In the beginning of John’s Gospel, John creates a word picture or illustration to help us wrap our minds around the all-encompassing nature or Name of God. This Word not only describes the fullness of God, it describes the Messiah John is writing about. Additionally, it also describes the Words that have been written by God through the prophets and the Apostles. So, what is the word that describes all of these things? English: ____________________ Greek: _____________________
The primary thing that we should take away from last week is that God not as separated as we like Him to be. Even though there is God the Father, Jesus the Son, the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God (Bible), each one is with and part of the others for they are separate yet the same. This means that they all have the same authority and their character or nature is identical.
Today’s Scripture: 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
In verse 3 and 4, the term “Him” refers primarily to who? _________________ However, in essence, the term “Him” also refers to ________________________
In regards to this “Logos” that is now being called “Him”; John gives us a bold truth. In short, anything that has been made, has been created through Jesus Christ.
With such a bold claim being made, we should be able to find other scripture verses to back this argument up.
1. Col. 1:16 _________________________________________________
2. 1 Cor. 8:6 ________________________________________________
The Breath of Logos
Last week we learned that God begot His Son Jesus. Jesus was not created because God reached inside of himself and pulled out the essence of His being and sent it out from Him. That essence was identical to God and manifested itself as Jesus Christ. It is from here that God now has a mouth and a voice. And through Jesus Christ, the breath of God is spoken and all things are created.
To wrap up our teaching on the Logos, we have to be able to comprehend that the Bible is yet another mystery that encompasses this Logos.There seems to be a very intimate relationship between the scripture and God himself. Here are some scriptures that help to shape what scripture is and what it’s authority should be in our lives.
The things that God speaks are Good and bring life and light. The Bible then becomes the spoken logos of God in written form. Therefore, we have to develop our belief around the fact that the scriptures also carry this life and light as we read it. The authority of God’s spoken Word and His written Word are exactly the same.
Heb. 4:12 _______________________________________________
2 Tim 3:16 ______________________________________________
What these things mean is that when we read the Bible, it is just like God is physically standing next to us as He speaks.
The mystery of the Preincarnate Christ. Since God creates and reveals himself to man through the person of Jesus Christ, the ideas we have about Jesus (before He is born in the flesh) will remain a mystery to us. Just think about it. What did Jesus do before he was lying in a manger?
What you will find is that John believes that Jesus was very active before He was born. This activity starts with creation and is centered around restoring those in darkness to Light. However, if we really believe that Jesus is the physical manifestation of God, then anywhere in the Old Testament where we find people interacting with God’s holiness in physical form, we can believe that Jesus was the part of God that was actually being seen.
Read Gen. 32:24-30. Who did Jacob wrestle with? _______________________________
Read Judges 13:15-22. Who was the messenger sent by the Lord? _____________________ Title:_______________________________
In my personal belief and opinion. (This is not thus sayith the Lord.) Every time I see the official title of “THE Angel of the Lord” I read it as Jesus Christ. Now many times the Bible says an angel of the Lord or specifically names the angel. These would not be Jesus.
Wrap Up: God spoke and out came Jesus through which God used to speak through to create the world. Even though Jesus is not mentioned by name in the Old Testament does not mean that He is not all over the place as the pre-incarnate Christ becomes the physical aspects of God that people can see. Jesus has been a lamb, and ark, a burning bush, The Angel of the Lord, and many more things. John wants us to know this as he begins his Gospel. He will prove to us all that Jesus is fully God and fully man. And the scriptures themselves are also wraped up in the mystery of logos.