Who is Jesus 4 Revelations in John 1:1-4

Introduction

In preparation for this sermon, I researched what the top questions Google gets asked, among them were the following

“How to tie a tie” gets 2.4 million per month

“What time is it” gets 2.9 million per month

And the question “Who is Jesus” was found to have received 2.7 million searches per month worldwide.

The Question, who is Jesus, is the most important question someone could possibly ask and yet answers have been proposed by various religions, thinkers and philosophers throughout the centuries.

In Matthew chapter 16:13-15 Jesus turned to his disciples and asked them two questions who do the people say that I am and who do you say that I am?

Well, if you asked the people of this world in this day and this age who is Jesus

You will get various answers:

Ghandi a so called spiritually enlightened Hindu has stated that Jesus was one of the greatest teachers of mankind.

Muhammed the chief prophet of Islam proposes that Jesus is a prophet, a messenger sent by God.

A Jehovah witness will say that Jesus is the son of God, but a being created by God not God himself.

Jehovah’s witnesses, Islam and Hindus make up over 3.2 billion people.

When asked the question who is Jesus? There are more than 3.2 billion people who get this answer dead wrong.

This is who the people say that Jesus Christ is; this is who the world say Jesus Christ is: a teacher yes, a prophet, maybe. God in the flesh… absolutely not.

Transitionary Sentence:

Well, the apostle John has a very different answer to the question: who is Jesus?

Proposition:

In fact it’s one of the clearest answers in all of scripture and what we are going to see in John chapter 1:1-5 is 5 revelations and all of these revelations will show us who Jesus Christ is.

The word of God reads,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

Ι.

 …This leads us to Revelation #1 the Introduction of the “word”

Look at verse one where John writes, “In the beginning was the word”, now I want you to notice that the way in which john wrote and opened his gospel is absolutely brilliant

John writes in such a way that utilizes the language of his audience by using common words and phrases that resonate with them.

A modern day example of this is the modern day attempt to get the attention of a movie goer or book reader by crafting the opening line in such a way that would garner the attention of the audience.

Take star wars for example: A long time ago in a galaxy far far away

Who does that appeal to? – Sci fi lover

Ok what about the opening line – Once upon a time?

That appeals to fairy tale lovers,

Each of those opening lines grabs the attention of their audience by utilizing key words and phrases that certain individuals will find attractive.

The idea is to grab your audiences attention and “hook them” to the material you are about to present. Well that’s exactly what John is doing in the first verse of his Gospel as he penned those famous words “In the beginning was the word”

In penning this line John commanded the attention of the Jew and Gentile in the Greco roman context he was in.

By utilizing the phrase “in the beginning.”

John seized the attention of every Old Testament-loving Jew, as they would have recognized the reference to Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

At the same time John also captured the minds of Greco romans alike as he utilizes the term “word” which in the Greek is “Logos.” This would have been a highly recognizable term that is packed with meaning to both Jews and Greeks.

The Greco Roman world would have understood the concept of the “Logos” as some kinds of pre-existent rational cosmic principle by which everything exists as a kind of “Force” that governs the universe.

The Jews on the other hand would have had their own understanding of the term “logos” as  well.

The Jewish mind understood the logos to be connected with God’s powerful activity at the begging of time in the creation.

Just as Genesis 1 records, The Lord God speaks and it was so…

Psalm 33:6 states, “By the word of Yahweh the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host.”

The Jewish community would have also recognized the term to be representative of God’s revelation as the phrase “the word of the LORD came to” prophets like Jeremiah, Isiah, and Ezekiel, Jonah, Samuel, Nathan and so on.

So …Whoever it was that came into contact with John's Gospel whether that was a Greek or a Jew they immediately would have resonated with the concepts and terms that John was using.

In the opening Lines of John's Gospel we clearly see that

John took a famous phrase, “in the beginning” and a famous word “Logos”

United them together in a stroke of literary genius, crafted this into an opening line and, thus, commands the attention of his audience.

Now that John has captured the minds of his audience he moves on to Reveal the Identity of the

word.

ΙΙ.

…which leads us to Revelation #2 the Identity of the Word

The perfect word of God reads: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.”

The Jew and Greek both had an understanding of what the Logos was, and yet in neither of their minds was the Logos put in the place of God. The Greeks saw it as an impersonal rational force that ordered the universe, separate from their mythological deities. While the Jews understood the logos as the word of God, and a kind of byproduct of God speaking in creation or revelation.

Yet John radically redefines their understanding of the Logos and reveals that the Logos is not a force of any kind separated from God but it is in fact God himself. The Logos is God.

So many times, I will hear people say things like “oh I believe in God” or in the event of a natural disaster all these people become prayer warriors and will say things like “I’ll be praying for you” or “you’re in my thoughts” whatever that means.

And my first thought is to who are you praying, is it a higher power, mother nature, what are you talking about, what are you referring to?

There are all these so called conceptions of God and to even begin the conversation we need to define our terms and what we mean.

That’s exactly what John is doing,

John is not mincing words,

John is not beating around the bush

John takes whatever conception his audience has of “God” and defines and reveals what the truth actually is.

And that truth is that the word is God, not separated from God, not created by God but God Himself. The God who has always existed.

ΙΙΙ.

As John continues to unfold the revelatory truth of Jesus he does so by giving us

Revelation #3 The Words Agency in Creation.

John writes, “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”

It is by the word, who is God that all things came into being. It is the WORD who is being attributed with the creation of the cosmos.

In Genesis it is recorded that

God said “Let their be light” John says That was Him.

God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters.” John says that was Him.

God said, “Let us make man in our image.” John says that was Him.

Take a moment just to imagine what the Jewish audience was thinking at this point.

Who are you talking about? The six days of creation belong to the Lord our God. Who are you referring to?

John reveals this in verses 14 and 17 when he writes, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” V17 “For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the One through whom all things came into being .It is in Jesus as Paul writes in Colossians 1:16, “[That] all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.”

Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last the beginning and the end and there is not a molecule in this universe that was created apart from his authority.

So far we have seen 3 revelations.

#1 The Introduction of the word

#2 The Identity of the word

#3 The Agency of the word in Creation

And this leads us to

Revelation #4 The essence of Jesus Christ in verse 4

As John writes, “In Him was life”

It's important to note that Life is not merely a part of Jesus,

it's not simply a symbolic word that describes Jesus.

In the phrase “In Him waslife”. The word, ‘was’ is in the imperfect tense and this expresses continuous, ongoing existence in the past. John is saying that when creation began, the Word already continually was, He didn’t come into existence. And This same eternal Word is the who always existed is the source of all life, both physical and spiritual.

Thus its important to recognize the reality that Jesus’ very essence is life, Jesus is the embodiment of life.

Its also important to note that John uses this term “life” throughout the rest of his Gospel in reference to Christ its almost always in reference to spiritual life.

Jesus says, “I am the way the truth and the…. Life” “for God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that whosoever believes in him may have ..what… eternal life”

And This truth is not only foundational for the rest of John's Gospel but it is foundational to the very fabric of reality itself and and this reality is essential to the spiritual state of every man, woman and child who are born into this world.

For those who say I want eternal life without Jesus they are stating something that is oxymoronic. It’s a contradiction in terms.

Without Jesus, the source of both physical and spiritual life you cannot have life, its impossible.

What we have seen in our time together is 4 revelations of this passage,

We have seen

revelation #1 The introduction of the word

#2 The Identity of the word

#3 The Agency of the Word in creation

And #4 the Essence of the word

And over our time together as the scripture has progressively unfolded we have been able to see how John answers Jesus’ question in Matthew 16:13-15 “Who do you say that I am?

John clearly answers that Jesus is the source of all life, He is the one who existed before all things were created and is the Creator of all things, Jesus is the Eternal Son of God.

The world says that Jesus is a good moral teacher, perhaps a prophet or something else,

And yet we know when faced with the question Who is Jesus? That he is God in the flesh.

Some of You might be thinking good Job andrew you did it you spent the last 30 minutes talking to us about something we already know and I want to challenge you with this.

Just because you verbally say that you know something doesn’t mean that that truth has transformed you. I can say all day long that Jesus is the creator, sustainer of all things and the source of all spiritual life.

 And fail to live in light of that reality constantly,

You may be able to state the correct when posed with the question “Who is Jesus”

But lets take this question and make it more applicable

On a personal level on day to day basis Who is Jesus? I’m not asking what your lips will say but what do your actions say?

Who is Jesus in the morning… Aww Yawn, I woke up another day, lets scroll on my phone for 30 mins, lets have quite time with the world on social media to be hit with newsfeeds, current trends and potentially lust provoking images, instead of asking the God who made you for strength that day,

Who is Jesus in your workplace or classroom? Paul writes in col 3:21 “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. Serve the Lord Christ.”

The assignment the project the task at hand is not merely one human working for another but a person who is representing the Lord Jesus Christ in all the work that they do.  

Who is Jesus in your own personal joy and satisfaction? The Psalmist writes, “In your presence is fullness of Joy; in your right hand there are pleasures forever”

Wow isn’t that something, because for me I know that I struggle with this one. I find a lot of satisfaction in watching a great movie or better yet preparing, seasoning cooking and eating a great steak, wow I will spend all week thinking about the night I designated for a piece of meat and yet to go before the lord in His presence to find satisfaction and joy, to be still to quiet my heart to pray, how much time do I prepare for that, how much time do I spend thinking wow I cant wait to pray before the lord the God who created me?

Who is Jesus in your conversations with unbelievers? You hold the knowledge to the eternal truth the source of all life, And yet when facing someone who has been separated from their creator because of their sin and lives a life destined one day to meet their maker what do we say? Ok well good talking to you have a nice day.

Who is Jesus in your conversations about others? James writes in James 3:18

“With our tounges, we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.”

God doesn’t want lip service, Jesus rebukes his opponents plainly in Matthew 15:8 when he states, ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me.”

I go to church, I read my Bible, I was baptized, Look I’m here on a Thursday night, I’ve been a Christian my whole life, …SO what?

The Christian life is not supposed to be like subway, I’ll take a little bit of Jesus on Sunday, a bit of Jesus in the morning, and some on Thursday night alright boom boxes checked lets get on with my life.

No but we are called, “by the mercies of God, to present [our] bodies as a sacrifice—living, holy, and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

The answer to the question who is Jesus needs to dominate every facet of our lives and if it doesn’t than we need to ask God for forgiveness and make Christ the cornerstone of our existence.

Let’s pray.

May the question who is Jesus dominate our minds in everything we do.