Name Above All Names: Word of God

Name Above All Names: Word of God

Roy Christian Church

March 6, 2016

John 1:1-5, 14.“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it. . . . The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Revelation 19:13.“And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.”

Jesus is the Word of God. It is a simple but extremely profound statement. In Greek, it is “logos.”

BlueLetterBible.org says that in John, “Logos” denotes the essential Word of God, Jesus Christ, the personal wisdom and power in union with God, his minister in creation and government of the universe, the cause of all the world's life both physical and ethical, which for the procurement of man's salvation put on human nature in the person of Jesus the Messiah, the second person in the Godhead, and shone forth conspicuously from His words and deeds.

John MacArthur has written that the concept of the Word, the Logos, would have had a lot of meaning for Greek and Jewish readers. For Greeks, Logos was the principle of reason and order, the source of wisdom. To them, John presents Jesus as the source of wisdom, logic, reason. For the Jews, Jesus as Word would have been significant, too. Think about all the things that occurred in the Old Testament because of what God said? Abraham’s covenant. The Ten Commands. Direction to prophets and kings. God’s Word was the source of power and revelation for the Jews. And so John presents Jesus as the source of power and revelation.

As John begins his Gospel, he has in view all the revelation, all the truth, all the witness, all the glory, all the light, all the words that come out of Jesus in his living and teaching and dying and rising, and he sums up all that revelation of God with the name: He is “the Word”—the first, final, ultimate, decisive, absolutely true and reliable Word. The meaning is the same as Hebrews 1:1–2: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.” The Son of God incarnate is God’s climactic and decisive Word to the world.

In the first three verses of John, Piper says we learn about the time of His existence (In beginning was the Word), the essence of His identity(the Word was God), His relationship to God (the Word was with God), and His relationship to the world (all things were made through Him).

1. He has been since the beginning. Before there was anything else created, the Word, the Son of God, Jesus was there. Back to Genesis 1 you’ll find the Word of God. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3And God said, “Let there be light.” During the rest of creation, God speaks, and His Word calls into existence everything that is. Before anything was, He was.
2. He really is God. John could not have said it more clearly: Jesus is God in the flesh. We believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He is God. This is a pretty big idea, and one that fosters a lot of conversation. There’s God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. They are all separate and individual, but together as a unity, too. How? I don’t know, but I believe that it is true. Thomas called Him, “My Lord and my God!” I agree with Thomas.
3. But He also has a relationship with God. He is God. He has a relationship with God, He is WITH Him. The language means they were face to face, engaging each other. Jesus has been with the Father forever. During His ministry, Jesus desired to be with His Father and went by Himself to talk to and listen to His Father. He sets the example for us to have not just a Lord, but a Father.
4. Jesus has a special relationship with the world, too. The Word became flesh and came to be with us, here, because He chose to do so. He came to His own, to His own creation. He made us and came to live with us. All things were made through Him. And without him nothing was made that has been made. If something has been made, Jesus made it. Jesus wasn’t made. He wasn’t a man created to become great. He came as God in the flesh, His Word to reveal God’s will and purposes to all of us. He came to give His life to pay the ransom for all of us captives

A message ought to be more than just knowing something new, more than just better understanding. What should you do?

Allow the Word of Christ to change you. “For the wordofGod is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12.

React as though the words of Jesus actually mean something. Love your enemies. Bless those who persecute you. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Love God first and best. Lots more.

Allow the Word of Christ to flow through you to change others. “Let the message of Christ dwell among yourichly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude inyour hearts.” Colossians 3:16

The Word is not something to cling to for yourself. It is designed to be spread from one person to another. It has its greatest effects when it is shared with others.

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