In any relationship, the first step is getting to know each other. Friendships are based upon trust … the decision, after getting to know someone, that you are willing to believe in them and give yourself to them.
There are foundational passages in the Bible that must be understood. Genesis begins with, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). God knew that our understanding of Him must begin with this thought that forever establishes His sovereignty over all that is.
John the Apostle begins his letter with a similar, seminal statement about Jesus. In one paragraph, he tells us the most foundational things about the Son of God—things that should lead us to believe.
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 came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (John 1:1-5)
JESUS IS THE WORD
He is the living, breathing expression of God. Just as the Bible is “God-breathed” and comes straight from God, so is Christ. John goes on to define this further.
“He was with God”
Jesus was always united to God. There is nothing God has done nor experienced that Jesus has not been involved in. From eternity based, Jesus was always with God.
“He was God”
God is one Divine Entity with three parts: Father, Son, and Spirit. There is a great mystery to us, but it is unmistakably stated in the Scripture. Jesus IS God. In the first breath, Jesus establishes the deity of Christ forever. Jesus and the Father are one.
“He was in the beginning with God.”
Since Jesus is with God and is God, then it follows that He has been with God from the very beginning of all things. The earthly ministry that John is about to chronicle in 21 chapters did not begin with Jesus’ birth. Christ is God, and He has always been. That’s why His willingness to leave heaven and inhabit the body of a young virgin mother and live as a man for 33 years is the highest humility and greatest gift to mankind.
JESUS IS THE CREATOR
Because Jesus is God and has always been with God, what was stated in Genesis 1:1 is also true of Jesus. The stark simplicity of how God says this to us through John, cannot be misunderstood.
“All things came into being through Him”
This forever establishes Jesus’ sovereignty and authority. He was not made. He is God. And everything that is in this universe came into being through Jesus. That includes me and you and everything around us.
“Apart from Him, nothing came into being that has come into being.”
John reiterates this in the negative to make sure we understand. There is nothing in this world that has ever been or ever will be that Christ did not create. There are things—even evil things—that men have created, but they made them from the resources that Christ created. Man has, in his sinfulness, perverted the use of many of the beautiful things Jesus has made.
If He made you, He has a right to do with what He made, whatever He desires. If you made a bowl of clay and water, you have the right to destroy it or harden it in a kiln for future use. It is yours. But we must remember that the clay, the bowl, and even the potter in this illustration were all made by God. He has the ultimate authority over everything, for it was made for Him and by Him.
JESUS IS THE LIFE
A rock has no inherent life. But all living things have their origin in one source: Jesus. Every bird, flower, and tree, man and woman, and boy and girl, have their physical, mental, and emotional life from Jesus. In Him, we “live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).
Because of Adam’s rebellion in the Garden, we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We have lost our spiritual connection to the Divine, to the Life of God, and are “dead in our trespasses and sin.” Jesus came because He IS life and He came to reconnect us and give us life. This is why John would later say this:
And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. (1 John 5:11-12)
JESUS IS THE LIGHT
Jesus entered into the world that needed to see. In our sin, we are in total darkness. His brilliant life shines in human history like the sun in the midst of an originally and utterly dark day. When such a Light comes, it is unmistakable. He shed Light on everything.
But tragically, many men have chosen to live in darkness, rejecting Christ. This is the foundational explanation of our world. Every ounce of darkness springs from men rejecting the light of Christ. Their rejection springs from pride and an unwillingness to bow before the One who made them and came to restore them.
One paragraph. One Divine explanation of the Son of God, the Savior who came into this world and stands before You. The Word, the Creator, the Life, the Light. The One who invites you to be one with Him for all of eternity and be restored to the glory of God. He came to bring you back to your original design and glorious purpose.
Knowing this, why would we ever walk away from a friend like Jesus?
