(John 1:1)
�In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.� (John 1:1)
John borrowed the phrase �word� from the Greek culture of the day. The �word� was expressed, in the culture, as the active force of the divine upon the world.
John added the Christian distinctive to this thought. He made the point that Jesus, Himself, was God. I guess I should say, �IS God.� Because Jesus is presented as the God-Man Who has neither beginning nor ending.
Nowhere in Scripture, as far as I can see, is this fact of the Divinity of Jesus more clearly shown than in this first chapter of the Book of John. As with the fact of God in Genesis 1:1 (�In the beginning, God...�), the fact of the eternality of Jesus is just put forth as an obvious truth. It is neither argued nor debated. The fact is simply stated: At the time of the beginning of all things Jesus was already in existence. He is not a created being. He is God eternal.
That fact has an impact on any relationship which we may have with Him in this day. Jesus is not a figure from history. He is that; but, He is more. He is the Constant Contemporary. But, He is even more than that. Jesus, as God, has already seen what will come to pass just as He has seen what has already come to pass in our time centric physical world.
I have, honestly, had people tell me that they have no hope of salvation because of all the evil that they have done in their life. An attitude such as this does not understand either the grandeur or the love of God.
The grandeur of God tells us that He has the power to have known all the wrong, all the mistakes, all the sin that anyone - even you! - would ever commit during your entire lifetime. He knew. You can not surprise Him by any deed you may have done! It just is not possible that your life would be a closed book to Him Who created this world and has ordered the times thereof.
Therein is shown the great love of God. Not only did He know all the evil that you might commit, or that I have committed!, He sent His Son to die on the cross of Calvary for you. Yes! You! God is so loving and committed to His creation that He offers this gift of salvation to every person who has lived, or is living, or will live if He tarries His coming.
Yes! You, too! Would you really believe that you are so unique and special that you would �fly under the radar� of God. No. Of course not. God knows all about you; and, He loves you. Jesus, Himself, said, �For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.� (Luke 19:10)
That�s you, if you�ve never received Him as Savior. He is actively searching for you so that He can offer you this salvation that He has planned for you.
On the other hand, there are those who would say that they have no need of the Savior because they are just �not that bad.�
God has another, more realistic, view. The God Who sees all, and knows all, understands the depravity of the human heart. In the very least, even if those who say they are �not that bad� are giving what they believe to be a true and honest report of their lives�, they are guilty of the sin of pride in the making of such a ridiculous claim. The Bible observes that �...all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.� (Romans 3:23) The Bible also says that, �...There is none righteous, no, not one:� (Romans 3:10)
The assert that any of us are so good that we have no need of the Savior is an affront to the very holiness of God. It is an affront to the veracity of Scripture. It is an affront to Christ Who died on a cross for the salvation of sinful mankind.
Jesus, as God, knows the hearts of mankind.
The fact of the eternality of Christ also points up the reality that we never �outgrow� our need for Him. There are two stages of life where man is most preoccupied with the truth of the Savior�s love. The first of these is youth. The second of these is old age.
In between we are often at our physical zenith. We feel that our lives are in our own hands. We are wrong! Our lives are never completely in our own hands. As we order our lives, as best we can, we need to keep one eye on the truth that there is an eternity at the end of this road.
To have worked for fifty weeks in a year, and then taken two weeks off for a vacation, and then started the same litany again for forty more years is a shortsighted approach to the life that God has given us upon this planet. We save and take out insurance policies for the protection of our old ages. Why? So we can be comfortable in our retirement years? Folks, the truth of the matter is that we will either die early, in which case the government will take our saved stash, or we will live so long that the doctors will appropriate our savings to themselves.
It will happen.
Jesus warned us, �...lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven...� (Matthew 6:19)
We need that relationship with Him that results in our salvation.
We also need that relationship of fellowship with Him. There are only two people that I still have any sort of relationship with that were classmates of mine in school. Things change and we grow apart. We forget all those important friends of those early years.
Jesus is the Constant Contemporary and the Constant Companion. The Bible tells us that Jesus is �...a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.� (Proverbs 18:24) He has seen us at our worst and still loves us. We can never come to the place in our lives where we would not be in need of the fellowship of the Savior. Remember, even the Lone Ranger had Tonto.
We need His strength to hold us up when we are weak. We need His consoling voice when we are beset with the cares and tribulations of time. We need His peace when it comes time for us to walk through the Valley of the Shadow.
We also, as Christians, never outgrow the need to follow Him in obedience. I was in the military for twelve years. I never was able to outgrow the need to follow the orders of my superiors. ...and, I never would have outgrown this need.
The difference between our Heavenly Commander and those earthly superiors of mine in the military is significant. Those earthy superiors were only interested in the accomplishment of The Mission. Now, that is only right and proper. It is the only way that an earthly army can safely exist. But, my Heavenly Commander has my, personal, interest at heart. His mission, of course, is important. But He knows that the closer I come to fulfilling His lawful orders, the better it is for me, personally, in the light of eternity. In reality, I am part of the mission!
He is a Supreme Commander. He is a Compassionated Commander. He is THE Eternal Commander.
This verse, John 1:1, also speaks of the empathy which Jesus has. �...and the Word was with God...�
Right now as I type this I am wearing a very light shirt and have a fan going full blast toward me. Last winter, doing the very same sort of thing, I wore a sweater, had plastic over the windows to keep out the cold winds, and had a furnace blaring forth heat. My environment makes the choices for me as to what type of clothing I will wear.
Jesus decided to take on the environment of humanity in order to effect the plan for our salvation. In doing so He put on a body of humanity. Since He was, and is still, God, it was not necessary for Him to do this to simply interact with us. He could have just appeared as a theophany as He often did in the Old Testament.
But, unlike those Old Testament times, Jesus did not come into the world at Bethlehem simply to instruct or interact. He came to be that perfect sacrifice which would allow our salvation from sin and repatriation to God. I don�t have space here to go into all the ramifications, but Jesus became one of us in order to be our substitute. He took the rightful wrath of God upon His own human body so that we could experience the Love of God upon our spirits.
It, to borrow a phrase from the 60's (Hey, I�m old so I can do it!), just �blows our mind� to contemplate such love.
But, there is something that we often overlook. In His human body Jesus suffered from hunger. He suffered from fatigue. He suffered from loneliness. He suffered rejection. He suffered extreme pain. He suffered the blasts of the hot sun in a day long before fans and air conditioning. He suffered the cold of the night long before anyone had any idea what central heating would become. He suffered the storms of wind and rain. ...and, He suffered the pangs of death. Jesus was never rich when He was physically upon this earth. Jesus was never in the place of political, or even of religious, power while He was physically upon this earth.
When you go to Jesus with your pains and emotional needs, and even with your sins, He understand what you are going though. He never sinned; yet, He was tempted. He is not a god just sitting in some celestial judgment hall saying, �I don�t bother playing the game. I just make the rules.� He experienced human life and drudgery. He knows what it is to walk a mile in your shoes. He is a God Who loves and understands!
Another important fact we see about the empathy of Jesus is the fact of His eternality. In John 3:13 Jesus is talking with Nicodemus. Jesus says, �And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.�
Look at that little word �is.� Do you see the importance of that? Jesus, while talking with Nicodemus in that first century country of Palestine, said that He was IN HEAVEN at that same time. Of course, since Jesus is God, that only makes sense. But, consider the ramifications this truth has for us today!
That means that Jesus can be with each and every one of us - maybe millions of persons - AT THE SAME TIME! I had to call the local power company last night. The sent me two bills this month and I was a little concerned. After finally getting through to them, and punching all the right numbers on my phone to go to the department I needed to speak with, I was put on hold for nearly forty-five minutes. Jesus will never do that to us! He is THERE, instantly, when we need Him!
Jesus is ready, and able, to give us encouragement in our triumphs. He is prepared to give us assistance in our work for Him. He is set to give us guidance out of our failures. And, He is always anxious to forgive us our sins as we confess and repent. �My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.� (I John 2:1)
Did you notice that verse? Don�t sin; but, when you do... Jesus understands. He is always ready to accept our honest repentance! Jesus does not expect us to be perfect. He does expect us to try. And, He expects us to be repentant when we fail.
Jesus is also able to be a compassionate friend because He has experienced our sorrow. Look at John 11:35. There is a verse that the world will often miss; and, so also will the Christian overlook this comfort. The verse, the shortest verse in the Bible, simply says, �Jesus wept.� Jesus was at the grave site of a friend. Jesus knew that the friend would soon experience His resurrecting power. Still, Jesus felt the pain of the moment. �Jesus wept.�
The disciples, the closest friends and intimates of Jesus, forsook Him when He approached the cross. Peter, one of His inner circle, betrayed Him - within the sight and hearing of Jesus it would appear! There is speculation that the earthly father of Jesus died shortly after the trip to Jerusalem which saw Jesus disputing and discussing the things of God with the elders of Israel. Jesus� earthy family and town, it seems, mostly rejected Him. He understands our sorrow because He has felt it in His humanity.
Jesus understands our sorrows. There is an amazing verse in I Thessalonians 4:13. �But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.� Paul then continues under inspiration to expound on the glories of the resurrections and the return of Christ to this world. That gives hope. That gives peace.
But, that�s not the point I want us to see. Paul says that we are to �...sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.� We are not told not to sorrow. We are even given permission, if not command, to do that very thing. Can we not sorrow when one close to us is promoted to glory? Can we fail to feel pain at the loss of a wife of many years? Of course not! And, the Scripture does not tell us to �just suck it up and be happy.�
The Bible says to go ahead and sorrow. But, while you are at it, keep the facts of the resurrection and return in mind. We have a hope the world does not have. We have an eschatology the world will not understand. We have a Savior Who has the ability to give us peace in our sorrow. He is the Son of God!
John 1:1 also speaks of the exaltation of Christ. �...and the Word was God.�
We tend to nervously look about the world and let our spiritual knees knock together. �Oh, the world is so evil. And, the world doesn�t like the Christian message.� That seems to be the message we hear.
Just today I read a letter to the editor of the local paper. The letter decried the fact that the �Radical Right Christians� are lobbying that the choice made to be the new supreme court justice to be �one of their own.� That is really indicative of the mind set of many of the people of the land. We are constantly reminded of the fact that �The United States is a pluralistic society. All views must be heard and respected.� However, if one of those views happens to come from the conservative Christian community, it will be branded as racist, reactionary, and unworthy of serious consideration. Worse, it will be called dangerous and bigoted.
�After all,� we are reminded, �the conservative Christian is a religious person. He has no place attempting to influence the role of government.� Who said that is true? It wasn�t the framers of the U. S. constitution. They said that we could not have a state church. They also said that religion must be given free reign to exercise its beliefs. It wasn�t the politicians or newspaper editorialist of the first one-hundred-and-fifty years of the republic. They, almost without exception, held up the ideals of the Christian lifestyle as exemplary.
It is the elitist of academia, and a few others, who have established a state church of secularism - in violation of the constitution I might add - who now invoke the full power of the judiciary to keep themselves in power. Eighty years ago John Scopes fought for the right to use his academic freedom of instruction to include the theory of evolution in his classroom. Now that same academic freedom is denied those who might wish to include the theory (I only use that term in reference to creationism for illustration - I do believe it to be much more than just a theory!) of creation. We hear a lot about �freedom of choice,� unless it is the conservative Christian who dares to try to exercise that constitutionally protected right.
We worry needlessly about things like this. Folks, I got a news flash for you: Jesus Christ is God and He has title deed to the cultures of the world. That includes our own. All mankind must accept this as fact. They may do it now to their salvation. Or, they may do it in the after life to their damnation. But, do it they will! �Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth: And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.� (Philippians 2:9-11)
We are on the winning side. It�s going to happen.
But, we need exercise the proper restraint of our offices as Christians. We do not have the right to force someone to become a Christian. As a matter of honest fact, we cannot do so. Acceptance or rejection of the claims of Christ is a personal choice which is freely given to each individual on this earth. All we can honestly do as Christians, and this we must do to be loyal Christians to the Lord and to mankind!, is to present the claims of Jesus and pray in the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
To even consider doing anything past this point is to show disrespect towards, and a lack of trust in, the Holy Spirit of God.
The tides of time and nations are in the providence of God. So are the souls of men. That is not fatalism on our part. We need to be active in prayer and proclamation. We also need to be sweet in spirit and nonjudgmental of people. They, the unsaved, are sinners. Jesus sought to win them, not to whip them. The only people that Jesus ever spoke of in a harsh manner were the religionists who stood in the way of men coming to Him. By the way, I don�t think that we can ever say that Jesus overlooked the sin in the lives of men. He pointed it out. But, He never berated those which He called.
Jesus has a demonstrated control of the events of time. Prophecy, the giving and more importantly the outworking of His prophecy, is a mighty display of this control and power. Remember that God does set up kingdoms and nations. These will do His will in the outworking of these prophesied events - even when they may attempt to thwart those prophecies. Sometimes what we see as the worst possible events are in reality God allowing man to set the stage for a demonstration of the power of God!
As God, Jesus also has control of the events of eternity.
Our souls and eternal destinies are tied to the works of His hands. His death on Calvary, His resurrection, His ascension into the Halls of Glory, these have given us the opportunity for salvation by accepting His sacrifice. They have also given us proofs of His ability to do just what He said He could and would do.
The eternal joy of our souls is tied in with the fact of our salvation. Heaven, reunion with loved ones who have gone on before, eternal peace, eternal bliss, most importantly the bliss of the Savior�s presence, the surety of all these is held in the power of His loving hands.
To those of you who might not have yet accepted Christ: Do so. It is a wise decision. It is a decision for time and eternity. Remember, and this is honest truth, a soul�s eternal despair resides in the absence of the Love of God.
Accept Jesus today!