| THE WORD MADE FLESH |

Notice the names that John, the Gospel writer, calls Jesus:

  • the Word of God
  • the Light
  • the Only God
  • the Christ

In the remainder of the chapter, John the Baptist and the first disciples call him:

  • the Lamb of God
  • the Son of God
  • the Messiah
  • him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote
  • the King of Israel
  • the Son of Man

These words did not come out of nowhere. They are the names that the Old Testament uses to refer to the one who would come to fulfill the promise of God.

This is where the whole story has been moving. This is the coming of the one who will fulfill the promise of redemption. Jesus is the offspring of Eve that will crush the head of the enemy. Jesus is the offspring of Abraham through whom all the families of the earth will be blessed. Jesus is the son of David, who will sit on the throne forever. Jesus is the suffering servant spoken of by Isaiah and the prophets.

Jesus is the Word

John 1:1 is a key scripture for the New Testament. In it, we have an explicit declaration that Jesus is God. It is also a trinitarian statement. As God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, Jesus was “with God.” But each member of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, are equally God. So John says that the Word “was God.”

Why does John call Jesus the Word? Jesus is the revelation of God himself. In Jesus, God makes himself known to the world. Therefore, Jesus is the light that shines into the darkness, exposing our fallenness and proclaiming redemption.

Reading at BibleTogether

I hope you are excited to have read the story behind the coming of Jesus. You have now read, and I hope you understand better than ever where Jesus came from. You know the history of his people and the promise that he is to fulfill.

I am excited to see that promise fulfilled in the coming weeks as we make our way through the New Testament.