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The Eternal Resplendent Divine Word of God
John 1:1-14
In the evening service for the next year or so, we’ll be studying the Life of Christ. We’ll be studying it chronologically from his birth to his ascension to the right hand of the Father. And this hopefully will help us in our current care group Bible study - on the Gospel of Mark. And as we study the Life of Christ, most of what we’ll cover will deal with his humiliation - a term that describes his suffering on earth. But as Heidelberg Catechism 37 says, his whole life was suffering - “During all the time he lived on earth, but especially at the end, Christ bore in body and soul the wrath of God against the sin of the whole human race. Thus, by his suffering, as the only atoning sacrifice, he has redeemed our body and soul from everlasting damnation, and obtained for us the grace of God, righteousness, and eternal life.” It’s this life he lived - dealing with all the opposition against him; and the death he died - finally succumbing to his opposition - that gives us believers the complete merit and the full atonement we need to enter God’s presence. How can we have clean hands and pure hearts to ascend to the hill of the Lord? By trusting in Jesus. And as we consider his life, in all that he did - his healings, deliverances, and teachings - we see how much he suffered - the indignity and opposition - but not just from his enemies but also from his own friends - they denied him, but we even see it in the Godhead - how the Spirit led him to be tempted in the wilderness, and how his Father poured out his wrath on him at the end. But he humbled himself to save us. That’s why as we study his life, let’s grow deeper in love for him for what he’s done. And this humiliation was planned even before he was born. The savior that hanged on the cross, the boy at the temple, the baby that was placed in a manger - before any of that, he was, he is the eternal resplendent divine Word of God. And we shall see from John 1, 3 descriptions of his life; firstly, his identity, secondly, his ignominy, and thirdly, his potency.
Firstly, his identity. In his gospel, John would present Christ’s humiliation. And of all the gospels, his focuses most on the last fews days of Christ’s life - spending nearly half the book on it. But before he does that, he shows who Christ is in all of his glory. Who’s this man who suffered? Before he was ever born as a man, he was, he is the divine God, glorious and eternal in heaven. Verses 1-2 - “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.” We see his eternality and his divinity. Before Jesus was born, he was with God, because he was God. John doesn’t only say it once, but he emphasizes it - “the same (meaning Christ) was in the beginning with God.” And there are several things we learn about Christ. Before he was born, he existed since the beginning. Now we know Genesis speaks about the beginning of time. Genesis 1 - in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. That’s when time and space began. We know that the Lord Jesus was the God who created all things because verse 3 says, “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” But the beginning described in John 1 is not the beginning of time. It’s the beginning of no beginnings. Before the heavens and earth, God was already there at the beginning before that beginning. It’s an expression of timelessness - of eternality. God has no beginning. He’s always existed. And yes, for people who have a beginning and an end, we can’t quite grasp the concept of eternity past. But John doesn’t try to explain it - he simply says Christ existed before time began. And as God, he created space and time. He’s the Creator God.
But John uses a unique word to identify Christ. He’s the “Word”. This term doesn’t ring much of a bell for us today. But for John’s readers, it was a term of enormous significance. It’s no exaggeration to say that it was an “international” term with connotations rooted deep in the thinking of people. When they heard the term “Word” they almost immediately thought of God and God’s wisdom. People knew that God cannot be seen, but they all believed that God could be experienced through “the Word”. The word comes from the Greek word “logos.” And Greek philosophers used the word “logos” to describe the reason or answer to things. We all ask the question “why?” Why do I exist? Why does the universe exist? Why are things the way they are? But what’s the answer? What’s the reason? What’s the final “Word?” And the answer is God - he’s the universal divine answer. The Greek philosophers said that there’s an unchanging and eternal truth present from the time of creation; and the philosopher Heraclitus was the first to equate the word “logos” with a rational divine intelligence. He believed that the reason for all things was an eternal God. Sure, he didn’t have a perfect knowledge of who this God was, but he understood God was the reason for all things.
But it was also a Hebrew concept - a biblical concept. Before John spoke of the Word, God spoke about his wisdom. Notice the similarities. Proverbs 8:1,22-23 says, “Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?...The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.” So the Hebrews also asked the same questions - how can I know why I exist, why the universe exists, why things are the way they are? And they realized they needed wisdom. But wisdom is a personality. God himself. You want to know why? You need God. But this wasn’t just a Greek or Hebrew concept, it’s an international one. When it comes to the religions that have dominated China, there are three: Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. Of the three Philosophical Taoism is the most ancient. The founder was Lao Zi. He was born about 600 BC. He wrote the famous Dao De Jing, a small book of 5,000 words. There, he described the Dao, or the “way”. He wanted to know the reason for the way things are. What is the way to knowledge? What is the way to know why things exist? Why I exist? What’s going to happen to me? And this is what he said about the way - “It’s something mysteriously already made, existing before heaven and earth, in the silence and the void, standing alone and unchanging, ever present in constant motion. Perhaps he is the source of myriads of things, I do not know his name, call him Tao; for lack of a better word, I call Him “the Almighty.”” And in the Chinese Bible, the translators have rightly used the word “Dao” or way to translate the word “Logos.” Why? Christ is the reason for all things. If you know him, you know the way. Such profound statements by Lao Zi attracted Confucius, who was born in 551 BC. Confucius visited him in his old age to learn the mystery of the Dao. And Confucius humbly declared, “If I should know of the Tao in the morning, I am prepared to die in the evening”. Here, John is declaring Jesus to be that answer - the reason for why things are the way they are.
He says in verse 4 - “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” Why am I here? What’s the reason for my existence? Christ is the giver of your life. But what’s going to happen to me? Will I continue to live after I die? He can give you eternal life - in him was life. And if you have that life, you’re enlightened. John 5:24-26 says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.” Meaning, anyone who believes in him can have eternal life - God has given him that life to give to those that believe on him. That’s why he’s the light of man. The Bible says we’re dead in our trespasses and sin, which John describes as darkness.
Verse 5 - “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” Secondly we see his ignominy - his shame. Despite being the very Word, God himself from the beginning of no beginnings, who came to give life; our Lord was despised. This was his humiliation - his suffering and humbling. Though he was the eternal divine reason and he came to show mankind the way to eternal life, man in his sin didn’t understand him. Here we see several degrees of shame. Verse 9 tells us that he was the true light. He’s the only one that can give light to every man; and he came into the world. But the world knew him not, verse 10. Imagine that. He was in the world, the world was made by him, but the world knew him not. He was the creator, the creator came to his creatures, but his creatures refused to acknowledge him. Little children, it’s like your parents; they gave birth to you, they come to your school or to the playground to look for you, and you disregard them. The great God doesn’t deserve such treatment, but they shamed him. So not only did they not understand him, they didn’t see or acknowledge him as the eternal God. And we see that in many occasions in Jesus’ life. When he delivered people from demons, they said he had a devil. When he healed on the Sabbath, proving he was God himself - they took issue - saying he broke the law. Even his own family tried to prevent him from doing the work of God. So much so that he had to say - my true mothers and brothers are those who do the will of God. On two occasions, when he went to his own village, they rejected him, and even those who grew up with him tried to throw him off a cliff in order to stone him to death. And when he said - before Abraham was, I am - clearly identifying himself as God - the people hated him even more, despite backing it up with all his miracles. This was his humiliation.
But God even sent a man - John the Baptizer, verses 6-8 - to be a witness. To testify who Christ was so that all men would believe. So Christ as God had a forerunner - someone to prepare his way before sinful men. But despite all John said, all men through him did not believe. They comprehended not, verse 5; they knew him not, verse 10, and now verse 11 - “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” The Jewish people knew that a savior would come. It was prophesied. They were expecting it. When Jesus was born, 2 people at the temple were expecting him - God revealed that they’d see the consolation of Israel. Even the Magi came all the way from the east, in a great political entourage to worship him. But for the most part, Jesus wasn’t exactly what they expected. And that’s because they ignored some of the prophecies. They wanted a conquering king - but Jesus came first to be a suffering savior. And when he didn’t show himself to be that conquering king at the first, his own people rejected him. And the reason for that was because they were in darkness. They didn’t want a savior from their sins. And Jesus knew this. John 3:19 - “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” And Christ was sent to be the brunt of their evil deeds - that he’d be crucified. And this was planned from the beginning of no beginnings. So as we study the life of Christ, we shouldn’t be surprised at what happened. The world wouldn’t know him. His people wouldn’t receive him.
But verse 12 - “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” Thirdly, we see his potency. His power. Yes, Christ’s life on earth shows his humiliation - from powerful God to suffering servant. But it was by this means that he would save. This would be his glory. Christ at the cross would be his greatest humiliation, but there, he’d achieve his greatest victory - to save man from their sin - those who’d believe in him. But as many as receive him - those who understand, know, and receive him as the eternal divine answer, who believe in him as the light, they’ll be sons of God. They’ll have eternal life. This is his power. Not only to give eternal life, but he changes their hearts to believe in him. He converts them out of darkness into his light. Verse 13 - “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” They won’t receive, know, or understand him - the will of man won’t allow it - but he gives them new life. And we see how. Verse 14 - “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
We learn that he became our priest - our mediator. This Divine Word became flesh. Man is in darkness, he won’t come to God. So God became man, to reconcile man to himself. This is why the Lord had to offer a sacrifice for our sins. This is why he was born - to demonstrate the grace of God in salvation - by showing the mercy of God in his healing and ultimately by offering himself a sacrifice, because none other would do. His healing pointed to the ultimate healing he would give - body and soul. And this could only be achieved through his sacrifice. All the other sacrifices by priests couldn’t save - they were only ceremonial. They couldn’t atone. Clearly we learn from Hebrews that the blood of goats and bulls cannot wash away sins. So his whole life, especially at the end, was lived in suffering, to be an atonement. But how would he do this? He’d have to upset the darkness around him.
And he did this by teaching the truth. He was prophet. He was the Word of God. He told people to repent and believe. He corrected the Pharisees and rebuked their traditions and doctrines of men. He upset the Liberals who aligned themselves politically when he said they didn’t belong to his spiritual kingdom. He upset the Conservatives who were proud of their law-keeping, saying they dismissed God’s law by keeping their law. Why? Because as prophet, he’d speak the truth. He taught people how to be righteous. He was not only full of grace, but full of grace and truth. Jesus is where mercy and righteousness, as we sang earlier in Psalm 85, meet. You break the law, you die. But God offers grace in salvation through faith.
And who can save in such a manner but an eternal resplendent divine king? “…(and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,)…” Christ laid aside his glory as God to be born as a man. But once in his earthly life, his disciples caught a glimpse of that glory on the Mount of Transfiguration - when God declared from heaven - this is my beloved Son, in whom I am pleased - listen to him! While many people were no longer following him - because his teaching was too difficult - Peter confessed that he was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And there at the Mount, God confirmed it. While he was accompanied by Moses and Elijah - prophets of the Old Testament - God tells us to listen to him. More powerful than the prophets is the Son. He’s the Son - the heir, the king of all things.
That’s why as we go through the Life of Christ in our evening service, we know his glory from John 1. That he’s the Word of God, eternal and resplendent, existing since the beginning of no beginnings, uncreated, together with his Father, as God. But as we see his life of humiliation - all of his suffering and weakness - we see this glory as well. That God would become a man, to teach us the good news of salvation and to die on the cross for us. To live the life that was planned for him, that at every turn, he’d be rejected, misunderstood, and denied. For those of us who have received him, all of his life is glorious. May we love him more. And for those who don’t know him yet, if you know him, you will be prepared to die. Amen.
1. His Identity
2. His Ignominy
3. His Potency
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Rev. Mark Chen, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
(c) Copyright 2025, Rev. Mark Chen
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