God Has Come To Rescue His People (John 1:1-18)

My wife and I were having a conversation a few days ago about the conversion of my grandfather. He had gone to church occasionally as long as I had known him but it was not until he was in his 60’s that he trusted in Christ. Looking back at that moment caused me to think on a few things.

My grandfather had heard the gospel message repeatedly and did not actually trust in Christ until many years later. He was in his 60’s and if I understand everything correctly then he would have heard this message off and on for 60 or more years. This means that though he was not hostile to the message of Christ, he rejected it for 60 or more years.

In fact, I had heard the message of the gospel a few times before trusting in Him. I actually rejected Christ for a few years myself before trusting in Him. Many people in my family heard the message as much as I did and never trusted in Christ.

The Book of John will push you more than any other book of the Bible because of the responses of the people within the stories to examine your own life and to make a decision about Christ. The decision given to you in this message and many others in the Book of John will be this. Are you one of the people who rejected Christ? Or do you find yourself being one of the people who have trusted in Him? There is no middle ground given anywhere in Scripture and especially within this book.

Have you trusted in Christ? Or have you rejected Him? Do you currently trust in Christ? Or have you rejected Him?

Introduction to the Book of John                                

John is going to speak over and over to us about the glorious things that Christ has done. And, over and over you are going to see the group of people who believe and the group who don’t. This is because John wrote this book for a very specific purpose. He gives it at the end of the Book, but I will let you hear it first.

“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.”—John 20:30-31 ESV

John, the disciple of Jesus who wrote the Book of John, could have written much more. In fact, there is much in Matthew, Mark, and Luke that are not found in the Book of John. But the reason that John wrote what He did was so that we would believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing that we may have life in His name.

And, we will begin at the beginning of the Book of John by discussing what is called the prologue. A prologue is an introduction. This introduction of the Book of John is quite extensive. You will find that everything John mentions in the prologue is woven throughout the rest of the Book of John. This means something for us tonight. We will skim a lot of different things that will later be discussed in more detail.

The main point that we are driving at today is that the Eternal Son of God came to Earth for the salvation of His people.

Let’s take a look at John 1:1-18 and we will see that the Eternal Son of God came to Earth for the salvation of His people.

God The Son Is The Light And Life Of All Creation 

“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 were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” – John 1:1-5 ESV

This “Word”, whoever this is has always existed. I don’t want you to fly past this so quickly. There is much here that deserves our attention. John, it seems, purposely echoed the Greek Translation of the Old Testament in Genesis 1:1. This is significant. It is like he took his translation of Genesis 1:1 and used it as the beginning of his book. “In the beginning was God” is changed to “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God”. John’s audience has heard and likely memorized Genesis 1:1. John is making it clear to them that the “Word” was there at the Creation of all things.

John doesn’t end with the fact that He was there, but He points out that He has always existed with God. This “Word” was there, with God, when the world began. And, in a wild turn of events, this “Word” that was with God also was the One whom all things were created through. An easy way of saying this is to say that this “Word” is the “agent of Creation”. In other words, everything that was created was created by Him. The only life on Earth that was given, was given by this “Word”. All of mankind and everything else in all of Creation owes its existence to the “Word”.

There is a rather ambiguous phrase given in Verse 5. I think, like others, that John was ambiguous on purpose. He did it because there were multiple things to get across with this phrase. First, the “Word, caused light to shine in the darkness at Creation. Second, we will find that this same “Word” brought the light of redemption (3:19-20).

John lets the proverbial cat out of the bag later in the passage, but for the sake of our learning I will go ahead and tell you right now who this “Word” is. This “Word” is not some force, as some people like to claim. This “Word” is obviously Jesus. John will make that abundantly clear as He speaks of this “Word” having been baptized by John the Baptist. We are talking about God the Son. We are talking about Jesus. There are some tremendous things said here about Jesus that we don’t need to just skim past.

Speaking of Jesus as King is true. It is very true. But, to think of Jesus only as King does not go far enough. He is the Creator. God, the Second Person of the Trinity, was the agent of Creation. God the Father planned Creation. God the Son carried it out. So, not only is He our King but He is also our Creator.

We also spend a lot of time talking about the sacrifice that Christ made and about our owing our being saved to His Work. This is also true. But we should not forget that we also owe our physical life to Christ. Apart from Him we would neither have physical or spiritual life. We owe our entire existence to Christ.

Now, John shifts his overview to speak a bit of John the Baptist.

“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.”—John 1: 6-8 ESV

John the Baptist Came to Declare the Coming of the Light

We already know that the Light that was coming was Jesus Christ, God the Son. John’s way of speaking about Christ’s coming is like the inbreaking of light.

I don’t know how many of you hunt or fish, but there is a strange time of day that I get to be a part of only when I do these activities. When I go hunting or fishing early in the morning and it is still dark outside, I get to see the sun come up. I get to see the inbreaking of light. For a while there is total darkness. Then, rather oddly it seems, it starts to feel colder outside. There’s a bit of extra chill in the air. Then, everything begins to get a little brighter, and warmer. I begin to notice that there are birds chirping. The feet of the squirrels start moving around on the forest floor. After a bit I begin to notice the sun peaking over the horizon. Then, you know how the rest of this goes. The sun comes up completely over the horizon and everything begins to get warmer. The animals are out and seemingly everything is just better.

John pictures this as the beginning of that process. John the Baptist was declaring the coming of Christ. He was the first sign that the Light had come. John the Baptist was the last of the Old Testament Prophets. He is the one who prepares the way for Christ as was foretold in Isaiah 6:8 and Jeremiah 1:4. He was declaring or bearing witness to the light that would come. And, what was the purpose of John’s declarations?

The purpose of John’s declarations was that all might believe through him. John the Baptist was not the Light, He was pointing people to the Light. He was pointing people to the salvation that could only be found in Christ.

John the Baptist did not fully realize what he was doing. It seems that he had some idea that he was preparing the way for the Messiah because he spoke on occasion of the one who would come (Matthew 3:11; John 1:27). He did not completely know God’s plan, nor did he get to see it play out. But his message was the same as that of Christ’s message. It was calling people to repent and to turn to the Lord.

Christ has come to us. We now know and see more than John the Baptist ever did while he was on Earth. Have you repented and turned to Christ? Have you heard and heeded his call?

The True Light, He has come. And you should know that now is the time to trust Him.

“The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

God the Son, The True Light Has Come (Vv. 9-13)

Now, the whole story gets interesting. The Creator became a part of Creation (V. 9). It’s hard to think about what this means. It is similar to an author of a book writing himself into a story. If J.R.R. Tolkien had written himself into the story things would be different for him than they would be anyone else. He would be fully aware of what was going on outside of his location in the story. In fact, he would know everything that was going on in and out of the story. Think about what it would be like to build a giant Lego city and then shrink yourself down so that you could live in it. The Creator, left His home in Glory to come and be a part of His Creation. Yet, it is not as if He came under a hail of popularity and applause.

When the Creator entered the world that He created He was not known by it (V. 10).  For the most part He was not loved and honored by the world He created. It was quite the opposite, especially at His death. This same Creator came to God’s Covenant people declaring God’s Word to them. Yet, He was rejected by them as well (V. 11). The True Light, God the Son, came to the world and was not loved by it.

John does let us know that there were some who did not reject Him. He let us know that while most people rejected Him there were some who believed in Him. Those people, John says, “he gave the right to become children of God”. It is those people who trusted Christ who were redeemed. They were brought into good standing with God. They were brought into God’s family while the other people rejected Christ.

John does note something different about these people. The people who believed in Christ were different for one reason. The were “born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” There is something different about the person who has trusted in Christ. The difference is not just that he trusted in Christ. The difference comes from his birth. The believer did not become a believer because of his own decisions or will power. He did not become a believer because of his family line. He became a believer because he was born of God. Again, this will be a big topic as we move further into the Book of John, but consider what this means for you now. But it is worth a bit of consideration now. We even owe our trusting in Christ to the work of God.

As we read this we are forced to see ourselves in one of these two camps. Will you receive Christ or reject Him? These are the two options that lie before us. Christ has come and brought redemption through His finished work here on Earth. How have you responded? How will you respond?

The Eternal Son of God came to Earth for the salvation of His people. Are you now one of His people? Have you trusted in Him?

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'” For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”

God The Son Lived Among Us And Brought His Salvation To Us (Vv. 14-18)

The Eternal Word, God the Son, became a human being (V. 14). The literal translation of what John says that He did was that He “tabernacled” among us. Again, this would bring John’s readers back to the Old Testament. There would be a specific image that would run across their minds. God made His tabernacle among the people of Israel. The bright cloud of God’s presence fell upon the temple when it happened (Exodus 24:16; 40:34-35). Now, God Himself has taken on human flesh and is once again residing with mankind. This “tabernacling” is happening through Jesus Christ.

John the Baptist now makes it abundantly clear that Jesus is the one that John the Baptist was bearing witness about (V. 15). He does it by referencing an incident that happened at Jesus’s Baptism. John had declared “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'” As specifically as possible John shows us that this entire discussion has been about Jesus Christ. And through Him God has brought tremendous grace to us.

John begins having a comparison between Jesus and Moses. Or rather, what Moses brought and what Jesus brought. God gave the Law through Moses. This was a tremendous act of grace, but he giving of the Law brought condemnation (Vv. 16-17). The reason for that is simple. It is gracious because it is a revelation of God’s character. It brings condemnation because where there is a Law there is the punishment for breaking that Law. Jesus was different. He did reveal to us the character of God. But He Himself kept the Law in our place. He then died for us. He took the punishment that we owed upon Himself. Jesus has brought us “grace upon grace.”

Jesus has come. He has revealed the Father to us, through Jesus we see the Father. Through Jesus we are brought to the Father because of the grace upon grace that He has brought to us.

Have you trusted Him? Or have you rejected Him?

Closing Thought

Personally, the challenge for you is this. Are you one of those people who have rejected Christ? Or are you one of those people who has believed and been born, “not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God”? Are you one of those whom God has given the “right to become children of God?”

The Eternal Son of God came to Earth to bring salvation for His people. Have you trusted in Him?

 

R. Dwain Minor