John 1:1-2 – John’s Genealogy of Jesus

 

Summary:

While Luke traces the Lord’s human genealogy back to Adam (Luke 3:38), John traces the Lord’s divine genealogy back to “the beginning” (John 1:1). John is purposely recalling the words of Genesis 1:1 here to let us know that the Lord’s origins go back to eternity past. He is “Alpha and Omega” (Rev.1:8; 1:11; 21:6; 22:13), the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. In other words, He was there in the beginning, and He’ll be there in the end!

But why does John call Him “the Word”? Well, the Lord has many names in Scripture, and all are needed to express who He is. But “the Word” reminds us that He is the expression of who the Father is, for just as our words express who we are, so Christ expresses who the Father is.

But He does more than express who the Father is. Just as He is the Word of God, He is also “the word of life” (IJohn 1:1), and so expresses what eternal life is. Eternal life is more than living forever, it is holiness, it is serving God, and living for others. The Lord expressed all of those things during His life here on earth, and so was called “the word of life.” Notice that John then follows this statement by saying that he and his fellow witnesses of Christ “shew unto you that eternal life” (1:2), i.e., they too showed what eternal life should be in their holiness, their service for God and how they lived for others. We should too!

The Lord is also called “the Word” in I John 5:7, where we learn He is “one” with the Father and the Spirit. Satan has cast a doubt on the canonicity of this verse, but the truth of the trinity is substantiated in many other verses. After Adam sinned, God said, “the man has become as one of us” (Gen.1:22). At the tower of Babel, God said, “Let us go down, and there confound their language” (Gen.11:6). The seraphim cry “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord” (Isa.6:3). Isaiah then “heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” (6:8). Finally, each member of the Trinity is said to have raised Christ from the dead (Acts 4:10; Rom.8:11; John 10:18), and this could only be true if the three are one! The reason Satan challenges I John 5:7 is because he does not want men to believe God is a trinity, for man was made a trinity in His image (Gen.1:26). If he can get men to doubt that God is a trinity, then maybe man is not a trinity. That would mean that when man dies, his soul and spirit do not live on to be judged—and Satan would love for men to believe that!

John declared that they had “seen” and “heard” and “handled” the Word (IJohn1:1); in other words, they knew the Word after the flesh. But our apostle Paul says that “though we have known Christ after the flesh” in the four gospel records of His life, “yet now henceforth know we Him no more” after the flesh (IICor.5:16). If you are thinking it is not as good to know Him this way, think again! Every time the apostles asked the living Word the same question, He gave the same answer, and every time we ask the Word of God the same question, we get the same answer! You could even argue that what we have is better, since they probably wouldn’t dare wake the Lord at 3 a.m. to ask Him a question, but I have learned many things from God’s Word at 3 a.m.!

Next John establishes that the Lord was a separate person from the Father when he declares “the Word was with God” (John 1:1). Some say God created man because He was lonely, but God enjoyed His own fellowship in eternity past, and created man for His own “pleasure” (Rev.4:11).

After establishing that the Lord was “with God” and so separate and distinct from God, John then goes on to insist on His oneness with God when he declares that “the Word was God” (John1:1; cf. 10:30). Once Thomas beheld his resurrected Lord’s wounds, he gasped, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). He was the great Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14), which being interpreted means “God with us” (Mt.1:23). How else could Isaiah say that “a child is born” (Isaiah 9:6), and then say that “His name shall be called… The mighty God, the everlasting Father”?

Further proof of the Good Shepherd’s deity is seen in Isaiah 40, where it says of Christ that “the Lord God will come” (v.10) and “feed His flock like a shepherd” (v.11).

Rescued!

I am sure we have all stood breathless as we have watched rescue efforts being undertaken by daring men.  One of the more memorable rescues of late has been that of little Jessica McClure from a well shaft in Texas.  Jessica had accidentally fallen into an abandoned well shaft and was trapped for two and one-half days without food or water.  With her fragile life hanging in the balance, rescue workers labored tirelessly around the clock to free that precious little soul from danger.  The heroic efforts of those men and women will be remembered for many years to come.  After all, they saved a life.

Another rescue effort that is above all others and deserves our special attention is when God rescued us from the depths of iniquity.  Ever since the Fall all of us have staggered under the terrible penalty of sin; sin, that would have sunk a world to the blackness of hell forever.  But, while we were under the sentence of condemnation God undertook the greatest rescue effort this world has ever known.

THE BLOOD OF CHRIST

“In whom we have redemption through His blood…” (Eph. 1:7).

It is important to notice Paul’s emphasis here on the person of Christ as he uses phrases such as “In Whom” and “His blood.”  Why did God send His only begotten Son to redeem us?  Why didn’t He call on someone from the human race?  You see, one from the human race could never save us because sin has condemned the entire race.  The testimony of Scripture is true, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).  I could not possibly die for your sins, because I have sins of my own that placed me under the sentence of death.  I could not redeem you nor could you redeem me, because we are all in the same boat and it is sinking from the weight of our iniquity.

Understanding that the “wages of sin is death,” we conclude that death had absolutely no claims on Christ.  But who is this hanging on the Cross writhing in the agony of pain?  Why, it is the form of one dying, whose visage is marred beyond recognition—dying for us!  To our amazement, it is God’s only begotten Son!  But this cannot be.  He knew no sin; death cannot claim this Holy One of God!  True, except for the fact that He was not dying for His own sins, but rather, for our transgressions.  Our sins were transferred to Christ and the wrath of God fell upon His Son who voluntarily died our death.

So then, we have redemption through Christ’s shed blood.  Spiritually speaking, His precious blood cleanses us from the disease of sin that plagues us.  Christ was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

HOW TO BE SAVED

Have you submitted yourself to God’s wonderful rescue operation?  Dear sinner friend, won’t you come to Calvary?  It was there that God reconciled the world to Himself.  In His infinite love He provided a plan of salvation based on the precious shed blood of His Son.  Please bear in mind that, “you must come to Christ in God’s way!”  He will not accept your good works, church membership, baptism or confirmation.  If these things could save us, then Christ died in vain.  It was because these things were not acceptable in themselves that God sent His Son to earth to die for the sins of the world.

Lay hold of the Savior, for only He can rescue you from eternal condemnation and bring you safely to the shores of eternal life.  Simply believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that He died for your sins, was buried and rose again the third day (I Cor. 15:1-4).

Do you have questions about your salvation?  Contact us using our Ask A Question page and we would love to share with you more about what God’s Word has to say.

This article is also available as a tract from our bookstore.

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.


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Berean Searchlight – September 2015


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