John 1:1-18
Advent Series: One of the emphases of John’s gospel–in fact, the emphasis with which he begins his gospel–is that Jesus existed before the incarnation. Though that’s commonly understood among us as Christians, consider the strangeness and the offense this idea presented to John’s first readers: a man who spoke of existing before he was conceived. To enhance our sense of wonder at the birth of Christ, we’ll examine a few of these places in John where he and/or Jesus himself make reference to the fact that Jesus’ life did not begin here on earth. Rather he was sent to earth from the glory of heaven itself with a very specific mission.
Synopsis: Unlike the other gospel writers, John begins his gospel all the way back in the realms of eternity, identifying Jesus “the word” (i.e. logos). Jews had always thought of God’s word as being a powerful agent for accomplishing His purposes (e.g. creation, redemption), but John here tells them that God’s word is a person…a person who is both with God and God at the same time. Which makes it all the more astounding when John says that this Divine Word became flesh–a word that drips with connotations of frailty, weakness, and vulnerability. Painfully, John knew how many would reject these claims, but he wrote his gospel knowing that those who embrace Jesus by faith are forever brought home into the family of God (v.12).