Our thoughts turn to Christmas this season, and we want to think fresh about Jesus’ birth and His coming down to live with us. He is Immanuel, “God with us,” fully God and fully man, one Person in two natures. He is Israel’s promised Messiah and the hope of all the nations. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Is He your Lord and Savior this Christmas?
John introduces us to Jesus by going back “in the beginning” in John 1. “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 any thing made that was made.” This takes us to Genesis, where we learn, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Jesus didn’t just show up in Bethlehem one day, but He always existed. He was with God and He was God, in the beginning with God. And John links Him back to Genesis through creation: “And all things were made through Him; nothing was made without Him or apart from Him.” These are big thoughts. Jesus is a big, eternal, creating God.
John also calls Jesus, “the Word.” Why? He could have called Him so many other things, but he says He is, “the Word” and “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.” This also refers back to Genesis: “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” John is clearly tying Jesus back to creation, giving us a wider view of what God spoke and life and light. He is expanding our thoughts as to who Jesus is.
John also wants us to think about a few more things concerning Jesus. “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. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” Jesus is glory, grace, and truth, the only Son from the Father. We don’t see much glory, grace, or truth in today’s world. Christmas is a time when we can stop, see, remember, and reflect on His glory, grace, and truth. How do these aspects of Jesus work in your life this Christmas?