2018.07.13 Hopewell @Home ▫ John 1:1-5

Read John 1:1-5

Questions for Littles: When was the Word already there (v1)? With whom was the Word at that time? Who was He at that time? Who was with (literally, “toward,” or “facing”) God in the beginning (v2)? What was made through Him (v3)? What wasn’t made through Him? What was in Him (v4)? What did men receive from this light? What does the light do now (v5)? What has the former light of men become? What can’t the darkness grasp? 

In the Gospel reading this week, we began the Gospel of John. In Mark, the primary emphasis was a rapid ransom mission in which, by dying on the cross and rising again, Jesus sets free from sin and guilt everyone who believes in Him.

That’s true in John too, but now the emphasis is more upon a recovery mission: God, the eternally glorious Son, breaking into time to retrieve the adopted children, and bring them home to Father, where they will enjoy Him (Christ) as the very glory of the Father Himself, forever and ever.

So John begins by taking us literally to the beginning: the glory that Jesus had with God before the world began—from all eternity, the Father and the Son (with the Spirit, who is not explicitly mentioned here) in perfect and equal glory and power, of one substance.

This glory, God displayed by creating, and of course the Son is the Creator every bit as much as the Father is. Because the Word was God. So everything else that is not God is created by the Word. He is, therefore, very God of very God from the beginning. No wonder various cults either deny or rewrite this portion of Scripture!

And what a glorious beginning for man: the life of the Word Himself was given to men to be their light. Man was made in His image. Nothing else in creation can make that claim.

Sadly, man fell quickly. His light became darkness—so dark, in fact, that when the Word Himself came and shined in the darkness, men were unable to grasp His light.

So now, we are set up to learn more about the incarnation, more about Jesus bringing to the world the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, more about our darkness and our need for the Spirit to give us new birth. Let us prepare to have our hearts and minds seized by the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in the gospel of John!

Who is Jesus? What has He done? What do you need Him to do in you?

Suggested songs: ARP2 “Why Do Gentile Nations Rage?” or TPH209 “O Splendor of God’s Glory Bright”