IN THE BEGINNING
John 1:1-5
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
With these 3 sentences, John outlines a theology that is so audacious and impossible, it must have been revealed to him. Clearly he wanted to convey the divinity of Jesus but wanted us not to identify him as the man who walked on earth, but that the man who walked on earth was the Word became flesh.
While Genesis 1 tells us that God created the heavens and the earth, John tells us that the Word was responsible for the creation of all things. And before we think that John was talking about two Gods, he then made the astonishing revelation: the Word was with God and the Word was God. Both separate and the same.
While “in the beginning” in Genesis 1 speaks of the Creation of the universe of Man, John’s “in the beginning” is the beginning of a different story: the story of how the Word now comes to restore the light of Mankind; the story of the Redemption of Man and his universe. It is instructive that the Word is at the heart of both the stories because it tells us of the love and commitment of the Word towards his Creation.
In him was life and that life was the light of all mankind. But that light was snuffed out by the sin of Adam and mankind has been darkness ever since. Now the Word, who gave life to mankind in the first place, comes as Jesus, a man, to give his life for mankind.
If the first story reveals the glory of a God who created the wonders of heaven and earth and finally placed his image, his breath, his life, into his masterpiece, man, the second story reveals the glory of a God whose love and faithfulness brought him to become a man, Jesus, and ultimately to sacrifice himself in order that mankind may have life restored again.
This is God: Creator and Saviour. Let us bow in worship and adoration and praise.