John 1:1 Continued

October 24, 2006

Joe,

What more do I say to all that but, ‘Amen’!  I mean really, that was a little more than I was expecting, and I hope you aren’t expecting all that from me!  I suppose some days there will be more to write than others, and right now there’s not much time.  But I just wanted to step back from all the details that you gave and just make two broad observations that strike me as I begin reading this awesome display of Christ’s glory that is the gospel of John.

First, I am struck at how different John’s gospel is than the other three gospels.  When you read these opening words, there is something mysterious, something awesome, that hits you.  I know many people recommend that an unbeliever begin reading the New Testament with the gospel of John, and it seems like this is why.  You read the first 18 verses and your first thought is (at least my first thought is), ‘What’s going on here?’  My first impression of John’s words here is that we are entering into holy ground, into the holy of holies so to speak.  All the Scriptures are sacred, but here we are diving into the infinite depths that is the ocean of God’s glory.  John writes of Jesus the way no other man has ever written of Him.

Second, it is clear to me how much we are in need of divine illumination and grace to understand John’s portrait of the eternal word.  The very first verse is an assault on our pride and arrogance in dictating to God what He can and cannot do, and who He can and cannot be.  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  This makes absolutely no sense.  How can someone be with God, and God, at the same time?  Vast amounts of people simply dismiss this as double talk.  It is impossible.  And yet with the infinitely wise Triune God, all things are possible.  The Word was God, and the Word was with God.  We cannot understand this, and yet we affirm it and love it and sing of it and proclaim it to others. 

The opening verse of the gospel of John is an invitation to have your world rocked.  Small, trivial, humanly logical ideas of God must be thrown out.  We must deal with the reality of God on His terms, not ours.  The Word eternally is God, and the Word eternally was with God.  Let us pray for grace to understand, and grace to rejoice.

Larry

Posted by Larry | Filed Under Gospel of John 

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