Read John 1
It is impossible to know what is passing in the mind of another until he expresses himself by the word of his mouth. There is nothing more invisible than a man’s thoughts. God is invisible, and no man hath seen Him at any time. He dwells in light unapproachable, to which no man can approachapter It was, however, from all eternity, His purpose to make Himself known, and that, too, according to the perfection and fullness of his own nature, which is love. He is love-the God of all grace. To the display of the praise of the glory of his grace, the believer has been predestinated; to the adoption of a son by Jesus Christ to Himself. Sinners have been saved by His mighty power with a full salvation. God has delivered them from eternal wrath, He has cleansed them from their sins, he has quickened them together with. Christ the Life, He has raised them up together, and He has made them sit together in heavenly places in Christ. But for what purpose? In order that, in the ages to come, He might show forth the exceeding riches of His grace, in His kindness toward us, through Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:4-74But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4‑7)). Forever His delights were with the sons of men, and He rejoiced in the habitable parts of the earth (Prov. 8). Loved he has, and that with everlasting love, and to manifest this has been His eternal will and purpose. God is, however, invisible, and no man hath seen Him at any time. In order, therefore, to accomplish this wondrous purpose, Jesus by the Eternal Spirit, offered Himself to God as a Lamb without spot and blemish. He was the anointed One, the One “set up from everlasting”—set up as the Word of God—the express image of God’s person, so that He might make a full manifestation of God, and that we by faith, seeing Jesus, might see and know Him—as Jesus Himself said, “He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father.” “I and my Father are one.”
Our chapter then presents, in the first place, Christ as the Word of God. “In the beginning was the Word. This was no new character of the Lord Jesus. He is the eternal Word, co-eternal and equal with the Father. “In the beginning was the Word.” Eternal as God’s purpose was to manifest Himself, so eternal was Jesus as the Word. He was as we have before noticed, the Anointed One, the One set up from everlasting. Forever He was the full and personal expression of all the mind and heart of God; and as such He has visited man, to make known in a very real and practical manner what God is. We use words to express what is on our minds and hearts, otherwise they would be invisible; so Christ, the Son of God, the Son of His love, is the Word of God, whereby we may know the thoughts and affections of the eternal God. The mission of Christ to earth was not merely to save sinners from eternal wrath, and to make them happy in heaven, but it was to reveal the Father. Oh that we could effectually, by the Spirit of God, lay hold of this blessed fact! No man hath seen God at any time but He who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. But how could this Jesus know God, and that which was in His heart and mind more than any other? Jesus was ever with God in close and intimate fellowship, knowing all things. “The Lord possessed me (Wisdom) in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth, when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth; while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there; when he set a compass upon the face of the depth—when he established the clouds—when he strengthened the fountains of the deep—when he gave to the sea his decree that the waters should not pass his commandment-when he appointed the foundations of the earth: then I was by him, as one brought up with him; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him” (Prov. 8:22-3022The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. 23I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. 24When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. 25Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: 26While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. 27When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: 28When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: 29When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: 30Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; (Proverbs 8:22‑30)). And not only was Jesus ever with God, but He was Himself God—equal with the Father in all respects. On earth He was God manifest in the flesh—the very Jehovah who could and did truly declare Himself to be before Abraham, the “I AM.” The Lord grant us a spirit of deep humility and reverence as we look at Jesus, and meditate on Him and some of His many glories. Oh for divine wisdom and grace while we think of Him who is “THE WORD OF GOD” —the Jehovah on earth made flesh, dwelling a Man among men, sinners, His enemies; come from God a servant to do His will, in making Him known. Oh! may our consideration of Him be such that worship and praise may flow out from our hearts, bowed at a sense of His greatness, and of his infinite love and condescension in taking so lowly a place of humiliation as he did. By Him all things were created, and without Him was not anything made that was made. All things, too, are upheld by the word of His power; and more than this, all things were created for His own glory; and, by-and-bye, when we cast our crowns at His feet, lost in wonder, love, and praise, we shall sing, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” (Rev. 4:1111Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. (Revelation 4:11)). May, I say, a sense of this great power and greatness bow our hearts in adoration and worship, and Oh! may there be such a continual remembrance of His unbounded love in leaving all His glory—in emptying Himself, and taking the form of a servant—to cause us to live in a spirit of constant praise and worship. May, too, the remembrance of the way He was treated when on. earth, and the way we have treated Him since we heard of His love, humble us more and more, so that self may never rise into prominence, but ever be judged; and so judged, that there may be no room for aught else save the exaltation of Christ, and that in every way possible. Well, then, He was Lord and Creator of all, but when He came to His own world which He had created, and which He was upholding by the word of His power, a world which was in every way dependent on Him, it knew Him not. “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, but the world knew him not.” How intensely solemn, how humbling surely; man has no cause to hold his head up as, alas! he does in pride and self-exaltation, he has abundant cause to take the low place, and wickedness enough to cause him ever to walk humbly and softly; but, alas! the god of this world blinds the minds of them who believe not, and so they see not themselves as they truly are in the sight of God.
Now this first of John presents some of the many glories and perfections of the Lord Jesus Christ. It dates from Eternity to the Millennium, and it must, however, be observed that most of His glories, as set forth in this chapter, are, as we shall see, connected with His first title, “the Word of God,”—the image of the invisible God—for the prevailing thought of the chapter is the revelation of God the Father as such. Then there is this other important point, that of all the fullness and perfection in Christ. All we who have believed and been born again have received Him, and grace for grace: so that, as John says in his epistle, “As Christ is, so are we, in this world.” (1 John 4:1717Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. (1 John 4:17)). May the Lord, in His great grace, grant us Divine grace, and wisdom, and sanctification of affection to Himself, and a due reverence of spirit while for a little we consider, according to our measure, these wondrous glories of the Lord Jesus, and our reception of and part in them; for of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace. It is holy ground. Oh! may we walk on it with softness, and with the heart guarded with the breastplate of righteousness; and the feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace: and in all may Christ be glorified.
In the first place, then, Christ is presented to us in our chapter as “THE LIFE.” “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” In the 14th chapter Jesus Himself says, “I am the way, the Truth, and THE LIFE.” “For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us.” (1 John 1:22(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) (1 John 1:2)). The life was indeed manifested; but to whom, and where? In a world of death, and to a people sitting in the valley of the shadow of death. To man fallen, and in consequence in a state of continual dying. “In the day thou eatest thereof,” said the Lord God to Adam in the garden, “thou shalt die,” or more literally, “in dying thou shalt die.” The first man, however, did eat, and so died, and brought death on all, and ever since has been in a condition of death. Dead he is, and that in trespasses and in sins; sitting, alas! at perfect ease and complacency in the valley of the shadow of death, unconscious of the fearful condition in which he is, and the ultimate end of such a state. It need scarcely be said that such a one needs life if he is to get to heaven. There it is all life, and He who is the source of life, yea, THE LIFE Himself, is the one center and object of attraction, so that a dead thing would find no enjoyment in heaven; heaven would be no heaven to such. But, then, how can he obtain life? To beget himself into life is an impossibility, and it is equally impossible to get it by the deeds of law. He is carnal in mind, and he is at enmity against God, and is not subject to his law, and so terribly evil is he that he cannot be subject to it. But if there had been a law which could have given life, verily righteousness would have been by lay, and there would have been no need for the Son of God to have died. The law could not give life to a dead thing; and not only so, it brought the sentence of death to the conscience of those who were seeking to obtain life under it. Paul says, “I was alive without law once, but when the commandment came sin revived and I died.” (Rom. 7:99For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. (Romans 7:9)). “And the commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death, for sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.” (Rom. 7:10-1110And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. 11For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. (Romans 7:10‑11)) Thus, then, the law has no life to impart to a dead soul. The law is holy, just, and good, and therefore condemns and kills, and makes manifest that which is evil in man. By the commandment sin became exceeding sinful. By the law, then, is the knowledge of sin, but it has no life, no remedy, but rather the reverse. It condemns, it kills, and it makes the disease, sin, exceeding sinful, so that we must look elsewhere for life and health.
Now, God is the living God, who hath given life and breath to all, and who at the first breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. This, however, as for man, has gone by; he has sinned and come short of God’s glory, and is now dead in trespasses and sins. God is nevertheless the same; He is still the living God, who only hath immortality and dwelleth in light, to which no man can approach, and whom no man hath seen at any time. (1 Tim. 6:1616Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. (1 Timothy 6:16)) And as we have said before, it is His purpose to make himself known as the living God to those who are dead to Him, sitting in a state of unconsciousness in the valley of the shadow of death. God is the living God, and Christ is the Word of God, the practical expression of what God is—He is the image of the invisible God. And hence we find Christ in our chapter —presented as THE LIFE. In Him was life —He is the LIFE. This is the record, the blessed record, that God has given unto us eternal life, and this life was in His Son, who by the gospel has brought life and immortality to light. All else is death, and into such a scene, He, the fountain of life, came to impart life to the dead, to quicken them whom He would. (John 5:2121For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. (John 5:21)) Man, however, was, alas! dead to this Life; he is quite insensible to its presence. The Life was in this world of death, but alas, there was no response. He was in the world, but the world knew Him not; He came to His own peculiar people, but they too were so dead they perceived no life, no beauty in Jesus; they received Him not. However, God would accomplish His own purpose in spite of man’s rebellion, and to those whom He will, He puts forth His own sovereign: power and begets them. “But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name; which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12-1312But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12‑13)) Thus they who believed in Jesus, being born anew of God, received life from the Son of God; and so do all those who now believe in Jesus; they receive life in Him He that believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting LIFE; he is made a partaker of the divine nature. (2 Peter 1) Jesus here died on the tree, and having there drank the cup of wrath and put sin away, having done the will of His Father perfectly; having well done His work, and having vindicated God’s justice God raised Him from the dead, and seated Him on His throne, and crowned Him with glory and honor. By the same power that He thus raised His Son from the dead, God has quickened and raised together with Him all those who believe in Jesus. They who were once dead in trespasses and sins He has made alive with, and in the person of His Christ—THE LIFE. And they who were sitting in the valley of the shadow of death are now seated in Christ—a risen and ascended Christ, created in Him in the heavenlies, and that accomplished by the workmanship of God. How inexpressedly wondrous thus to have been made partakers of the divine nature, to be made as Christ is, though in this world, and thus to have received of His fullness and grace for grace. He came that we dead ones might have life; not only so, but that we might have it more abundantly. Having this life-this divine nature—we can hold close and intimate communion with the living God, our Father, and His Son Jesus Christ. We are no longer at a distance, “afar off,” but in Christ we are “made nigh” through His blood. And truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:33That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:3))
In the next place, the Lord Jesus is presented in this blessed portion as THE LIGHT, “that was the TRUE LIGHT,” says John, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. The natural man is described in the Scriptures as sitting in darkness, as well as in the shadow of death, under the power of darkness; loving it because his deeds are evil, committing the works of darkness—yea, he is declared to be darkness itself. Man is not merely in its range or sphere, but he is the thing itself. “Ye were sometime darkness.” (Eph. 5:88For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (Ephesians 5:8)) Sitting in it with all ease and self-satisfaction, careless and indifferent, blinded by Satan, the god of this world, to all its horrors and all its fearful consequences. He is, however, poor and helpless to and in it, having no power whatever to get out of it into the light. The law cannot help him either; it can no more impart light than it could life. The mount burned with darkness. (Deut. 4:1111And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. (Deuteronomy 4:11)) If it did lighten, it was only to give the knowledge of sin, and that sin might appear exceeding sinful, not to give any blessing, for it had none to give. Oh no! the mount of law burned with darkness; it quaked exceedingly, and all the accompaniments of the law were terribly appalling, causing Moses to cry out, “I do exceedingly fear and quake.” (Heb. 12:2121And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) (Hebrews 12:21)) But God, who is the living God, “IS LIGHT,” dwelling therein. God is love; and Jesus, as we have seen, came to manifest God as such. God is also light, and ‘tis His purpose to make Himself known as the light as well as love. Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the express image of His person. He has come out from God as THE LIGHT, and He was that true Light—the true light in opposition to all the false lights of this present evil world, as lighted by the Prince of Darkness, to quiet the consciences of those who are sitting in darkness. Not one ray of true light was there, save that which beamed from Him who is the brightness of His glory, the image of Him who is light. As such Jesus came into this world of darkness, to a people who were themselves the personifications of darkness. He shone with heavenly brilliancy, and there radiated from Him on every hand light divine. But, alas! the darkness was so dark, it was so dense, that it might, as it were, be felt. The darkness was so thick it comprehended not the light from heaven. The clouds of sin were so heavy and black that the light shone out in vain-it penetrated not. The people were so blind they could see not so much as a glimmer of light in Him. They saw no beauty to desire Him, though He was indeed chiefest among ten thousand, yea, the altogether lovely. What, then, is to be done? Shall God’s eternal counsels prove void? Shall the coming of Jesus be in vain God forbid! But man cannot see-he will not have the light. True, indeed; but God is sovereign, and His own will and purposes He will accomplish in spite of all the rebellion and determination of men to do without God. God, I say, is sovereign, and let men be ever so hardened, ever so dark, God is all-powerful to carry out His own eternal designs. His purpose was to reveal Himself as light, and when the time came for Him to do so, all must give way to Him. Satan and all his agents become as nothing before the power of an Almighty God. Light and love shall prove themselves victorious, and all opposition must cease. Divine Love is such that many waters cannot quench it. Divine Light is such that none can prevail against its penetrating power. The darkness may resist long, but before Almighty Power it must give place. Grace, too, is such that it will triumph over every obstacle; it has triumphed and will continue to do so. “Grace reigns through righteousness.” (Rom. 5) Christ, by His death and resurrection, has overcome him who is the Prince of Darkness, and who hath the power of death, that is, the devil. (Heb. 2) Satan is but a conquered foe, and before God he is altogether powerless. The Lord Jesus has led captivity captive, and He is conqueror o’er the grave; and sin, and death, and hell, and Satan; and now the believer in Jesus is delivered by Him from the power of darkness, and is translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. Once he was in it, but now he has been called out of darkness into God’s marvelous light; and thus, being in the region of the light, he is illuminated (Heb. 10); and so becomes a light in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Our Scripture, however, goes further, and tells us that Christ is the light, and of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace. Not only, then, are we illuminated ones, by being brought into the presence of the light, and by being lighted upon; but we are ourselves made part of the light itself, for of His fullness have we received. Hence we find in Eph. 5. “Ye who were sometime in darkness are light in the Lord.” Once we were darkness itself; now being in the Lord, we are light itself. Christ, the Life and the Light has been formed in those who believe by the power and workmanship of God, “created in Christ Jesus.” Having thus followed Him who is the light of the world, we have received of His fullness the light of life, and thus being in Christ, and Christ in us, we are light in the Lord; no longer sitting in darkness, but sitting in Him, the light in the heavenlies; being in this present world strangers and pilgrims, shining as lights therein, glorifying Him who hath done such wondrous things for us. “God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Cor. 4:66For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6)) From this we may learn the fearful extent of man’s natural darkness. In the beginning, when God created the world, He had but to command the light to shine,—He had but to say, “Let there be light,” and “There was light” at once, and the darkness was dissipated. Not so, however, with man. It seems that it was not enough for God to command the light to shine in him, but the darkness was so thick and dark that it needed that He should work in us, and by His operation shine the light in us. Oh, man’s natural state is indeed most terrible!
By grace, then, God has shined into the hearts of those who believe, and made them to receive of His fullness, even the light, and so “as Christ is, so are they in this world.”
(To be continued, if the Lord will.)