John on Jesus

  A “Word” from the Pastor…

  “John on Jesus"
                                                   
 Good afternoon and welcome to The House of Good News, the biggest little church in the city.  If you happen to be an enthusiast for the word of God, you might consider taking a trip to Vegas after church because your winning streak just began.  Now, if the word of God is not the engine that drives you, then perhaps a drive to Vegas may be a nice substitute.

We have been captivated by the epistle of I John for the past few weeks.  John is unique among the apostles because he is the only one who died a natural death.  Historians place his age at at the time of his death at around 97 years.  He was, however, exiled to a volcanic island called Patmos because of the word of God and his testimony of Jesus Christ.  He refers to himself as "the one whom Jesus loved."  Jesus loved all of the apostles but it is apparent that John held a special place in the heart of Jesus.  John sat next to Jesus at the last supper, a position of high favor.  At the time of Jesus' death while he hung on the cross, Jesus presented his mother Mary into the safe-keeping of John.  Are there any perks to being the one whom Jesus loved?  You'd better believe there are, the greatest of which is receiving more of the word of God than the rest of the apostles.  John wrote the gospel of John, the three epistles of John and, of course, the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.  No other New Testament book can touch John in bringing out the majesty and deity of Jesus.

His opening words about Jesus written in his gospel portray Jesus unlike any other writer:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God."  Genesis opens with a similar statement declaring,
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."

God is the creator of the universe but guess what?  The Word takes preeminence over God himself.  With that fact it is important for us to know who the word is.  We only have to scan down the page in John, chapter one to verse fourteen.

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

Without going into an exegesis of the Greek language it is apparent that the subject of that statement is Jesus Christ.  The same chapter further tells us that Jesus was in the world, that the world was made by him and without him was nothing made that was made.  You are getting the gravity of these statements aren't you?  The Jews of Jesus' day understood these sayings and at one point they accused him of "making himself God."

One of their Old Testaments writers was very emphatic on identifying who Jesus was:

"And his name shall be called Emmanuel, The Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace…" and so on.

The title Emmanuel means, "God with Us."  I can hardly wait to see what the Spirit will be saying to us today about this great God and Savior Jesus the Christ!