Devotional
Daily Bible
1-5 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 nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
11-12 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
14 And the Word became 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.
The essence of John's gospel is found in these few verses. He wrote specifically to show that Jesus was the Son of God. The answer is found here, while the explaination is found within the book using a number of illustrations (often numbering seven). Here we see that Jesus was before the foundation of the world - he was deity, and the world's creator (see also Colossians 1). Thus he was God (not a god, as some would have it) - the evidence is that Jesus was the Word of God (v1 & 14) who became flesh. He left his heavenly abode and has manifested the glory of God by revealing two things about God the Father: His grace and His truth. We see and hear God the Father through the words of Jesus. The word of God personified in Jesus is His divine self-revelation. We see the character and qualities of the Father expressed through Jesus (If have seen me, you have seen the Father John 14:9). Thus we are assured, that although Jesus was distict from God, he was fully God (John 10:30).
See also: Thomas L Constable, Notes of John, 2025. See < https://www.bibleportal.com/commentary/expository-notes-of-dr-thomas-constable >
O LORD, we adore Thee,
For Thou art the slain One
That livest for ever,
Enthroned in heaven;
O Lord, we adore Thee,
For Thou hast redeemed us;
Our title to glory
We read in Thy blood.
O God, we acknowledge
Thy greatness, Thy glory,
For of Thee are all things
On earth and in heaven;
How rich is Thy mercy,
How great Thy salvation!
We bless Thee, we praise Thee,
Amen, and Amen.
Colossians 1:15-20 brings into sharp focus the creator, who made Adam from the dust of the earth in the image of God, and who was set over the creation. However, Satan deceived man, and man’s sin corrupted the world and all creation. It is apparent that creation, comprehends this, but not humans, in that Romans 8:22 states “For we know that the whole creation groans and labours with birth pangs together until now.” Sin has set the path of creation for the past 6000 years but it waits with anticipation: because “creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).
In these few verses in Colossians we see God as the supreme Godhead, who dwells in such bright light no man can see him, else he would die. However, we have an image of God himself, in the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom Adam was a figure of what was to come. This one is the Lord Jesus Christ, although this title is not afforded him in this passage. So we see Christ the creator takes part in his own creation, sadly destroyed by the sinfulness of man.
The existence of all things on earth and in the heavens, whether we can see them or not, the dominions of power exist because of him; he created them to the glory of God. Mankind cannot comprehend this – he spends much time and energy devising fables to intimate the existence of creation arose from nothing in the absence of the glorious Excellency of God. They cannot acknowledge Him because they are blind and evil sinners, alienated from the Godhead.
However, there exists a microcosm of people brought out of the corrupted world, washed from their sin that separated them from God, into a body called the church, which Christ is the head. Hence from the fallen creation, which Satan corrupted and the world who Satan currently rules for a time, Christ has gathered to himself a small remnant to carry out what men and women should have done from the being – glorify His name. We do that by giving pre-eminence to Christ in his creation; his due as being the creator of the wonderful and complex universe the earth resides in.
To arrive at this condition, Christ, the image of the invisible God, entered creation to reconcile all things to himself. And this could only be done by death – evidenced by blood that flowed from the body of Christ on the cross, who died at the hands of evil men, but who overcame death and rose again three days later. In doing so, he reconciled, those that were alienated and enemies of the works of God. Much of the world’s seven billion people reject this reconciliation and these will be brought to account due to their wickedness in doing so. The sin of rejecting the preeminent one is the greatest sin of all, and leads to the Lord God Most High utilising hell, which was made for Satan and his angels, for people.
