CHRIST THE LIFE AND LIGHT OF MEN A Voice in The Desert Podcast

 CHRIST, THE LIFE AND LIGHT OF MEN
John 1:1-5
The Gospel of John has been well called "the Gospel of Eternity," for it is the Gospel of God. John was a specially prepared vessel for this very honorable ministry. He had been from his youth a beloved apostle. "His head had rested on the Lord's breast, he had stood beside the Cross, had witnessed the Ascension, had cherished till her death the Mother of the Lord, had seen the Jewish dispensation closed and the Holy City overthrown, and to him the beatific visions of the Apocalypse had been granted" (Alford Plummer). The great purpose of this Gospel is very fittingly expressed in chapter John 20:31. "These have been written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye may have life in His Name." All the keywords of his Gospel are found in this verse. The opening words of this chapter are among the most profound ever penned by the hand of man. They reveal a three-fold relationship of the Lord Jesus Christ in His:
1. RELATIONSHIP TO GOD
He is called the Word, the "Logos." Christ Himself is the uttered speech and thought of God. He is the visible expression of the invisible God. "For the life which was with the Father was manifested unto us" (1 John 1:2). This Word was in the beginning. "The Lord possessed Me in the beginning of His ways...I was daily His delight" (Pro. 8:22-30). The Word was with God. Yes, more, the Word was God. Man's finite mind cannot grasp the mystery of the Trinity, but the devout believer can bow and adore. That He who was in the form of God, and thought it not robbery to be equal with God, should make Himself of no reputation, taking upon Him the form of a servant, and dying on a Cross for the sin of the world, is a mystery of grace that can only be fathomed by the mystery of the Trinity.
2. RELATIONSHIP TO CREATION
"All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made" (John 1:3). Paul taught the same doctrine, "God... created all things by Jesus Christ" (Eph. 3:9) It pleased God to bring the old creation into being through the instrumentality of His Son; it has also pleased Him that the new
 
creation should be "in Christ Jesus." By Him He made the worlds (Heb. 1:2), and by Him He seeks also to redeem this world lost in sin. He by whom God made all things has also made peace by the Blood of His Cross. The Lord Jesus Christ as the Word of God holds the same position towards the new creation as He did to the old. "Without Him was not anything made." Without Him God did nothing, so without Him we can do nothing. All things were created by Him and for Him, and by Him all things consist or hold together. He is the center and support of all, as well as the Maker. "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. 4:11). If all things were created for His pleasure, surely He shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied.
3. RELATIONSHIP TO MEN
"In Him was life, and the life was the light of men." Why is the Life spoken of as the light of men, and not of creation? He has made the Light of the material universe, but He is the Light of men. Man is something distinct from and superior to other created things. He is a personality that needs the Divine Personality to meet his every want. "In Him was life." The source of life was in Him, and God, in giving us His Son hath given to us eternal life (1 John 5:11). The life manifested in Christ Jesus is the true light which should lighten every man coming into the world. I am come that they might have life. Christ as the Word of God is that living bread which came down from Heaven, that a man may eat and not die. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. Then observe-
1) What this light is – "The life was the light."
2) Where this light shines – "The light shineth in darkness." Christ as the Light did not shine