The Church of Eleven22 - Lent Devo Episode 2: The Miracle of the Logos

Episode Date: March 3, 2020

John 1:1-14

What is it? The Church of 1122 is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Welcome to our Lent podcast. Good morning, guys. My name is Todd Hickox, and I'm the Fleming Island campus pastor here at the Church of 1122. And this Lent season, we're working through some of the miracles of Jesus shared with us across the gospel accounts. We're looking at how each of these miracles. miracles points us to the greatest of all miracles, which is the resurrection of Jesus Christ

from the dead. And today, the miracle of Jesus that we're focusing on is found in John chapter 1 through 14. And I'd like to read that for you. Verse 1 says, in the beginning was the word. And the word was with God. And the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. all things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made in him was life and the life was the light of men the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it there was a man sent from god whose name was john he came as a witness to bear witness about the light and that all might believe through him he was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone,

was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only son from the Father, full of grace and truth. What we just read is an account or a description by John, one of the apostles who knew Jesus more intimately than any of the other disciples or the apostles. He described who Jesus is in a very poetic and intimate way. John's not considered a synoptic gospel.

That means it wasn't written or organized in the same way as the other gospels have been written. The reason is that John writes with a flowing language, almost like a song. When he describes Jesus here, he may not realize it, or maybe he does, that he's describing the miracle of the incarnation, God with us. there's so much here to unpack we could spend a series of podcasts and discussions just on these verses alone but i believe there are some key truths that we should walk away with today regarding this miracle in verse one you read in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god as we read this chapter we see that the word is given a name and his name is jesus but you cannot

look over this too quickly. The phrase that John, writing the good news of Jesus, uses to describe Jesus here is the word. He wants the reader to understand that Jesus is the very communication or expression of God, the logos. Jesus means savior, saving one, salvation. He's so much more than a thought. He is God's communication to us, the word. The word. The word is, is a person. We see that this person, this expression of God's salvation, was with God in the beginning, and that He was God. This is a foundational truth to Orthodox Christianity. Jesus is God. One God expressed here in these verses in two persons. It's also important to note, as you read in verse three, that all things were made through Him. Jesus was not created. He is the creator,

the unmoved mover, and the most incredible miracle takes place right out of the gate as John shares this gospel. Verse 14 says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. God became man. He clothed himself in human flesh and lived with us, sinners, depraved, wicked and wretched glory thieves, and he came to redeem us. He left the throne of glory where angels, surrounded and worshipped him, where majesty and glory are proclaimed and seen and known to come to a place where he would be rejected and beaten and killed. For us, this is a miracle. I believe there's another description of a great miracle that takes place here as a result of the incarnation. Read verse four and five again. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. He is described as light in this passage that comes into the world and the world didn't receive him. But those who do, get this, those who do, he gave the right to become children of God. His light drives out the darkness in our lives. He gives us a name. Jesus gives us the ability to call out to the God of the God of His life. universe as Father. And he gives us the ability to see. We walk in spiritual blindness when we enter this world. We were enemies of God, according to the book of Romans. But because of the love of God demonstrated in Christ, we have become children of God by grace through faith. And then when that

happens, we can see. This is a miracle. Because of the light, because of Jesus, the blind, me and you, we now see. And what is it that we see? Well, according to verse 14, we have seen his glory. Glory as of the only son of the father, full of grace and truth. John Piper says that he is the life and the light, the living power to see and the all satisfying splendor to be seen. I love that as we talk about this miracle and hone in on the

context, the place in which this miracle takes place is planet Earth. It's a miracle of cosmic significance. It's not relative to a particular place. It is the place. The earth, this planet that the Lord created, this world, this cosmos that he created was impacted by the incarnation, all men everywhere. But where the incarnate God of the universe first revealed himself was Israel, the nation that was in waiting. They were following the law of Moses, but drifted away from God. As a matter of fact, the last time the people heard from God was through the prophet Malachi, and it was a message about how their hearts had drifted away from him. Their worship was blemished, and he would not receive it anymore. Pretty hard words from the Father. He let them know there will be a messenger,

one like Elijah, to prepare the way of the Lord. And after this, silence. 400 years of nothing. And then a voice crying out in the wilderness after that 400 years of nothing. John the Baptist starts screaming. Prepare the way and repent. The apostle John mentions him here in verse 6 through 8. In Hebrews chapter 1, verse 1 through 3, it says this, long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophet. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds

the universe by the word of his power. The whole council of the word of God here gives glory to Jesus and the miracle of the incarnation. The question is then how does this miracle point us here today to the resurrection? Seemingly, the resurrection is the greatest miracle of all. The God of the universe, Jesus, comes out of the grave after satisfying the wrath of the father by dying my substitutionary death. He holds in his hand the keys to death, hell and grave, in all power, alive, accomplishing exactly what he came here to do.

You see, the miracle of the incarnation happened so the miracle of the resurrection could happen. Our passage says that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness is not overcome it. This speaks of the death and the resurrection of Christ. The darkness of death will never overcome the power of God in Christ. Verse 4 says, in him was life. John writes this on the other side of the resurrection, knowing that Jesus, has conquered death. He writes as an expression of faith and truth, knowing that Jesus lives. The resurrection gives the life that he came to give. John later writes, recalling the words of Jesus

and John 1010, I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. The only way Jesus gives us a true and abundant life is if he is living. And I say, with all assurance of faith in my heart, that he lives. Let's pray. Father, I want to thank you for letting us take some time today to take a look at your word and what it says in John 1 about how you are the word, about how you are the light and the life, and how you came to dwell among us. Jesus, I thank you for your obedience in that. I thank you that you came to rescue us. And so we celebrate that today. Lord, I thank you for the listeners that listen in. Right now, I pray that you would meet them where they are and remind them of who they are in you.

You have given us life. Father, if someone is listening to this that does not know you, I pray that they would surrender their life to you. I pray that you would give them the gift of faith in knowing who you are and give them the ruach, that breath of life that you came to give. But Lord, we rejoice in knowing you, and we rejoice in this truth that we can celebrate today, and we thank you for it. We pray all this in the name of Jesus.

Amen. Thanks for listening. Our prayer is that this podcast will help you deepen your relationship with Jesus. For more resources, go to C-O-E-22.com forward slash lent.