SERIES: Advent
TEXT: John 1:1-3
MESSAGE: “From The Start”
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“The Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as this truth of the Incarnation.” – J.I. Packer
“No portion of the New Testament captured the imagination and the attention of the Christian intellectual community for the first three centuries more than this brief section of John’s Gospel.” – R. C. Sproul
“The nature of Christ’s existence is mysterious, I admit; but this mystery meets the wants of man. Reject it and the world is an explicable riddle; believe it, and the history of our race is satisfactorily explained.”
– Napoleon Bonaparte
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
– John 1:1-3
“I believe the inclusion of the prologue has to do with John’s overriding goal, throughout his Gospel, of making a case for the identity of Christ.” – R. C. Sproul
As we think about Advent, what do we learn about who Jesus is? (1. He’s Creator 2. He’s the Script 3. He’s Personal)
1. He’s Creator (v.1) “In the beginning…”
“He immediately stepped in between an holy, infinite, offended majesty and offending mankind, and was accepted in his interposition. . . . Christ began to exercise the office of mediator between God and man as soon as man fell because mercy began to be exercised towards man immediately.” – Jonathan Edwards
2. He’s the Script (v.1) “the Word…”
“Not only do we know God by Jesus Christ alone, but we know ourselves only by Jesus Christ. We know life and death only through Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus Christ, we do not know what is our life, nor our death, nor God, nor ourselves.” – Blaise Pascal
3. He’s Personal “through him…” (v.3)
TAKEAWAYS:
• Surrender your script
• See your uniqueness
• See the bigger picture
“…“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
Luke 22:42