“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not made any thing that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:1-4)
In the beginning
For many of us when we think about the person of Jesus we think about a first-century Jewish teacher, dressed in a robe, and wearing sandals. Though this isn’t false, and something we must keep in mind at all times, we must also understand that the story of Jesus does not begin at a manger surrounded by Mary, Joseph, and a few baffled shepherds. What we find in the Bible is that Jesus has always existed. Before light filled the sky, before the earth was populated with plants, birds, fish, and people, he was there. He was there in the beautiful union of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Though he did enter into the world at a specific time, and place, he didn’t begin there. He has always been, he always is, and always will be. He is God. It is this fact that makes all the other parts of this story make sense, and makes what Jesus came to do show a mercy and love that no one has ever known.
Through Him
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)
When we think about the person of Jesus that we read of in the Gospels (the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) we see a teacher, a healer, a shepherd, a friend, and ultimately a savior. What we also see is the maker of all creation living among what he has made. He walks in the fields of grain he designed, he boats across the vast blue waters he thought up, he walks and talks, laughs and cries with the people he lovingly called into existence. However, unlike the gods of Greece and Rome, he didn’t come to visit or get a better look. The world he had made was broken because of the desire of Adam and Eve to be gods (sin), and instead of bursting with life, it was dying. He came to this rebellious creation, but not in anger and wrath, but in love and an offering of recreation in his mercy. The love that created his world and his people would motivate his every word and action and would lead him to do the one thing that could fix the brokenness and death sin had created in his beautiful world.
He is the Light…He is the Life
Though we have no idea when it happened, somewhere in the first epoch of man’s life on earth, the perfect world that God had created fractured. When the world had first emerged from the lips of Jesus, it was in perfect harmony. God himself walked with Adam and Eve, Adam and Eve were in perfect unity with each other, and the rest of creation lived in peace. God had only one prohibition and that was to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Of all the life giving things that surrounded the first man and women this was the only “do not,” and yet when tempted by Satan as to what God’s command really meant, they doubted the goodness of the One who made them and broke the command. From that time on darkness and death entered the world, and the relationships that God had lovingly created were broken. In a moment of sorrow God had to cast Adam and Eve from the Garden. He could no longer allow them to remain in a relationship with him, not because his love had disappeared but because his holiness would bring judgement and that was not in his plan for them.
It was into this darkness and death that Jesus came. God came to be with us (Immanuel), he came into the world as one of us, and with a human body, a human heart, a humans capacity for pain, he came to set it all right. For thirty three years Jesus grew up and lived. He knew friendships, growing pains, loss of loved ones, temptation, and betrayal. He drank fully from the cup of our humanity, but instead of being dimmed by its brokenness he, light of God from light of God, burned brighter. He walked among the deadness that sin had caused and brought life. He took all things sin had caused, and as God, as life, as light he allowed himself to be murdered. He did this so that all the death the world knew and all the judgement that God’s holiness demanded would be applied on himself. And so on a Roman cross outside of Jerusalem, Jesus died and made a way for his people to be restored.
The darkness has not overcome it
On this hill, alone and broken Jesus’ body hung suspended between heaven
and earth on two pieces of wood. Though three nails pierced his hands and feet,
what held him to the cross was his love. He took on all the sin, brokenness, and
wrath humanity had or would create and dealt with it in a single place in a single
point of time. Within hours his body was taken down and buried by a couple of his
heart broken and devastated disciples. From Friday evening to Sunday morning his
body stayed shrouded in the tomb, silent and cold.
On that third day of his burial, on Sunday morning, something changed. The darkness
of the tomb was scattered by the Light of God. The maker of all life rose from the grave.
Death and sin had been taken on the cross, and now he stood victorious. Now the way
that had been destroyed when Adam and Eve had rebelled was open again. Jesus had
made a way back to God, because Jesus is the Way! And because of this he has ascended
back to the Father and has sent the Holy Spirit to us to dwell with us.
IS this more than a story?
If this were just a fairy tale story it would be amazing, but the amazing thing is this is
completely true. We all can sense the brokenness and death that surrounds our lives.
We try through endless means to escape this world or to fix our failures. We use drugs, technology,
relationships, and religion to break the gravity of this world, but it all fails. It fails because we have
been created for a very specific reason, and our worth, our life, has always only been found in God.
Jesus Christ came into the world, driven by his deep love for us, and died so that we could be given a
way to have a living relationship with God.
How can I have this relationship
The apostle Paul says, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
It’s that easy, its that hard. There are no crazy rights, no sacrifices that you have to make. Jesus did all of that for you. All he requires is for you to say that you will accept this gift of life and acknowledge him as God and king. At that moment all your sins will be taken, and all the death that threatens to destroy will be cast away, and in its place will be a life giving and healing relationship with the One who has loved you since before he said “Let there be light!”
If you have questions, or if you would like to have someone pray with you to accept the gift Jesus offers please call us at 405-759-3190