Jesus: The Word, the Life, the Light
“In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. He was [continually existing] in the beginning [co-eternally] with God. All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him not even one thing was made that has come into being. In Him was life [and the power to bestow life], and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness did not understand it or overpower it or appropriate it or absorb it [and is unreceptive to it].” (John 1:1-5, AMP)
The Gospel of John starts out differently than all the other gospels. Instead of going through the lineage of Jesus, a prophecy fulfilled, or the re-telling of His birth, John chooses to start at the beginning. No, not the beginning of Jesus’ life. The very beginning of creation, before time began itself.
In five short verses, John is able to package and communicate a picture of the supremely vast and awesome fact that Jesus is sovereignly God. Using the Word, light, and life as analogies, John reinforces the existence of the Trinity, God as an uncreated Creator of all, and the pre-eminence of the Savior He is.
The first verse, most likely something you could rattle off from muscle memory if you grew up in the church, seems like a riddle if you really think about it: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
It seems a simple thing, and yet, it’s hard for us to comprehend. How can we physically be something, and then be with it all at the same time? This one-liner is a prime example that God is a mystery that is constantly revealing Himself to those that seek Him. You see, what John is showing us here, is that God was there at the beginning, before Genesis 1:1. And not only was he there, but Jesus, the embodiment of the Word was there with Him. God in His entirety existed at the beginning. There is no single part of Him that was created at a later date. Jesus wasn’t created when God needed to come to the earth centuries after the Fall. The Holy Spirit wasn’t thought up and administered out to us after Jesus ascended to be with the Father.
God, three in one, was completely there in the beginning. He didn’t have to split Himself up or re-brand Himself during the course of His master plan for redemption. Like John so simply tells us, He was fully there in the beginning even before the moment God created the heavens and the earth.
The Word, Jesus, existed continually with God and inhabited the formless, dark void with God, co-eternally. From God, all things were created and there is nothing that could be created without His already established existence. Not only was God the Word, but He was also life. That word that John uses for life is translated as ‘zoe,’ or life as a principle, not ‘bios,’ which would just be biological life.
So John establishes Jesus as God using not only the unchangeable, final Word of God, but also as the source of life as a construct. We have life or come alive because God has made us alive, the very idea of life is something that is not even possible without the existence of God.
And the final analogy that John uses to set up his take on the gospel is that Jesus is the light. In the beginning, when God said, “Let there be light,” there was no battle between the light and the dark. The dark yielded to God’s light, in a void where there was nothing but darkness before it. You see, Jesus is the light that can take back ground where darkness has always existed. The darkness cannot understand God’s light and cannot occupy any place God’s light– Jesus– is. When God created light, it set a precedent that darkness could never stand up to. Light will always overcome the darkness, just like Jesus will always overcome the darkness of this world.
But why should this encourage you today, right where you sit? Because I don’t know about you, but I can get stuck in the motions of my own life. I can get caught up in the work I have to get through before I clock out of work today, the number on the scale when I weigh myself in the morning, or the petty drama that looms from a short scroll through social media. It’s easy to get distracted, especially when our culture prides itself on being busy and hustling all the time.
Sometimes, you need the reminder that our God is eternal, and He always has been. He is in the very Word we have the opportunity to pick up and read every day, inviting us to come and rest with Him. He is the life that pulses through every heartbeat and rushes in every breath we breathe. He is the light that shines and the darkness cannot overwhelm Him, physically and metaphorically.
The darkness of a sinful, scary world cannot comprehend the light of Jesus. The dark depths of anxiety or depression cannot understand who Jesus is. The gloom of an uncertain future cannot overwhelm the steadfast nature of Jesus. For the Christian, Jesus is the light that shines into the very darkest corners of this world, and the darkness cannot overcome Him.
So in whatever darkness you are dreading today, cling to Jesus. Cover yourself in more and more of Him until that darkness is dispelled from your mind. Will life be perfect? No, and Jesus never guarantees that. But He does promise to be our comfort and our peace.
I have friends that I know are dealing with really deep darkness: addicted family members, illness, and grief. In all those situations, all I can do is shine the light of Jesus into their darkness. And that’s not to be superior or a better Christian. That’s being a Godly support system to them, reminding them that Jesus knew that darkness, even at the beginning of creation, and that darkness couldn’t be overcome. Even when Jesus died on the cross, the darkness could not comprehend Him: why He would die for a sinful, sorry humanity.
Don’t forget, friends, if you follow Jesus, then His light is inside of you and you are commissioned to shine it in this dark, hopeless world. It has always existed, and it will always conquer, even when we don’t see it.
