The Self-Existence of the Word (John 1:3-4)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/2/2015 7:43 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  PT -2 of John 1:4-5

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  John 1:4-5

            Message of the verses:  “4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.  5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”

            John MacArthur entitles this section of verses 3-4 “The Self-Existence of the Word.”  We will look in today’s SD at some of the things that he says about these two verses, and I suppose that it will take a couple of days to get through this material.

            The first thing we want to understand from verses is that John is explain the incarnation.  Jesus Christ embodies both life and also the glorious eternal light of heaven, and He entered the darkness of sinful earth which was darkened by man, and these men would react in various ways when they saw the True Light who is also Life as John 14:6 tells us.

            John MacArthur writes “Zoe (life) refers to spiritual life as opposed to bios, which describes physical life (cf. John 2:16).  Here, as in 5:26, it refers primarily to Christ having life in Himself.  Theologians refer to that as aseity, or self-existence.  It is clear evidence of Christ’s deity, since only God is self-existent.”

            One of the most important fundamental realities of our faith is that God is life and He existed before the word was created by Him.  God is self-existent as He has life in Himself.  MacArthur writes “It is essential to understand that permanent, eternal, non-changing being or life is distinct from all that is becoming.  ‘Being’ is eternal and the source of life for what is ‘becoming.’  This is what distinguishes creatures from the Creator, us from God.”

            I have mentioned that there is a great attack on creation, and this is even going on in the church today.  This is attacked because if you get rid of creation then you get rid of the Creator and Satan is doing his best to do this.  If you get rid of the Creator then man can live as he wants to live and if you look around that is what you can see.  In the sad book of Judges we read from Judges 21:25 “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” 

            MacArthur goes on”  All creation receives its life from outside, form Him, but He derives His life from within Himself, depending on nothing for His life.  There was a point when the universe did not exist.  There was never a point when God did not exist.  He is self-existence, life, ‘I am who I am’ (Ex. 3:14).  He is from everlasting to everlasting.  Acts 17:28 rightly says: ‘In Him we live and move and exist.’  We cannot live or move or be without His life.  But He has always lived and moved and been.

            This is the purest ontological description of God—and to say Jesus is life is to say the most pure truth about the nature of God that He possesses.  And, as in verse 3, He then is the Creator.

            “While as Creator Jesus is the source of everything and everyone who lives, the word ‘life’ in John’s gospel always translates zoe, which John uses for spiritual or eternal life.  It is imparted by God’s sovereign grace (6:37, 39, 44, 65; cf. Eph. 2:8) to all those who believe savingly in Jesus Christ (1:12; 3:15 -1 6, 36; 6:40, 47; 20:31; cf. Acts 16:31; Rom. 10:9-10; 1 John 5:1, 11-13).  It was to impart spiritual life to sinners who ‘were dead in [their] trespasses and sins’ (Eph. 2:1) that Jesus came into the world (10:10 cf. 6:33).”

            Now in our next SD we will look at light, but we must realize that there is no difference between life and light as they are essentially the same, with the idea of light emphasizing the manifestation of the divine life. MacArthur adds “The life was the light is the same construction as ‘the Word was God’ (V. 1).  As God is not separate from the Word, but the same in essence, so life and light share the same essential properties.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I can say that I am so thankful for Jesus Christ coming to earth and then to pay for my sins and then for the Holy Spirit to impart His life to me when He called me in January of 1974. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to work through me as I present some things that He has taught me from Ezekiel 23-24 at our Men’s Bible study this morning.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Noah” (Genesis 6:13-14).

Today’s Bible question:  “Which book records men lapping water like dogs?”

Answer in our next SD.

12/2/2015 8:22 AM