THURSDAY September 26th
John 1:1
‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.’
We are all familiar with these verses, they are the opening words of the gospel that John had written and in which he says toward the end in chapter 20 that he had written it so ‘that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name’ John 20:31.
Already in just John’s opening verse (1:1) and this one (20:31), we discover so much about Jesus.
He was there in the beginning, he was with God in the beginning, and he is himself God, summed up, as the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ is eternal.
Remember he wasn’t called Jesus until he had been born—something we will come to again, he always has been the Word and as our second reference tells us, he always has been the Son of God.
So straightaway, when we are talking about Jesus, we are not talking about a run of the mill ordinary person or character like you and I, we are talking about One who is far superior, One who existed eternally before he entered this world as a baby in Bethlehem, One who was willing to take on flesh, become a man, not for any personal gain as such, for he already was God, (although we know that as a result he was exalted to the highest place, but again that is for another time), but for the purpose of being the means of bringing about our eternal redemption.
This is to me one of the incredible wonders about Jesus and about our salvation, that way back even before the beginning of time, so that is way before the creation of the world and the eventual fall of man, the Son of God was willing to become a man (and that was even before a man had ever been created) to be the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world. Is that not a perfect picture of selfless love. Peter puts it this way ‘He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God’, 1 Peter 1:20-21.
Thank God for Jesus, who was willing as God to take on flesh to become a man and to come and dwell among mankind. Is there ever a sweeter richer story? Never, no way, for this is the story of redemption, with which without we would still be lost in our sin and heading for an eternity in Hell.
‘Wonderful story of love, tell it to me again, wonderful story of love, wake the immortal strain! Angels with rapture announce it, shepherds with wonder receive it; Sinner, O won’t you believe it? Wonderful story of love.’