January 3
Bible Reading: John 1
John 1:1-5, “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. 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.”
Jesus once asked His disciples, “But who do you say that I am” (Matthew 16:13)? That’s a great and important question, having eternal ramifications. John wrote his gospel to address this very thing: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30-31).
Here, in the opening verses of his gospel account, John instructs us in important aspects of Jesus’ identity. He declares the eternal existence of the Word (Jesus) with the Father. He declares Jesus to be God. And He speaks to His relationship and nearness to the Father. Jesus was always with Him, is with Him now, and will always be with him. From all eternity, there is a perfect and intimate union between the persons of the trinity.
Many suppose Jesus to be merely a good teacher or some kind of prophet. C. S. Lewis, in his book “Mere Christianity,” argued against the logic of such thinking:
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would be either a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
C. S. Lewis
“The Word was God!” This is one of the great themes of John’s gospel. His miracles attest to His divine identity. The eternal Son of God, the Word, became flesh and dwelt among us! Marvel, as you remember, it is none less than our creator who hangs there on that cross! It is, as the hymn says, “Amazing love, how can it be? That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?”
“If Jesus is not God, then we are sinners without a Savior… If Jesus were only a man, then He died for His own sins. And we are still in our sins. We have no hope.” – John Mitchell
HE IS LORD!
Emptied of His glory; God became a man,
To walk on earth in ridicule and shame.
A Ruler, yet a Servant; a Shepherd, Yet a Lamb;
A Man of Sorrows, agony and pain.
Humbled and rejected, beaten, and despised.
Upon the cross the Son of God was slain.
Just like a lamb to slaughter, a sinless sacrifice;
But, by His death His loss became our gain.
Satan’s forces crumbled like a mighty wall.
The stone that held Him in was rolled aside.
The Prince of Life in glory was lifted over all,
Now earth and heaven echoes with the cry.
Refrain:
He is Lord, He is Lord!
He is risen from the dead and He is Lord!
Ev’ry knee shall bow, ev’ry tongue confess That
Jesus Christ is Lord
LookingtoJesus 