The Word
Jesus Christ: The Word of God
John 1:1-14
By Pastor Dan Kennedy
© June 5, 2011
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The Gospel of John begins in a most profound way.
John the Apostle, does not dance around potentially controversial or incomprehensible theological topics, but instead plunges headlong into the most mind-boggling, mysterious subjects which have ever been explored by philosophers, theologians or any thinking person:
o Is there a God?
o What is God like?
o How did this world (including me – a thinking, reasoning person), come into existence?
In the first two paragraphs of his book, John concisely writes out the answers to these mysterious questions:
1. There is an All-Powerful God
2. God’s Person is revealed in profound Unity and Diversity
This revelation of the mystery of God’s Person is precisely why God gave us the 2nd Commandment…
Exodus 20:4 – the 2nd Commandment
4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
You cannot replicate God in any way because:
A. God is Spirit (and no one can replicate spirit),
B. The Unity and Diversity of the Godhead makes it impossible to create an accurate image of God!
3. God created everything
In The Beginning was...
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The Word -
God
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The Creation of All Things
John 1:1–5
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
Who was “In the Beginning”?
o “The Word” was in the beginning.
o He has a full comprehension of the totality of Time.
Who is “The Word”?
o The Word was with God and the Word was God.
o He has a full completeness with God – Individual Diversity and Complete Unity.
Revelation 19:11–13
11 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. 13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.
Christ the King
• Called Faithful and True.
• He is Just in His Judgment and Confrontations.
• His eyes, like a blazing fire, reveal His all knowing, perceptivity.
• The many crowns on His Head display His Lordship.
• His secret Name reveals the fact that no one can comprehend the fullness of who He IS.
• He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood – revealing His Personal ultimate Sacrifice.
• His revealed Name declares His Diety: “The Word of God”.
How is “The Word” revealed as being All-Powerful God?
o All things were made through Him.
John 1:3
3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
1 Corinthians 8:6
…yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
Colossians 1:15-19
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. É18É And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. É19É For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him ….
Hebrews 1:2-3
2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
The Life and Light of The Word is given to the World
In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.
The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
What has the darkness not understood?
o The darkness has not understood the reality of God, our Creator
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• The preferable understanding of those blinded by the darkness, is only the vain acknowledgement of our own preeminence, not the supremacy of the Eternal God.
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• The sad conclusion for those in darkness is that we all die only to leave our supposed elevated position, knowledge and assets on this earth.
John 1:6–14
The Word Reveals the True Light
(John the Baptist testifies of “The True Light”)
6 There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.
The Word Became Flesh
(He was Rejected by His Own…yet those who Receive Him become Children of God)
10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Conclusion
1. There is an All-Powerful God
2. God’s Person is revealed in profound Unity and Diversity
3. God created everything
In The Beginning was...
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The Word
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God
-
The Creation of All Things
4. The Word Became Flesh
5. The Life and Light of The Word is given to the World
John 1:10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
Where are you in relationship to:
1. The Word
2. The Light
3. The Life