IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”  – John 1:1-5 (ESV).

John says, in the beginning, was the word. People know that Jesus lived on earth for 33 years in Israel. But John is reminding us that even before the beginning of what we know is time, Jesus, the Word was eternally God. This should make you stop for a moment because when we start to say that Jesus is the Son, some people think He was a created being, but John is saying no. We believe the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, without ceasing to be God. Think about that for a second. Jesus is fully God and fully man, not half and half.  Jesus was on a rescue mission to save us.

One of the most beautifully written passages about Jesus is found in Colossians 1:15-19: “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ.” 

Have you ever thought that God is this big, impersonal force out there, and we can’t know Him? As believers in Jesus, we know that’s not true. We know God is a knowable God, a personable God, and He chose to be known by the Word coming to the earth, taking on the form of a servant, and being hung on a cross. That is our God. If we want to know what God is like, we just look at Jesus in the Scriptures.

Jesus is the eternal Word of God who was with God and was God. The Word reveals God and is the power of God in His creative and redemptive mission and we are invited to put our faith in Him.

Discussion Questions:

1. How does John 1:1 help us understand the divine nature of Jesus and the trinity? 
2. What are some reasons that it is important for our faith that Jesus was not just some created being like a human teacher or an angel?