JESUS IS THE ETERNAL SON OF GOD
John
1:1-18
Jesus
is .....
The
Great One
The
Second Person of the Trinity
The
Messiah
The
Son of God
The
I’AM of all Creation
The
Great Teacher
The
Great Shepherd
The
very Word of God made flesh
The
First and the Last
The
Bread of Life
The
final amen
The
Great High Priest
He
is the image of the invisible God
The
Judge of the living and the dead
The
Name above all names
The
Alpha and Omega
The
Beginning and the End
No
one can compare to Him for He is infinitely worthy of all our praise and
adoration. We need stop and ask ourselves the hard
questions! Was Jesus just a man like you
and me? YES . HE HAD A HUMAN BIRTH……..Luke 1:35 “And the
angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of
the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be
called holy—the Son of God.” HE HAD A HUMAN MIND…….Luke 2:52 “And
Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” HE HAD HUMAN EMOTIONS……..John 12:27
"Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this
hour'? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.” BUT! Here is where I
put “but” to the previous question! YES HE WAS A MAN LIKE YOU AND
ME! BUT COMPLETELY
SINLESS “For
our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become
the righteousness of God. 2 Cor 5:21
Sadly
the world doesn’t look at Jesus in this light! The
Bible says they only saw him as a man, a miracle worker who met there needs. To
the world, He is nothing more than a children’s tale to tell at bedtime…… like
“Jack and the Beanstock.”
Some
would say “Jesus is no more than angel created by God.”
Some
would say “Jesus is a small puny deity created by God”
Some
would say “Jesus is folklore, made up tale to help the weak”
Some
would say “Jesus is a god like the rest of us”
Again,
sadly these ideas are wrong and my heart breaks because of their blindness to
the beauty and truth found in His name. He
wasn’t some man who could build solid furniture and tables! He was much more
than this. He
is the second person of the Trinity…..fully God and fully man! He
had all the same characteristics as the Father and the Holy Spirit inside the
Godhead. Paul wrote about Jesus this way!
“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,” Col 1:16-19
This
is what makes Jesus unique above or separate from His creation.
He
is the one who took part in creation.
He
is the One who brought life into existence
He
is the One who is keeping your beating right now.
Jesus
was fully God and fully man who came to earth [which He created] on rescue
mission to die for His sinful rebellious creation [You and me]
He
came to save us from ourselves.
We come to one of the most
well written gospels about who Jesus was and is in my opinion “The Gospel of John”. A
letter written to display the glory of the Son in His humanity to tell the
world that He is the God incarnate. What
I love about John’s gospel is that he doesn’t waste time getting to who Jesus
is. Not
that the other gospel didn’t revere or display the glory of Christ…..the focus
on John’s gospel is the man who Jesus was and is…….God incarnate deity. John’s
gospel underlining theme displays
Jesus not only as a man, but as the Son of God, who is God in the flesh.
(Incarnate Deity). One
of the first precious truths about Jesus we see John write about……. is a key
truth to understanding this gospel letter and that is Jesus is…….
THE ETERNAL SON [V1-V3]
What does that mean? Before
light, water, the moon, and stars were put into their rightful places……He was
there. Before
plant life, flowers and trees were put into their rightful place…..He was
there. Before
animals, insects, fish, and birds were put into their rightful place….He was
there Before
angels were created……He was there. Before
Adam breathed in his first breath …….He was there. Before
you were created……He was there! As Psalm 90:2 says “Before the
mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” See
He was much more than some man…….He was before all things! Remember what Jesus said to the
Pharisee’s “before
Abraham was, I AM” Which
could possibly be translated “I will be
what I will be” This
is gives us clear indication that Godhead [Jesus the
second Person of the trinity] is completely independent of His creation.
Wayne Grudem in his Systematic Theology
book defines it this way
“God is independence is defined as
follows: God does not need us or the rest of creation for anything, yet we and
the rest of creation can glorify Him and bring Him joy. This attribute of God
is sometimes called His self-existence or His aseity [from the Latin words “a
se”, which means “from himself”
Scripture
is very clear in several places that God does not need any part of creation in
order to exist or for any other reason. He
is completely self-sufficient, and absolutely independent.
For
example: Acts 17:24-25 “The God who made the world
and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples
made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything,
since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” Job 41:11 God says “Who has first
given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.” Ps 50:10-12 “For every beast of the
forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the
hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. "If I were hungry, I would
not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.”
This
is what John’s opening statement is directing us too (v1-v3) The
fact that Jesus was there when the earth was without “form and void”. [Gen 1:1-2]. Which
means “not finished in its shape and as
yet uninhabited by creatures” And
what’s amazing God would decorate His creation in 6 days! That’s
how amazing our God is……that’s how amazing Jesus is! He was in the beginning….He lived outside
of time and has no beginning because He always existed. (v1) “was” is an important word here! The “verb”
highlights the eternal pre-existence of the Word [Jesus]. Meaning
it has no end or beginning because Jesus is God incarnate. So
when Jesus came to this earth He never ceased to be God but took on a genuine
human nature/body and voluntarily refrained from His independent exercise of
the attributes of deity.
That’s
amazing! And
as a reminder Paul penned these beautiful words……..“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, even death on a
cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that
is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in
heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Phil 2:6-11
By
embracing the grace that was given by Jesus in His humiliation and exaltation. By
understanding that an independent God who spoke all things into existence
….completely perfect and sovereign who needs nothing from us chooses to come to
this earth and saves fallen undeserving sinners like you and me. That
in eternity past Jesus would come and lay down His life for your sin, so that
you could live with Him for all eternity. That
in eternity past, Jesus would leave His glory, to give us a living hope through
His death and resurrection. That
in eternity past Jesus would reveal Himself to you for the simple reason He
can! He’s God
The
gospel is much more than a man dying for our sin! It’s
about a God who is infinitely worthy and deserving of our praise even if He
sends us to Hell…. But
the beauty is that He came to earth to save sinners which I am the chief of
them all. He
came in His humanity by lowering Himself to die for our sin. Why? Because He can! He is WORD and the WORD was
with God and the WORD is God. The
Self existent One who loved you despite your ugliness of sin and rebellion. Church family! Embrace this
truth this morning and fall to your knees to the Eternal Son of God who is our
Saviour.
Jesus is the eternal
Christ who came to save sinners!
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