April 19, 2024
Keith Fordham, evangelist
A teacher at Immanuel Seminary in Sharpsburg had taught the Gospel of John over 100 times. He said, “Before time began God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit were in perfect face-to-face fellowship. This fellowship was so wonderful that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit decided to create someone to share this fellowship with. Man was created to have fellowship with God!”
Our sin separated us from fellowship with God. The Lord took on flesh to pay the penalty for our sin. Jesus makes a way for us to know God personally. You cannot get to the Father except through the Son.
John introduces Jesus, the eternal WORD (Logos). In verses 1, 2, and 4 he uses the verb “was” in the imperfect tense six times to describe Christ. This means Jesus always “was.” John Butler said, “… Eternity cannot be measured in terms of time. Time is only a segment of eternity, for eternity has no beginning or ending.” Since God inhabits eternity, He is forever “I Am.” God has no beginning and no ending.
If you could (you cannot) go into the past He is there and at the same time in the future inhabiting all of eternity at once. No one is like Him. He alone is God.
Christmas has always existed in the Heart of God. God revealed Himself to mankind by coming in flesh to Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. Christ existed before Adam, Abraham, or Mary. Only God is eternally existent, therefore Jesus Christ (Logos – the Word) is God.
As if telling us six times that Jesus is God were not enough, John uses a different word for “was” in verse 3 adding two more times. This word means “to bring into being, or create.”
Jesus is the Creator. The verbs “were” and “was” are the same in Greek. Man makes things from what already exists; only God creates from nothing. Now we have been told eight times in four verses that Jesus is God.
John uses repetition to get truth across. Repetition is a key to learning and growing spiritually. Repeatedly reading the Bible builds our faith (Rom. 10:17), gives assurance of salvation, and causes us to fulfill the Great Commission because we are bubbling over with truth about Christ. Jesus tells believers, “If you abide in My word (hold to My teachings and live in accordance with them), you are truly My disciples” (John 8:31 AMP). Praying without ceasing (Col.1:9), participating in corporate worship, and Sunday School – “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together” (Heb. 10:25), tithing, giving regularly to the Lord’s work (Acts 20:35), and being led by the Holy Spirit are blessed repetitions we need to practice consistently.
Jesus is before all things, and by him all things consist (Col. 1:17). He had the glory of the Father before the world existed (John 17:5). Micah 5:2 states that He is … “from everlasting.” Jesus is God.
Jesus said: “…the Lord is one”(Mark 12:29). There is only one God. God is not made up of two or more parts. There are three distinct persons in God.
Norman Geisler defines the Holy Trinity by saying, “God is a ‘TRIUNITY’: He is a plurality within unity. God has a plurality of persons and a unity of essence; God is three persons in one nature. There is only one “What” (essence) in God, but there are three “Who’s” (persons) in that one “What.” God has three “I’s” in His one “I” – there are three Subjects in one Object.”
It is better to know God personally than to understand the Trinity. Just receive Him. He will adopt you into His family.
In Him is life (vs. 4). “God Life” is in Jesus. He is the light of men. Jesus is the only “Saving Light” men have. When God said, “Let there be light,” finite light came into being. Finite light has a beginning.
The Life and Light of Jesus was before that kind of light was created. So the light in Christ is eternal light and life for men. It is salvation light. It has no beginning and no ending.
Jesus “was in the world … and the world knew him not” (John 1:10). The word “knew” denotes being in union with Christ or God. John uses “to know” (ginosko) as receiving Christ by faith and experiencing His love, salvation, and indwelling. When the negative is present i.e. “knew Him not” it is to reject Christ in unbelief.
Verse 11 says His own, (His chosen people) received Him not. We are saved by grace, but that grace comes only through faith (Eph. 2:8-10; Rom. 4:5; Titus 3:5). Faith is receiving Christ. Faith is considered to be the opposite of working for salvation. To reject Christ is reject the only one who can save us.
The Light of Jesus was rejected, “But as many as received Him to them gave He the right to become the children of God.” Remember, believing is receiving Christ and makes us a child of God.
New birth does not come by your human bloodline (not by blood). You may be raised in a Christian family but that does not save you. You may think by the will of your flesh you can work your way to heaven. Your fleshly good works and plans will take you to hell (Prov. 14:12). Nor can the will of man save you. No man-made religion gives new birth. Men cannot save anyone. Receive Christ and be born into God’s Family.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6).
