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THE CHURCH ON HIGHER GROUND |
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HOMEPAGE |
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HIS STORY INTRODUCTION |
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HOMEPAGE |
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JESUS THE ANTICIPATED ONE |
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PAGE 1 FORETOLD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT |
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PAGE 2 JESUS ANNOUNCED BY ST. JOHN |
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PAGE 3 EARTHLY PREPARATION |
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PAGE 4 ALL IS MADE READY |
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PAGE 5 |
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PAGE 6 |
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PAGE 7 |
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PAGE 8 |
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PAGE 9 |
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PAGE 2 JESUS ANNOUNCED BY ST. JOHN
LESSON #1 His Story #3/John 1:1-3/The Word is God, The Word
is Jesus,The Jesus is God
LESSON #2 His Story #4/Jn.1:4/The Word is Life and Light
LESSON #3 His Story #5/Jn.1:5-11/The Light Shines in the Darkness
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LESSON #1 His Story #3/John 1:1-3/The Word is God, The Word
is Jesus,The Jesus is God
Tue Feb 27, 2001 11:00 pm
Every story starts somewhere. Some stories start at the beginning. The Bible itself starts with, "In the beginning God..." Since Genesis, as the first book of the Old Testament, begins with "In the beginning...", it would seem to be difficult to start the New Testament, which is part of the same record of His Story, with the same words, "In the beginning..." But God does start the fourth Gospel with "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God." The New Testament is the record of Jesus and His Church, and was written about 4000 years after the events of Genesis 1. But remember, the whole Bible is His Story. What we learn about God the Son in the Old Testament through types and shadows, is made clear in the New Testament.
John introduced Jesus by calling Him "the Word." In 1:14 John said, "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." This simple statement and the rest of the book of John makes it clear that Jesus is the Word, the Word is Jesus.
Since this is the story of Jesus Christ, we expect the record to tell about His origin. But Jesus had no origin, no beginning. John, being directed by God, wrote, "In the beginning Was the Word and the Word was with God..." Jesus did not come into existence after "the beginning." Jesus did not come into existence "at the beginning." Jesus was already existing "In the beginning." He was existent with God. This One Who is called the Word and Who became flesh, and Who is the "only begotten of the Father" this is the same One Who was in the bosom of the Father (19). Since God has always existed, so has the Word. "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God..."
John further said, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God." John had no problem saying that this Word, Jesus, was not only with God, he also said that Jesus was God. John tells us that He Who was God was always existent with God. John was a Jew and only believed in One God. Moses was also a Jew who only believed in One God, but had done a similar thing when he wrote, "In the beginning God..." In the Hebrew language Moses used a word "elohim", which normally would be translated gods. However, whenever "elohim" is used in referrence to the One and Only God, it is translated "God." There are not a multiplicities of Gods, but there are Three Persons Who are One and the same God. Thus John could say, "In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word (Jesus) was with God, and the Word (Jesus) was God."
John repeats that Jesus had no beginning by saying, "This same was in the beginning with God." (2) Jesus was not one of the created things or beings, but was the creator of all things, "All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made." (3) The Word (Jesus) Who was with God and was was God, created everything that exists and nothing came into existence without Him (3).
The Scriptures clearly teach:
* Jesus is the Word, (1:14).
* The Word (Jesus) was with God (1:1).
* The Word (Jesus) was God (1:1).
* The Word (Jesus) has always been with God (1:2).
* The Word (Jesus) created everything and nothing exists which He did not create (1:3).
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LESSON #2 His Story #4/Jn.1:4/The Word is Life and Light
Sat Mar 3, 2001 6:55 am
Jn.1:4 "In Him was life and the life was the light of men."
As with most biographies or even novels, John gives a basic introduction and character sketch of his Subject.
* His origin... "In the beginning Was..." (1), in other words, He didn't start at the beginning, He already WAS in the beginning.
* His identity... His title "...the Word.." (1) and His name "...was God." (1)
* His family... He "...was with God..." (1) and the Word was "...the Only Begotten of the Father..." (18).
* His accomplishments... "All things were made by Him..." (2).
* His arrival... "And the Word became flesh..." (14).
We saw from the meaning of His title that He is Reason and Thought and The Expression of God. We saw from His act of creation that He is personal, not a mere influence. He is not "energy" or "matter" but He is the source of intellegent existance. He is the Master Designer, the Original Architect, the Creator, Maker and Builder of all things.
In verse 4 we are given a peek into His nature, "In Him was life..." He not only is alive, He is the fountainhead of life. All life finds it's origin in Him. He was not just "before all things" and "the Creator of all things" He is the Source of life. He is not just Maker and Master of matter; He is not just the Beginning and Ending of energy. He is the Living God, Who lends life to all living things. "In Him was life..." There
is no life without Him. There is no life aside from Him. "In Him was life..." (4).
As Paul told us in Colosians 1:16 "For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him." He is the Original Cause of all things, from rocks to plants to animals to humans to angels.
As Jesus told Martha at the grave of her brother Lazerus, "...I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live" (Jn.11:25). He is not only the Author of original life, He is the Giver of resurrection life. Luke said, "For in him we live, and move, and have our being..." (Ac.17:28).
In the same breath John says, "In Him was life; AND THE LIFE WAS THE LIGHT OF MEN" (3). He was not merely the creator of life for the single cell protozoan, He is the source of all intellegent life.
But light means more than intellegence. Light means wisdom, insight, understanding. It is more than natural light, it is spiritual light. Man is the crowning glory of God's creation. Man was made in the image of the living God. The evolutionist are wrong, dead wrong. Man did not lift himself by his bootstraps from some primordial green slime to become god. He was created with mind, spirit, power, potential...LIFE AND LIGHT, because he was created in the image of the Word and the Word gave man his life and light.
Man's rebellion took him from the peek of his existance to the pit of his existance. We who were partakers of God's life became dead in our sins and trespasses. We who had the light of liberty turned to the darkness which holds captive. We chose to believe the lie of satan rather than receive the life of the Savior. We moved from life to death and from light to darkness and from Lord to devil. But the Hero of the gospels came that we might have life and that we might have it abundantly *. "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (Jn.8:12).
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LESSON #3 His Story #5/Jn.1:5-11/The Light Shines in the Darkness
Mon Mar 5, 2001 11:26 pm
"And the light shineth in darkness and the darkness could not comprehend it."
How much like the opening of the Old Testament John's Gospel is.
* Both start with, "In the beginning..."
* Both begin with the unquestioned acceptance of the existance of God, "In the beginning God..." (Ge.1:1) and, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God" (Jn.1:1).
* Both point out divine creation of the world, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth", (Ge.1:1) and, "All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made" (Jn.1:3).
* Both of them recognize the presence of darkness which needed to be dispelled by the light, "And the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep" (Ge.1:2) and "The light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehendeth it not" (Jn.1:5).
* Both recognize light as the essential to an orderly and intellegent world, "Then God said, 'Let there be light, and there was light'", (Ge.1:3) and, "In Him was life and the life was the light of men" (Jn.14).
Remember, He was not only the creator of physical light [light existed before God appointed the Sun and moon and stars], He was the source of intellegent light [truth, knowledge, wisdom, understanding.] Just as God's Spirit hovered over a world in chaos as a bird does it's nest, to impart life, the Holy Spirit moved upon Mary and imparted life to her. But the darkness of the original world was dispelled by a natural light whereas the darkness of the New Testament world was spiritual and intellectual. The world of Genesis was in material chaos; the world of the New Testament was shrouded in spiritual and moral darkness. God saw the darkness of the human family and He sent His Son to be a light, "The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up" (Mt.4:16) and, "A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel" (Lk.2:32). Jesus was to teach that the reason for this light was, "I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness" (Jn.12:46). Life flourishes in the light, death permeates the darkness. Truth lives in the light, deception lurks in the darkness. There is comfort and safety in the light, fear and danger dwells in the darkness. Jesus came to set us free from the chains of darkness, as He said, "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me" (Ac.26:18). Jesus came to give light to every man (1:9). How strange that He would come to a world which He created with love and wisdom, only to be rejected by it's inhabitants, and more especially was He rejected by the very people He had blessed above all others (10-11). "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (8:12). Jesus would declare in His earthly ministry that He was the light of the world (9:5).
As the beginning of the Bible should have heralded the coming of the Rule of God over the whole world, so the Gospels should have been the announcement of the coming of the Kingdom of God to the world. But as with the Old Testament we were introduced to a world of disobedience so with the Gospels we are inrtoduced to a world that loves darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil (3:17). The life of Jesus, His Story, is the whole history of the world in microcosm.
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