ShortJohn1A

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Series Theme: Short meditations in John's Gospel

This Page: CHAPTER 1 v.1-25

Chapter Contents

v.1	v.9	v.17
v.2	v.10	v.18
v.3	v.11	v.19
v.4	v.12	v.20
v.5	v.13	v.21
v.6	v.14	v.22
v.7	v.15	v.23
v.8	v.16	v.24

Short Meditations in John 1: 1. In the beginning

Jn 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God .

One verse at a time, in brief and easy reading style, that is the aim of this set of readings. This should be easy in John because it is the deepest of the four Gospels, the most profound. John uses ideas and concepts and writes beyond basic historical fact.

He speaks, at the start, of the Logos (Greek word for ‘word'). Words for the Jews were alive and active; when God spoke words, things happened. For the Greeks logos also means reason or even, perhaps, wisdom. From within every person, at some time in their life, arises the question, what is the point of life, what is the meaning of life, why are we here? And the answer comes from John, because God spoke.

If God had just existed and never expressed Himself, nothing else would have been (yes, we are moving in areas of mystery beyond our finite minds, a Being who is self-existent who has always been – this is God). But God spoke and things happened beyond and outside of Him. He spoke and there was light (Gen 1:3). It needed no source, it just was, because He said it was, and so it was.

Yet even beyond that point, it seems that God spoke and expressed Himself differently and another personality appeared, a personality who would exist as one with God, because he was God, from the beginning in that existence we call heaven, until one day this ‘Word' would be sent to dwell in flesh and we saw the being called Jesus Christ.

Yes, this expression of Himself was “with God” but distinct from the One who had been for ever, and yet he “was God” because he was the very expression of God and has thus also existed for ever. Here is a mystery beyond definition and yet it is so, that the person we identify having lived in time-space history some two thousand years ago, for a mere thirty three years, was and is God, was and is “with God” and was and is God Himself.

The analogy is often given, the best way to communicate with ants would be to become an ant. The best way to communicate with a goldfish would be to become a goldfish. The best way to communicate with mankind was to become a man – and God did just that, but without ceasing to be God. And why did He do it? Because He loves us and wants to communicate with us – through a word.

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v.3	v.11	v.19
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Short Meditations in John 1: 2. Jesus in the beginning

Jn 1:2 He was with God in the beginning.

The person of Jesus Christ is critical to the Christian Faith. He is what it is all about. In verse 1 John had spoken of the word being there at the beginning of all things, the word who was God and yet who was distinct from God. Twice he now says that he was “with God”. When one person is ‘with' another, there is an indication of two individuals existing side by side, if you like. They are separate and distinct, and yet in Jesus' case they are one being.

Struggling with this concept, the early Church Fathers came together at Nicea in AD325 and agreed, “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father.” Years later the church leaders in the Athanasian Creed declared, “He is God of the substance of the Father begotten before the worlds, and He is man of the substance of His mother born in the world; perfect God, perfect man subsisting of a reasoning soul and human flesh; equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, inferior to the Father as touching His Manhood.”

As they struggled with the idea that Jesus was God they came again and again to declare he IS God and yet he comes from God and is distinct as a personality, but he was there right before the beginning of anything that we know of as existence today. The apostle Paul declared, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” ( Col 1:15 – see also 2 Cor 4:4) The writer to the Hebrews wrote, “The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being.” (Heb 1:3)

The apostle John himself, emphasised in his first letter this fact of Jesus existing from the beginning: “That which was from the beginning , which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched--this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.” (1 Jn 1:1,2)

Why is this important? It is because it marks out Jesus Christ as unique among all other figures, because uniquely he is God and yet is distinct from God and was with God from the beginning of all things. This alone makes him worthy to carry the sins for all humanity, as only God could.

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v.2	v.10	v.18
v.3	v.11	v.19
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Short Meditations in John 1: 3. Jesus, Creator God

Jn 1:3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made

The uniqueness of the God-man, Jesus Christ, continues to be expounded by John in short pithy verses that mark this Gospel out, as we said before, as a Gospel full of meaning as distinct from the three other earlier historical-information Gospels. John has declared Jesus (and it will be clarified later in the chapter that it is Jesus) to be God and yet distinct from God, who has existed from the beginning of time, but now he puts him into what we might call an historical time frame – he was there at the beginning and was involved in the very acts of Creation.

We deal with a mystery here for the Bible does not tell us much how Father and Son worked to bring into being all that we know of as material existence. We are given an enigmatic picture in Proverbs as ‘wisdom' is personified and, we suggest, can only really refer to Jesus: “The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began . When there were no oceans, I was given birth, when there were no springs abounding with water; before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was given birth, before he made the earth or its fields or any of the dust of the world. I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep, when he gave the sea its boundary

so the waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.” (Prov 8:22-29) There is that same sense of being in existence, coming forth from God Himself “from the beginning before the world began.”

But then we are given an inkling into his role, the Son alongside the Father: “Then I was the craftsman at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind.” (Prov 8:30,31) What a beautiful picture of purposeful unity, Father and Son working together to bring into being all that we know.

The writer to the Hebrews also catches something of his role, his power: “sustaining all things by his powerful word.” (Heb 1:3) He not only helped bring it into being, he also ensure it keeps going. This is part of the role of the Son. Hallelujah!

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Short Meditations in John 1: 4. Jesus, light of the world

Jn 1:4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

Life is referred to by John 36 times in his book. Life may be that simple and basic force or energy that makes something ‘living' and we speak of a ‘life force'. What ‘life' is, is a mystery. We take it for granted and when it comes to a human being we say while the heart is working and the brain is working the person is ‘alive' but that is as far as we go usually. As long as those two ‘organs' are operative we consider there is life in the body. When they both stop life ceases. And yet we are, deep down, unhappy with that materialistic description because life seems far more than a pump pushing blood (the heart) and a muscle conveying electrical charges (the brain). Life enables personality and character to be revealed and ‘life' enables communication and activity.

We saw previously that the writer to the Hebrews referred to Jesus, “sustaining all things by his powerful word,” (Heb 1:3) and the implication is that Jesus, the Son of God, permits and enables all things to live. Now God is spirit (Jn 4:24) and every person has a spirit within them and, we would suggest, it is the Spirit who is The life force that enables the heart and the brain to work.

This very life force is God Himself and Jesus being God also is a conveyor of this fundamental life force. Now the Bible would seem to indicate that one function of the spirit of a person is to be the centre of communication with God within a person, but that function doesn't work properly until one has been born again of the Spirit (Jn 3:5-8). When that happens the person enters into a new dimension of life. Jesus said, “the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it .” (Jn 5:21) A person is already alive but Jesus comes to bring a new fuller measure of life, life that flows between God and us by the presence of His own Holy Spirit within us, or as He is sometimes referred to, the Spirit of Jesus.

As He flows within us, he reveals things to us, teaches us, guides us, shows us the way. He becomes like a light who shows us the way through what is otherwise ‘darkness'. When Jesus enters a person's life he truly becomes the ‘light of men' showing them a new way, a new life, a life of encounter with God, a life that makes sense, a life that is fulfilling, a life that understands meaning and rejoices in it. Thus ‘life' releases ‘light' and our lives are transformed and this is all the wonderful work of Jesus Christ who comes to dwell in us, who John is telling us about in these early verses in such an amazing way.

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Short Meditations in John 1: 5. Misunderstood

Jn 1:5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

Down through history the figure of Jesus Christ stands out like a beacon. With a following of a large percentage of the earth's population he dwarfs past political heroes, great philosophers or any similar personage. His light continues to shine in millions upon millions of lives.

In spiritual terms found in John's Gospel the world is in darkness. Later on he commented, “Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed,” (Jn 3:19,20) and also recorded Jesus' momentous words, “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” (Jn 12:46)

Darkness represents all forms of evil. John demonstrated this again in his first letter: “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all,” (1 Jn 1:5) and then “Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.” (1 Jn 2:10,11) True goodness (light) is only found in God, and in His Son Jesus Christ.

But in our verse above John tells us that the darkness (the world) has not understood the light. Light and darkness are opposites and it is not surprising that evil cannot understand good. An alternative rendering suggests, “the darkness has not overcome it”. Again in pure light and dark terms, darkness flees from light and however great the darkness may be, even a speck of light stands out. The truth is that however many times the enemy through atheists seeks to demolish Jesus and the memory of Jesus, it has never been able to happen and instead the light has grown brighter and spread and spread. The communism of both Russia and China serves to show this. ‘Great' leaders in both countries have declared that Christianity will die. They are now dead and the faith is flourishing. In China the number of Christians is thought to be at least double the number of those who belong to the Communist party. No, the light still shines and although the darkness has not understood it, it has also not overcome it! Whatever the ‘tribulation' means, the light will still shine through to the end!

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Short Meditations in John 1: 6. Enter John the Baptist

Jn 1:6 There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John.

So far in this Gospel of John's you might be forgiven for thinking it sounds very philosophical, but that is just John's way of trying to communicate with the Greek thinkers (and Jewish thinkers) of his day. But he doesn't stay in ‘philosophical mode' because the Gospel is all about human beings. First about Jesus, the Son of God who came from heaven to dwell in human form, but then it is all about his interactions with other human beings. This Gospel, although philosophically sounding is, like the other three Gospels, soundly based in history.

And so at a specific point in history there came a prophet (as we shall see) called John. To see more detail about John you need to read Luke 1 where we find how he was a God-given baby to an aged childless couple. His father was told in an angelic encounter, “he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous--to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Lk 1:17)

In every other sense, this John was just an ordinary man but he was a man who came preaching a little before Jesus started his ministry, and he did what he did because he “was sent from God.” Now we don't know what sort of encounters with the Lord John had had but he came with a clear purpose which, according to the angel, was to prepare the people.

Now I am aware that so far in this set of studies or meditations they have been a bit academic as we have just focused on the facts of who Jesus was as explained by John in these somewhat philosophical terms. And there is the danger, it can remain academic, it can just be a brain thing and it fails to translate into everyday life.

Well now we come to a new human dimension in these early verses of John, about a man, and ordinary man but a man with a calling. But I wonder if we realise that each and every one of us who becomes a Christian actually has a calling. We are a Christian because God called and we heard and responded. The apostle Paul was to say, “we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph 2:10) Are we aware that we have been called by God to live out a life that He has planned for us whereby we become the best people we can be because we are responding to His loving plan for us?

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Short Meditations in John 1: 7. The General Calling

Jn 1:7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.

There is a feeling that perhaps many of us have from time to time and that is that we can just leave everything up to God and we don't have a part to play, after all He is sovereign God isn't He! However when we come to observe the coming of Jesus and the start of his ministry, although we might think he could have just come and done all that he did do and that would be sufficient, the truth is that the Lord used John the Baptist to prepare the hearts of people to be able to receive Jesus.

The state of Israel when John and then Jesus came to it, very clearly appears to be far from what they should have been as the people of God. Yes, they were under the domination of the Roman rulers but more than that their own rulers (Herod etc.) appeared godless, their religious leaders seemed to be taken up more with legalistic law application than anything else, and the nation was riddled with sickness and demonic possession (see later the large numbers who came to Jesus). One way and another they were in a poor spiritual state.

The first thing that needed to happen was that the people needed to repent of their state and both John (e.g. Mt 3:1,2) and Jesus (Mt 4:17) preached repentance because God's kingdom was at hand, the only difference being that Jesus was about to bring it; John prepared hearts to receive Jesus. Later in the chapter we will see what he said about Jesus. Later people said of John, “Though John never performed a miraculous sign, all that John said about this man was true.” (Jn 10:41)

John's role was thus twofold: to call people to repentance and get their hearts right with God, and to tell them about Jesus so they could now believe in him as God's answer to all their needs. The fact is, God used a man to prepare people's hearts to receive His Son. Although Jesus performed miracles, yet many did not believe. They were the ones whose hearts had refused to respond when John came. The ones who believed Jesus were the ones whose hearts had been put right before God as a result of John's ministry, and part of that had been to testify to Jesus, to point people to him, for example, later in this chapter, “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn 1:29) That, surely, is the summary of whatever ministry we might have, to point people to Jesus to enable them to enter a relationship with God.

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Short Meditations in John 1: 8. Know your limitations

Jn 1:8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

There is a danger in the Christian life when we move into the place where God can use us. It is that after a while we think we are God's answer to the needs of the world. We aren't! God alone is. It doesn't matter what gift or ministry we might have, the truth is that we have it because He gave it and He maintains it and it is for His glory. If people come to me they will simply get a human being; if they come to God, they will get life.

These early verses in John are almost summaries and they are opened up and explained later on. We will see John himself denying that he is The One to be followed. John knew his limitations; he was very much a human being with human limitations. When things started to go badly for him with Herod, it seems he started questioning and maybe even doubting, when he sent some of his followers to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" (Mt 11:3) A kind take on that was that now his ministry had ended, he was sending his disciples to Jesus, but the circumstances of prison and Jesus' answers, sending them back to John, seems to suggest that John himself was in trouble.

John wasn't the light and perhaps John the Gospel writer includes this because in that first century, among the heretical groups were those who elevated John the Baptist. No, says our writer John, “he himself was not the light.” i.e. be quite clear you heretics, you've latched on to the wrong man. John isn't the Saviour, and we'll later see him denying it himself.

No, John simply came “only as a witness to the light,” who was Jesus. That was all John was – and what we are – a witness who testified to what he had seen heard, and knew. The fact that he was a cousin of Jesus didn't come into it. His testimony, we will see, was about what God told him, and what he saw and heard when Jesus came to be baptized by him. John the apostle was likewise a witness: “The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it.” (1 Jn 1:2). One of the best testimonies in the New Testament was from the blind man: “One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!" (Jn 9:23) It is how we testify: we tell of what has happened to us, what we found out about Jesus and what we have experienced. That is what testimony is all about and that is what John the Baptist was, a witness with a testimony.

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Short Meditations in John 1: 9. Enter the Light

Jn 1:9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world

There is something in the human race that we take for granted and yet causes a universal frustration. Solomon wrote, “I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” (Eccles 3:10,11) There is something within us, perhaps a spark of eternity, perhaps the spirit within us, that seeks and yearns for something more, for meaning to life, for purpose, for a sense of fulfilment. It seems we are groping around in the dark to find this thing.

And then Jesus comes, we encounter him, accept him for who he is and what he has done, and suddenly it all makes sense, suddenly there is this meaning, sense of purpose, and sense of fulfilment. Suddenly we ‘see', suddenly it all makes sense and we see with new eyes – but we see because The Light is shining in us.

People try all sorts of things to achieve meaning; they go after Eastern mysticism, they go after self-help courses, they throw themselves into great projects and all to no avail for none of these things seem to satisfy that inner seeking and they still cannot ‘see'. None of these is a light that answers all the questions. Only Jesus is “the true light”. He is the only one who satisfies and brings these answers we have been speaking about.

And here is the remarkable thing, that light is available “to every man” (and woman!). It isn't just available for clever people – in fact clever people so often stumble over The Light (1 Cor 2:22b) – or religious people, but he is there and available for anyone who is willing to humble themselves and acknowledge they need him.

Up until that point the light had been absent from the world but “the true light…. was coming into the world,” and he had existed in eternity with the Father and now he was coming into space-time history in the form of a tiny baby born to a woman. How amazing. This tiny baby was to grow into a man who would be revealed as The Light of the World who had come from heaven to bring light to whichever seeking, yearning, hungry and humble men or women would receive him so that they might be able to ‘see'. He is there beckoning to any who will hear and respond.

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Short Meditations in John 1: 10. Not Recognised

Jn 1:10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him

Sometimes people say, “if God would only show Himself and make Himself so clear, I would believe in Him,” but the truth is that He has come for all who have eyes to see. Yes, He came in the form of a tiny baby but that was a problem to many. As the apostle Paul later said, “Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom,” (1 Cor 1:22) and a tiny baby didn't fit either of those requirements. In fact it fitted more with what Paul went on to say: “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things.” (1 Cor 1:27,28) This seemed foolishness, that Almighty God would come as a baby, something weak, something lowly. For many this seems too much.

But the fact was He had come, “He was in the world.” He was here, living with a father and mother in a home in Nazareth in Galilee, and for some thirty years he grew up with every semblance of ordinary humanity. The prophet Isaiah spoke of this coming one: “He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” (Isa 53:2). Yes, he appeared as an ordinary man with nothing special about him to mark him out. For thirty years he lived and experienced ordinary humanity. God has experienced family life and work.

But don't lose sight of the basics, for this was still Almighty God, the Creator of all things of whom John said, “the world was made through him”, repeating what he had said in earlier verses. This is the same God; it's just that He has hidden His glory here for the moment, as the apostle Paul said, “made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” (Phil 2:7) – but he was still the same God!

But then we come to the amazing truth here: “ the world did not recognize him.” The Roman leaders and the Jewish leaders alike failed to realise who he was, so taken up were they with their politics. The Jewish teachers and scribes and Pharisees had for so long being looking for the coming one, the Messiah, but he would have to comply with their expectations – and Jesus didn't! He challenged who and what they were, and they couldn't understand that – and rejected him!

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Short Meditations in John 1: 11. Not Welcomed – but a Plan

Jn 1:11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.

The fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah, was not received by his own people was both a tragedy and essential. They were not to know (for it remained a mystery) that from before the foundation of the world the Godhead had recognised and decreed that having given Man free will, sin would ensue, guilt would prevail and justice would demand punishment. Therefore if Man was to be saved from eternal destruction, a way had to be found by which all of that Sin had to be paid for, someone had to take the punishment, and that someone had to be big enough to meaningfully take it for the whole human race, and the only one big enough was God Himself – or at least His Son, Jesus Christ.

That punishment had to be real, it had to be death, the only meaningful punishment for a life of Sin – and millions upon millions of lives of Sin – and therefore the Son of God had to experience real death in a real human form, a death that any other criminal might have. As the optimum time in history for the Son to appear on earth was, from our time perspective, some two thousand years ago, to appear in his chosen people meant that the Romans would be in charge and death was by crucifixion, possibly one of the most violent and horrible forms of execution ever devised by man. If the Son of God was to go through with this plan devised before the foundation of the world, it meant that he would have to be rejected by his own people, falsely tried as a criminal and wrongly executed by the Roman overlords.

Thus we find the apostle Peter summarising what happened as he preached under the anointing of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost: “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. (Acts 2:22-24). There is the perfect summary: Jesus came and revealed himself through his works but all that served to do was provoke jealousy in the religious leaders who had him crucified, but the resurrection followed. In the midst there see, “God's set purpose and foreknowledge”. God knew that the Sin of man would reject the Son and would bring about his death, and in so doing the Son would take the Sin of the world and take its punishment. Hallelujah!

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Short Meditations in John 1: 12. Sonship made possible

Jn 1:12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

We have commented already in this series that there is a yearning in the human race to find purpose and meaning in life and it is a yearning in every person, although sometimes it takes adverse circumstances to provoke us to think about it. Sit down with a group of students and sooner or later the question of other realities, of the possibility of a God, and other things like this, crop up. There is something within us that provokes this sort of questioning, that provokes people to go looking to means to reach God, that produces a variety of world religions, all expressing it in their own way and yet falling short, never quite getting there, never quite feeling satisfied with their answers.

The Bible shows us that this yearning comes from the fact that every single one of us is made in the likeness of God and we have, whether we like it or not, a sense of relationship with God. That scares some of us and angers others and causes diverse responses such as utter rejection of God or heartfelt searching. Sin in us causes us to have differing responses to this yearning. For some, such as the crusading atheists of the twenty first century, it causes a strong need to declare total independence from any thought of God. For others, it causes a need to go on ‘spiritual' retreats in order to find that ‘something'.

For those with really open hearts, this verse above should cause immense joy because it declares that here is the answer to all those yearnings. The end product of all of our searchings is that God has come to us and made Himself known to us in the form of Jesus Christ. The Gospels are the testimony to this and anyone with an open searching heart will see the wonder of the person revealed, Jesus Christ, and with further reading will marvel that he has come for them!

The end product of their searching will be finding, believing, coming to him in humble prayer (for prayer is the response of the submitting heart) and, wonder of wonders, finding that the offer that God makes is to become one of His children. We were already made in His likeness but this is now all about a living, real relationship, about the possibility of knowing and been known. This was very real to John and he later wrote of believers, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 Jn 3:1) Yes, this is the wonderful answer to all those years of inner yearning; it is to become a child of God, in reality.

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Short Meditations in John 1: 13. Born of God

Jn 1:13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

So we have just noted that all of our human yearnings for something more can only be satisfied when we come to belief in Jesus Christ, and when this happens God declares us to be His children, the closest of relationships possible. But then John adds a vital rider.

We become ‘children' of God not because we simply wanted to or because we strived and worked to become children of God. To become a child of someone you have first to be born of them. I am who I am because I have a father and mother, now long deceased, but they were the reason I am in this world. When we become spiritual children, for it can have no other meaning, it is because somehow God, as a Father, brings us into being as this new being. Being a child of God, John's Gospel reveals to us, is not a case of God pinning a badge on us, so to speak, or putting our names on a list of those accepted by Him. No, it is far more than that.

We are, John says, children “born not of natural descent,” we are not a Christian because we might have had Christian parents; this is nothing to do with natural birth or following in the family way. No this didn't come about because we decided it or our parents decided it. When it comes to spiritual rebirth, it is down to God. It is because He decided it and He brought it about by the work of His Holy Spirit.

Later in his Gospel John will record Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus where he says, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again…. no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit…. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.” (Jn 3:3,5,6) These verses put the nails in the coffin of social Christianity, of thinking you are a Christian because you go to church and try to be nice. No this is far from the truth.

A real Christian is one who has been called by God, who responds by coming to belief in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, who surrenders their life to God, believing that Jesus has died for their sins, seeking God's forgiveness and receiving it – and receiving the Holy Spirit and, in Jesus' words, being ‘born again', being made a spiritual being with a new relationship with God, based on the finished work of Christ on the Cross. THAT is what a Christian is!

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Short Meditations in John 1: 14. God made flesh

Jn 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

At the beginning of the chapter John introduced us to the Logos, or the Word, the primary cause or reason for all things who had been with God from the beginning, and through whom all things were created – and who was God yet distinct within the Godhead from God the Father. The ‘Word', John says so simply, “became flesh”, became a human being and “made his dwelling among us”, i.e. he came and lived here on the earth. It all sounds rather like a Greek mystery or stories about a Greek god, if it wasn't followed by the most down to earth accounts of the life of this human being who is clearly more than a human being. The stories of the Greek or Roman gods always seemed false, super beings in very human forms living out selfish but powerful lives. When you come to the Word, we find something very, very different.

John testifies, “we have seen his glory”. This being who came and dwelt among us, clearly had such human ordinariness that many failed to realise who he was, and yet for those with eyes to see, John could say, “we have seen his glory.” There are various passages that convey something of who Jesus was, revealed by what he did. The apostle Peter testified, “Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs.” (Acts 2:22) Jesus had testified of himself, “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.” (Mt 11:5) If you had travelled with Jesus on a daily basis you would have seen him, again and again, performing miracles and healing the sick and delivering demoniacs. There was no question but this was, at the very least, a man with a unique and incredible ministry.

But says John this glory clearly belong to One, “the One and Only”. Who does he mean by that? It can only be God. This is God expressing Himself through human form. What sort of God is it that does this sort of thing? One who is “full of grace and truth.” Grace here means ‘unfailing love' and that was clearly seen by his every act on behalf of others. That he was full of truth means there was absolutely nothing false about him, he was utterly real, and good. Yes this is how John describes the Son who “came from the Father”, distinct from the Father yet clearly expressing Him in every way, in character and in power, revealing the wonder of God.

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Short Meditations in John 1: 15. John the Baptist's Testimony

Jn 1:15 John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, `He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' “

John, in this first chapter, drip feeds us with information and then expands on it. In verses 6-8 already we have seen his introductory words about John the Baptist: “There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.” Twice he said there that John had come as a witness to the light so that people would believe in the light.

But a witness is one who testifies about something they have seen or heard, something they know, so now John the writer says John the Baptist, the witness, testifies about the light, the word become flesh. Obviously by the tense, Jesus has already come and so John testifies to the crowds about Jesus. John the writer is going to say a lot more in a moment or two but initially he simply records the summary of John's testimony: remember I spoke about a coming one? This is he! Remember I said that the one to follow me is greater than me? This is he! Remember I said he was greater because he was before me? This is he! Before Jesus came, John had spoken about the coming Jesus. Once Jesus came, John said, this is he of whom I spoke.

John is going to repeat this in verse 30: “This is the one I meant when I said, `A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'” He was before me? Does he mean Jesus is older then he? No, that's not true for John was born slightly earlier than Jesus. John's other words reveal that he knew Jesus was infinitely greater than he, for example, “He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie,” (v.27) and “John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (v..29) John the Baptist, the prophet seeing in the new kingdom, had the revelation beforehand, that this cousin of his was in fact one who had existed in heaven before coming to earth.

Whatever great things the Lord allows us to do on earth, however much He blesses our ministry, it is still to say, “Jesus is the greatest, he is the one to follow, he is the unique Son of God who takes away your sin, I am merely a messenger.” I like to refer to myself as merely one of God's office boys, a messenger who runs messages. Enough!

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Short Meditations in John 1: 16. Jesus' Grace

Jn 1:16 From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.

Perhaps we might expand or paraphrase this verse: “From the complete and unlimited grace that came with Christ, each one of us Christians has receiving blessing after blessing after blessing.” Let's examine the components of this verse.

“From” – out of. What we have has come from Christ's supply. Never take it for granted or forget that all we have has come from someone else. What we have is not self-generated.

“the fullness of his grace”. The previous verse had John the Baptist speaking of Jesus and therefore the ‘his' here must refer to Jesus' grace. ‘Grace' here is all the divine resources made available through Christ. These resources are unlimited and we have been granted access to this supply, not just to a bit of it, but the fullness or completeness of it, very simply “all of it!”

“we have all received.” These resources have been made available to every Christian through Christ's work on the Cross. It is not about how good we are, or how hard we work, the focus is on the ‘store room' the ‘warehouse' that is full of all good things we need in life. Some of these things just flow into our lives as God pours them into us, and others have to be taken hold of, but they are all there for the taking.

“one blessing after another.” What are these things, these resources that are now ours? First there are the declarations of ‘being' - forgiven, adopted, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, things that occurred at the point we were born again. Then there are the resources for living – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control, the things referred to as the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22,23). Then there the outworkings that produce growth and maturity – faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. (2 Pet 1:5-7) Then we might include gifts and ministries given to enable us to serve in extending the kingdom (See 1 Cor 12:8-10, Rom 12:6-8, Eph 4:11,12)

All of these things have been made available to us by Christ's work on the Cross and the Holy Spirit, made available to us, through whom all these things come. They are ALL the workings of God by His Spirit in us and they all come to us through Christ.

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Short Meditations in John 1: 16. Jesus' Grace

Jn 1:16 From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.

“From” – out of. What we have has come from Christ's supply. Never take it for granted or forget that all we have has come from someone else. What we have is not self-generated.

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Short Meditations in John 1: 17. Grace & Truth through Christ.

Jn 1:17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

The word ‘For' links this verse to the previous one which basically said, Jesus is the source of all grace that is now available for each one of us. Thus John now contrasts the old and the new provisions of God for His people.

The old provision, given to the new nation of Israel coming out of Egypt to take their own new land, was “the law… given through Moses.” That Law laid out the many possibilities of life as a community of God's people and so gave laws of guidance of how people should respect one another in everyday life within community, and then a lot of laws about how to relate to God and, even more, how to get right with Him when they had got it wrong (that is what all the laws of sacrifices are about).

So the Law sought to provide guidelines for the people for living as God's chosen people. That was the old covenant, and that came through Moses and that had existed all the way from the exodus, right up to the present time. The only thing, though, was that it hadn't worked very well because the sinfulness of people simply meant they so often failed to keep the laws and treated sacrifices as an easy way of covering their sin – without changing!

But then Jesus came and through Him God provided a completely different approach to being the people of God. Instead of being limited to one national grouping as previously (the Israelites), it was now available for anyone from any part of the world. The starting point was when people recognised their Sin and their godlessness and desired to be right with God, they now found that Jesus was God's answer to their sin and their need for forgiveness and when they received that truth they entered into a new relationship with God.

Although John doesn't mention it here, it all flows through the presence and work of the Spirit of Jesus, or the Holy Spirit as He is more generally called, and so through Him both grace and truth came in a new way. We've already considered the grace aspect previously, but the Holy Spirit not only comes to bring all the resources of heaven, He also comes to bring truth by conviction and revelation. Conviction faces us with the truth of our failure and need, and revelation shows us how God wants to lead us into a new way. He is there for us with both things. Hallelujah!

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Short Meditations in John 1: 17. Grace & Truth through Christ.

Jn 1:17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

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Short Meditations in John 1: 18. God made known

Jn 1:18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.

Right at the beginning of this chapter we noted a description of Jesus Christ as ‘the Word' and we saw, “the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning,” (1:1,2) and we saw this distinction that he WAS God and yet also he was WITH God, indicating a separate and distinct person. Thus now we find John doing the same thing, now speaking of God who no one has ever seen EXCEPT “God… who is at the Father's side.” Again we have these two distinct personages referred to – God who is Father (the first time John has called Him that) and God who is at the Father's side. Thus it seems there are two God's but there aren't because whoever is, is simply referred to as God (not as ‘a god' or gods) – One Being. So we have this idea of God revealing Himself in at least two forms – Father and Son – and yet one.

But there is another major facet to this verse and it is that Jesus has made God known. All over this world, and observed for thousands of years, mankind has been aware of divinity and has sought this divinity in whatever form they have thought he/it comes in. Thus we have a number of world religions, first pointing out mankind's belief in something more than mere materialistic life, but then pointing out a variety of ways that different racial groups have sought to ‘find' this divinity. That is until you come to Judaism and then Christianity who declare that God has revealed Himself, not mankind finding Him. Indeed, they declare, mankind can't ever find God on its own; it is always a case of God revealing Himself to us, first through the nation of Israel and then through His Son, Jesus Christ, who has always existed with Him in heaven.

Jesus himself declared, “No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father.” (Jn 6:46) and later, “I am telling you what I have seen in the Father's presence,” (Jn 8:38) and “If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him…. Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father….. I am in the Father, and …the Father is in me?” (Jn 14:7-10) In the three Synoptic Gospels they focused on the facts of what happened. John, having decades more to reflect on what had happened, realised Jesus had said many more things with deep meaning that the others hadn't taken in. Thus in this Gospel we find all these aspects of the reality of just who Jesus was and is.

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Short Meditations in John 1: 19. History as well as Philosophy

Jn 1:19 Now this was John's testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was.

Have you noticed how in this first chapter of John, John weaves in and out of ‘philosophy feel' with history. He comes out with these massive declarations about ‘the Word' as in verses 1 to 5, and then suddenly turns and bring in historical context, and yet still with the philosophical overtones in verses 9. He then speaks of the word as in historical context in verses 10-13 but with added ‘spiritual' content. Then in verses 14 to 18 we have these ‘historical verses' laden with spiritual meaning.

What we mean when we have used the word ‘historical', is that John anchors all his is saying in time-space history – these things actually happened here on this earth centuries ago. If you had been there then, you would have seen them. That is quite different from what we have called ‘philosophical feel' because those are verses laden with imagery and meaning. John has been seeking to capture the minds of Greek and Jewish thinkers by the use of ‘the Word' and surrounding it with talk about ‘life' and ‘light' and then ‘grace' and ‘truth' and then easing them into the idea that all these thing were encapsulated in a human figure who appeared on the earth, Jesus Christ. He has worked to bring a direct connection between God and Jesus, as close a connection as it is possible to have. John is under no illusion – Jesus IS God in human form. That is the clear and strong message of this chapter and brought out again and again in the Gospel.

But it is not some make-believe story, it is time-space history - it happened! This is what modern sceptics need to take in. John is not a mystical writer, he is a writer of history as the opening words of his first letter show so clearly. But here now he anchors us in history again. What he has been saying about John the Baptist and what John the Baptist had said about Jesus was fixed in historical context. John had spoken about Jesus as he had spoken as a response, “when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was.”

There it was, historical reporting. John had been preaching in the wilderness and the authorities in Jerusalem had heard about him and sent their representatives to question him. Priests and Levites from Jerusalem , men in specific religious roles, had come to see what was happening and why it was happening. This is the backdrop for what follows, John's testimony about Jesus. Watch the historical context.

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Short Meditations in John 1: 20. I am not the Christ

Jn 1:20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, "I am not the Christ.”

It may be that there is the appearance of slowness in these meditations, in that we are only covering one verse in each consideration, but it is so often too easy to skim through Scripture and not think on what is there. We are seeking to counter that in this series, and to allow each individual verse to impact us.

John the Baptist in some ways is a pure delight and it comes over particularly in this verse. We will see in what follows a certain measure of naivety in John in respect of his uncertainties about Jesus but one thing he did know and that was that he was not the Christ. Yes, he was a prophet and yes he was sent by God, and as there had been no prophetic activity in Israel for over four hundred years he could be forgiven if he had thought he was something special – but he didn't!

John, our writer, puts it in such an interesting way; “He did not fail to confess .” Was this in respect of his testimony about Jesus? No, it was about himself. The Jews from Jerusalem had come to question him as to who he was. Israel had expected the anointed one, the Messiah, the Christ (different names for the same person) for centuries and the prophetic scriptures had been tantalising about the nature of this One who would come. When the religious authorities in Jerusalem heard that there was a prophet in the wilderness and the crowds were flocking to him, it was natural to wonder if this is The One.

In the film the Matrix the big question was, “Is Neo the One?” Again an expected messiah type figure who would defeat the machines with his power. What a picture of the anticipated real Messiah who the Jews hoped would come in power to deliver them from the might of Rome . Is John the One? No, he “confessed freely”, no, it's not me! What a temptation – and there have been many misguided men through history who falsely claimed to be the returning Christ – and John could have claimed great prestige and led a great revival.

With all the crowds flocking to him and repenting and being baptised, John could have seen himself as the one to restore Israel to God at least. Instead he knew exactly who he was to be – the one preparing the way (we'll see later) for the coming One and he knew that he wasn't this One. You cannot be more than God has called you to be – but you can exercise to the full all that He gives you. Get the balance.

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Short Meditations in John 1: 21. The Mysterious Prophet

Jn 1:21 They asked him, "Then who are you? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" He answered, "No."

These religious people from Jerusalem have got a problem. They had heard what was going on and naturally assumed that this was the messiah – which John rapidly denies. Their question, “Then who are you?” following on John's denial that he is the Christ, clearly indicates that that is who they believed he was.

So now they have a problem. If he's not the messiah, then who is he? “Are you Elijah?” Now that comes out of the fact that every well-taught Jewish boy would be able to tell you that Elijah hadn't died ( 2Ki 2:11) but had gone to heaven in a whirlwind. Moreover one of the last of the prophets in the Old era had declared that Elijah would come back: “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.” (Mal 4:5) So was he Elijah? “I am not.” Well that was quite clear, but who else could he be?

“Are you the Prophet?” they ask next. Moses had declared, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, "Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die." The LORD said to me: "What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.” (Deut 18:15-18) Thus some expected the ‘coming one' to be a prophet figure. Is this who John was, the one spoken of by Moses? “He answered, ‘No'”. Well that was quite clear!

What is intriguing is that Jesus did identify John with Elijah: “For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come.” (Mt 11:13,14. See also Mt 17:10-13) The angel who spoke to Zechariah, John's father, clarified it: “And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah , to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous--to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Lk 1:17) i.e. in the same way as Elijah.

John knew he wasn't Elijah, that he was simply one called by God to testify to Jesus and prepare the way for him. Beyond that he wanted no fame. That is humility! Is it in us?

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Short Meditations in John 1: 22. Frustrated Questioners

Jn 1:22 Finally they said, "Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?"

What has always struck me about this passage of Scripture involving John the Baptist is John's reticence to spell out the truth. It seems as if he tantalisingly frustrates his questioners with a drawn out, drip feed of information. Yes, he said he wasn't the Christ but the way he does it is almost like he doesn't want to say it. His answers , “I am not,” and then just, “No,” give nothing away.

I remember a TV drama with a lawyer telling a client how to say the least when questioned in the witness box. He asks her, “Do you know what the time is?” and she proceeds to give him the time. He responds, “I didn't ask you what the time was but did you know what it was and the answer is simply, ‘Yes'.” That's how it seems it is with John.

Now why, we might ask, did John do it like this? Any answer is purely speculation because we are not told, but I am put in mind of Jesus' later explanation of his use of parables (Mt 13:13-15). He explains that he spoke using parables so only those who really sought the truth would understand and find it. Casual seekers wouldn't. Moses said to his people at one point, “if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deut 4:29) It seems that the Lord is not forthcoming with revelation of Himself or of the truth except to those who are really hungry to know him and really and truly want to find the truth.

Is this how it is with John I wonder? They have asked and they have asked and they know that they have been sent by the masters back in Jerusalem to get answers and so they must have those answers and so we find, “Finally they ask….” They are getting to the end of themselves, they are thoroughly frustrated and you almost expect them to blurt out, “Give us a straight answer for goodness sake!” Come on they say instead, “Who are you?”, a question we ask of ourselves and of others!

Behind that are numerous others: who sent you, why are you doing this, what do you hope to achieve? Those are the sort of things implied in this questioning. Come on they say, “Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us.” As we said, they are worried that they are answerable to important people back in Jerusalem . “What do you say about yourself?” As with Jesus later, the Jews didn't hold back from asking the accused to convict themselves out of their own mouth. Huh!

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Short Meditations in John 1: 23. The Isaiah Prophet

Jn 1:23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the desert, `Make straight the way for the Lord.'

These interrogators from Jerusalem have been asking John again and again who he is. Again and again he has denied he is the Christ. So who are you, they persist. At this point if we were John we might have been tempted to explain our calling and say that we had heard from God and were doing His bidding, but John doesn't justify himself quite like that, but he does it in such a way that it focuses on what he has been saying to the crowds, so that his message comes through yet again.

To do this he “replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet.” He quotes from Isaiah 40:3 “ A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God,” but note that he personalizes it – “I am the voice….” He declares that he is the one doing this.

He also changes the sentence structure slightly: “I am the voice of one calling in the desert”. That was one of the amazing things of the ministry of John the Baptist, he preached in the desert and people flocked to him. We tend to preach in the towns where the people are and few come! Thus he declares himself to be the prophetic fulfilment of the Isaiah word.

So what was he doing? He was to “Make straight the way for the Lord.” If you make a path straight you make it easy for people to get from A to B. This prophetic calling was to make it easy for God to come to people's hearts. He did it, of course, by calling for repentance, for the people to put their lives right with God. Now the end objective was not that people would simply have cleaned up lives but that they would be receptive to the Lord and, more specifically, they would be receptive to Jesus when he appeared. The coming of the Lord was literal; He was coming in the form of His Son and His reception and ‘welcome' was in a measure dependent on John.

Now there is a thing about prophecy: you have to believe it for it to impact your life. It is something spoken about by God and it requires faith to respond to it, but it can also act like the parable of Jesus that we referred to in an earlier meditation, and in the same way it can leave its listeners untouched. Again, is that another reason why John spoke in this way?

v.1	v.9	v.17
v.2	v.10	v.18
v.3	v.11	v.19
v.4	v.12	v.20
v.5	v.13	v.21
v.6	v.14	v.22
v.7	v.15	v.23
v.8	v.16	v.24

Short Meditations in John 1: 24. Questions evoked

Jn 1:24,25 Now some Pharisees who had been sent questioned him, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?"

It is interesting that it is some Pharisees who now question John. Earlier we were told there were priests and Levites, but now we find that in the group sent from Jerusalem , there were also Pharisees, those from that ultra-conservative religious group who saw themselves as guardians of the Law. They were antagonistic knit-pickers who again and against came against Jesus. If you didn't go their way, you were an enemy, it seemed.

So the questioning has established that John is not the messiah, not Elijah come back, nor the prophet fulfilling Moses' words, but that leaves these questioners dissatisfied. Very well, he is none of these people so is he just an ordinary man and if so, why is he doing what he is doing? That is the question, “Why then do you baptise if you are not the Christ?”

Perhaps the bigger question that they should have been asking themselves was why were such large crowds flocking to him to repent and be baptised? That was so often the problem with these various religious groups, they got their focus on one issue and missed the main one! That does so often become the problem when you settle in any particular persuasion or way of thinking; everything gets tailor-made to suit or agree with it and unfortunately that is so often wrong.

But let's go back to that big issue that these Pharisees and the others with them seemed to be missing. Why was John apparently so successful? Why were so many people flocking to him and being baptised? The answer, I suggest, has got to be twofold. First it is obviously a work of God. John is there because God has told him to be there and do what he is doing. No one in their right mind would do it otherwise. Second, there is clearly a hunger in the people which John is satisfying. They want to be a spiritual people, they want to be right with God, they want to put their lives right so they can be right with God. Surely the Lord knew this and that is why He sent John ahead of Jesus. Spiritually the landscape that was Israel was barren but that didn't mean the people were not hungry for God and hungry for reality. That is what these religious questioners were apparently completely missing when they challenged John. They should have been the answer to the people's hunger – but they weren't!