John: Who Is Jesus?

Who is Jesus?  Who is this One who was born in Bethlehem, grew up in an obscure village, never wrote a book, never held an office, never raised a family or owned a home?  Who is Jesus?  Who is this One who loved the outcasts, who healed the untouchables and taught the multitudes?  Who is Jesus?  Now, some say that Jesus was a prophet of God. Others say Jesus was a great teacher and a moral example to us all.  But let me get personal:  Who is Jesus to you?  What do you know about His life?  What do you know about His identity?  What do you know about why He came to live among us?

Let me ask this another way: Did Jesus stride out of the wilderness 2000 years ago to preach a gentle message of peace and brotherhood?  Or did he perhaps advocate some form of a religious revolution?  And how did He view himself? How did others view Him?  Did he view himself as the promised Messiah? Did he understand himself to be both God and man?  Did He really say He was the only the way to the Father?

You see, we live in a culture today that in many ways has created a Jesus that fits their liking. To many in our world today, Jesus was simply a good man, who did some good things.  To others Jesus was philosopher who taught good morals and the golden rule.  And to others Jesus was just another prophet who came to point us to God.  But today, although many people think Jesus was a pretty significant person in history, most don’t believe He was truly God with us.

So, this morning as we begin our Journey into John’s Gospel about Jesus Christ, he’s going to answer our question: Who is Jesus?  And as He does, we will not only see clearly who Jesus truly is, but we will also begin to understand why Jesus came to us.

So, if you brought a Bible today, let me encourage you to find the Gospel of John. John wrote this gospel because He knew Jesus.  He saw Jesus up close and personal.  He followed Jesus as one of His students.  He heard Jesus teach, He observed how He lived.  He was there to when he healed the lame, he was there when he fed the 5000, he was there when He called Lazarus forth from the grave, he was there when Jesus hung on the cross and he was there at the empty tomb three days later.  This is his story of the good news that is found in Jesus Christ.  So, if you’ve found the Gospel of John, John introduces His gospel by introducing usthe Jesus he knows, and the Jesus he wants us to know.  So, let’s just take a moment simply to hear this most profound description of Jesus.  He writes:  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  John 1:1-5  In these first five verses, John presents three pictures that help us get a grip on who Jesus really is.  And the first picture is this:

Jesus is the Word  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.  John 1:1-2   Jesus is the Word of God.  In that sense, Jesus is the very expression of God. The fact that John uses “the Word” to identify Jesus tells us why Jesus came to be with us.  For the term “the word” points to the truth that it is the very nature of God to reveal Himself.  A person’s word is the means whereby he reveals what he is thinking.  So, “the Word” is God’s thoughts revealed to us so we can understand God; So, we might know God.  God is not aloof or indifferent to us.  He wants to reveal Himself to us.  But He reveals Himself as He chooses.   He chose to reveal Himself to us through Jesus.

The writer of the book of Hebrews explains Jesus as the very expression of God this way: “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word” Hebrews 1:3.  In other words, when you look at Jesus, you see exactly what God is like.  He is the radiance of God’s glory.  He is the flower in full bloom.  He is the beauty of God’s goodness personified.  He is the fountain of God’s wisdom.  He is the source of light and life and love.  Everything of God emanates from Jesus.  You don’t see 99% of what God is like, you see all who God is in Jesus.  In other words, Jesus is the human face of God.

So then, Jesus has come to reveal God to us. He has come to reveal God’s thoughts to us.  He has come to display God’s love to us.  And Jesus has come to reveal God’s heart to us.  So, John introduces Jesus to us as the very expression of all who God is.  That’s why John uses this term, “The Word” to introduce us to Jesus.

And as He does, he makes three significant claims about Jesus as the Word.  The first is this:  Jesus has always existed as the Word  He writes: “In the beginning was the Word” The Word existed at the beginning.  At the beginning of what?  The beginning of created time. Of creation itself.  Prior to creation there was no time as we know it – there was just the existence of God.  Time is a created thing.  It came with the creation of the sun and moon and stars.  Time was created for us.

So, when John says, “In the beginning was the Word” he’s telling us that Jesus predates the existence of any created thing.  He is telling us Jesus has always been.  There was never a time when Jesus was not the Word.  Jesus Christ is eternal. That’s who Jesus is.  And that’s why later in this gospel Jesus will say of himself, “Before Abraham was, I am” John 8:58.  Jesus has always existed as the Word.  That’s the first truth we see about Jesus as the Word.

Here’s the next:  Jesus has always enjoyed a relationship with the Father!  “and the Word was with God”  This is one of my favorite descriptions of Jesus in the Bible, because the term John uses here tells us that the Word existed in a face-to-face relationship with the Father.  This is a picture of the harmony, intimacy, unity Jesus enjoyed in His relationship with the Father.

What John pictures for us here in Jesus’s relationship with the Father is the goal of the gospel – that anyone who believes in Jesus might know the Father like He knows the Father. He came to reconcile us to a relationship with the Father so that we might enjoy the same kind of relationship with the Father that He has.   That’s the heart of His prayer for us on the night he was betrayed when he asked the Father: “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you” John 17:20-21.  This is why when you believe in Jesus, you are instantly adopted into God’s family.  This is why when you believe in Jesus, you are given access to His presence.  This is why God sent Jesus to die for you, to make you holy and blameless in His sight, so you can know and enjoy the Father forever.  Jesus has always enjoyed a relationship with the Father!   And he came to us, so we might enjoy the same relationship as He enjoys.  How great is that?  That’s the second truth we see about Jesus revealed to us as the Word.

Now the final truth: Jesus has always been God   “and the Word was God.”   This is                                             one of the strongest affirmations of the deity of Jesus Christ.  Jesus shares His nature and being with God. He is of the same character and quality as God.  Everything that can be said about God can be said about Jesus.  Jesus is God. As one Theologian put it: “John intends that the whole of this gospel shall be read in the light of this verse.  The deeds and words of Jesus are the deeds and words of God; if this is not true then the book is blasphemous.”

But if this is true, then we can know why Jesus came to be with us – to make God fully known to us.  This then is who Jesus is:  He is the eternal Word who shows us exactly what God is like – for He Himself is God.

Now, this is a hugely significant truth for us today.  And the implication is obvious:   If Jesus is the eternal Word of God who makes the Father known, you can enjoy the same kind of relationship He has always experienced with God.  That’s the good news John declares about Jesus in this gospel.  Jesus has come to show us who God is, so we might believe in Him and be reconciled to God for all eternity.  That’s the good news found in Jesus.  That’s just the first truth about Jesus we will see throughout this Gospel. Here’s the next:

Jesus is the Creator He writes: Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.  John 1:3  As God, Jesus was not only present at creation, but he was active in creation.  He created “all things.” John chose the specific term “all things” and used it to focus on each individual thing Jesus created.  John could have phrased it in such a way that our eyes were drawn to the whole universe collectively – sort of like throwing open the warehouse and saying, “He made all of this.” However, John chose a word that looks at each created thing individually.  Like opening the warehouse and taking us around on a tour saying, “Look at this here.  Check out that detail there.”  So, Jesus made everything from the largest whale to the smallest amoeba.  From the wildflower on the backside of a mountain no one will ever see but Him, to every molecule of oxygen you will ever breath. Jesus Christ designed it all, created all and sustains it all.  Nothing exists today apart from His creative work.

And when you ponder what John is telling us about Jesus as the Creator, then it doesn’t take long to realize that Jesus is the reason you exist.  In fact, the Bible calls mankind the Crown of creation.  Listen to how David expresses this reality:

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?  You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.  You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet. Psalm 8:3-6

God’s Word says that you and I were created in the image and likeness of God.  And this means you were created by God to experience harmony in your relationships.  This means your life has dignity and value – that every life has dignity and worthy.  And this  is why, throughout this gospel, we will see Jesus at work in His creation.  He will transform water to wine.  He will heal a man who was lame for life.  He will feed the 5000.  He will walk on the water.  He will raise the dead.  Why?  Because He is Lord of creation.

This truth then has strong implications for us.  For if Jesus is the reason you exist, then Jesus has come into our world is to restore you to life the way He intends it to be lived.  He’s come not just to help you know God, but to heal you and make you whole.  He has come to give you joy, peace, purpose and meaning. That’s the good news found in Jesus Christ, the Creator of all things.  If Jesus is the Creator of all things, that means He created you, and that gives your life purpose and meaning… and hope.

Which leads to the third note of good news found in Jesus, and that is this: Jesus is the Light   And so John declares: In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:4-5

If there’s one truth we’ve come to realize in life it’s this: Life is the most significant element of God’s creation. Jesus did not just create the world but gave life to it.  Everything that lives and breathes is sustained by Him.  Life does not exist in its own right.  No one has ever been able to produce life from that which has no life. And no one can keep life going.  No matter how medically advanced we’ve become, we cannot sustain life.  Only Jesus has that ability, because Jesus is the source of life.

His life is a theme repeated throughout this gospel: Jesus declares himself as the source of life (John 5:26).  He is the source of both physical life and spiritual life.  He came to give us life more abundantly (John 10:10).  He died for us so we might have eternal life (John 3:16).  For He said, “I am the resurrection and the life.”John 11:25

This is who Jesus is.  Jesus is the life bringer.  The very fact that we can breathe, laugh, cry, work, play, create and even love we owe to Him. Since we were created in the image and likeness of God, there exists in each one of us this light.  His life is our light.   But because of sin, the light of God in our lives has been diminished. We still bear the image of God, but that image has been darkened by our sin.  Now we live in a world of darkness.  This darkness works as a veil to blind us from the reality of God’s goodness. And this veil keeps us from living the way God intends for us to live.

But here’s the good news. God knew we needed to be rescued from the domain of darkness, so Jesus came into our world as the light, to set us free.  Left to ourselves we would be staggering about in the darkness of our own opinions, always searching for answers and never finding our way.  But now that the Jesus has come, he shows us the way by saying, “I am the light of the world.  Anyone who follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

You see, the good news of Jesus as the light, is that you no longer have to wander in the darkness and despair of sin, but you can enjoy the light of life through Jesus Christ.

This is why Jesus came as the light.  Jesus came to remove the blinders from our eyes so we might see the truth about who God is. But this is also why Jesus will never be a neutral figure in our world.  For even today, the evil one works overtime today to keep people from seeing His light.  He works to keep people in darkness, to keep people from Jesus, to keep people focused on counterfeit offerings for life that never satisfy.

But here’s the good news.  John declared it then and it is still true today:  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.   In other words, the light of Jesus Christ cannot be diminished by the evil one.  The darkness tried everything it could to overcome the light.  It schemed and plotted; it betrayed, accused and lied.  But it failed to snuff out the light of Jesus Christ.  For His light still shines today.  It keeps on giving light. So that no matter what the darkness does, the light continues to shine.  It will not be overcome.  Jesus Christ is the light of the world.  That is who Jesus is.  And He still shines brightly today to rescue those who are lost in darkness and to give life – eternal life, abundant life, spiritual life to anyone who trusts in Him.

So, take heart! If Jesus is the light of the world, you can find life in Him and hope in the darkness.

Are you beginning to see why John wants us to be clear about who Jesus is?  He doesn’t want us to settle for worldly descriptions of Jesus.  For Jesus is far greater than any description we might give him.  No, He wants us to know that…

Jesus is the eternal Word of God who shows us exactly what God is like – for He Himself is God.

Jesus is the Creator of the World, who created you to know Him and be restored to complete fellowship with Him.

Jesus is the Light of the World, who has come to rescue you from the darkness of your sin and give you abundant and eternal life with Him.

This is the good news found in Jesus Christ.  So let me ask you this morning.  Do you know this Jesus? Have you received this Jesus?

As I read last week, I will read again, in the verses that follow John says to us: The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive him.  Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.  John 1:9-13

So let me ask you:  Do you recognize this Jesus?  Do you recognize Jesus as the eternal Word of God who shows us exactly what God is like?  Do you believe He created you for a relationship with Him, and that He has come to restore your relationship with your Creator?  And do you want Him to rescue you from the darkness of you sin and restore you to life with God?

If that’s what you want, then would you pray with me right now.

Father, I thank you for sending Jesus to show me what you are like.  I believe He is not just your Son, but that He came to die for me to restore me to a relationship with you.  I believe His death on the cross made it possible for Him to rescue me from the darkness of my sin.  So as best as I know how, I want to receive Jesus as my Savior and Lord right now, to turn away from my sin and trust in you.  Now Father, help me to embrace my new life as your child, fully forgiven and free because of what Jesus has done for me.  And I ask this all in the name of Jesus Christ, your Son.  Amen.