Behold: Jesus is God

Intro:

This morning as we head into the Christmas Season, I want us to take a few weeks to simply stop and BEHOLD the One whom we call Jesus. I want us to pause in the midst of all the festivities of the Christmas season - all the hustle of Christmas gift buying and family celebrations - and purpose in our hearts not to miss the TRUE REASON FOR THE SEASON : Worshipping Jesus Christ in Spirit and in Truth.

One of the dangers of being overly familiar with a topic is that we fail to allow it’s true meaning to infiltrate our minds, souls and spirits. We all have grown up hearing about Jesus, we’ve sat through Sunday school classes and Christmas pageants and passion plays to the point that we could receite the events and details by rote memory. We’ve heard countless sermons about his life - his teachings, his miracles, his love and well as the heinous and brutal details of His death and the glorious reality of His dramatic and climactic resurrection.

Yet often times we fail to allow all that we know about Jesus to pierce our hearts truly stir our affectionate and passionate worship. They say familiarity breeds content, and it would be a tragedy to allow this to happen to us in regards to such a glorious and wonderful Savior!

This morning I want us to gaze upon Jesus with new eyes and a fresh perspective.

I want to not just look at historical facts, but to see the actual person of Jesus…both his divinity as well as his humanity.

I want us to grasp the totality of his life in such a way that our only option this Christmas is to stop and WORSHIP Him.

Beholding Jesus involves taking all the facts we know, all the scriptures we’ve learned and setting them before ourselves in such a way that this knowledge changes us from the inside out.

It involves reflecting on who He is. Not just historically, or biblically…but also personally as OUR Savior, Our Redeemer and Our Friend who has vowed to never leave us or forsake us.

Beholding Him means that we ponder the weight and the glory of who He is revealed to be in scripture until the reality of His presence shapes and molds our lives.

Beholding Him means that we choose to see Him and experience Him with fresh eyes and child-like wonder until we have no other choice but to bow low in reverence and worship him with all of our might, gladly giving him all that we are, all that we have and all that we ever hope to one day become.

So please…I invite you to join me this Christmas in trying to understand the height, depth and totality of who Jesus is so that He can transform our lives with His truth, His power and His glory.

Our text for today is found in a very familiar passage in the first chapter of the gospel of John.

This gospel account stands in stark contrast to Matthew, Mark and Luke. Where they begin by tracing his geneology back to David and Abarham…or through the preaching of John the Baptist...Luke traces his handiwork all the way back to the beginning of time itself. Where the other gospel writers begin with his birth and his humanity, the gospel of Luke drapes the one we call Jesus with full divinity, power, honor and glory and offers us a fresh theological perspective of who Jesus is.

It’s almost as if John says “I want you to consider Jesus in His teachings and deeds. But you won’t be able to understand the Good News of Jesus in its fullest sense unless you view him from this unique theological perpective and point of view.

Let’s read the first 5 verses together. NIV

“In the beginning was the Word

and the word was with God,

and the Word WAS God.

He was with God in the beginning.

Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.

In Him was life and that life was the light of all mankind.

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

John begins this theological treatise with a simple phrase, “In the beginning was the Word”

He is writing to two distinct and very different audiences who would interpret this word differently.

For his Jewish readers, the “Word” had a unique power. For them, there was a precious quality - a living reality - surrounding words. As such they were used sparingly. There were only 10,000 words in Hebrew Speech. The Semitic root for “word” meant “thing” “affair” “event” or “action.”

To the Jews, a word spoken was a happening. Once it was uttered, it could not be torn from the even that it evoked. This is why when Isaac had blessed Jacob and then later discovered that Jacob had cleverly stolen his twin brother Esau’s birthright, he could not recall his words of blessing. The words had gone forth and the blessing stood.

And when God spoke, here in John chapter 1, It was a CREATIVE, AWESOME, POWERFUL EVENT.

When the jews heard these words, their minds were directed back to the creation account where God created the known universe with merely the power of his spoken word. The Jewish scriptures spoke over an over again about the power of God’s creative word.

Isa 55 “The rain and the snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. IT IS THE SAME WITH MY WORD. I send it out and it ALWAYS produces fruit. It will accomplish what I want ti to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.”

It was the Word of God that send Abraham away from his native land to follow God’s instructions to become the father of a mighty nation.

It was the word that broke the shackles of Egyptian bondage generations later...

It was the Word, which was spoken throughout the ages through the Prophets, which called a wandering, sinning people back to their first love and vocation at the people of God.

So when John began with these words, it undoubtedly unlocked a treasure trove of spriitual meaning and memories among His Jewish readers.

But John wasn’t only speaking to Jews. He was also speaking to Greek believers. His greek audience would hear “the Word” and it, too, was charged with meaning:

The word, or LOGOS, as the greeks called it meant “speaking, a message or words.”

The greeks used this in two ways ;

It could mean a person’s thought or reason, it might refers to a person’s speech, the expression of his thoughts.

As a philosophical term, LOGOS conveyed the rational principle that governed the universe, even the creative energy that generated the Universe.

So when John writes in the beginning was the Word, He is inviting his greek listeners to discover God’s message through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

With this one phrase - John captivates the minds of both audiences and invites them on wonderful journey of discovery!

We learn three things about Jesus from the first 3 verses:

1. Jesus is God’s eternal Word.

“In the beginning was the Word, and word was with God and the Word was God. he was with God in the beginning.”

Jesus is not just a humble Galilean carpenter…who lived for 33 short years on the earth

Rather, HIS IS THE Pre-existent, ETERNAL SON OF GOD, a member of the holy trinity

Jesus’ introduction to the world might have been at his lowly and humble birth, yet he was active even before the World was ever created.

John wants his readers - both jew and gentile - to understand that Jesus is unoike any man who ever went before Him. He is not only man - He is God.

As such, Jesus has no beginning. And He has no end. He is eternal. He was with the father from the very onset of time as we know it, exisiting in close face-to-face fellowship and communication.

Becuase of this, Jesus is worthy of honor and praise. He is worthy of our adoration. He is worthy of our entire life’s devotion.

But that’s not all…He isn’t just God’s eternal Word...

2. Jesus is also God’s CREATIVE Word

He was active with God in all of creation.

In fact, john let’s us know that “through Him [speaking of Jesus] ALL Things were made. and that without Him, nothghing was made that has been made.”

So what does that mean? It means that Jesus is not somoene that we can choose to ignore, dismiss or even reject. He is the author, the creator as well as the sustainer of everything we see, feel, taste and touch. He created the entire universe with the power of His word. He merely uttered words from his lips and everything we see came into existence: earth, sky, land, water, every living creature and every person on this planet. Everyone and Every thing has its origin in the eternal, creative Word of God spoken from the mouth of Jesus.

Col 1:16 states “For by Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or power or rulers or authorities - ALL things were created BY him and FORM HIM.”

Everything we see in the word today is a direct result of Jesus speaking it into existing. And everything we see ultumately depends on Him in order for it to be sustained.

The Christmas story isn’t about some sweet, little baby sitting in a manger - its’ about the introduction of God himself into human history though the person and the word of Jesus Christ. It is a marvel and a wonder to even think about. It is truly unique in comparison to every other world religion.

And its a fact that needs to completely arrest our attention and arouse our praise!

What can our reaction to be the One who created this world with a word? Our only reasonably response is to offer our lives in humble worship as living sacrifices that are holy and pleasing to the Lord!

…and thirdly we find that

3. Jesus is the REVEALED word of God

Hebrews 11:1 states that “In the past God spoke to our forefatihers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these LAST DAYS He has spoken to us by His Son, who He appointed heir of all things and thorugh who he made the universe.”

Its a marvel that God would even choose to speak to his creation, yet he didn’t just speak - he sent His son - in the flesh - to bring the Good News of God’s kingdom to a world that was lost in its sin and delusional in its thinking! Seeing Jesus,allows us to see God the Father. Hearing Jesus, allows us to hear the very words of God.

For Jesus perfectly reveals to us who God is and what God is like!

John goes on to say in verse 4

“In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

We can almost hear the darkness being personified in this verse. It represent everything that is antithetical to who God is and what God’s plans are for mankind.

Darkness is, by nature, opposed to light. It is opposed to God’s plans, God’s will and God’s ways.

The darkness has always tried to cloud God’ glory from our eyes. Ever since the serpant approached eve in Genesis, the darness has been at work to exitnuish the light of God in this world and in our hearts.

Yet John lets us know that in Jesus, the light of God shines brightly…and even though the darkness may try - it is not able to overcome the light!

This Christmas we are truly living in dark times.

Global pandemics, social distances, the rise of mental health issues and the obvious escalation of isolation and loneliness int he world today is astounding.

But the message of Christmas reminds us that darkness is incapable of overpowering the light of God that is in Christ Jesus.

He is not only the Hope of the World - He is OUR HOPE! He is our Joy. He is our Friend and Redeemer. his is our ever present help in dark times of uncertiantly and fear.

This Christmas, let His light illuminate the darkness of these days in which we live. See his power dispelling the darkness, pushing away the enemy’s attempts to defeat and discourage you. In Jesus there is light…and it CAN NOT and WILL NOT BE EXTINGUISHED!!!!!

V 5” There was a man named John. He came as a witness to tesify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light, he came only as a witness to the light.”

This speaks about John the Baptist and his ministry to prepare the way for the Lord. As God’s children, we now pick up this mantle and carry it forward.

It is our duty and responsibility to reflect the light of Christ in front of an unbelieving world.

The light of Christ penetreates and enlightens our eyes to see the truth of God’s word and the damage that sin brings to our lives. His light shines for us the path to take, one that is markedly different than the world.

Its a path that is marked by repentence…marked by turing away from the darkness in our own hearts and turning to the light of Christ instead.

It is a path marked by holiness and separation of all that which is evil and defiled by sin.

Is your life today a reflection of Christ’s light?

Is it showing other how to live?

is it pointing them to the answer that you’ve found!?

Verse 9

“The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made througn Him, the world didn’t recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receivehim, to those hwo believed in his name, He gave the right to become Children of God.”

In some ways this is the saddest verse in the bible

Humankind did not recognize its own creator!

He went to his own home but he found no welcome

He went to his own people - the nation of Israel, but they rejected him

Those who should have been the most eager to wekcome him were the first to turn away

As a nation they rejected their Messiah

But they weren’t the only ones. People are still rejecting Him today.

I feel that we are partly to blame. For if we trult reflected the light, the goodness grace, love and compassion of God, perhaps peiople would be attracted more to the Jesus in us.

Verse 14 “The Word became flesh anbd made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Faither, full of grace and truth. “

He tabernacled or pitched his tent

it represents a permanent stay

There is allusion here to the OT Taberncle where the shekeniah glory of God was evident

This is where God’s presence dwelt

It represented the place of the law

the abode of God

the source of true revelation

And we beheld his glory!

When it the last time you stopped to behold his glory?

When’s the last time you allowed yourself to gaze at His beauty until every pretense and defense melted in the presence of hIs love and grace?