God from the Beginning

Among Us is a game of someone hiding in plain sight. That is what John tells us, that God is with His people and He dwells with them.

There is a beauty to this introduction, a pace that goes with it. Repetition of words, a simpleness in word choice, yet profound in its content. This initial part of the Gospel shows us that Jesus is the divine agent of creation who existed before all creation.

Introduction

Who Wrote It? The Apostle John

We can say, with strong confidence, that the Apostle John, one of the inner 3 of the disciples, is the one who writes the book. Although it is the only Gospel to not tell us who the author is in the book, the early church believes this and speaks to this book being written by John.

-One sign is that only James and John, the Sons of Zebedee, are not identified of the disciples of Jesus. Although there is reference to the disciple “whom Jesus loved”.

Although it may have been the last Gospel to be written, somewhere in the AD 80s or 90s, it is actually the Gospel we have the earliest manuscript for. We have fragments of the Gospel of John dating back to AD 125. That is incredible!

-Many don’t want to believe John wrote this Gospel because it gives us an “advanced” theology. John is very descriptive on the character of Jesus and His purpose in coming to earth. But the evidence we have points to the truth of John being the writer but also its significance as one of the Gospels.

What is the purpose of John?

More than any of the other books of the Gospel, John wants to convince us that Jesus, who walked on the earth 2000 years ago as a man in Israel, is God Incarnate.

The central verse in the book is John 20:30–31 “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

This tells us several important things. It was written to...

1. Prove to us that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the Son of God

John is different than what are called the “Synoptic Gospels.” These Gospel seek to give a “synopsis” of Jesus’ life and ministry. The purpose of John is different. There are no narrative parables, no Lord’s supper, no Jesus casting out demons, no discussion of Jesus’ wilderness temptations. John also doesn’t seem to follow any chronological order of his stories. At the same time, there are things that John mentions that the other Gospel’s don’t mention. Jesus’ turning water into wine, the story of Nicodemus, the Woman at the Well, and the resurrection of Lazarus are all unique to the book of John.

What John does more specifically is reveal to us in clear picture what it means that Jesus’ is God. John provides 7 “I am” statements and contrasts (life and death, from above and from below, light and dark, truth and lie, sight and blindness, and more). John seeks to prove, in describing the person and work of Jesus, that “He is equal and one with God the Father, and the agent of creation, the revealer of God and full of grace and truth.” But also to know Christ is to know the Father and to have access to His Spirit.

2. Share the Gospel

The purpose is evangelistic, to share the Gospel with those who haven’t heard it and to help form the faith of those who do believe. Specifically those from a Jewish content. Therefore, our view should be on this evangelistic message of Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God who came into the world to save sinners. John points to how the promise of the Messiah in the OT is fulfilled and to point people to the “signs” that Jesus is the Son of God into the world. He omits things not because he isn’t aware, but because he has a specific goal in mind.

3. Convince us of the Gospel so that we may have life in Jesus

Jesus...

Existed before, and is the sustainer of, Creation

Our first thought here is to Genesis 1:1. John does this intentionally, be puts us at the start of everything. He doesn’t want us to confuse when who or Jesus is.

-The word for “beginning can also mean “origin” as well.

Even more than being there at the beginning, He created everything at the beginning.

Colossians 1:16 “For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through him and for him.”

Hebrews 1:1–3 “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets at different times and in different ways. In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

Without the Divine Word, the Son, nothing that we see could be created. But what Hebrews 1 also shows us is that Jesus is the “exact expression” of God’s nature.

Reveals the Truth of God’s Character

But how did God create everything? By His divine Word.

Psalm 33:6 “The heavens were made by the word of the Lord, and all the stars, by the breath of his mouth.”

But what does it mean that Jesus is the “Word”?

-The word for “Word” here is logos. This has a lot of meanings.

-Inner thoughts, Reasoning, or a rational argument.

-For a group of philosophers called the Stoics, the logos was the principle by which everything in the universe exists

-It can refer to a “speech” or “message”

How does John use it? Well here it is connected with God’s divine work of creation but also of revelation. In fact, these two are intertwined.

-What we need to recognize is that God can only speak that which is true. When God speaks, He creates.

I make things up all the time in front of my kids. They will ask what’s for dinner and I’ll just say “worms”. Or my kids might ask how strong I am and I’ll say “strong enough to pick up our house!” But that doesn’t make what I said true just because I said it. But for God His speaking action is always aligned with what is good and true.

Isaiah 55:11 “so my word that comes from my mouth will not return to me empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do.””

I think we can even contrast this to Genesis 3 when the words of the serpent are false.

We live in a world where it can be hard to know what truth is. AI, influencers and politicians who lie to us for their own gain, people who lie to us for their own benefit.

Therefore, what God says reveals to us truth about Himself. God’s Word has power in the Bible.

Psalm 107:20 “He sent his word and healed them; he rescued them from their traps.”

The prophets are often said to speak a “Word from the Lord.”

The Logos is also related to the Wisdom of God.

-Proverbs 8 speaks of God’s wisdom at the “Beginning of His creation, before His works of long ago.”

See, speech is self-expression, The Word then is the self-expression of God.

We can also see it through the illustration of a light. Light “illuminates” the things in the dark. God reveals Himself through the Son who is the light of the world.

John reminds us of the beginning of creation when darkness covered the earth, but then in Genesis 1:3 God speaks and there is light. And darkness cannot overcome light.

If you’ve ever been in your room at night when it is dark like at night trying to make your way to the bathroom, all it takes is for a little light to shine for you to find your way. After all, darkness is defined as the absence of light.

-John also reminds us of Isaiah 9:2 “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; a light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness.”

Darkness can be related to death, sin, and that which is evil. The evil loves darkness because it can hide in the darkness.

We will see by the end of the Gospel how the light has overcome darkness for good.

Plato’s Republic has the “light” just out of reach. But one prisoner breaks free and goes out to the light but is blinded. But, God came down to us and reveals the truth so that we aren’t blinded. Or like the Tower of Babel where they attempted to “reach the heavens”. Yet God just laughs at them. We have a God who comes to us.”

Jesus is the great light in the land of darkness that brings us life.

But not just a light, the Word is also the life of the world. But that life is the light of men.

In the Incarnation, Jesus brings life and light to the World.

Fully Divine

In the Odyssey, and in Greek mythology, you have a lot of characters who are “kinda” divine. They have some divine qualities, and you have the “gods” who also fight with each other. They even come down to earth and have their own children. There is this mix of divine and human. Of having super-human strength but still being capable of being brought down.

But what does it mean that the Word was “with” God. I mean, if He IS God how can He also be WITH God. What it implies is a personal relationship WITH God the Father and God the Spirit. But if we are unsure, John clarified. The Word WAS God.

-The Word both is God and has fellowship WITH God. This should situation everything else we read in this book but in the rest of Scripture. If Jesus is God, and He is the Wisdom OF God, than the words of Jesus should be taken as God’s Word and not to be denied as the truth.

-This also pokes holes in any form of unitarianism, that is, a belief in a singular person in God. That be “unitarian” Christians, Jehovah’s witnesses, Jews, Muslims...

Although John is drawing an analogy here with the Word, the rest of the book makes the relationship between the Father and the Son clear. And throughout the book we will see parallel to what is said here about the Word and with Jesus Himself. Like in John 5:26 “For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he has granted to the Son to have life in himself.”

The believe that Jesus is the divine “logos” that comes to earth is important because.

It means God’s Word isn’t just a list of facts that we can choose to believe or not believe, it is the truth of God character revealed to us. We can’t ignore the truth of God.

It means that God, and the universe he created, is knowable; even if not completely knowable.

We don’t have a “far away” God, nor do we have a God who is just like the creation. But instead the incarnation is God who “dwelt among us”. He can sympathy with our weakness and die on the cross for our sins, yet is still holding all of creation together.

God’s ‘Word’ is His powerful self-expression in creation, revelation and salvation; it is the ultimate self-disclosure of God in the person of His Son Jesus.

The Father Initiates Creation

The Son Accomplishes Creation

The Holy Spirit Applies Creation

You can replace “Creation” with “salvation”