Jesus is the Word
Notes
Transcript
Today we begin the season of Advent, the start of the church calendar, a time in which we prepare to celebrate both the birth of Jesus and His second coming. It is a time of waiting. This year I’d like to focus on the opening of John’s gospel to look more closely at just whose birth we are celebrating. Who is Jesus?
Have you ever played charades? It’s not always easy to communicate with someone without using words. Words are central to being able to tell others who we are, what we think, what we want. Our own thinking is in words. When John wants to begin the story of Jesus he uses the concept of ‘word’ to describe Him.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
In the beginning
In the beginning
The first thing John tells us is that Jesus was there at the very beginning.
Recalls the opening words of Genesis. Takes us back before creation, before even time itself began.
Jesus did not come into existence at His birth or even his conception. He existed from the very beginning. He was there when the light first pierced the darkness, when the stars were put into place, when God breathed the breath of life into Adam.
The Word
The Word
The word - it also connotes “idea,” “principle,” “thought,” “study,” and “communication.” In Greek philosophy, logos referred to the ordering principle behind the universe. For the Jews it was the intellectual and essential Wisdom existing before the ages.
A word already exists in our minds even before it is spoken
A means of communication
A word from God
God wants us to know that He is real and very much involved in our world. Throughout the Bible God is communicating with people.
In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 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.
Jesus preached the Word with his mouth, enacted the Word with his actions, and embodied the Word with his birth and person.
A word about God
God wants us to know Him, what He is like, want He wants, what He promises.
No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.
It is God’s self-communication to humanity, inviting humanity’s response.
A means of accomplishing something
so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
God spoke creation into existence
By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
Jesus accomplishes God’s will - salvation
A name for Jesus
He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.
Jesus is all this, and more. If we want to hear God’s voice we must listen to Jesus, if we want to know God better we must look to Jesus.
As we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Savior may we take time, slowing down from all our activities, to listen and hear God’s word to us.