Preached 11/25/18
[audio]
I INTRODUCTION: More than one Jesus?
In the Narnia stories by C.S. Lewis the main character who shines out from the pages is a mighty Lion named Aslan, who is the son of the “Emperor over the sea” and the great king of all Narnia. The character of Aslan is a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the first story – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Aslan dies a substitutionary death to save Edmund from a deserved punishment, after which Edmund and his brothers and sisters become Kings and Queens of the land of Narnia.
Lewis uses Aslan to show different aspects of the character of Christ, and his stories really seem to be an effort of his to communicate his love of Jesus. Now in the final Narnia story, titled the Last Battle, an interesting thing happens. An clever but evil ape named Shift finds a lion skin and convinces a simple but trusting donkey to wear the skin and pretend to be Aslan. The animals of Narnia, who have not seen Aslan, are taken in by the false Aslan while the ape uses him to accumulate wealth and power. In the end there is war that ends right outside of the stable where the false Aslan was kept, where the last king of Narnia, named Tirian, fights a desperate battle and is finally pushed into the stable. But instead of being killed by an enemy soldier in a dark stable, he finds himself, to his great surprise, in Aslan’s glorious land, facing the royal children from the previous books. He says to Peter “this is a great marvel…. It seems, then, that the Stable seen from within and the Stable seen from without are two different places” to which one of the others replies “Yes, its inside is bigger than its outside” (I might digress for just a second to note that this book was published 7 years before the advent of the Doctor Who series which uses that phrase a lot). A profound line follows, spoken by Queen Lucy with a voice of wonder and excitement:
“Yes, in our world too, a Stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.” (An appropriate statement for us to consider right before Christmas!)
These two thoughts from The Last Battle are relevant to our passage today. Just as in the story Shift created a false Aslan for his own profit, history is replete with false Jesuses created out of thin air and imagination by the sinful heart and mind of man. The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians that he was afraid that the false apostles in their midst were leading them astray:
2 Corinthians 11:3-4 3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.
This problem is not just a first-century one, but has been the way of enemies of the gospel since the advent of Christianity. The idea seems to be “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”. People will flock to you if you give them a Jesus that they can project their own ideas and desires upon, or one that does not offend their own world view. There have been thousands of versions of Jesus. There is the Jesus of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Michael the archangel, a created being with limited life and power. Or the Jesus of the Mormons, the brother of Lucifer and physical descendant of a man who himself ascended to godhood. Or the Jesus of eastern mysticism that is just one of many enlightened humans, or perhaps the Jesus of the historical revisionists who probably did not exist at all but if he did he was just an unlucky human. We have the misguided Jesus of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar that meant well but got in over his head and was a victim of a God who was more fate than Father. Maybe he was the man mentioned in the Koran who was just a prophet (and whose death was faked by God using another body). Or maybe he was the of the word-faith movement who discovered faith principles that we can also learn, whose power did not come from himself but from the “force” of faith. Or maybe even the smooth operator of the prosperity gospel who came to show us how to get rich in this life. Or the Jesus of the Unification Church that failed in his mission and was replaced in his mission by Sun Myung Moon. Or maybe the Jesus of liberation theology that supports communist revolutions around the world. The one thing that seems to be constant over history and all around the world is that whenever anyone wants to start a movement, they appropriate a Jesus of their own making for themselves to give themselves legitimacy. Using this strategy, Satan has caused many to refuse to consider the message of the gospel – asking “if there are so many Jesuses how can one of them be real?” And yet the ubiquity of Jesus in all of these other places ought to make us consider him. In the testimony of the Christian musician Keith Green he relates that he rejected Christianity early in his life and went out into the world to find truth. His only original requirement in his search was that he was not interested in hearing anything more about Jesus. But to his very great annoyance every guru and religious leader he went to ended up using Jesus to validate his own religious claims, claiming that Jesus was the great example of the principles that the guru wanted to teach. In the end, unable to escape Jesus, Keith Green came back and sought out the real Jesus of the bible and found faith and peace in Him.
In this age, we all have the same problem to solve. Who is the “real” Jesus? With so many to choose from, and our own tendency to seek out only that which is familiar and pleasing to us, how can we be sure that we have the correct one?
Just like with recognizing counterfeit currency, the best strategy is to be familiar with the real story, and that is only found in the gospels. Each one shows different aspects of his character, but one in particular gives a look “behind the scenes” that explores his divine nature. John wrote his gospel decades later and I think that he was allowed to live later than the other apostles so that he could see the distortions of this aspect of Jesus’ character and write the definitive book about the divinity of Christ. Once we read the gospel of John, there is no doubt that we are dealing with God in the flesh – that Jesus was more than just an enlightened or inspired human, but rather the very God visiting the world in person. Like Lucy, we have to say that that stable in Bethlehem “had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.”
IIa “The Word” Introduced
Unlike Matthew and Mark, who identify Jesus in the first verse of their gospels, and Luke, who immediately jumps into the circumstances surrounding his birth as a man, John goes back to the beginning of time to introduce Him, and he does not even mention his given human name until verse 17 which is near the end of his prologue. John’s prologue consists of the first 18 verses of the first chapter of his gospel, and they are some of the most remarkable verses in the entire Bible, leaving no doubt
- About who Jesus is, and
- What our response to Him should be.
These words still ring out with great clarity and power, and if we really understand this beautiful introduction that John gives to his Savior, we will not only bow down to Him, but we will trust in Him for our salvation.
As we turn to John, we see that he starts his gospel at the same time and with the same words as the book of Genesis. Genesis starts with the words “In the beginning God…”, and John’s gospel starts with “In the beginning was the Word…” Why does he start there rather than at Jesus’ birth like the other gospel writers? Because the story of the Son of God does not start there. It does not even start with the calling of Abraham or the creation of Adam. Like the God of the old testament, our Savior has no beginning or end. Like God the Father, the Son is alpha and omega, beginning and end (John gives both Jesus and the Father that same name in the book of Revelation).
The introduction in John has basically three sections. First he introduces Jesus in vss 1-5. Then in verses 6-13 John talks about his interaction with our world, then in 14-18 he echoes his opening with more detail about his mission and finally mentions his human name to finish the introduction. Let’s read the first part:
John 1:1-5 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.
These five verses are totally remarkable – not only do they contain a huge amount of truth about the Savior, but they establish his deity in no uncertain terms. As we have been discussing in our Family Bible Hour class, John’s use of the name “The Word” is deliberate and powerful to both his Jewish and Gentile audiences. Both had a concept of “The Word” as a representative of God, though the teaching of the rabbis in the first century seems to be the main source of the concepts taught here by John. As we have learned from Dr. Fructenbaum in our class, they had a concept of what they called the “Memra” (the Aramaic word for “word”) which they had derived from the Old Testament scriptures and which they taught had six qualities. We see this six qualities specifically mentioned by John, so he appears to have been saying “this is who you have been teaching about!” The Word was
- Distinct from God, but the same as God (vss 1-2).
- The agent of creation (vs3; Psalm 33:4-6).
- The agent of salvation (vss 12-13; Psalm 130:4-8).
- The means by which God takes on visible form (vs14).
- The means by which God signs His covenants (vs 17; Gen 15:1,17-18).
- The agent of Revelation (vs 18; “Compare with Hebrews 1:1-3).
Verse one introduces this Word in three statements. The first (as pointed out by Dr. MacArthur) shows his pre-existence. Christmas morning was not the beginning of his life. The word always was. “In the beginning was the Word” starts his description. It is not “in the beginning the word was created”. He already “was” in the beginning.
In the second phrase we see that this word, like the Memra, was “with God”, which speaks of his co-existence with God. But John does not stop there. In the third part John leaves no more doubt. “And the Word WAS GOD”. In Greek the word order is literally “and God was the Word”. That statement is so clear-cut that there is no escaping it. The person born in the manger in Bethlehem that first Christmas was (and is) God. As such he is eternal and self-existent. Remember that when God gave his name to Moses he called Himself “I Am That I Am”. He is the eternal, uncreated Creator of all things. Not just “some guy”.
This verse is so strong a statement of the deity of Christ that one cult (the JWs) wrote their own translation of the Bible, which translates the end of verse one “and the Word was a god” (with a little “g”). But the Greek is clear here. In Greek John puts the emphasis in this phrase on the word “God” and places it first. And this phrase finds its fulfillment at the other end of the gospel where Thomas calls the resurrected Jesus “my Lord and my God”, which is a statement of utmost blasphemy if it is not true, but Jesus commends him for it and says to him “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Jesus is God.
Not only does John say outright that Jesus is God, but in the next few verses we see divine attributes assigned to him:
In vs 2 we again see his eternal existence: “He was in the beginning with God.”
In vs 3 we see that He was the agent of creation. “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” This echoes the creation account where God is clearly seen as the creator of all things.
In vs 4 we see that He is the source of life and light. “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” In Genesis the first thing that God says is “let there be light”. Then later He breathes life into Adam.
All through the gospel of John he returns to the themes of life and light. Life is important to us, because as sinners we are spiritually dead and as humans in a fallen world we all have an appointment with physical death. Jesus, in one of seven “I Am” statements recorded in the book he says “I am the resurrection and the life”. After the last supper he tells his disciples “I am the way, the truth and the life”. He says that as the good Shepherd, he came “that they may have life and have it abundantly.” As God, his life is not given by another but is part of his being. Right before the crucifixion Jesus said that nobody was going to take his life but He was going to lay it down and then take it up by his own authority. It is by that authority that He can give us eternal life, so his life is important for our own salvation! As Paul writes in Romans 1:4, the Lord Jesus “was declared to be the Son of God in power … by his resurrection from the dead.” His life is connected with his Godhood – they are inseparable.
Jesus also is light – the light that we need. In another of John’s recorded “I AM” statements, Jesus proclaims “I am the light of the world”. This light stands against the darkness of hopelessness, error, lies, confusion, and death. It guides us and is associated with truth. It stands against the darkness of this world, and as John writes in verse five, against his light, darkness does not stand a chance!
Most of this will be repeated and expanded upon in the third part of John’s prologue, but now he focuses in on a new character and on his mission.
IIb The Witness and the Response
In part two of his prologue, John (who never names himself in his own gospel) introduces the fore-runner of Jesus by name – John, who is elsewhere identified by the title “John the Baptist” or “John the Baptizer”.
John 1:6-8 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
Note that John (the apostle) is very careful to make sure there is no confusion about the messenger. He was only one who pointed to the light, or more specifically to the source of the light. John the Baptist himself would make this very clear when the Pharisees asked him who he was. He answered that he was merely a “voice crying in the wilderness” to “make straight the way of the Lord” and that he was merely the forerunner of one in their midst “the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie”.
Verse 8 is actually very sad if you consider it. Think about it: what kind of people do you have to tell about light? Only the blind – those who are completely blind – have to be told that light exists. The problem with our spiritual darkness is that we will not be able to understand the light without help from outside. If someone tells an unregenerate person about the gospel, will they go “oh, that makes sense” on their own? No! Someone must bear witness, and then God must give understanding. Paul describes the process of gaining spiritual understanding to the Corinthians in his second letter to them:
2 Cor 4:6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
So without an act of divine mercy and illumination of the heart, the light is hidden from us in our blindness. But as John the Baptist announced, the Word was the “true light”. Verse 9 says:
John 1:9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
How did the light fare in the world when it was revealed? There are three responses that John describes, from three different groups of people. The first is about people in general that he created:
John 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
Though the Word was the creator of all things, including the people He came to, they did not know him. The world rejected him, having no light in themselves. Jesus himself warned about spiritual darkness in
Matthew 6:23 “…if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”
So the world in general lives in darkness. But what about God’s chosen people – his own possession - who had the scriptures and a long-standing relationship with the true God. Did they receive Him?
John 1:11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
This is even sadder. Those who had the advantage of written revelation and history with God did not receive Him either when He came to them. John is painting a very dismal picture here. Is there any hope at all? Yes, because Jesus is the true light – so much so that for his people John will later write that we can love each other because “the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining” (1 John 2:8). And right here in the prologue there is reassuring news – for all of us:
John 1:12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
The word translated here as “right” is exousia, which is defined as the power or liberty to make a choice. And that gift is given to ALL who receive Him. This stands in contrast to those feeling their way around in the darkness and those who will not receive him. To those who will receive him is given the ability to choose to become God’s children, without which we only have the power to stay in the darkness. Praise be to Him! This inability to choose Jesus on our own is described by Paul in Romans 1, where he quotes verses that say that “there is nobody who seeks for God”. This is the essence of what is called the doctrine of total depravity. This doctrine does NOT mean that everyone is as evil as they could possibly be. It means that nobody can save themselves, or even make the right choice for salvation, without divine enablement. That’s why the Bible describes us as spiritually dead. A dead person does not need medicine – he needs life! John in verse 13 underscores this truth:
John 1:13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Those people given the right to become children of God are given new life because of God, not by an act of their own will. As Paul will write to the Ephesians, we are saved through faith, and even that faith “is the gift of God”. And Jesus is the light that shines to give us eternal life.
IIc The Word is Jesus
Now John turns his attention back onto the Word and who He is. Verse 14 describes the incarnation, where the eternal Son of God – the Word – visibly manifested the presence of the very God in the world by become a human like us. But unlike us, He was divine.
John 1:14-15 14 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. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'")
When the Son of God became Jesus He did not stop being God, but His glory was veiled (temporarily). In one instance it was revealed to three of his disciples on the “mount of transfiguration”, which John describes here as an eye-witness – “and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.” Peter gave a similar account of the experience, which made quite an impression on all of them:
2 Peter 1:16-18 16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased," 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.
Verse fourteen has three parts which actually form a pairing with the three statements in verse one. Arthur Pink wrote that “verse 14 is really an explanation and amplification of verse 1. … First, “in the beginning was the word” … is something that transcends our comprehension; but “and the word became flesh” brings Him within reach of our sense. Second “and the word was with God,” and again we are unable to understand; but the Word “tablernacled among us,” and we may draw near and behold. Third, “and the word was God”, and again we are in the realm on the Infinite; but “full of grace and truth,” and here are two essential facts concerning God which come within the range of our vision.” If we pair the parts of these to verses we read:
(a) “and the word became flesh” tells of the beginning of his human life
(2) “And the word was with God”
(b) “and tabernacled among us” shows him with men.
(3) “And the word was God”
(c) “Full of grace and truth,” and this tells what God is.
As the source of life and the true light of men, Jesus is full of grace and truth. To be “full” is to be filled up, complete, lacking nothing, and perfect. He does not have “some” grace and “some” truth! And these two attributes are necessary for our salvation. A God of only truth would send all of us to hell. A God of only grace would excuse all sin and be an unjust judge. A God FULL of Grace and Truth will come up with the gospel, not sacrificing either love or justice but resolving this by the sacrifice of Himself for the salvation of those who are unable to save themselves from his wrath.
The Word that John is introducing us to is exactly what we need as sinners and the answer to our prayers.
John rounds up his thoughts in the last three verses of his prologue by finishing his description of the word and specifically identifying who He is:
John 1:16-18 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.
We have received from the perfection of Jesus the fullness of the grace that we need. The law only gave truth. One author compares it to the laws of nature – hard and unbreakable. The law of gravity is “true”, and if we step off a cliff we will fall, every time. Grace is the hand that comes and catches us before the inevitable crash at the bottom of the cliff. Jesus gives us “grace upon grace”. What a picture of the salvation through this Savior. John now pulls off the mask – this wondrous savior – the mysterious “word” of verse one, is the man Jesus that was announced by John the Baptist and predicted in the scriptures. And in the final verse, his mission is clear: He is the one who came to reveal God to us. Notice John’s wording:
- “No one has ever seen God”. There are two reasons for this. First, God is a spirit so our eyes cannot “see” him in a literal sense. But even if we could look on God from our flesh, his holiness would prove fatal. Even viewing his reflected glory in angelic beings was nearly fatal for the prophets in the Old Testament!
- “The only God” corresponds to “and the word was God”
- “who is at the Father’s side” corresponds to “and the word was with God”, and finally
- “he has made him known” is his mission. Jesus has come to earth that we might know God.
On their last evening together with Jesus before the crucifixion, the apostle Philip made a request to Jesus:
John 14:8 Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us."
To which Jesus replied:
John 14:9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?
III Conclusion
The verses of John’s prologue roughly form what is known as a chiasm – in other words they are somewhat symmetrical, with the beginning like the end and with successive layers of similar thoughts. The general idea is that when you see a chiastic structure, the emphasis is on the middle. With that thought, we see the identity of Jesus leading to the middle, which talks about the responses to the light that came in the flesh.
He created the world, but they did not know him.
He came to his own, but they did not receive him.
But there was a group which did receive him. To those were given everything. All of his fullness of wonderful grace, truth, and love go to those who receive him.
Not to some that received him.
ALL who received him.
Years ago I remember hearing a song on Christian radio, and the lyrics went like this:
When you meet Him face to face?
He won’t be askin’ about the weather,
It won’t matter anyway,
There’s only one thing He’ll be talking about,
When He singles you out on that day
You’re gonna hear Him say:
“What have you done with my Son?
Did you believe Him?
That He was the One?
What have you done with my Son?”
Did you ever think He needed the stone moved?
To let Him out of that tomb?
Oh, don’t you know it rolled for you
To show you the already empty room
And when you’re standing in front of Him
He will call you by your name
And ask you again the same:
“What have you done with my Son?
Did you believe Him?
That He was the One?
What have you done with my Son?”
- Sharalee Lucas - What Have You Done With My Son?
What have you done with the Son?
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