JOHN 1:1-5 | AN INTRODUCTION TO JESUS

JOHN 1:1-5 | AN INTRODUCTION TO JESUS

ILLUSTRATION: Introductions to people.

I’m so nervous about talking to the person that I forget the most important part of the conversation… their name!

EXPLANATION: The Gospel of John is one of the most fascinating books in all of the Bible.

There is a unique dichotomy in this book in that it contains some of the most objective and simple truths in any book in the Bible.

Because of this, it is regularly recommended as the first book of the Bible to read for those who are just beginning to read their Bibles.

However, the simple truths are contrasted with the deep well of theological teachings that would take more than a lifetime to fully expound and comprehend.

In fact, the book begins with a section that some scholars have come to refer to as “The Prologue,” and one commentator said this about this opening paragraph:

John 1–11 1. The Magnificent Prologue (1:1–18)

These first eighteen verses of the Gospel, which have a wonderful poetic ring, have been labeled by scholars with the unpoetic title “The Prologue.” But in spite of its poetic ring, the reader should be forewarned that this Prologue is one of the most complex theological statements in the Bible. An entire seminary semester’s course could be taught on these eighteen verses.

Now, while that may scare some of you because you know that I have a tendency to get parked on a verse and find it hard to move to the next, I have no intention of spending an entire seminary semester on just the first 18 verses.

Friend, can I invite you to join me on this journey as we walk through this incredible Gospel?

I might take us a couple years to get all the way through it, but if you join me week after week, I can promise that you will have a greater understanding of just Who Christ is, and a deeper love for the Word of God!

The book of John is written by the disciple bearing the same name.

John wrote 5 books in the Bible:

The Gospel of John

1,2,3 John

The book of Revelation

The timing of John’s writing of his Gospel is interesting, in that it most likely was written sometime between 80-90 AD

The other 3 synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) had been prior to John’s writing.

While Matthew, Mark, and Luke often cover similar accounts, John takes a different direction and deals with some other biblical accounts we don’t find in the other Gospels.

It was almost as if John looked at what had been written and said, “There are some other stories I think you need to know about.”

There are many fascinating pieces to his book, but one that gives some perspective into the mindset behind John writing is that he never refers to himself in his writing by his name…

He always calls himself, “the disciples that Jesus loved.”

I love this perspective from John.

There were a lot of other things we could remember about John.

He was one of the 3 disciples in Jesus’s closest group along with Peter and John’s brother Andrew.

He and his brother were given the nickname by Jesus, “The sons of thunder”

We don’t know why Jesus game them that nickname.

Maybe they made a lot of noise everywhere they went.

Maybe they were constantly rough housing.

We don’t know.

John was the disciple that lived the longest.

While he was tortured and at one point boiled in oil and then banished to a lonely island, most believe John ultimately died of natural causes.

There are many things that John could have told us about himself, but the one thing that he wanted to be remembered for was that he was the disciple that Jesus loved.

Does that mean Jesus didn’t love the other disciples? No…

It wasn’t that John was a special disciple that received more of Jesus’s love.

John is just letting us know that Jesus love just mean something extra special to him.

APPLICATION: Friend, do you realize this morning that Jesus loves you?

If we are not careful that can be something that we just approach with a flippant knowledge.

But when you really consider the reality that Jesus loves you… it should mean something.

I mean think about it, Jesus knows everything about you…

Every secret action you’ve ever done that no one else may no about.

Every wicked thought that you are glad no one could see your mind.

Every sin that you have ever or will ever commit, Jesus knows about.

And yet, He still loves you!

If we would truly grasp that gravity of that, I think we might have to start going around and introducing ourselves as, “Hi, I’m Kyle… and I’m someone Jesus loves.”

EXPLANATION: John couldn’t get past that reality and didn’t want to.

He was blown away, that Jesus loved him.

And the overwhelming emphasis of his book points us to the reality that Jesus is God.

Chapter after chapter and verse after verse, the deity of Christ is demonstrated through the stories and accounts that John shares.

And as John begins his book, it’s almost as if he wants to introduce his readers to the One who his book is all about: Jesus.

Would you join me, as we watch as John has dipped his quill into the ink and now takes that parchment and writes those precious and familiar words to begin his powerful book

John 1:1–5 KJV 1900

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

V1-2. CHRIST IS ETERNAL

EXPLANATION: With the 4th word John wrote, he delves into an aspect of Christ’s deity that is nearly impossible to comprehend.

“In the beginning WAS”

The word “was” implies that in the beginning Jesus already existed!

It points us back to the start of creation and life in Genesis 1:1

Genesis 1:1 KJV 1900

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

We know that God was there at that beginning!

One of the most challenging aspect of the eternality of God is the reality that He never had a beginning.

In the beginning, He was already there.

It is a thought that will keep you up at night.

As John begins the introduction, or prologue, of his book, right from the beginning he gives one of the strongest defenses of the deity of Christ!

Jesus Christ wasn’t just a man

He wasn’t just a prophet

He wasn’t just a good person

No Jesus Christ is God.

And one of the ways we can know is through His eternality.

Eternality is a one of the key characteristics that belongs to God alone.

God never had a beginning and He never will have an end.

He has always been and will always be.

Over in the book of Revelation John would record the the words of Jesus when He said, Revelation 1:8

Revelation 1:8 KJV 1900

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

Christ was the Almighty in eternity past and He will be the Almighty in eternity future.

Hebrews 13:8 KJV 1900

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

He is eternal.

V.3, CHRIST IS CREATOR

John 1:3 KJV 1900

All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

EXPLANATION: Once again, John is driving home the reality that Jesus is God.

We know according to Genesis 1:1

Genesis 1:1 KJV 1900

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

John is clarifying that Jesus was there working through the miracles of creation.

Paul would say it this way in Colossians 1:16-17

Colossians 1:16–17 KJV 1900

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

The ability to create from nothing is an attribute reserved for God alone.

APPLICATION: This is one of the key problems with atheistic science, as it attributes something else as eternal and having an ability to create.

Some believe the universe began from a “big bang”

There were particles floating through space and one day they bumped into each other and bang, there the universe came into existence.

And all atheistic science requires some magic formula to explain how we got from that to where we are today.

And there answer… Millions and Millions of years.

If you can’t get from one place to another, you sprinkle the magic pixie dust of millions and millions of years and then bang… there you have it.

According to the Oxford dictionary the definition of the scientific method is “a method of procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses.”

If I can put it in terms that I can understand, it is that to prove some scientifically it must be “Observable, measurable, testable, and repeatable.”

One of the big problems with the “big bang” is that it doesn’t meet the requirements to be scientifically proven.

And if you really press the professors that teach these things you find that they arrived at their position not through the scientific method, but through reading books written by men… and they believed what was written.

Do you know what that is called… FAITH!

Friend, I believe there was a big bang… “In the beginning God created…”

When God spoke, BANG there it was.

You say, “well how could you just believe that?”

I got it from reading a Book, that was given from God through human authors… and I believe it by FAITH.

And it doesn’t take the million year pixie dust to achieve it, because when God created the earth He created it with age.

ILLUSTRATION: If you were to invent a time machine and go back to day 2, and you could bring a lumberjack, and archeologist, and a Doctor.

You could ask the lumberjack how old a tree was in the garden of Eden.

He would cut it down and count the rings

“That tree is 132 years old”

“Actually it was created yesterday.”

You could ask the archeologist how old a rock was there in the garden?

They would do their scientific tests and come back with the answer:

“That rock is 2 million years old”

“Actually it was created yesterday.”

You could bring the doctor over to Adam and Eve and ask her to determine their age.

She would do her tests and bloodwork and come back with an answer:

“Well, by my estimation they are 32 years old”

“Actually they were created yesterday.”

APPLICATION: You see when God created the earth, He created it with age.

And you can choose to reject it and trust and have faith in the “experts” who got their knowledge from a book.

Or you can have faith in what God’s Word says is true and comes without the gaps that must be filled with the millions of years pixie dust!

And you can have confidence that God created the heavens and earth.

And according to John 1 and Colossians 1, Jesus was an intricate part of that creation process.

And with the fact that Jesus created something from nothing, it thus confirms His deity!

Christ is Eternal, Christ is Creator

V.4, CHRIST IS LIFE

John 1:4 KJV 1900

In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

EXPLANATION: John then introduces a subject that he will go on to heavily emphasize in his Gospel: Life

John would speak of the “life” 36 times in his Gospel, making up 40 percent of the words total occurence in the NT.

And here in v.4, John tells the readers that in Jesus is life!

A life in Jesus is fulfilling

John 6:35 KJV 1900

And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

So many are searching for meaning and fulfillment.

It’s because God created every person to fulfill a specific calling and purpose He has for your life.

Each person has been uniquely gifted by God, and when you discover that gift and use it for God’s glory, you will discover fulfillment that only God can give.

A life in Jesus is abounding

John 10:10 KJV 1900

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

I love this, because I have personally experienced this.

I never imagined in my wildest dreams that this southern Indiana boy would end up being a pastor in Southwest Montana.

But there is no place I would rather pastor!

Even through difficult times, I am still so grateful for where God has us.

Paul nailed it when he said in Ephesians 3:20

Ephesians 3:20 KJV 1900

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

A life in Jesus is (most importantly) everlasting

John 3:16 KJV 1900

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Jesus asked the question in John 11:25-26

John 11:25–26 KJV 1900

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

John 14:6 KJV 1900

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

And we could summarize the reason for John’s writing in John 20:31

John 20:31 KJV 1900

But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

Romans 6:23 KJV 1900

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Friend you cannot have eternal life, outside of Jesus Christ!

He is the Life!

ILLUSTRATION: A couple of weeks ago, we preached on what heaven is going to be like.

We talked about some of the structures and the city.

The beauty we will be able to take in.

But man has made some really incredible structures on earth.

There are places with buildings and structures that are truly stunning.

But the thing that makes heaven so amazing is not the sights we will see…

It’s that Jesus will be there

That is what makes heaven so incredible.

EXPLANATION: Jesus Christ is life.

And how can we receive that life… well John put it into words that we could comprehend.

John 1:4 KJV 1900

In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

Jesus Christ is shining His light of the Gospel to all men.

1 Timothy 2:3–4 KJV 1900

For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

2 Peter 3:9 KJV 1900

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

In a dark world, Jesus is shining His light to dispel the darkness!

APPLICATION: That’s what is happening here today.

The light of the Gospel is being shined for you to see.

If you are here today without Christ, Christ wants you to have eternal life!

If you do know Christ as your Savior, He wants you to have a fulfilling, abundant life!

He is shining His light to you today.

CONCLUSION

ILLUSTRATION: In 1912, one of the most memorable ship accidents took place in history.

On April 14, at 11:40pm, the unsinkable ship, the titanic struck an iceberg causing catastrophic damage.

Immediately work began to get the 2,200 passengers onto lifeboats, but because of a lack of preparation and planning, many of the boats went into the icy water less than full.

Tragically, the lives of 1,500 people were lost on that night.

One of the heartbreaking findings of that night was that there was another ship in the area, the SS Californian was only 17-20 miles away.

It was reported that when the distress flares were fired into the sky, those on the SS Californian saw the flares… but they believed they were just flares of celebration.

Without hearing the distress calls over the radio, the SS Californian turned away from the lights, and continued on their journey.

EXPLANATION: Verse 5, is a somber verse that we finish on this morning

John 1:5 KJV 1900

And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

It isn’t just that they didn’t understand it… the Greek word for “comprehend” may be better understood by us today by the word “apprehend”

While the light was shining, the chose to turn away from it instead of obtain it and enjoy it for themselves.

APPLICATION: Friend, as we start our journey through the amazing book of John and we see that Jesus is God, don’t turn away!

Listen to the powerful introduction John gives to us, about Jesus!

He is Eternal!

He is Creator!

He is Life!

I hope you will choose to experience Him today!