Jesus Christ is the eternal expression of God that is the source of life and light for humanity...

The Christmas season is a time when we feel like we have to hit the fast forward button in our lives to keep up with the busyness of the season. However, when we hit the fast forward button in our lives, there is something else that rises in our lives. You see, when we hit the fast forward button in our lives, our stress level also rises. The faster we go, the more stressed we become. And when we hit the fast forward button in our lives, it only elevates the stress that is already present in our lives. And that elevated stress often can produce a cloud of darkness in our lives.

Maybe you can totally relate to this reality. Maybe you feel that darkness invading your life. Maybe for you it is the darkness that is formed by the stress and frustration that comes from a loss of finances. You find yourself trying to hit the fast forward button while struggling as a result of losing a job or having your hours cut at your current job. Maybe for you it is the darkness that comes from the stress and loss of a relationship. You find yourself trying to hit the fast forward button while struggling with the grief and pain of loss that comes from a past relationship that is now gone.

Or maybe for you it is the darkness that comes from what seem to be a dark season in our country and culture.  As a culture, this has been a season of amazing uncertainty and frustration. Politically, socially, economically, and culturally, our culture seems to be covered by a dark raincloud of stress, frustration, and anxiety. However, this idea of wrestling with darkness is nothing new. Throughout history, humanity has wrestled with darkness and dark times. And while some times in history were darker than others, humanity has always had to wrestle with darkness.

For example, during the first century, darkness seemed to be expanding across much of the known world as the Roman Empire ruled over most of the world, including Israel. During the first century, the Roman Emperor was viewed as a god who was to be the object of worship throughout the empire. Julius Caesar had been viewed as being Divine, which meant that his son Augustus claimed the title of “the son of god.”

As part of their rule, the Roman Empire imposed heavy taxes including produce taxes, sales taxes, temple taxes, occupational taxes, custom taxes, transit taxes, to name a few. After decades of multiple demands from multiple layers of rulers many families fell increasingly into debt and were faced with loss of their family inheritance. Politically, socially, economically, and culturally, the culture of the first century seemed to be covered by a darkening cloud of stress, frustration, and anxiety.

And it was into this time of growing darkness that something happened in history. Something happened in history that literally split history in two. We see this event from history in a letter that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of John. Now the gospel of John was written the person who had perhaps the closest relationship with Jesus while He was on earth, a man named John.

 

And it is in the gospel of John that we see John, as he was looking back in the rearview mirror of his life, record for us something that happened in history that radically changed the course of his life, the course of human history, and that can radically change our lives today. So let’s look together at how John begins this letter that has been preserved of us for 2,000 years, beginning in 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. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.  In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

John opens his letter to early followers of Jesus with five simple words: “In the beginning was the Word”. In other words, before there was a beginning, there was the Word. Before there was space and time, there was the Word. Before anything existed, the Word existed. John’s point here is that the Word always existed. The Word is outside of space and time and is thus not constrained by space and time. The Word looks at space and time like I look at this stand.

Notice that John does not say “In the beginning was a Word”. Instead, John says that “in the beginning was “the Word”.  So what is the Word? Now in the language that the letter was originally written in, the phrase “the Word” is used to describe the expression of something. In this case, John is referring to the expression of God. You see, it is in the very nature of God to reveal Himself to His creation. By using this phrase, John is revealing for us the reality that the Word is God’s ultimate way of disclosing Himself to humanity.

In addition, when John states that the Word was with God, he is revealing that the Word lived, as a person, in a personal and close relationship with God. So before anything else existed, the Word existed and experienced a close and personal relationship with God. John tells us that not only was the Word with God, the Word was in very nature God.

 

And it is here that we see one of the strongest evidences for what is referred to as the Trinity. You see, the Word wasn’t God taking on a new name in the New Testament, as the Word was with God in relationship with God. God the Father and the Word, along with the Holy Spirit, who John will mention later in this letter, are three distinct persons who are Divine in their nature and essence.

John reinforces the reality that the Word was not a created being by explaining the He was in the beginning with God.  In other words, before there was a beginning, the Word was with God. The Word was not created. Instead the Word always existed. In addition, John refers to the Word as He. So, when John refers to the word, he is referring to a male Divine Being who has always existed, for all eternity, in a close, personal relationship with God.

Now when John says that all things came into being through Him, this phrase, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means that all things came into existence through Him. John here is revealing for us the reality that the Word functions as the hands of creation. All of creation was brought into existence through His activity throughout all of history.

But not only was the Word the hands of creation that brought all things into existence. John reveals that the Word was life. So, through the Word as the hands of creation, comes physical life and the Word, by His very nature, is life. John then unpacks the significance of the Word being by nature life by stating that the life was the light of men. John’s point here is that the Word is life and that life functions as a light that resides with the Divine.

 

So the Word, in His very being and nature, is life and light that helps us see that there is a Creator who is light and life and there is creation that was covered in darkness. The eternal, self existing life of the Word was given out at creation so that it became the light of men to point people to God. Thus, the eternal life of the Word is the source of life and a light for all of humanity. So when John says that the light shines in the darkness, he is explaining that the Word as light produces light into the darkness in an attempt to occupy that darkness.

Now when John refers to darkness here, this darkness is the evil environment of selfishness, sin, and rebellion that opposes God and God’s kingdom. This darkness entered into the creation as the result of the selfishness and rebellion of humanity, who chose to love themselves over God and reject the relationship with God that they were created for. And it is this selfishness and rebellion that darkens the mind and spirit against God and God’s kingdom in a way that results in us doing things that hurt God and others, which the Bible calls sin.

John then explains that the Word shines and produces light to occupy the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it. What is so interesting is that the word comprehend, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to make something one’s own by grasping so as to attain. John’s point here is that just as through the Word light was created that overcame darkness during the creation of the universe, through the Word we have the light that produces redemption, or rescue from selfishness and rebellion. The Word has always produced light; the Word has always been shining, from all eternity to all eternity. And while the darkness of the evil environment of selfishness, sin, and rebellion that opposes God and God’s kingdom opposes the Word as life and light, the darkness was unable to overcome the Word.

Now you may be thinking “Well Dave that is all fine and great, but who exactly is this Word? I get that the Word is a male Divine Being who has always existed, for all eternity, in a close, personal relationship with God. I get that the Word is, in His very being and nature, life and light that helps us see that there is a Creator who is light and life. But who is this Word”? Others of you are frustrated because I did not simply say who the Word is at the beginning because you already know the answer because you went to Sunday school.

The reason I did not tell you who the Word was is because the readers of this letter, at this point in the letter, would not have known who the Word was. And I wanted you to feel the weight of what the readers of this letter felt some 2,000 years ago, as they lived in a culture that seemed to be covered by a darkening cloud of stress, frustration, and anxiety. A few verses later, John clearly reveals who the Word was.

However, it is in this section of this letter that we see God reveal for us the timeless truth about the person who would be involved in an event from history that radically changed the course of human history. And that timeless truth is that Jesus Christ is the eternal expression of God that is the source of life and light for humanity.

You see, as the Word, Jesus Christ is God’s ultimate disclosure of Himself. Jesus Christ, as the second member of the Trinity, is the eternal Divine Being who has always existed in a close, personal relationship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. As the Word, Jesus Christ is the hands of creation through whom all creation came into existence. And as the Word, Jesus Christ is the source of life and a light for all of humanity. While the evil and destructive power of selfishness and rebellion attempted to overcome and defeat the light, as the Word, Jesus Christ has prevailed over selfishness, sin, rebellion, and death.