JOHN 1:1-14 St.

John lifts our sights from the manger in Bethlehem's stable to the heaven from which the Child in the manger comes. John moves us from the night of Jesus' birth to eternity. Jesus is the eternal Word, who was present with the Father. Jesus is the One who brought all created things into existence. Jesus is just as fully and completely God as the Father and the Holy Spirit. But the Word becomes flesh and dwells among us. He comes into the world, wrapped in flesh. World and flesh are often negative words in the Holy Scriptures. The world is the place where sin and death dwell. The world is filled with people who have rebelled against God. Flesh often refers to the sinful nature man has inherited from Adam. So, it's a breath taking marvel that God comes into the world. It's even more of a marvel that he comes in flesh. Of course, Jesus' flesh has no sin. Scripture makes that clear. But Jesus has come to bear our sin in his flesh. He who does not know sin has come to be sin for us, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. John takes us back to the very first page of the Bible. He consciously reminds us of that with his In the beginning, and with his discussion of light and darkness. Here we see the key that unlocks the Scriptures. Without the key, the Scriptures would remain for us a sealed book, sealed with seven seals. The key is Jesus Christ. He is foreshadowed and foretold in the Old Testament, and revealed in the New. The ancient church had a saying, The New is in the Old concealed; the Old is in the New revealed. Everything in the Scriptures centers in Jesus Christ. To reveal Christ to us, we need a preacher. This is how God ordained that the saving message of Jesus should be brought to us. Even Jesus had a preacher to come before him, to prepare the way. John the Baptist was a man sent from God. John himself was not Christ, the Light. John was sent as a witness. But John was important. Through him others came to believe. That's how God has willed that his Word should sound forth in the world that so desperately needs to repent and trust in Jesus. God has established the office of preacher, and the office of hearer. Just as the Word separated the light from the darkness on the first day of Creation, so also Jesus Christ, the light of the world, creates a separation between the light of faith and the darkness of unbelief. Jesus came to his own people, the Jews. No other nation in the history of the world had such spiritual advantages as did the Jewish people. They had 4,000 years of prophets and prophecies to prepare them for Jesus. But when Jesus came, the majority of them rejected him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. They remained in the darkness of unbelief. But still Christ had an effect on them. Christ always has an effect on people. No one can truly remain neutral toward Jesus. Either they will, by God's grace, by the Holy Spirit working through the Gospel, come out of the darkness of unbelief to the light of Jesus, or they will remain in the darkness because they love the darkness, which permits them to conceal their evil deeds. Christ divides humanity into only two groups: believers and unbelievers. So we are not surprised when the darkness strives against the light. We cherish our darkness, and press it to our hearts. Even though it kills us, it falsely comforts us. Our sinful flesh believes that if we can only keep our dark deeds concealed, we can hide them, even from God our Creator. If God doesnt see them, then we can continue doing them. But the bright Light of Christ does what we need the light to do. Christ exposes our dark deeds. He brings them into the light. But not so that he can condemn us, rather, so that he can bring us from

darkness into his wonderful light, just as he did when he, the Word, created the light and separated it from darkness in Genesis. Jesus does indeed preach the Law. Hes not the warm and fuzzy Jesus that so many want to make of him. He did indeed preach that unless we trust in him, we shall die in our sins. But he also brought the Gospel. In fact, he is the Good News. Jesus is the kingdom of God. Jesus suffered and died on a cross to pay for our sins with his own blood. He rose from the dead to assure us that our sins have been fully forgiven. He ascended into heaven to prepare a place for all who trust in him. God became incarnate. God took on human flesh and descended from heaven to this stinking sewer of that we call the world, so that we could go to heaven to live with him. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. Among us sinners, who are unworthy of his presence. But he made his dwelling among us. The Greek word John uses means he pitched his tent among us. In the Old Testament, God dwelt with his people during their desert wanderings in a tent called the tabernacle. As they traveled from one place to another, Gods light pillar of fire went with them, and his tabernacle was among them. But now, Jesus himself is with us, the one in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He is with us as we travel through this world as aliens and strangers on earth. He feeds us with his body and his blood, the same body and blood that laid in the manger of Bethlehem, the same body and blood that he offered on the cross, the same body and blood that rose from the Easter tomb, the same body and blood that rule the universe. Jesus glorified body and blood pass across our lips and enter bodies, filling us with eternal life. Our bodies also shall rise and be glorified. Our bodies also shall go to live where Jesus already lives and reigns forever.