January 2
Bible Reading: John 1
John 1:1-3, “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 any thing made that was made.”
I must be getting old. The hospital I was born in no longer exists. The submarine I served on (as a part of the commissioning crew no less) was long ago scrapped. Even the nuclear power plant I worked at was demolished years ago. Things on earth are like that. They all have a beginning and an end. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine anything not having a beginning. But Jesus has always been and will always be.
We begin our reading plan “in the beginning,” but not just in a beginning verse, but in the beginning of all things. And, as our passage declares to us, Jesus was there in the beginning! Each gospel account focuses on a different aspect of Jesus’ identity. The book of Matthew starts with its genealogy, which proves Jesus to be the promised king of Israel. Mark’s gospel begins in the desert, and includes no mention of Jesus’ birth, since his focus was on Jesus as the obedient servant (the details of a servant’s birth are not important). Luke presents Jesus as the perfect man and his genealogy delineates Jesus’ lineage from Adam. As with Mark, the gospel of John includes no details about Jesus’ birth. Instead, John goes back to the beginning, for Jesus is the eternal Son of God who has always been!
“Christ’s existence did not begin when He was conceived in Mary’s womb and born into the world several months later. As an eternal divine being, He had always existed without beginning and end throughout eternity past.”
Renald E. Showers
Not only is Jesus eternal, He is also the creator of all things. Such thoughts challenge us. Everything we see and touch has a beginning of some sort. But not so Jesus! He has always been and will always be. His eternity and our mortality work to persuade us of our desperate need for Him.
“Out of eternity our Lord came into time to rescue His human brethren whose moral folly had made them not only fools of the passing world but slaves of sin and death as well.”
A. W. Tozer
How precious, therefore, is the truth that Jesus Christ has “abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:10). We all have a desperate need for Jesus! The only question then is to what extent do we realize that!
“There never was a time when the Word was not. There never was a thing that did not depend on Him for its existence.” (including you and me) —Leon Morris
FAIREST LORD JESUS
Fairest Lord Jesus,
ruler of all nature,
O thou of God and man the Son,
Thee will I cherish,
Thee will I honor,
thou, my soul’s glory, joy, and crown.
Fair are the meadows,
fairer still the woodlands,
robed in the blooming garb of spring:
Jesus is fairer,
Jesus is purer
who makes the woeful heart to sing.
Fair is the sunshine,
fairer still the moonlight,
and all the twinkling starry host:
Jesus shines brighter,
Jesus shines purer
than all the angels heaven can boast.
Beautiful Savior!
Lord of all the nations!
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor,
praise, adoration,
now and forevermore be thine.
LookingtoJesus 