Read John 1:1-13
Our passage today comes from the book of John. As you'll recall, John was one of Jesus' twelve disciples. He ate with Him. Talked with Him. Lived with Him. Who better to describe to us the Person of Jesus than one who intimately knew Him?
And it is John’s intimate style that has drawn readers over the centuries. He poured a very unique perspective into his book, as over 90 percent of what is found in John is not found in any other Gospel account. John’s purpose was not to write another biography of Jesus' life on earth. His intention was to reveal Jesus as God's Son... as God Himself.
And there’s another difference. As the previous Gospel writers introduced Jesus by tracing His human lineage and recounting His miraculous birth, John does something totally different. He leaps further back and reveals the amazing truth that even before the beginning of time, Jesus was with God. He has always been and will always be. And he does it from the very first verse. As one author put it, “John starts with a stroke of his verbal brush that takes our breath away.” Reading from the Amplified Bible, let's get a true picture of the identity of Jesus.
In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. He was present originally with God. All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him was not even one thing made that has come into being. John 1:1-3
Before all time, there was God... Father, Son, Holy Spirit. In his book, The Sacred Romance, author John Eldredge observed that the story “begins not with God alone, the Author at His desk, but God in relationship, intimacy beyond our wildest imagination ... The Trinity is at the center of the universe; perfect relationship is the heart of all reality.” Eldredge even goes on to say that “We long for intimacy because we are made in the image of perfect intimacy.” Divine intimacy.
Jesus was in the beginning. And the book of John reveals that He was so much more. The Lamb of God. The Bread of Life. The Light of the World. The Good Shepherd. The Way, the Truth, and the Life. The True Vine. The Resurrection and the Life. The Great I AM. The Son of God.
To establish from the outset that the identity of Jesus is the foundational pillar of not only our faith... but also of our lives. Jesus is God the Son. Nothing in the world should ever cause us to waver from that truth.
