“In the beginning was the Word”
John 1:1a
It starts with the Word. The apostle John had walked with Jesus and was one of His closest disciples. John had seen Jesus walk on water, restore sight to the blind, raise the dead to life. He had been there in the upper room when Jesus, risen from the dead, showed His wounds from the brutal crucifixion three days before, and then John had seen Jesus ascend into to heaven to take His rightful place at God Almighty’s right hand. John knew this reality, and he chose to start his declaration of who Jesus was by calling Him the Word. Why? Because the Word reveals God, and the Word carries His will.
In the beginning, God spoke, and His words accomplished His will. From nothing God used His words to create everything. Over and over the Old Testament says, “the word of the Lord came.” God used the word to instruct, to reach out, and to call His people to Himself. These words revealed the chasm between God and man created by God’s holiness and man’s sinfulness, and the word revealed God’s longing to be with His people. These words were written down and passed from generation to generation and then, the words stopped. For 400 years God was silent. And then when the time was right, God sent the Word. God sent Jesus. The Word, Jesus, revealed God because He was God. The Word, Jesus, carried His will reuniting God and man with His death on the cross.
Today, we can hold God’s words in our hands. We can discover God’s will within its pages, but what is even more profound is that as we study God reveals Himself. Through these words, we can see Him, we can hear Him, we can feel His love touch our souls. John understood this, and this is why he wanted us to know that it all begins with the Word.