Chapter # 1 Paragraph # 1 Study # 4
September 18, 2022
Broadlands, Louisiana
(Download Audio)
Thesis: John's "point" regarding how the "Life" became the "Light" to The Twelve is critical:
they were the ones whose testimonies produced the New Testament of our Bible.
Introduction: In John's prologue to his presentation of Jesus Christ, he began by identifying Jesus
as "The Word of God" Who
is "God, The Creator". That Jesus is The God of
Genesis 1:1 is crucial because it makes Jesus both "The Living God" and "The Giver of Life" to those who
believe Him. But, that Jesus (as "The Living God" Who created all things and is "The Giver of His Life" to those who believe Him) is primarily "The Word" in John's perspective of Him is
the most crucial "identity" of Jesus for John's written record.
The reason that Jesus is The Word is the most crucial issue. Why do we need to see Jesus, The Creator God Who is The Source of "Life", as "The Word"? For one simple reason: "Life" is communicated by The Word by the use of words (John 20:30-31). What I am saying is that there is only one really critical issue in regard to human beings: whether they will experience the Life of God for now and the ages to come, or the Death from God both now and in the ages to come. Nothing else matters: Deuteronomy 30:15 and 19.
Thus, the focus of our study this morning is going to move one step further: John claims that "The Life was The Light of The Men."
- I. The Link Between "The Life" And "The Light".
- A. As we saw in our previous study two weeks ago, "The Life" is the most critical issue of man's existence in Creation: this makes it "The Goal" (just as John said in John 20:30-31).
- B. Now we are being told that this "Goal" has a required "means to this end": Light.
- C. Thus, the link between "The Life" and "The Light" is the link that exists between what is important to possess and how we are to possess it: The What and The How.
- II. John's Declaration Regarding "The How".
- A. His claim: The Life was The Light of The Men.
- B. "The Creator's Process" and "The Word's" Method.
- 1. The work that needs to be accomplished.
- a. It is illustrated by the organization of "quarks" (so small as to have no way for us to even know they exist except by the deductive use of the law of cause and effect) into "The Hercules Corona Borealis Great Wall (10 billion light years across): this is the "metaphor of the transmission of The Life from Infinite Creator to Finite Personal Creatures"; a vast process of putting words together in a way that opens our understanding.
- b. The actual issue: "Life" is in Him and, for us; and for us to be able to possess it, it must be transferred to us.
- 2. John's revelation of the required process.
- a. The Word communicates His Inner Life by the use of "words".
- b. But, "words" can easily be misconstrued: as the twisting of the words of the prophets created the first century reality of a nation brutally executing its own Creator and Savior graphically reveals [the entire Old Testament revelation in words was twisted into a miss-construction that sponsored a murderous intention to kill Jesus and erase Him as "The God Who is The Word"].
- c. Therefore, in addition to "words", The Word set about to provide "Light" for the proper understanding of the words.
- 1) This provision consisted of a tangible illustration of the meaning of the words given in the form of "incarnation" (1:14), a concept we will explore if/when we get to verse 14.
- 2) This provision is explained by John in his introduction to his first letter wherein he said, "the provision" was "audible" [we have heard], "visible" [seen with our eyes], "ponderable" [looked upon], and "physical" [handled] (1 John 1:1-3).
- d. This "Light", John claims, was the "The Life" that exists in "The Creator Who Is The Word" as it was put into a "creature form" that creatures could learn from.
- e. But John also goes one step further: he claims that this "Light form of the invisible Life" was given to "The Men".
- 1) These are "particular men", not generic men: the men means specific men.
- 2) These "particular men" are identified by John in 1 John 1:1-3 as those who were subjected to His physical presence for an extended period of time.
- 3) And "these particular men" were commissioned by The Word revealed by Light in words to pass on what they experienced.
- f. But, have we not now returned to "misconstruable words" uttered by The Men to us as men?
- 1) Is it not the witness of history that the words of The Men have, once again, been subjected to "miss-construction"?
- 2) Are we back to where we were before The Word provided The Light?
- g. No.
- 1) The words of The Men can be miss-construed, but are not when attended by Jesus' provision of His Own Spirit when they are made available to us (as Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 1:5).
- 2) What The Word did in human history in His tangible way is now forever history and its impact rolls over Creation when His words as The Word are proclaimed by those who possess the Spirit of Jesus in their bodies.
