 through 14, He’s the Word again…and then 14 through 18, the witness. There’s a purpose to how John writes and why he describes Jesus the way that he does.

And listen, in setting the stage for Jesus…this baby born to a virgin…the Christ…the Messiah, John, he reaches back…even farther into eternity past to speak about Jesus’s origins. He says, “In the beginning”…before there was the world…before there were angels and heaven…before the plants and the stars and all the living, breathing beings of the earth…before man…there was the Word. His point here…its that in the beginning…even before creation, someone already existed along with the Father…and that person was Jesus. He’s referencing Genesis chapter 1 here and he’s putting his main character, the Word…he’s putting Him there with God.

He goes on and he says, “In the beginning was the Word.” Listen, if you know your Bible, back in Genesis, in the nothingness of the vast space that God took up…A single phrase echoed through that vastness…“And God said, Let there be light.” In other parts of the Old Testament, the psalmist and the prophets, they wrote about God’s Word in a very personal way. Isaiah described God’s “word” as coming down from heaven and returning to him after achieving the purpose for which it was sent in Isaiah 55, 10 and 11. The psalmists, they describe over and over again, delighting in God’s Word…Psalm 1, Psalm 119, they’re great examples of this. Other parts of the Old Testament, they proclaim about a coming Messiah and One who’ll save us from the grips of sin.

John, he, takes these Old Testaments beliefs about God’s Word and he takes it one step further. No longer is God’s Word merely spoken of in personal terms, it’s now appeared to us in person…through our Lord Jesus Christ. The Word’s the very fulfillment of what’s been spoken by the Old Testament prophets. They proclaimed of a coming Messiah…now, in John 1:14, he says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” We no longer have to talk about His glory…we get to see it and experience it for ourselves. Jesus is the very fulfillment of the word spoken in the Old Testament.

John continues in verse 1, “And the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Now this is a verse that some religions try and distort…Jehovah Witnesses they say that “the Word was with God and the Word was like God.” But notice what John says here…The Word, Jesus…He was with God and He, Himself, was God. Listen, the Greek word John uses here for “God,” it’s actually the same word in the Hebrew for ʾĕlōhîm which of course tells about a plural God. We believe in one God, made up into three persons. Jesus is the exact imprint of God. That’s why the author of Hebrews says what he says in Hebrews 1:3.

And so, having distinguished the Word here in his opening verses, John, he shows that the Word, Jesus…He’s actually God. Together, the Father and the Word, or as we’ll talk about in a few weeks, the Son…they’re one…and together they make up who God is. Guys, John’s not saying that Jesus is simply a god…he’s claiming that the Word…Jesus is in fact wholly and entirely God. And of course, to further prove this point that John was trying to tell us…he even placed a definite article before the word theos which equated God and the Word as equals. They’re different but they’re also one in the same.

John summarizes what he said in verse 1 by saying in verse 2, “He [Jesus] was in the beginning with God.”

Guys, I want you to try and wrap your minds around this for just a second. John’s opener here, its shallow enough for a child not to drown…but it’s also deep enough for an elephant to swim. The challenge, its for us to try and plumb the depths without getting lost or drowned. And the way we do that, it’s to keep in mind the main idea of what John’s writing about here.

He’s giving us the identity of Jesus. He was with God in the beginning…before anything was created…He was God…meaning, before there was a baby and a manger and the Christmas story as we know it…there was Jesus, who’s always existed. And John says He was God.

Guys, what John shows us here…it changes everything about the Christmas story. Jesus wasn’t just some man…He wasn’t just some good teacher…He wasn’t just our Savior and Messiah…He wasn’t even just the Son of God…of course He was all those things…but above everything, Jesus was God…and Jesus is God today. Meaning, at the first Christmas…God gave us Himself. He, who’s existed for all eternity, He stepped off His throne to provide us with salvation. Paul’s description of this in Philippians chapter 2, it gives us so much more clarity on this subject…I encourage you to go and read it on your own.

But, who is Jesus? According to John? He’s God…He’s always existed…He’s always been there.

That’s the first point.

II. Jesus is Creator (v. 3)

The second point…Jesus is Creator.

Look at verse 3 with me again. John says, “3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

What John’s saying here…its that Jesus, the Word, through Him, all things were created. And listen…this isn’t the only place that affirms this. Paul says the same thing in Colossians chapter 1. And in that chapter, Paul even adds, not only did Jesus create everything that’s been created but that all things were created for Him…for His glory.

Guys, do you see what John’s doing here? Jesus, the child born in a manger…He’s the one, true God Himself…in the flesh…because only God’s capable of creation. Again, Jesus isn’t just a god…He’s the only God. He wasn’t just present at creation…Jesus was active in creation. He created “all things!”

Guys, just think about this for a second…from the largest whale in the ocean to the smallest micro organism…Jesus created it.

And listen, what this means for us…it means that baby, it wasn’t just any baby…He wasn’t just our means to salvation…He wasn’t just our Savior from our problems…He was our maker…He created us, intimately…He handcrafted us in His image. And what John’s telling us here…the reason Jesus went through so much for us…the reason the Word became flesh…on our behalf…it’s because He’s been invested in us since before time began. He created us through Him and for Him…we were His handiwork. The work He does in redeeming us, it’s because He created us…and for that reason He desires us and He loves us.

And when it says that we must be reborn in John chapter 3 to receive salvation…we can trust in the work Jesus does…because as John states here, He created us to begin with…and there’s nothing more trustworthy or capable than Him.

And so, going back to the Christmas story…God didn’t send just anyone to redeem us…He sent the Creator…the One who’s been invested in us since the start. He’s not some king that sends a knight to do His business…He sent Himself because this is His kingdom…He created it…and He’s the only one that could redeem it.

The baby that came to us on that first Christmas…He was the Creator and the Sustainer of everything.

III. Jesus is Light (vv. 4-5)

And then, the third and final point…Jesus is light.

Look at verses 4 and 5 with me. John says, “4 In him [Jesus] was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

The whole idea of light and darkness…what John’s talking about, it’s this battle against good and evil…or righteousness and sin. And what he’s saying here…its that in Jesus, was life…only through Jesus was man created and so therefore, only through Jesus is there real satisfying, sustaining life…and that life, John says it was the light of men…it was good for man. He’s talking about before the fall in Genesis chapter 3. And he goes on and he says, this light, that exists in Jesus, it shines even now in this sin covered world…and this sin, this darkness…its not gonna win because the light’s here and He’s come to overcome that sin.

Jesus is the light of creation. God’s glory and goodness, it covered the whole of His creation before He ever created it. And after creating man in His own image, that light, it shined through man. But even after human rebellion and even after sin entered this world…what John’s saying here, the light, it wasn’t destroyed…the darkness, it didn’t overcome the light. In fact, the light, through the Word…through Jesus, it’s come to us, to remove us from that darkness.

Ephesians chapter 2, it tells us that we’re dead in our sin. We’re lifeless…and we’re lifeless because of the darkness that consumes us.

And so listen, what’s it mean to be dead? Guys, we have to realize, death, it was never the intentions of God when He created man. Death, its just separation from life and light. At death, the spiritual parts of man…our soul…it’s separated from the physical parts of us. And listen, that’s the reason why so many of us feel that separation at funerals…that’s the reason for the grief and the heartache…we can feel that separation. It’s why we mourn when we look at our love ones because we realize instantly…whether we’re believers or not…we realize they’re not there. There’s a separation that exists at death.

But guys, if physical death is the separation of the soul from the body, then spiritual death has to be the separation of the soul from God. Physical death, it gives us the far more terrifying and sobering picture of spiritual death. Our sin, it separates us from God. Right here, right now…our sin separates us from the sinless God of the universe. And that separation, its made permanent after physical death, when God, the just and righteous Judge, punishes sin with eternal separation from Him in the horrors of hell.

Listen, Jesus, He came to give us life…He came to reconcile us to God…and through that, this light…He changes our current conditions and our future destination.

Why did Jesus come to earth? Why did He come as a man? He came to call people from death to life…He came to give us a living, vibrant relationship with God…through faith in Him. Jesus gave life to the dead and light to the blind. Man needed to be rescued from the power of darkness…because what the Bible tells us, it’s that mans powerless to do anything about it. “All have sinned…all fall short of the glory of God.” “None seek Him.” We needed rescuing. Jesus came, because He was the only One that could do anything about it. Without Jesus, none of us could have come to know God…none of us could know what He desires or expects from us…Jesus had to reveal it…He had to uncover our eyes.

And listen, he had to come as man because God’s just, right? Man had to pay for their own sins. Man had to take on the punishment of God’s wrath. And so, God became man through His Son Jesus…and as a man, He lived a life none of us could…it was sinless, perfect, good. He faced temptations and fatigue and all the effects of this fallen world and He overcame all of it. He went to the cross as man, as a perfect sacrifice…one without blemish. And He died there to satisfy the punishment meant for man. But because Jesus wasn’t simply a man, because Jesus was God Himself, that sacrifice, it completely satisfied the wrath of God for past, present, and future sins. When Jesus entered this world as a baby, at that first Christmas, the cross was always God’s intentions because only the cross provided life and light to those created in His image. Jesus came as a man because only man could pay for man’s sins…but Jesus also came as God, because only a good and righteous God could satisfy His own wrath.

And so, how is it that we receive this life and light? Well, its by placing our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Only Jesus can reconcile you to God…only Jesus can remove the separation that exists…only Jesus can take the punishment you deserve for your sin…Guys, Jesus, He’s the only God I’ve ever heard about, that actually has victory over death. And so, we turn our lives over to Him.

The Apostle Paul says in Romans 10, 9 and 10:

Romans 10:9–10 (ESV)

if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

And listen, when you do that…you’re entered into the family of God…you become a son or daughter of the Creator. Your identity, it’s found in Him. And as a believer, while you were once dead, you now receive new life…while you were a spiritual corpse, you now have a life that flourishes through the Word. And while you might yet still walk in this dark world, you get to do so with the Light of the world in you.

This is who Jesus is…and guys, that’s why Christmas is so important. The idea of gift giving and Santa and all the other things that come with Christmas…it all points back to the greatest gift that’s ever been given to mankind…the gift of life and light which comes from the gift of Himself.

Closing

Would you pray with me as we reflect on these passages?