John 1
DAILY DEVOTION
FOR
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14
SCRIPTURE: John 1
Well here we are starting a new book. This will be the fifth book that we have started since we began this journey of discipleship. As you can see, I have selected The Gospel According to John. I honestly was thinking about going into the Old Testament this time but settled on John’s Gospel. Once we make our way through this Gospel, I think we may take a dive into the Old Testament. Right now I am thinking we might tackle Genesis. But for now let’s start on trip through John.
John is a unique book. There are two key words in this book: believe and life. John wrote extensively that we might believe that Jesus is who He said He was and that we might have eternal life because of that belief.
John’s Gospel contains no account of the birth, baptism, or temptation of Jesus. As far as I can tell, John’s Gospel does not contain any reference to Jesus’ parables. But John does provide us accounts of things that the other Gospels don’t. He lets us see the ministry of Christ before John the Baptizer’s imprisonment. And he shows us five miracles that are not recorded in the other Gospels.
One other thing about this Gospel is most believe it was the last Gospel written, perhaps some 60 years after the resurrection. And many believe that John may have been close to 100 years old when he wrote it. So, this Gospel gives us a most unique look into the life of our Savior, Jesus.
As the Gospel opens, John takes us all the way back to the time before the beginning. Jesus here is referred to as the Word (Logos in the Greek which refers to the perfect expression of God). Verse 3 reminds us of the work of Jesus in the creation of the universe. Perhaps you are thinking that God created the universe. If you are, you are right. But remember how He did that. He spoke the universe and all of creation (except for humanity) into existence. In other words, He used words to create. Actually He used the Word to create. Therefore, Jesus was the agent of creation.
In verse 4 we find that in Jesus was life and that life was the light of men. An interesting thing about this light is that when you look at it in the original language, it does not refer to a light that suddenly appeared or came on. Instead it refers to a light that has always shined and is continuing to shine. In other words, Jesus has always been and will always be the light.
Verse 6 speaks of John the Baptizer as a witness to this light. So, this light has always shone. We now have a witness of this light and a witness to this light. But in verse 10 Jesus was rejected by the very ones He came to. As we saw on more than one occasion in Romans, we once again see that because the Jewish people as a nation rejected Jesus, an incredibly wider offer of salvation was made to others. And those who received Him, regardless of nationality or ethnicity, became children of God.
Because John started his Gospel account so far back in history (Think eternity past.), he has some ground to cover to get us up to speed on Jesus’ life and ministry on this earth. So, John quickly tells us about the ministry of John the Baptizer in verses 19-43. And the chapter ends up with the process of Jesus calling His disciples.
And we are off… on the journey of going through another book. Woo Hoo!