#1: John's Gospel

I. Introduction to the Christmas story in John
A. As you know, there are four gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. But not all of them include the story of Christ’s birth.
B. Matthew does.
1. It has the story of Joseph deciding to break it off with Mary when he finds out she’s pregnant, and then of him having a dream in which an angel of the Lord told him that the child was from the Holy Spirit.
2. Then after Jesus is born there’s the story of the magi and the flight to Egypt and the slaughter of the innocent children of Bethlehem.
C. Mark begins with the ministry of John the Baptist, 30 years after the birth of Jesus.
D. Luke has the most.
1. It has the story of the angel’s appearance to Zacharias in the temple and his subsequent 9 mute months.
2. It has the story of the angel’s appearance to Mary to tell her she will bear Jesus.
3. It has the story of Mary’s trip to visit Elizabeth and the leaping of unborn John in her womb.
4. It has Mary’s Magnificat.
5. It has the story of the birth of John and the prophecy of Zacharias which followed.
6. Then it has Joseph and Mary’s journey to Bethlehem and the birth of Jesus and the manger.
7. Then it contains the angels’ appearance to the shepherds and their journey to see the newborn Jesus.
E. Even though John doesn’t talk about any specifics of Christ’s birth, John does talk about the coming of Christ from a different angle. He gives us the bird’s-eye view.
1. First of all, he goes back further than Matthew or Luke. It goes back to the Son of God before He came in human flesh.
2. It’s hard not to notice the parallel with Genesis 1.
a. Just like Genesis 1, John 1 begins with “In the beginning.”
b. Secondly, the word of God is prominent in both stories. Genesis says, “And God said...” to describe God’s creating acts. This is redescribed as “the word of the Lord” in Psalm 33:6, 9 “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host... 9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.” Then, in John 1:1-3, Jesus is referred to as “the word of God...All things were made through him.”
c. Thirdly, both talk about the creation: “All things were made through him, and nothing that was made was made without him.” (John 1:3)
d. They both also talk about light shining in the darkness:
(1) “In the beginning...darkness was over the face of the deep... And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” (Genesis 1:1-3)
(2) )The light shines in the darkness” (John 1:5)
II. Highlights of John 1:1–14
A. 1-2 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.”
1. “In the beginning was the Word”
a. These verses refer to Christ as the “word” and tell us about Him before He was a man.
b. He became a man in the Christmas story, but He has existed from all eternity as the Son of God: Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Rev.1:8)
2. The Greek for ‘word’ here is LOGOS. There is a lot packed into this. We’ll just talk about one facet this morning.
a. There are different roles that the three members of the Trinity have.
b. One of the primary distinctive roles of the Son is that He is God’s ultimate word, God’s ultimate self-revelation, God’s showing of Himself.
c. “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” (Hebrews 1:1–3)
d. Are you articulate? Can you clearly and accurately communicate what you want to express?
(1) I have to confess to you that I am insecure about my ability to communicate. I struggle a lot with how to say what I want to say. And I often struggle with people misunderstanding what I’m trying to say or misperceiving how I’m trying to come across.
(2) But God is perfectly able to express Himself. He knows exactly how to say what He wants to say. And Jesus is His ultimate word, His ultimate expression of what He wants to say, His ultimate revelation of who He is and how He wants to be perceived.
3. God and with God: “the Word was with God, and the Word was God”
a. The ‘word’ here is clearly Jesus: v.14 tells us that “the word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
b. But this word, John says, is God and is with God.
c. This is one of the key verses which drove the Christian church to the doctrine of the Trinity.
(1) Jesus is God and yet He is with God.
(2) Some who don’t understand Greek grammar very well (e.g. Jehovah’s Witnesses) have argued that this means “the Word was a God” not “the word was God.”
(a) In reality, the wording here speaks to the category of Christ’s being.
(b) There are various categories of beings: animal, human, angelic, divine.
(c) When it says that the word was God, it means that before He became a man, Jesus was a divine being. Jesus is deity.
(3) One of the things God revealed about Himself most clearly in the OT was that He is one, that all the “divine beings” of the Gentiles were false. “Hear O Israel, the Lord your God is one!”
(4) And yet, the “Word” is said to be “with God,” which differentiates Jesus from God is some way.
(5) We see the distinction again in v.14 “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.”
(6) So, we see that in addition to God being singular, He is also plural. God has revealed Himself as Trinitarian: one God but dwelling in three persons.
d. Next week we’ll talk about the fellowship among the persons of the Trinity which is the source and foundation of our fellowship with God and with one another in the body of Christ.
B. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
1. Jesus participated in the creation. This is emphasized in the NT:
a. Hebrews 1:1–3a “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.”
b. Colossians 1:15–17 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Cf.1Cor.8:6.)
2. Whythis emphasis? Why, for instance, does John go out of his way to make this point?
a. To help us understand that Jesus is God
(1) We’re not dealing with an incidental character. We’re not even dealing with a mere monumental man. We’re not dealing with some lesser god. When we deal with Jesus, we’re dealing with someone who was with God before anything was created, meaning that He Himself was not created.
(2) When we deal with Jesus, we’re dealing with the Creator of the universe, the One through whom all things were made and the One who upholds the universe by the word of His power.
(3) This means that all things are His!
b. To highlight the strange and amazing fact that this creature is the Creator, that this Word which became flesh is the One who created flesh
C. 14 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.
1. “the Word became flesh” – Here is the incarnation: it’s talking about the baby Jesus.
2. “and dwelt among us” – The word for ‘dwelt’ here is the verbal from of the word tabernacle. It is a reference to God dwelling with His people in their journey through the wilderness when He lived in a tent like they did: a special tent called the Tabernacle. So, Jesus lived in our midst for the 33 years of His earthly life.
3. “we have seen his glory”
a. Even though Christ’s glory was veiled when He was here, His glory still burst out in certain ways.
b. The disciples saw it in His miracles, in His compassion, in the glory of His teaching. One time a few of them saw His glory on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt.17:1-2).
D. 9-13 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
1. The overall response to Jesus was negative. “He was in the world...yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own did not receive him.” (John 1:10-11)
2. But some did receive Him, some whom God had caused to be born again, born from above.
3. And to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.
III. Conclusion
A. In our culture today, man is very much at the center of things. It’s all about my fulfillment, my happiness, my dreams, my sense of what’s good.
1. The same thing, sadly, is true in much of the Christian church culture. Man is at the center. It’s all about our needs, our experience, our enjoyment.
B. And so, there is a scandal in Christmas.
1. The world can celebrate Christmas as a time for happiness and treats and getting along with one another and generosity.
2. What’s the part of the Bible’s Christmas story which the world has latched onto? Peace on earth. But that’s about as far as they are willing to go. Maybe they’re willing to think of a Jesus whose coming was all about making the world a better place.
C. But the fact is that Jesus isn’t willing to be just one player in the human drama.
1. I mean, the Son of God whose coming we celebrate at Christmas lived with God before the world was created. He is God. And everything in the universe was made through Him.
2. And He claims to be not only the source of all physical life, but the source of all spiritual life, of all eternal life.
a. John 1:4 “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
b. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
3. He claims that everyone who does not receive Him, who does not believe in Him, will eternally perish.
4. That little baby born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger was the Word who was in the beginning, the Word that was with God, and the Word that was God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. He is the light which shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. He is the Word which 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.