Who Is Jesus? (Part 1)

Introduction

John 1:1–5 (ESV)

1 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. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Mr. Jones was a businessman who was flamboyantly proud of his ancestry. One day, a salesman showed up to Mr. Jones office to collect payment. The salesman waited as Mr. Jones extravagantly signed a number of checks with curves and flourishes to his name. The salesman, whose patience was wearing thin, finally said:

“You have a fine signature, Mr. Jones.”

“Yes,” admitted Mr. Jones, “I should have. One of my forefathers signed the Declaration of Independence!”

“So?” said the saleman, strengthening his tone, “You ain’t got nothing on me. One of my forefathers signed the Ten Commandments!”

Ancestry, origin, source - We, as humans, are particularly fascinated by these things.

You don’t need to look any further than the rampant success of services like MyAncestry.com or 23andMe DNA Testing to see proof of this statement.

We find a particular personal value to where we came from. Our heritage is often a point of pride, no matter how humble the beginnings were.

We place our families trials, tribulations, and triumphs on a special mantle in our hearts to remind us of where we came from and to glimpse where we may be going.

In John 1:1-5, the Apostle John, presents us with the DNA and Ancestry results that no scientific test can provide; he tells us of a family inheritance that begins even before creation itself:

John 1:1–5 ESV

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 were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Jesus is God (v. 1)

When we talk about our family origins, we often reflect about ‘getting back to our roots’.

However, in verse 1, John wants to direct our attention beyond our roots:

John 1:1 ESV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The Word is the archē, the source of all things. Existing beyond creation. (v. 1a-b)

“In the beginning was the Word”; John’s word choice is interesting.

In modern english we tend to think of the beginning of something, or even someone, as the point where it started.

For example, Human history began at creation. That would be the Greek word aphormḗ (af-or-may), the start of something;

or, you could say that your life began at birth, which would be your genesis (ghen´-es-is) or birth, the point that something or someone came into being.

However, John uses the Greek word archē (ar-kay) here, which denotes the origin, particularly the source of something.

We get our words ‘archery’ and ‘archer’ from the Greek word archē (ar-kay). When an arrow is shot, you could say the starting point of that arrow is the Bow, the aphormḗ (af-or-may), as that is what the arrow is mounted to and where the arrow came from. However, the bow cannot function without an outside source. You could even say that the moment the shot is released is the beginning, the genesis (ghen´-es-is), of the shot. However, this beginning requires the actions of something beyond itself to occur, someone must release the string. Without the archer’s actions, the bow does nothing, there is no shot; the archer is the originator of everything that takes place in archery. If no archery ever takes place, the archer, as a being independent of archery, still exists.

This is the “beginning” John wants us to go back to. He wants to take us beyond human history, even beyond the moment of creation, before Genesis 1:1, he wants us to peer into eternity.

The Word is a distinct person with a unique relationship of equality to God. (v. 1c-d)

As if that wasn’t enough to keep our minds occupied for decades, John then adds complexity by stating “and the Word was with God”.

The Apostle is tying in with his intentional use of the word archē (ar-kay) in the first phrase and honing in on the fact that this eternal source he speaks of is a distinct person.

In essence, John is saying that the Word has eternally been standing side-by-side, hand-in-hand, face-to-face with God.

This is unique because it implies more that simply being in the presence of God, John is directing us to ponder a person who is distinct, yet equal to God.

The Word IS God. (v. 1e)

In fact, John clearly emphasizes his point in the last phrase of verse 1 where he states “and the Word was God.”

The Word is eternal, the Word is a distinct person working hand-in-hand with God.......and the Word is God! If that doesn’t pique your interest about this extraordinary ancestry, nothing will!

Jesus is the Word.

It’s only natural that our first question regarding this amazing and unique person is “Who is this ‘Word’ and what is His name?” Well, John is going to dedicate 21 Chapters, 879 verses, to telling us all about who the Word is.

John 1:14

But, for the sake of clarity, we’re going to fast forward to week 3 of our study and briefly read John 1:14:

John 1:14 ESV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Spoiler alert......Jesus is the Word.

Revelation 1:17

In fact, Jesus Himself testifies that He is eternal, with God and is God.

Revelation 1:17 ESV

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last,

The beginning and the end, an endless circle, eternal. Jesus.

John 16:28

John 16:28 ESV

I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”

Came from the Father and going to Him, side-by-side, with God. Jesus.

John 10:30

John 10:30 ESV

I and the Father are one.”

One with God. Jesus.

Jesus is Creator (vv. 2-3)

Jesus shares equally in the power and dominion of God (v. 2)

Moving on to verse 2, John seems to be simply restating his opening points:

John 1:2 ESV

He was in the beginning with God.

However, by restructuring his thought in this way, John is putting a new emphasis on his point.

He wants to draw us into the idea that Jesus, being eternal and equal with God, shares equally in the power and dominion of God.

Pointedly, John uses this idea to push us forward in our ancestral timeline from eternity and into creation, where God’s power and dominion are excercised.

I’d like to ask you to open your Bibles to Genesis 1:26.

Genesis 1:26

The Apostle is opening our eyes to an often-missed subtlety in Genesis 1:26, at creation:

Genesis 1:26 ESV

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Let’s go over that again: “Then God said, ‘Let us (plural) make man in our (plural) image, after our (plural) likeness’.......”

Primarily, we see in God’s own words, thousands of years before John, His revelation of multiple persons sharing equally in the divine power, dominion, and being of God.

What do we know of God’s image? How does He look to us? We have seen Him manifest Himself to us as:

a bright light,

fire,

a great cloud,

a booming thunder,

but in only one instance do we see the image that we reflect: Jesus.

Everything that was created was created through and for Jesus (v. 3)

This is significant because John expands on our new understanding emphatically in verse 3:

John 1:3 ESV

All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

The two words “All things” in verse 3 is actually only one word in the Greek: pas (pas) which means “all”. There is no article of reference, i.e. “things” that occurs in the Greek; therefore the word stands alone carrying the emphatic sense of totality, of ecompassing wholly and completely.

Incidentally, this is a point where Jehovah’s Witnesses show themselves to be twisting Scripture to fit their beliefs. They show verse 3 to read “All other things were made through him”.

But John leaves no room for that interpretation in the Greek. It impossible to insert “other” into the phrase “All things”, because the word for “All things” is one single word, therefore you would have to break the structure of the Greek entirely in order to make that translation work.

Let’s return to the truth of John’s statement: If something was created, it has been created through Jesus.

Colossians 1:16

The Apostle Paul confirms our understanding in Colossians 1:16:

Colossians 1:16 ESV

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

Jesus is our Creator, it is in His image that we were made and for His purposes that we exist. If we trace our family roots to Adam, Jesus is our seed.

Jesus is Life (vv. 4-5)

Jesus’ light is the life that pours out from Him to give life to creation. (v. 4)

Besides, what does a seed yield, but life itself?

John makes this connection for us in verse 4:

John 1:4 ESV

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

In the Bible, the secular world of John’s time, and even in modern times, the theme of light versus darkness is often associated with good versus evil, wisdom versus foolishness, life versus death.

Genesis 1:3

It is a mastery of imagery that John uses here to tie all of creation together with Jesus when God spoke the words:

Genesis 1:3 ESV

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

I want to ask you to close your eyes for a moment and stretch the limits of your imagination. Picture in your mind: God is the only thing that exists, there is no matter, no space, no time. Just God in eternity with the absence of life all around, nothingness. Then God decides, I am going to use the power of life within me to give life to other things; and God says “Let there be light!” and God’s goodness, His wisdom, His life pours out of His being and He begins to shape that life into what we call ‘creation’.

The life which is poured out through Jesus is “the light of men.” Our goodness, our wisdom, our very breath and consciousness all poured out directly from Jesus’ power.

Acts 17:28

Furthermore, in Acts 17:28, the Apostle Paul applies the supernatural vision of this occurrence into a very real and natural statement:

Acts 17:28 ESV

for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

Jesus continues to pour out life from Himself through creation and salvation. (v. 5)

Now let’s consider verse 5, where John shifts his focus from what was to what is; Thus completing our ancestral journey from eternity, to creation, to us; right here and now:

John 1:5 ESV

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Jesus’ light shines in opposition to the darkness of this world.

His goodness persists in a world corrupted by evil,

His wisdom exposes the foolishness of the world,

He offers life to a world in a downward spiral of death.

“And the darkness has not overcome it”, finally, John tells us about our inheritance: Victory.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Max Lucado once said:

“Philosophers can debate the meaning of life, but you need a Lord who can declare the meaning of life.”

Likewise, for a rationality focused generation desperate to find meaning in a world relentlessly seeking to take all it can, John shines the light of hope on the one thing this world can never take away: our ancestral inheritance. Jesus is our Heritage.

Prayer