“The Word in the Beginning”

I'm really excited to start this new series through the Gospel of John. I've already mentioned that this is one of my favorite books (and that John is probably my favorite author), but that's not really the reason we're going through the Gospel of John. I decided we needed to go through the Gospel of John because we need to spend some time focusing on Jesus-taking the opportunity to get a clear picture of who he is and what he did. That is the point of the Gospel of John. Herman Ridderbos said, “The question on which the whole of the Fourth Gospel is focused is: Who is Jesus?”
John Calvin takes it a step further, saying, “I am accustomed to say this Gospel is a key to open the door for understanding the rest; for whoever shall understand the power of Christ, as it is here strikingly portrayed, will afterwards read with advantage what the others relate about the Redeemer who was manifested.” That's pretty powerful. He believes the Gospel of John is the key to understanding all the other gospels. Once we see Jesus rightly from the book of John, we will see Jesus rightly in the other Gospels AND, to get closer to our point, we will see Jesus rightly in our own lives. That's why this is so important.
It's so important because there's a lot of confusion about who Jesus is these days. There are many people who say that Jesus was a good person. Others would say that Jesus was a good teacher. Some would say Jesus was a good example. Some are even claiming that Jesus never existed and is just a legend. Yet, C.S. Lewis breaks through all of this confusion with an argument that's been called the Lunatic, Liar, Lord argument. Basically, he tells us to look at the things Jesus said and the way he acted. He claimed to perform miracles and forgive sins and he claimed to be the Son of God. That leaves you with only three options: He is either a Lunatic who thought he did and was these things but wasn't, a Liar who knew he was deceiving tons of people, or he is Lord-he is actually who he said he was. Those are your only options because Jesus couldn't be a Lunatic or a Liar and still be a good person or a good teacher or a good example. He is either a crazy man, a bad man, or who he said he was-the Son of God.
But, that doesn't always fix all of the confusion. I think this confusion extends into the Christian Church-it extends to those who see Jesus as the Son of God and Lord. I've seen so many Christians say they believe Jesus is the Son of God and Lord of the Universe, but treat him (and follow him) like he's their buddy-like he's just a really good friend or like he's a normal person. This needs to be corrected and confronted as well.
You see, the way we answer the question, "Who is Jesus?" changes everything. I've said before that the answer to this question divides the world and impacts every aspect of our lives. How you view Jesus will change the way you work your job. How you view Jesus will change the way you go through suffering and difficulty. How you view Jesus will change the way you spend your money and will change the words that come out of your mouth. It's that significant.
That's why John begins his gospel the way he does. He's setting the stage for everything else that is going to come afterward. He wants us to see clearly Who Jesus Is at the beginning of his gospel so that we can rightly understand everything else that happens in this gospel and everything else that will happen in our lives.
So he begins with an idea that breaks our brains a little bit. He says, “In the beginning was the Word…” (John 1:1, ESV). When we read this line, we should automatically have flashbacks to the book of Genesis, to the first line of that book, "In the beginning…". That's what John is wanting to happen. He wants you to think back to Genesis and to the creation of the world. THEN he wants you to realize something, that "The Word" already was when the beginning happened, which means he already existed before the beginning. Before anything was created, The Word already was.
We can understand it in that way because of how we understand the Greek language. All of the "was" words in this passage have a particular sense to them and can be translated "already was being", or something like that. So, we could translate the beginning of John as saying, "In the beginning the Word was already being…" of "already existed".
And that's important because it means that Jesus has existed for all eternity. He never had a beginning and will never have an end. He's eternal.
I think that's something we need to think about more often. When people think about Jesus, they often are picturing the incarnation of Jesus, right? They typically have a picture of Jesus in their minds. They picture him walking on earth and talking to people and doing things. Yet, they never think of Jesus as existing throughout eternity before the creation of the world. That's why we so easily fall into the various traps of misunderstanding who Jesus is, because we forget that he has existed throughout eternity. When we understand that, we can no longer misunderstand Jesus as just a good teacher, or just a good person, or just a good example, or just a buddy. He's beyond all these things. He's eternal. And until we get that truth deep in our hearts and minds and souls, we will never be able to fully understand Jesus or his incarnation. That's why John begins here, because we need to understand this before we understand anything else.
And the beauty of John beginning his gospel this way is that he is tracing the gospel story back to the beginning-the real beginning. D.A. Carson says it's almost like John is saying, "Mark has told you about the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry; I want to show you that the starting point of the gospel can be traced farther back than that, before the beginning of the entire universe." (114). Isn't that beautiful? The gospel story doesn't begin at the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. It doesn't even begin at Jesus' birth. It begins BEFORE the beginning of the entire universe. That story finds its climax in Jesus' birth, death, resurrection, and ascension and its end when Jesus returns, but the beginning of that story is founded in eternity.
Once John has established this fact that Jesus has existed for all eternity, he goes on to make another essential point about Jesus-again with the understanding that we cannot truly understand Jesus until we understand these things. He says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1, ESV). Again, this should break our brains a little bit. First, we read that the Word-Jesus Christ-already existed in the beginning. Then we read that in that beginning Jesus already was being with God and already was being God. That's the part that breaks our brain. How can he be God and be with God at the same time?
This is one of the verses that has helped us develop our doctrine of the Trinity. Our understanding of the Trinity is that God is one being in three persons. Each member of the Trinity is unique in their personhood, but united in their being. So, the Father is not the Son, and the Son is not the Spirit. Yet, they are all one in being. We still worship one God. I know it's difficult to understand and it's difficult to grasp because we've never experienced anything like this in our life. However, if we can bend our brains a little bit to understand the Trinity--the three-in-oneness of God--then we can understand how Jesus could BOTH be with God and God at the same time. He could be with God the Father in person and be God in being.
And, if you don't understand all of that, it's alright. That's not the essential thing that John is trying to communicate in this passage. At its core, John wants us to understand that Jesus Christ-the Word- is divine. He IS God. This is one of the most definitive statements in the Bible that Jesus is God.
And to make this point clearer, John goes on to say, “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:3, ESV). If you remember back to the first chapter of Genesis, God is the one who created everything: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Now, John is saying that Jesus created everything. Nothing exists that wasn't created by Jesus Christ. Again, this is reminding us that Jesus is divine. He's God.
Again, John puts this right up at the front of the Gospel because we need to understand this before we understand anything else. This clears up a lot of confusion about Jesus. If Jesus is God, then he is not just a good teacher, he's not just a good example, and he's not just a good person. He's divine. He's God. One commentator said, "John intends that the whole of his gospel shall be read in the light of this verse. The deeds and words of Jesus are the deeds and words of God; if this be not true the book is blasphemous."(Barrett, p. 156).
Again, these two truths need to be the filter through which we understand the rest of this Gospel. Every story needs to be understood through this lens: Jesus is the Eternal God. Later, when we see Jesus changing water into wine at a wedding, we need to understand that story through the lens that Jesus is the Eternal God. When we see Jesus speaking to the woman at the well, we need to understand that story through the lens that Jesus is the Eternal God.
These truths also need to affect the way we understand Jesus as well. When we say we are a follower of Jesus Christ, we need to understand that we are following Jesus the Eternal God--not some good example, not some good teacher, not our buddy and friend, but the Eternal God. And, when we say we are putting our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, we need to understand that we are putting our faith and trust in Jesus the Eternal God. This changes everything.
But John's not done laying the foundation yet. He has a couple more things to add. He says, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:4, ESV). In Jesus the Eternal God was life and that life was the light of men. Don't forget what I said at the beginning of this sermon, all of the "was" words in this passage could be translated "was already being"-or something like that. So, again, this passage could be translated as saying, "In Jesus Christ the Eternal God, life was already being and that life was already being the light of men." Here's why this is so important. It's not only telling us that Jesus existed before creation, but that before creation he already was life and light. Here's why that's important. It's showing us that Jesus is the source of all life and light. There is no life apart from Jesus Christ. There is no light apart from Jesus Christ.
To look at this same point from another angle, this also means that we cannot find life and light anywhere else. We can look for them in all the wrong places, but we will never find light and life until we look for them in Jesus Christ because He is the source of these things--whether we know it or not.
So, in order to understand the rest of the Gospel, and in order to properly understand the Jesus we are following, we need to understand him as Jesus the Eternal God and Source of Life. Unless we understand Jesus in this way, we are not understanding him rightly. These are foundational truths that need to shape the way we understand the rest of these Gospel stories and our own relationship with Jesus Christ.
But after laying all of this out, John begins to show us some of the tension that is coming. It's not all sunshine and roses. He says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5, ESV). So, even though Jesus is the source of light and life in the world, there is still darkness in the world and this is the darkness into which Jesus enters as light and life. When Jesus Christ enters that darkness he shines his light and life into that death and darkness.
Now, because John is such a poetic author, there's some ambiguity to one of the words in this verse. If you look at various translations, you will see this verse translated in two different ways. Some versions translate this like the ESV "the darkness has not overcome it" and other translations will say "the darkness has not understood it". The word that John uses could mean either of those things and I think John does that on purpose because we see both themes throughout this gospel.
On the one hand we see the repeated theme that whenever the light shines in the darkness, the darkness doesn't understand it. In fact, whenever the light shines in the darkness, the darkness hates the light. So, John sets the tone right away at the beginning of this gospel to let us know that Jesus is going to be shining his light into the darkness and will be repeatedly misunderstood and hated for it. The darkness hates the light and rejects it.
On the other hand, we see another theme throughout the Gospel of John--the light overcoming the darkness. So, even though the darkness hates the light and doesn't understand it, the darkness will not overcome the light--it will not win. So, in a different vein, John is setting a different foundation to help us as we read his gospel. As we see Jesus misunderstood and rejected, and when it seems like all hope is lost and the darkness has won its final victory, we can be reminded that the darkness will not overcome the light. Jesus will win the final victory. We need to keep both of these things in mind as we read this gospel.
Not only that, but we need to keep both of these things in mind as we live our lives in the world. In our own lives we will encounter the darkness. We will encounter wicked and evil and tragedy and suffering in this world. And, if we look deep in our own hearts, we will also find darkness there. And that darkness hates the light of Jesus Christ. The darkness in the world hates the light of Jesus Christ and the darkness in our own hearts hates the light of Jesus Christ. When we recognize that, we can easily become despairing and lose hope.
In those moments, we need to realize that our Savior, Jesus Christ, is the Eternal God who is the Source of Light and Life. He is the only one powerful enough to overcome the darkness in the world and the darkness in our own hearts. Good example Jesus isn't powerful enough to fix those problems. Good teacher Jesus isn't powerful enough to fix those problems. Buddy Jesus isn't either. We need the Eternally Divine Jesus who is the source of light and life to overcome the death and darkness in our world and in our heart. He is the only one who is powerful enough to accomplish that victory. And, because he is powerful enough to accomplish that victory, we can also have confidence that the darkness will not win in the end. It will never overcome the light.