DAY NINETEEN - BIG PICTURE IN A YEAR - THE CREATION
“We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only..”
John 1: 14
Reading: John 1: 1-17; John 14; Revelation 19: 13
The subject of Jesus as the creating Word of God is so rich that I ask that you bear with me for one more day as we continue to delve into this fascinating subject.
Why is it that John calls Jesus “the Word”? Have you ever asked yourself that – after all, it’s a very strange name for a person. It is possible that the term "word" is used the same manner as the Old Testament uses it - the communication of God to humanity. This is exactly what Jesus did - He revealed to the world the Word of God. Jesus was the personification of the written and spoken Word. In the Old Testament God revealed His word through the prophets while in the New Testament the word of God was revealed in a Person - God the Son. The testimony that God revealed through the prophets during the Old Testament period was now made human with the coming of Christ. Hence the Word became flesh. As John Piper puts it “What God had to say to us was not only or mainly what Jesus said, but who Jesus was and what he did.” John introduces Jesus with a term that both his Jewish and Gentile readers would have been familiar with. The Greek word translated “Word” in this passage is Logos, and it was common in both Greek philosophy and Jewish thought of that day. For example, in the Old Testament the “word” of God is often personified as an instrument for the execution of God’s will (Psalm 33: 6) and the personification of God’s revelation. And in Greek philosophy, the term Logos was used to describe the intermediate agency by which God created material things and communicated with them. Therefore, for his Greek readers the use of the term Logos would have likely brought forth the idea of a mediating principle between God and the world.
John goes further though, in showing that Christ was not simply a personification of God’s revelation, but was indeed God’s perfect revelation of Himself in the flesh.
Prayer
Thank You for finding a way to reveal Yourself to me, Lord.
For the family
Explain
Briefly explain that Jesus is the Word of God. God speaks and His words have tremendous power. We are made in His image so our words also have tremendous power. We should always speak the truth over ourselves and others.
Engage
Use family members that your children know and get them thinking about how difficult and weird it would be to begin realizing that that person is the Son of God! Explain how John knew Jesus very, very well and yet was forced to the realization that Jesus was God.
Younger kids
They’ll enjoy watching
about the power of our words.
Older kids
Show them where John recorded Jesus’ own words to Philip: "Jesus said unto him, 'Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do you say, "Show us the Father"?'" (John 14: 9).
