Introduction
Motifs
Genesis language:
motifs, words are clue to Divinity – “In the beginning God …”, “In the
beginning was the Word, …”
“Proof”
Language of Law Courts
compared with Mathematics and Logic: A witness gives testimony under oath
before men of first-hand knowledge of an event in history or a fact to be
established. God in his wisdom,
has chosen the language and the method by which the proof of the Gospel is
established before men in every century: listening to and reading the accounts
of witnesses, the people who are actually there on the spot.
Incarnation (John 1:1-18)
Divinity Revealed
This Word who was
with God in the beginning, who was God, who made all things, and without whom
was not anything made that has been made … this Word of eternity entered human
history, pitched his tent amongst us, was witnessed, touched, heard and known -
Jesus of Nazareth, the person of history, is the God of eternity. No other religion
can claim this.
Glory
For when the Word
became flesh, the writer John said: we have seen his glory: his splendor, his magnificence.
And it was full of grace and truth. The glory of God is seen in his goodness
that is revealed particularly in his Name (Exodus 33:19; 34:6-7). The goodness of God’s
Name, Yahweh’s name, declares him to be who he is, overflowing with grace and
truth.
Full of Grace & Truth
These two key words occur
repeatedly through the Scriptures about God and summarized the twin explanation
of his name, his character and the meaning of who he is. The key words are translated
“faith” and “love”, or “truth” and “grace”, or “mercy”.
God is abounding in
faithfulness: reliability, steadfastness, trustworthiness. Different to the
Greek, Canaanite or Asian gods – who were very changeable, unreliable, temperamental,
moody – always have to keep on the right side of them. Problem is never know
which is the right side.
Grace is being given
something we don’t deserve. Our eyewitnesses of history telling us Divinity has
entered the world, full of grace – to give us something we do not deserve, we
could never earn, we cannot achieve for ourselves – reconciliation, friendship
with our Creator. Unlike the other gods of the ancient world, God is loving and
merciful, gracious, generous and kind. Giving is the nature of the love of God. However, God has unparalleled
righteousness. But his mercy is even greater. He doesn’t ignore corruption and
evil. He doesn’t permanently overlook sin and wickedness, but he pardons
sinfulness and forgives people by demanding and then providing the due
punishment for their evil.
Authentic
Witness (Jn 1:19-51)
Messenger
Jesus takes the great
needs of the human race and summarizes them in a sentence like light or bread
of life or resurrection and life, and simply says “I am that”. John the
Baptist says I can’t tell you who Jesus is unless I tell you who John wasn’t.
Christ is the “I am”.
John is the “I am not”.
John the Baptist refers
to Isaiah 40:3-5 and says: “That’s all about me.” I am the voice.
“A voice without a message is meaningless.” “I’m a voice but the message does not belong
to me.”
Perpetual
significance: a danger in the church, in all ages, to exalt man. Cathedral is the
place where the cathedra is – Greek for
a seat. What is being enthroned, or put on a seat, is the message, not the man. We must never exalt
man into a position where their authority is something we must bow to. There is
only one authority Christians bow to: the authority of Christ. True ministry is
where Christ alone exalted and every man brought down.
Incognito
One great theme throughout
the Gospel (John 1:10): this Messiah was in the world, the world was made through
him – he was the world’s creator – and the world did not “know him”, recognize
him. God Incognito (Isaiah 1:2,3). John the Baptist’s
testimony: the Jews had been prepared for 2,000 years, they had the Temple and
the synagogues, the Pharisees, the priests – all these, and yet when the Son of
God came, they did not know him.
Identified
John the Baptist came
to Israel, and seeing Jesus, said: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the
sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Calling upon the people to repent, turn around, away from
their sinfulness, to prepare the people for the coming of the Lord, speaking of
the forgiveness of sins.
But it was in the
Cross, in particular, that we can see his glory. For there he was truthful,
faithful, trustworthy – faithful to his Father, faithful to the prophets’
words, faithful to his own teaching, faithful even unto death. As the only Son of
the Father, he brings not his own glory, but that of his Father’s. He came to
do his Father’s will, to teach his Father’s teaching, to bring glory to his
Father. He perfectly represents the Father – the Word was with God, the Word
was God and the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us (John 1:14).
No comments:
Post a Comment