4 FROM ETERNITY INTO TIME F O O T ================================
- H O L D
READING
4 FROM ETERNITY INTO TIME
PRAY Teach me something more about yourself today, almighty God.
READ John 1:1-18
THINK What does this passage teach us about God the son? What things do we read here that God has done through his eternal Word? —————————————————————– FOCUS The Lord Jesus Christ lived before he was born in Bethlehem; in fact he lived before the universe was created (1). He is eternal – mysteriously one with God. Yet He is not God the Father, though he was always with the Father (2). He is called the Father’s eternal ‘Word’. A word is the chief means by which we express ourselves. In this way Christ is the One through whom God the Father works and speaks. JESUS IS GOD BECOME MAN (14). The statement ‘the Word became a human being’ is the key to John’s Gospel and to Christianity. This is the greatest mystery and miracle of all. JESUS IS GOD SEEKING FOR PEOPLE. How many books and TV programs there are on the theme ‘Man searching for God’. John’s Gospel shows us that ‘God is seeking man’. No one has ever seen God (18) but in Jesus, God speaks and works – always taking the initiative. JESUS SHOWS US WHAT GOD IS LIKE (17,18). The Old Testament, with the law of Moses (17a), told part of the truth about God. Jesus tells us the WHOLE truth (14). God is kind and generous to us however undeserving we are (FULL OF GRACE). Usually, the more we know about a person, the more faults we discover. But the more we know of Christ, the more glorious he becomes. We could fill the world with writing about him (read John 21:25) – and even so, we would only know a tiny part. Only in heaven shall we see his true glory.
PRAY Meditate upon Colossians 1:15-17. Turn your thoughts to prayer.