Thought for Wednesday, 30 November 2022

John 1:12-13

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—

children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

The beginning of John's Gospel is like a creation story, this is actually what it is. The coming redemption is a return to the beginning of creation. You could say that God is on His way back to the first page of the Bible, right across the history of the world.

John emphasizes the Word of God. It was there from the beginning, before creation. God inhabits an inaccessible light, He is so great and powerful that even heaven cannot contain Him (1 Kings 8:27). And when God manifests Himself, He does so through His Word. All things came into being through the Word of God, we read. When we speak of the Word of God, we must not think merely of sounds and words. God Himself is present in His Word.

Paul tells us that through His Son, God created everything (Col. 1:17). The letter to the Hebrews says that the Son is the expression of God's being and the reflection of His glory and that God created the world through Him.

We are told in God’s word what we are to do, as clearly as if He has spoken aloud to us, as indeed He has. God made His Son living, breathing flesh when He sent Jesus to live as a man, so the people of the day could hear the very real words of God spoken out loud. Those people who heard were then able to pass the words down and around everyone else they met so that there is no excuse, even to this day, for us to be able to say we have never heard the word of God.

The only real excuse is for those who are depending on us to tell them the truth about God and His Son, if we feel too awkward or embarrassed to speak about the love that ensures our eternal lives, they will never hear the word of God. Thanks be to God that Jesus was not embarrassed to share the news, or we would all still be in ignorance of the salvation bought so expensively on the cross.

The redemption of which his Gospel speaks will mean a new creation, not too unlike The Garden of Eden. And the Jesus he speaks of is more than a special man. He is really God's Word, God's Son made man.

When Jesus rose from the tomb, we were validated, through the resurrection, to become children of the living God. I think this is the reason the Book of John opens in this way.

 

 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your Word, who became flesh. He is Your beloved Son, sent so that we could receive Your word in person. We know that we should be spreading this knowledge to everybody who does not yet know Jesus for themselves, those who have never heard Your word spoken aloud. Give us, please, the boldness to speak out with the voices You gave us. Give the words to use as You gave to the disciples when they needed them. Help us also to pray, not only for those in our own social circle but in every circle that needs Your word. We ask in Jesus’ name, amen.

Father in Heaven, many of the things we read in the Bible are too high and too deep for us. We do not understand everything. But we give thanks that You are faithful to what You once started. Your beautiful creation is