Come Let Us Adore Him | His Glory Before Christmas
Come Let Us Adore Him: (Part I)
His Glory Before Christmas
John 1:1-5 (ESV):
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. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Today is the first Sunday of December. Isn’t that stunning? 2020 is almost done. Hasn’t it been such a turbulent, tense filled, and roller coaster ride of a year? Some say we had the worst year ever. This year featured worldwide natural disasters, a global pandemic, racial reckonings, political tensions, and so many personal events that may have rocked our world. And yet, God is now inviting us into this season to reflect on a Child born in a manger, who is the Savior of the world.
With all the chaos this year brought us, we are now entering the season of Advent. This word simply means, “coming.” Advent is about reminding us that Jesus Christ came in the midst of the darkness, destitution, and deadness of our world. He came to give us life. More than the Christmas songs, gifts, decorations, and traditions we have, we cannot neglect the true meaning of this season. The Advent of Jesus Christ is why we celebrate and truly have joy even in the midst of a crazy 2020. It’s because we know that Jesus came for us and we have the hope that He will come again to make all things new.
This morning, we will see why looking at the glory of Jesus before that first Christmas is necessary for us to understand its true meaning. You see Jesus was glorious even before He had flesh and bones. But let’s try to answer this first: What does glory mean? In simplest terms, glory is one’s magnificence or beauty. In John 17:5 Jesus prays, “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” He was glorious even before He did His first miracle or said any single word. Jesus’ arrival was so magnificent simply because He Himself was magnificent even before that very first Christmas. As we explore this great truth together, I hope we will have a greater gratitude and appreciation of the person and the work of Jesus not just this season, but for all of our lives.
I. His Glory as the Word (v.1-2)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
For a quick background of John, we note that this book was written by the Apostle John. If we read this book, we’ll see John refers to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” That title shows how John saw his own identity centered in his relationship with Jesus. This book comes from a man who had a firsthand witness of who Jesus was and who was a very close friend of Him. His purpose for writing this book was so that his readers would believe in who Jesus truly was since there were so many wrong misconceptions of Jesus rising in the 1st century.
In our passage, we see a main difference between John’s account of Jesus’ life and the other three Gospel accounts. Matthew, Mark and Luke start their accounts on a human perspective as to the human line that Jesus came from. But, the prologue of John comes from an eternal and heavenly perspective by describing Jesus being sent from God Himself. And in the introduction to his book, John profoundly summarizes this great doctrine that we have a glorious Savior who was not just a mere man but more.
In verses 1-2 John gets straight into calling Jesus as the “Word”. In Greek, John uses the term “Logos”. We might not see the significance of that word today, but that Jesus being logos carries so much weight during the readers of that time. For his Jewish readers, they would understand that John was talking about how Jesus was equal with God. How do we express ourselves the most, it’s through our words right? In a way, the word of God for Jews is a familiar phrase used to refer to God Himself because the word of God is the expression of who God is. For John’s Gentile or Greek audience, they knew of the term “logos” because their philosophers say that it’s the power that puts sense into the world, making the world orderly, instead of chaotic. They saw logos as the “Ultimate Reason” for the universe. In a way, John was saying to both the Jews and the Gentiles that Jesus is the Word or the Logos they have been searching for. He is the ultimate expression of God and the ultimate reason for the universe.
As we go deeper in these two verses, we see that Jesus, the Word, exists even in the beginning. There is a sense that John was referring to Genesis 1 here in the beginning of all of creation. In this statement, John was saying Jesus had a pre-existence way before He was born as a human being. He was already there even before time itself existed. Way before the first second ticked, He was there. And He was with God. This means there is a difference between Jesus and God the Father throughout that eternal past. They have this eternal intimacy as Jesus was with God. Now we see the climax of the first verse. John says, “the Word was God.” This is such a profound truth that John was trying to communicate. Jesus Himself, who is the Word, was God. Jesus, the ultimate, eternal, and perfect expression of who God is, is in Himself God. Jesus is part of the Godhead or the Trinity and has the same essence as God the Father but is distinct in His own personhood.
Now I know that is a lot of theology for a Christmas message, but you see the true message of Christmas contains a lot of theology. In John 1:14, we see that “the Word became Flesh.” We have the Eternal Son of God coming down to become a man. Paul speaks of this truth in Philippians 2:5-8. It says, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death.” Why is this important for us today? It’s because when we hear the name of Jesus, it might be very easy for us to picture Him in the way we want Him to look than to have a right perspective upon His majesty and greatness.
Throughout history, coming from different cultures and locations, we have paintings and pictures of Jesus looking like the people who made those depictions. As humans, we have a tendency to make Jesus just as we like Him to be.
Even today, we want a Jesus who will not contradict us, but will let us live as we want to live. We want Him to be a friend, a comforter, a counselor, and maybe even a savior. But if that’s all we know Him as, we can have a very imbalanced view of Jesus. If Jesus is the Eternal God, then that means we belong to Him. It means, He has the ultimate authority over our lives. If Jesus is truly God, then that means our lives should revolve around Him, and not the other way around. This means He can ask anything of us and in reality, He does not owe us anything. Our response is to worship, submit, and obey Him. If Jesus is God over everything, the question for us today, “Is He God over us?”
II. His Glory as the Creator (v.3)
All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In verse 3, we see a clear-cut statement about Jesus. All things were made through Jesus. There was nothing made apart from Jesus. Through Jesus, all of the universe exists. From the vastest galaxies to the most basic microscopic organism, all was made possible through Jesus. Even invisible beings like angels were made through Jesus. As we remember in Genesis, God made the heavens and the earth through speaking them into existence. Creation was only made possible through the Word.
Jesus had all that power, and yet He did not exercise His own power for Himself. He was still working under the authority of the Father. One of my professors in bible school was Thomas Constable. In his commentary of John 1, he said of Jesus being Creator:
“The Word did not act independently from the Father. Thus, John presented Jesus as under God the Father’s authority but over every created thing in authority. Jesus’ work of revealing God began with Creation because all creation reveals God.” Jesus was expressing who God the Father is through His creative revelation.
Another truth we see here is that as the Creator, Jesus was not a created being Himself. Many false teachers at the time of the Apostle John were teaching that Jesus was either just a man or a lesser god than the Father. Even today, we have the Jehovah’s Witness that teaches that Jesus cannot be equal with God because He merely was a created being. Actually, in their translation of verse 1, they wrote in the New World Translation Bible that “the Word was a god.” They put that article to fit in their view of who Jesus was. This is what John was clarifying in his account. Jesus was God and He is also the Creator of everything.
So why does all of this matter to us today? It’s because when we see the glory of Jesus as Creator, Son of God, we realize the humility He took for us. He became a defenseless baby that one special night. The eternal, all-powerful, all-wise, and all-present Creator became vulnerable, and even killable. Jesus, who is 100% God, became also 100% man. He became one of us. The Creator became one of the things He created.
It’s as if an author created his masterpiece of a novel. But, instead of leaving it be, the author decided to truly engage and interact with the characters of the novel. And so, the author wrote Himself in the story. The author made Himself to be part of His creation. You see, Jesus in His eternal glory wrote Himself in the story of humanity so that we might know who God truly is. Through Jesus, we have a better reflection of who God is. You see, God wants to be in a relationship with us. Jesus became the perfect revelation of who God is so we might know Him. Jesus is the only bridge for God to be with us, and we might be with God. The Creator became one of His most prized and cherished creations.
Col. 1:15-18 gives us one of the most wonderful declarations why we should have a greater awe of what Jesus did in His incarnation. It says, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent. For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.”
III. His Glory as the Source of Life and Light (v. 4-5)
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.
In the last two verses we’re studying today, we see one more way Jesus is so magnificently glorious even before He came to earth. John tells us that life and light is in Jesus. In the book of John, themes of life and light are prevalent. What we see here is the parallel that John was making in creation too. As God shone a light in the void and darkness of existence, so Jesus’ light has been shining all throughout humanity. As God gave life to Adam and Eve, so has Jesus been giving life to all of mankind. In a lot of ways, it is not just about the physical life and light that but also the spiritual light which shines in the darkness, and imparting life in spiritual death. This has been Jesus’ work even before He became a man.
Light and life also represent revelation salvation while darkness and death stand for sin and separation. Even before the incarnation, Jesus’ work of imparting life and light was happening throughout mankind. Before Jesus, people had to believe in the promised Messiah of God. When the Promised One finally came, that glory shined and He was there offering eternal life with God. However, people had a choice of whether to receive this life and light, or to remain in darkness and death. This is what John was trying to communicate of who Jesus was and why people needed to believe in Him.
John 1:9-14 says, “The true light, which enlightens 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 believed 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.”
You see, for all of time, God through Jesus is granting life and light to all those who would receive Him. If there is anyone today who does not yet see the beauty, magnificence, and glory of Jesus, He is offering Himself today. He is offering an eternal life where we would forever be in a relationship with God and through Jesus be living in the light. We will no longer be overcome by darkness. If you are here today, John says to only believe in Him and receive Him as the God who loves you, created you, and is willing to save you. We just need to turn from ourselves and our sins and receive Jesus as our God and Savior. The reason this is possible is because He came down to earth, and He lived the life we can never live and died the death we deserve. Now Jesus is offering us that eternal light and life to be with Him forever. John says that if we receive Him, we become children of God, part of His family forever and ever.
And for us who are already part of God’s family, I know this year has been difficult and even dark. But because we have the Source and Giver of life and light, then we can look at 2020 and be thankful because He has been with us every single step of the way. He has given us grace upon grace and blessings we cannot even fathom. And now, we can look at 2021 with hope because we are in Christ and Christ is in us.
No power of darkness will overcome us. No sin, guilt, shame, depression, addiction, weakness, failure and death will ever overpower us. We have overcome because Jesus’ light already shines in us. We have the truest joy, peace, and love. And we can share this light and life to those who are spiritually dead and are in the dark of the treasures we have in Jesus. We can look at 2021 with humble confidence because we know that God is with us. Let His glory shine in us as Jesus prayed to the Father for us in John 17:22-23. It says, “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”
-Rev. Jerusalem Ona