Why is Jesus called "the Word?"

"The Word"

(John 1:1-13, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, December 21, 2008)

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. ⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. ⁸ He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. ⁹ The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. ¹¹ He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. ¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Introduction – Various beginnings that the Bible talks about …

As we come to the beginning of a new book, a book which starts by talking about beginnings, it may help us to think about various beginnings referred to in the Bible. Beginnings can be very personal, as in the case of Job. His losses mark such a change for him that God says that his life before that point was totally different. In Job 42:12 we read that, "the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning." A personal spiritual change can certainly be like that, where someone has one life before and another life after, which must be one reason why Jesus says to Nicodemus in John 3, "You must be born again." We need a new beginning personally.

But most beginnings in the Bible are more than personal. One beginning came with the pouring out of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2. This was the beginning of New Testament church life, and Peter speaks of it that way in Acts 11, referring back to the events of Pentecost. The resurrection of Jesus is also said to be a new beginning in Colossians 1:18, where Paul writes of Jesus, "He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead." Even before that, the ministry of John the Baptist, especially with the baptism of Jesus, marks something new with the public appearing of the Messiah. The New Testament authors refer back to this as one important beginning. Peter says in Acts 1:22 that the one who would take the place of Judas should be one who had been with them, "beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us- one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection." Pentecost, the Resurrection, the baptism of Jesus,… even the Old Testament has its moments of beginning. When the Israelites were delivered out of Egypt by God in the first Passover, that beginning marked the start of the year for the Jews. God said in Exodus 12:2, "This month shall be for you the beginning of months." But especially, when we think of the Biblical idea of a beginning, we cannot help but be reminded of creation and the first words of the Bible, which John quotes here: "In the beginning." In Genesis 1:1 we read, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In John 1:1 we find this weighty statement, "In the beginning was the Word."

God with God in the beginning (1-3)

When John writes "Word" He is utilizing a term that some wanted to use in order to deny the full divinity of Jesus Christ. They would want to say that there is God who created, and then there is His word, which is some spiritual entity that is not God. That spiritual word, they thought, may have hovered over the man Jesus Christ, but it was not the same as God. Nor was it exactly the man Jesus Christ either. It is very provocative that John used words that would have reminded people of the God of creation, "In the beginning," and then indicated that Jesus, the Word, was the God of creation. This fits the purpose of this gospel, which John states at the end of the twentieth chapter. He wanted people to reject any lesser spiritualized Jesus. He wanted them to know that Jesus was the Christ, that He was the Son of God, even the God of creation, and that by believing they might have life in His Name. That's why He begins what He has to say with these sentences: "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." Here John is boldly equating the Father and the Son in their divine works in the beginning, just as Jesus Himself will later say in John 10:30, "I and the Father are one."

Here we have a very complex reality presented to us in these beautifully simple words. We know that John is referring to Jesus as the pre-existent divine Word here. In verse 14 we read, "And the Word was made flesh." This can only be Jesus. This Word, John says, was not only with God, this Word was God. When John says, "He was in the beginning with God," there is no doubt what beginning He is referring to, since John writes about God's works of creation, saying that all things were made through this Word of God, this Word who was personal, and was and is God with God. Proverbs 8 speaks of a Wisdom of God was daily God's delight, rejoicing before Him always, rejoicing in His inhabited world and delighting in the children of man. This same Word of God has always been the perfect expression of the heart of God to us, for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks. Jesus is the abundance of the Father's heart. He is the Word of God, a Word which is God. You can hear the voice of Jesus all the way back in Genesis 1, for He is the Word in the beginning who says, "Let there be light."

Life and Light in a dark day (4-5)

It is interesting that the first words of God in the Bible involved the giving of light and life. Since sin entered into the world through Adam, we have lived in a dark day. When Jesus came to the Israelites as the Messiah and Savior, He came to what He called an evil generation. These are the same words that Moses used in describing the generation that God delivered out of Egypt. We live in a world with much darkness. Every year, at that point when we experience the shortest day of the 365 that we are given, it is a good time for us to appreciate what it means to have light come into the world. From that day forward, we are given an increasing glimpse of the light of life, something that reminds us of the Son of God. He said, "Let there be light." And there was light. And it was good. As dark as this world may get, there is a light from the Son of God, a light that is shining through the words of prophets and apostles in the Scriptures. This Word will appear again in His resurrection glory. It is something of an understatement to admit that the darkness has neither comprehended nor overcome the Light of God.

Yet this Light, Christ, died for us. That was a dark day. When Judas left the Supper to do his work of betrayal, John writes (13:30), "And it was night." It was a night that became darker in Gethsemane and at Calvary, when the Son of God gave His life for sinners. Yet in the seed of that dark moment was the defeat of darkness. There we find the light of what will one day be the glorious flower of the final resurrection. Even now through the proclamation of Christ, 1 John 2:8 says, "the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining." We gladly hear the word of His promised return and of the kingdom that He is bringing. The Apostle Peter urges us to pay attention to it "as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts."

A witness to the Light coming into the world (6-9)

John the Baptist came as a witness to the Word, the divine Light that was coming into the world. In a time of darkness, true light from God is appreciated by those who are able to see it. Yet the Baptist, a different man that the Apostle John who wrote this gospel, was determined to tell us that Jesus was a brighter Light than the one who baptized Him. John the Baptist was sent from God as a prophet, and he did his appointed task of bearing witness to the greater Light of the Son of God. John was not in the beginning with God. It was not the voice of John that said, "Let there be light." John was not the one through whom everything was made. He did not give the light of conscience and the gift of a soul to every human being. John could not die as the sacrifice for sinners, laying down his life as our atoning substitute and picking it up again as our resurrection Lord. Jesus did these things.

Something of a surprise: The world does not want the light (10-11)

Yet when Jesus came to show the light of His love through His death for us, something surprising happened. He was unwanted. Though He was the One through whom the world was made, the world did not know him. When He came to His own people, the Jews, the Old Covenant people of God who had the written Word of the Law and the Prophets, even they did not receive Him. The Age of the Law was swiftly coming to a close. The people of God would play a strange part in the drama of redemption known to God from before the creation of the world. They would reject their Messiah. Though they would see the signs of His many works, and hear His wonderful words of eternal life, for their part they would shout out these words, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!"

Born of God (12-13)

Yet, amazingly, the cross that they demanded would lead to the greatest display of divine love ever known. Many of these who had so rudely abandoned Him and rejected Him, within just a few months of His death, would receive Him. The Age of the Gospel would have a fresh beginning by the power of the person of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the church. Even Gentiles would receive Him by hearing the Word preached. That Word, the same Word that was in the beginning with God, would now be proclaimed by men who would declare forgiveness of sins in the Name of Jesus Christ, and sinners would believe in His Name.

And then something amazing would happen. Those who believed would be given the right to become children of God. Through this Word, this divine Son of God, even millions of Gentiles would become sons of God. We would be born again. We would have a new beginning. The life before we received the Word would be a life that was now gone, a life that we would never return to. The life that we began when we received Him would be our new, eternal life. This birth would not be a matter of our own blood, the goodness or badness of our natural descent, our participation in any race or ethnic group, or even the decision of our own wills. We would become children of God because we would be born of God according to the will of God who sent His Son, the Word of God, that we might have life. As we go through this great gospel do not miss the point. John says, these words were 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."

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. What is the Biblical context for the words, "In the beginning," and how does that help us understand this text?

2. Why does John refer to Jesus as the Word?

3. Why might it have been important that John's readers understand that John the Baptist was not the greater light?

4. What does it mean to receive Jesus Christ according to this passage?