John, to my dear friends in Christ; in John 1:15-18 what encouragement we have in God’s Word for us today. In verse 15, “John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’”, we have John testifying and being a witness for God again, and that he was sent to tell us about Jesus who is of higher rank than him and existed before him. In other Gospel accounts we remember that John was born six months before Jesus (Luke 1). So when John talks about rank and existence it is not as we would think, but this is something that is Spiritual in nature. The only way for Jesus to be of higher rank than John and to exist before John, is for Jesus to be God (though we may think of angels as being a higher rank, they are only ministering spirits, Hebrews 1:14, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?”). Again, we have another reference to Jesus being God, awesome!

In verse 16-17, “¹⁶For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. ¹⁷For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.”, we see that we receive grace and truth through Jesus. We know the Law given through Moses cannot save us, but convicts us of our sin (Romans 3:20, “because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”). But, we receive mercy and forgiveness for our sins through the grace and truth of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 4:16, “Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”). The law was given to us through a man (Moses), but grace upon grace, and the truth came to us through Jesus Christ (God).

Now we have the most exciting verse in this group, “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” Here we see that no one has seen God the Father but Jesus who is in the bosom of the Father. The meaning of the words is to mean more than just a close proximity to someone, it includes an intimate relationship with someone. Isn’t this exciting to know, that though we cannot see God, Jesus can and He is our advocate with God. Many of us would love to see God, but to do is impossible. But if we have seen Jesus, we have seen the Father, John 14:9, “…He who has seen Me has seen the Father…” Also, we have Jesus’ testimony and life to explain the Father to us, John 5:19, “…for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.” In the coming weeks as we learn about Jesus, we will also learn about the Father, for Jesus does only as the Father does.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the grace upon grace we receive from Jesus Christ, help us to witness to others and tell them of the grace upon grace they can also receive, in Jesus name I Pray, Amen.