In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
JOHN 1:4 NASB
John begins his narrative with an apostolic testimony concerning Jesus, his intent in writing being rooted in an intense desire to make known the person, claims, and accomplishments of the man he met one day on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee.
John begins by telling us that this Jesus sustained intimacy with God, being very God Himself (John 1:1) before coming among them. In fact, by describing Jesus as the “Word,” John is making known to us that Jesus revealed God to us (1:18). Simply put, Jesus is the outward expression of the thoughts of the Father. Further, John tells us the man he came to know was the divine creator of everything (1:3). Before Jesus came to us He was God, and so as God He was the grand architect of the universe.
In coming to us, Jesus is described as “light” and “life” (1:4). The Word was light; that is, He, by His words and works, dispelled the darkness that enshrouded our lives. The content of the light, the substance of His message, was about life. Of the thirty-seven times John uses the word “life” in the Gospel, seventeen times it is preceded by the word “eternal.” Clearly, the life the Word disclosed was eternal life!
Perhaps a personal poem will capture the thought of our passage.
There came one who has always been.
He came to a world, once pure, now blighted with sin.
The creator of all things came to restore.
To shine into our darkness and bring us renewal.
Perfect in all His ways, there was no problem with Him.
It was our blindness that caused our ignorance of Him.
The story, however, does not end with this.
For today, He shines to scatter your darkness and end all that is remiss.
This light, this Word, God wants us to know.
And that is why John wrote about Him so.
May you turn to the Word, the Creator, the Light, the Life to scatter your darkness forevermore in this the most wonderful of seasons. Welcome Him anew into your heart today! Let His light flood your soul with peace and comfort!