Introducing Jesus

Confusion about the deity of Christ is inexcusable, because the biblical teaching regarding it is clear and unmistakable. Jesus Christ is the preexistent Word, who enjoys full face-to-face communion and divine life with the Father, and is Himself God. (John 1–11, 20)

As God, Jesus was not only present at creation, but he also was active in creation. He created “all things” (v. 3). John chose the specific term all things and used it to focus on each individual thing Jesus created. John could have phrased it in such a way that our eyes were drawn to the whole universe collectively—sort of like throwing open the warehouse and simply saying, “He made all of this.” However, John chose a word that looks at each created thing individually. Like opening the warehouse and taking us around on a tour and saying, “Look at this here. Check out that detail there.” Jesus Christ made everything from the largest whale to the smallest amoeba. From the sunflower seed to the redwood tree, from the beautiful sunset to the tiny lightning bug, Jesus Christ designed and created all of it (cf. Col 1:16). One day Jesus will be worshiped in heaven with the words, “Our Lord and God, you are worthy to receive glory and honor and power, because you have created all things, and by your will they exist and were created” (Rev 4:11).

John 1:4-5

Can you imagine someone asking the apostle John, “If this Jewish carpenter from Nazareth is really God, then why is he here? Why is he walking around as a man? What’s the point of all this?” John provides two grand and glorious answers: life and light (vv. 4-5).

Without Jesus we are dead in our sin (Eph 2:1-3). What’s it mean to be dead in sin? Death is fundamentally separation. At death the spiritual part of man—his soul—is separated from the physical part of man—his body. We feel this separation when we attend a funeral or a wake. We walk into the room, greet the family who are mourning over the separation that has taken place between them and the one they love, and then we walk to the front of the room and look into the coffin. In that coffin we see a shell. Though the body is still with us, the person—the part of that person that really makes her who she is, the part you can’t see—is no longer there. It’s gone. Her soul has been separated from her body, and all that remains is a decaying, worn-out husk with a bad makeup job.

If physical death is the separation of the soul from the body, then spiritual death is the separation of the soul from God. Physical death pictures the far more terrifying and sobering reality of spiritual death. Sin separates us from God! Right here and right now, our sin separates us from the sinless God of the universe. That separation is made permanent after physical death, when God, the just Judge, will punish sin with eternal separation from him in the horrors of hell.

Jesus came to give us life—to reconcile us with God, changing both our present condition and our future destination. How do you receive spiritual life? By placing your faith and trust in Jesus Christ (John 11:25). He will reconcile you with his Father. You will no longer be separated from God and cut off as an enemy but welcomed as a son or daughter. Your future is life forever in the glorious kingdom of God. Jesus Christ takes God’s judgment on your sin, and his victory over death and the grave become yours. Do you know what a Christian is?

Why did Jesus come to earth? Jesus came to call people from death to life—to a living, vibrant relationship with God—through faith in him. Those who believe he makes alive and gathers into a living community that bears the fruit of his life flowing through them. Together we demonstrate and declare his life.

Jesus brought life to the spiritually dead and light to the spiritually darkened (v. 5). Though a different metaphor it pictures the same truth. We have a great need we cannot meet. We need to be rescued from the domain of darkness, and we’re powerless to do anything about it. Jesus came to earth because only he could meet that need. We could never come to know what God desires and expects from us unless Jesus revealed it. We would be staggering about in the darkness of our own opinions if Jesus had not brought the light of God’s revelation. Hundreds of years before Jesus came, his coming was predicted with these words: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; a light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness” (Isa 9:2; emphasis added). When Jesus came, he said, “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8:12; emphasis added).

The gospel is the good news that you no longer have to wander about in the darkness and despair of sin, but you can enjoy the light of righteousness through Jesus Christ. John is not suggesting we need more religion. Jesus came into a very religious world—a world where the religious leaders had memorized lengthy portions of the Bible. Yet these men were in the darkness of sin. They stumbled about, attempting to please God through their own self-righteousness. Jesus offers light and life.

Throughout John’s Gospel we find an ongoing struggle between light and darkness. Jesus, the light of the world, is opposing and being opposed by those who are in darkness. Near the end of the Gospel, we discover how Jesus was betrayed by one of his own friends. He was arrested by the Roman soldiers and brought to trial. Before, during, and after his trial, he received cruel beatings, his back whipped so many times the blood flowed freely. To make the mockery worse, he was dressed in a purple robe, and a crown of thorns was brutally smashed into his scalp. A cross was thrown on his back, and he was forced to carry it up to a hill called Golgotha where he would be hung to die like a common criminal. After having his hands and feet nailed to the cross, his cross was lifted into place and there he died, despised by those he came to save. His corpse was taken down from the cross and placed in a cold, dark tomb.

If we were to stop reading after chapter 19, we could say to John, “John, you’re wrong. Jesus was not God. He did not bring life. We’re all doomed to death and darkness.” But there’s a chapter 20, and there we read about the most wonderful event to ever take place on this earth—the resurrection. After his death on the cross, Jesus did not stay buried because he is the life, and the life could not remain dead. He arose, conquering forever the sting of death and hell.

John describes this wonderful scene—this amazing resurrection—with this simple phrase: “That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it” (1:5). Look at these two verbs. John says “that light shines.” Shines is in the present tense. He’s saying, “The light is still shining in the darkness.” Now look at the next phrase: “The darkness did not overcome it.” Here John uses a verb that signifies a completed action: The darkness has done everything it could: it schemed and plotted, but it ran out of ideas. No matter what the darkness does, the light will still shine; it will not be overcome. What an awesome truth! Jesus Christ is still shining in this dark world. The light can still be seen.