SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/28/2015
10:10 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The
Preexistence of the Word
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John 1:1-2
Message of the
verses: “1 In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the
beginning with God.”
John MacArthur writes “Arche (beginning) can mean ‘source or ‘origin’ (cf. Col. 1:18; Rev.
3:14); or ‘rule,’ ‘authority,’ ‘ruler,’ or ‘one in authority’ (Cf. Luke 12:11;
20:20; Rom. 8:38; 1 Cor. 15:24; Eph. 1:21; 3:10; 6:12; Col. 1:16; 2:10, 15;
Titus 3:1). Both of those connotations are
true of Christ, who is both the Creator of the universe (v. 3; Co. 1:16; Heb.
1:2) and its ruler (Col. 2:10; Eph. 1:20-22; Phil. 2:9-11). But arche
refers here to the ‘beginning’ of the universe depicted in Genesis 1:1.”
What are we saying here?
We are saying that Jesus Christ, the Word is not a created being, and that
He had already been in existence when the world was created because there has
never been a time when He was not in existence, for it was Him who created time
when He created the world and the rest of the universe. MacArthur adds: “The Logos [Word} did not then begin to be,
but at that point at which all else began to be, He already was. In the beginning, place it where you may, the
Word already existed. In other words,
the Logos is before time, eternal’ (This quote is from Marcus Dods commentary “The
Expositors’ Bible Commentary.
MacArthur writes the following on the word was: “The imperfect tense of the verb eimi (‘was’), describing continuing
action in the past, further reinforces the eternal preexistence of the
Word. It indicates that He was
continuously in existence before the beginning.
But even more significant is the use of eimi instead of ginomai (‘became’). The later term refers to things that come
into existence (cf. 1:3, 10, 12, 14).
Had John used ginomai, he
would have implied that the Word came into existence at the beginning along
with the rest of creation. But eimi stresses that the Word always
existed; there was never a point when He came into being.” Now to understand what was just written is
important when one of the cults comes knocking at your door and tells you that
Jesus Christ is not God, or that He was a created being.
When we look at the word, “Word” in the Greek it is “logos”
and this word is important to both the Greeks and also the Jews. You see the Greek philosophers believed that
it was “Logos,” and impersonal, abstract principle of reason and order which is
in the universe, unlike what we as believers believe, for we know that Jesus
Christ is the Word, and He certainly is not an impersonal abstract principle
who controls the universe.
Now we can look at different verses in the OT to show the
importance of this word to the Jews, for it is a significant Old Testament
theme. Some examples of this would be
when the Lord gave the Abrahamic covenant to Abraham in Genesis 15:1 “After
these things the word of
the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not fear, Abram, I
am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great." I did a search from my Online Bible program
with the words “the word of the LORD,” from the entire OT and came up with it
used some 239 times, so yes it was also important to the Jews.
To his Jewish readers John presented Jesus as the
incarnation of divine power and revelation.
It was Jesus who initiated the new covenant as seen in Luke 22:20, and
also in Heb. 9:15 and 12:24. It was
Jesus who instructs believers as seen in John 10:27 “"My sheep hear My
voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”
Jesus also unites them into a spiritual temple as seen in verses like 1
Cor. 3:16-17; 2 Cor. 6:16; and Ephesians 2:21.
It was and still is Jesus who reveals God to man as seen in John 1:18;
and John 14:7-9 “7 "If you had
known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and
have seen Him." 8 Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and
it is enough for us." 9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been so long with
you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how
can you say, ’Show us the Father’?”
Jesus also judges those who reject him as seen in John 3:18 and 5:22,
and He directs the church through those whom He has raised to give leadership
to it as seen in Ephesians 4:11-12; 1 Tim. 5:17; Titus 1:5; 1 Peter 5:1-3. Jesus is the agent of creation as seen in
John 1:3 and Col. 1:16 and Heb. 1:2, as well as being the inspired the
Scripture penned by the New Testament writers “26 “But the Helper, the Holy
Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and
bring to your remembrance all that I said to you (John 14:26) as we see in this
verse Jesus does this through the Holy Spirit which He sent. One more thing we need to look at and that is
the fact that Jesus Christ, the Word of God is God’s final word to mankind as
seen in the first two verses of the book of Hebrews: “1 God, after He spoke long ago to the
fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days
has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom
also He made the world.” We learned in
our last SD from the book of Revelation that God will punish those who add to
or who take away from His Word.
Warren Wiersbe writes the following on verses 1and 2 “Jesus
Christ is the eternal Word (vv. 1-2). He
existed in the beginning, not because He had a beginning as a creature, but
because He is eternal. He is God and He
was with God. ‘Before Abraham was, I am’ (John 8:58).”
We will continue looking at these two verses in our next
SD as there is much more to see from them.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Understand the
Greek a little bit better in these verses will help me if any of the cults come
knocking at my door.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Trust the Lord that He will continue to
help me prepare for the lesson I am to teach on Ezekiel 23-24 this coming
Wednesday. May what I teach bring glory
to His name.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “The tongue” (James 3:5).
Today’s Bible
question: “What did Jesus say was the
greatest display of love?”
Answer in our next SD.
11/28/2015 11:07 AM
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