In The Beginning

by Justin Brown
(Berkeley, CA)

Text: John 1:1-4

INTRODUCTION:

Each gospel account gives us a portrait of Jesus Christ, His mission and His ministry. Each are different in style, length, and emphasis but all have a common purpose and that purpose is proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ.

The Gospel of Matthew begins with the genealogy (or the book of ancestry) of Christ, Luke begins with the announcement of his birth and Mark proclaims that Jesus is The Christ, the eternal Son of God. But John, unlike the other Gospel accounts, through the power of the Holy Spirit, reveals to us that before time, before creation, Jesus was there in the beginning.

Looking at the text, it says, “1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In order for Jesus to be in the beginning, He had to be eternal and in order for Him to be eternal, He has to be God. And in order to know who Jesus is, we have to know who God is.

The bible says in Deuteronomy. 6:4: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord.” There is only ONE God. One God, three persons. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Mark 1:1: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus is the eternal Son of God the Father.

Which brings me to my first point of the relationships of Jesus:

I. JESUS’ RELATIONSHIP WITH THE FATHER

JOHN 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
As said earlier, in order for Jesus to be eternal, He has to be God. Paul writes in Philippians 2:6: “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.”

Which means Jesus is co-equal with God, thus they have the same attributes or essential characteristics. The word essential means noting or containing an essence of; and the word characteristic means a distinguishing quality or feature denoting attributes. So, the first essential characteristic we have is

A) THE AUTHORITY: John chapter 5 describes the Authority of the Son.

B)The second essential characteristic is the OMNISCIENCE of God.
Matt 10:30
(Also, Jesus tell Peter that he'll deny him 3x before the rooster crows)

Isn’t it amazing that even when people were against Him, even to the point of death, Jesus still chose to die for us? Despite all our faults, all our shortcomings and our righteousness being as filthy rags, because of God’s unconditional love for us, and knowing that we are messed up, He chose to die on the cross for our sins.

Isaiah 53:5: “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.”

One great statement that I read by a man named Adam Clarke, said, “A proper consideration of God’s omniscience is of the utmost advantage to every genuine Christian.” That makes me feel good to know that even when a situation seems bad, I know that His word reassures me everything is going to be alright. For His word says Rom 8:28: And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

C) OMNIPOTENCE or all power. God is ALL powerful and there’s nothing that He cannot do. Remember when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead? Over in John 11, this is a powerful, powerful scene that displays all three of His essential characteristics at once, His authority, His omniscience and His omnipotence.

Raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus knew he was very ill and purposely waited to return to Bethany, so that He may show the glory of God. Whatever act Jesus did, it was never out of selfishness for or of himself, instead, it was always done with humility and with purpose to make sure that He glorified His Father in Heaven. Brothers and sisters, whatever is it that we are doing, are we making sure that our actions are glorifying God?

John 11:40-
we see that not only does Jesus have the same attributes as God being co-equal with Him, and co-ownership, we also see that Jesus has power over life and death AND creation.

II. JESUS' RELATIONSHIP WITH CREATION

John 1:3: All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made.

A)HE CREATED ALL THINGS - ALL THINGS were made by HIM and without HIM was not ANYTHING made that was made – which simply means because He made everything, He’s owns everything. And because He owns everything that He created, He has control over it.

B)He CONTROLS ALL THINGS!
If Jesus is your Lord and ruler of your lives, then whatever Jesus says, there’s nothing anyone or anything can do to stop it from coming to pass. Just trust Him at His word.

III. JESUS' RELATIONSHIP WITH MANKIND

John 1:4: “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

A) He is the life = John 14:6
B) He is the light of men, He is the redeemer- John 3:16:
C) He is the propitiation – Ephesians 1:4-5

He was the ultimate sacrifice/atonement for our sins- because man is so wicked, as apart of God’s perfect plan since the beginning, He demanded a perfect sacrifice, without blemish, without fault, that Jesus should die and shed His perfect blood for our wretched sins, so that we might have salvation and spend eternal glory with God the father.

Paul says, in Col 1:20-22: And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be thing in earth or things Heaven – And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. and it was in the beginning... In the beginning that God commended His love for us so that we might be redeemed and spend eternity with Him.
Amen.