Monday, April 29, 2019

2019.04.29 Hopewell @Home ▫ John 1:1-5

Questions for Littles: When was the Word already there (John 1:1)? 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 (John 1:2)? What was made through Him (John 1:3)? What wasn’t made through Him? What was in Him (John 1:4)? What did men receive from this life? What does the light do now (John 1:5)? What has the former light of men become? What can’t the darkness grasp?  
You could be standing in the middle of a room with great treasures all around; but if it’s pitch-black dark in there, you’re just not going to see what’s there. This is something like the picture the apostle draws for us in the first five verses of this gospel.

Jesus Christ is the Great Treasure. Not merely “the greatest” treasure. But, in a real way, the only treasure. Anything else only has value—or even existence—because of Him.

In fact, even as God from all eternity, He is the Great Treasure, God Himself. In the beginning, the Word was already there. And He was facing God. In the ever-blessed, eternal fellowship of the Triune Godhead is this mutually reciprocated honor and glory and love and joy. This is mentioned first in the list in John 1:1, and then repeated for emphasis in John 1:2. He is the Great Treasure; from all eternity, He has been face to face with God as God.

It’s a word that means ‘toward’ and comes from the word for ‘face’. It can mean “with,” but there are better prepositions for that. This is relational. This is a reality that goes back before the beginning but breaks into time, not just in the incarnation itself, but even verbally at the baptism and the transfiguration, “This is My beloved Son with Whom I am well-pleased!”

John 1:4 could have been glorious for us. It takes us back to Genesis 2:7, when light first came into men’s eyes. Verse 4 tells us that Christ was there. As God, before He became flesh and dwelt among us, He formed Adam’s flesh from the ground and breathed into him. Of all the creatures that exist, man was given this great honor. In the Word was life, and this life was our light.

But something has gone wrong. We sinned in Adam. We fell in Adam. We died in Adam. Our minds are not light. They are darkness. In fact, the earth is full of darkness and needs to be re-lit. No man can do it. Jesus said that John the baptizer was the greatest of men, and even he was not that light (cf. John 1:8). Jesus alone is the light. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is the Light of the world.

We need a little translation help at the end of John 1:5. NKJV says “did not ‘comprehend’,” but the word means something more like “master,” “control,” or even “overpower.” The Word who created the world and gave light to men has now entered the world to give light again—this time in a way that cannot be overcome.

Do you find that you, like literally every other person apart from grace, have an impossible time understanding the Lord, appreciating the Lord, and responding to the Lord? The Lord Himself, Jesus Christ, has come to be Your life for all of these things. He tells you to believe in Him as your only true light, and as your completely unstoppable light.
How do your thought life, regular habits, and actions show that you look to Jesus to be your light?
Suggested Songs: ARP110B “The Lord Has Spoken to My Lord” or TPH270 “At the Name of Jesus”

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