Today, we start the last of the Gospel's. Hang in there. I know many of the stories seem to repeat and it can appear to be redundant. Don't quit - this is an opportunity that God wants to use to have these principles, parables and truths embedded in your mind and heart for the rest of your life. HE is doing a work in you. Stay the course. Don't grow weary of reading and developing this spiritual discipline."Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9 (NIV)
As Jesus’ followers discussed his recent appearances, suddenly Jesus himself was standing there among them. Jesus’ first words to the group of disbelieving and bewildered followers and disciples, all of whom had deserted him in his time of greatest need were: “Peace be with you.” . Jesus brought a greeting of peace, and his presence brought peace.
Jesus showed them his hands and his feet so as to reveal the wounds inflicted by the nails that had held him to the cross. His resurrected body still bore these wounds as a testimony to his followers that this was the same man whom they had loved, followed, and seen die. Jesus stood there among them, alive, even eating a piece of broiled fish to show that he was not a ghost. He was real; he came back to life just as he had told them he would.
During his final days, he taught them again, so that they could understand the truth: his life, death, and resurrection all fulfilled Scripture. He taught them so they could teach others, telling what they had seen Jesus do and heard him say. They were to be Jesus’ witnesses (Acts 1:8).
As he had already done with the two men on the road to Emmaus, Jesus opened their minds to understand the Scriptures and explained how everything that had been written about the coming Messiah had been fulfilled in him. Writings of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms encompass the entire Old Testament. In other words, the entire Old Testament points to the Messiah. Not only had the Old Testament Scriptures been fulfilled in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, but the Old Testament went much further—speaking of repentance and forgiveness of sins.
This task of being witnesses was not to be carried out in the disciples’ own strength. Obviously these followers, hiding behind locked doors in fear of the Jews right there in Jerusalem, hardly seemed like the kind of people who could take the message across the world. But Jesus was not expecting them to do it on their own—he would send what his Father had promised—the Holy Spirit.
Luke concluded his Gospel with a brief account of Jesus’ ascension. In Acts, he provided a more complete description of it. After watching Jesus ascend into heaven, the disciples returned to Jerusalem to praise God, the only appropriate response to Jesus’ glorious life and his message of salvation.
John starts at the “beginning,” with the first eighteen verses of John, called the prologue. When John wrote of the beginning, he was paralleling the words of the creation account. John called Jesus, “the Word.” John did not identify this person immediately, but described his nature and purpose before revealing his name. As the Word, the Son of God fully conveys and communicates God.
Theologians and philosophers, both Jews and Greeks, used the term “word” in a variety of ways. The Greek term is logos. It could mean a person’s thoughts or reason, or it might refer to a person’s speech, the expression of thoughts. As a philosophical term, logos conveyed the rational principle that governed the universe, even the creative energy that generated the universe. In the Hebrew language of the Old Testament, “the Word” is described as an agent of creation (Psalm 33:6), the source of God’s message to his people through the prophets (Hosea 1:2), and God’s law, his standard of holiness (Psalm 119:11).
JBy using the expression, he was with God, John was explaining that the Word (the Son) and God (the Father) already enjoyed an intimate, personal relationship in the beginning. The last verse of the prologue tells us that the Son was at the Father’s side; and in Jesus’ special prayer for his followers, he expressed that the Father loved him before the foundation of the world.
Not only was the Son with God, he was himself God. John’s Gospel, more than most books in the New Testament, asserts Jesus’ divinity. One of the most compelling reasons to believe the doctrine of the Trinity comes from the fact that it was revealed through a people most likely to reject it outright. In a world populated by many gods, it took the tough-minded Hebrews to clarify the revelation of God’s oneness expressed through “three-in-oneness.”
The second verse of the prologue underscores the truth that the Word, the Son, was in the beginning with God. A wrong teaching called the “Arian heresy” developed in the fourth century of Christianity. Arius, the father of this heresy, was a priest of Alexandria (in Egypt) during the reign of Emperor Constantine. He taught that Jesus, the Son of God, was not eternal but was created by the Father. Therefore, Jesus was not God by nature. Arius’s views gained some support. At the Church Council in Nicea in a.d. 325, Athanasius defeated Arius in debate and the Nicene Creed was adopted, which established the biblical teaching that Jesus was “one essence with the Father.” Yet this controversy raged until it was defeated at the Council of Constantinople in a.d. 325. This heresy still exists, however, in several cults. Yet John’s Gospel proclaims simply and clearly that the Son of God is coeternal with the Father.
The divine life embodied in Christ gives light to everyone—revealing divine truth and exposing their sin. Everywhere Christ went, he brought light. Light means understanding and moral insight, spiritual vision. But more than just shining or reflecting, the light of Jesus penetrates and enlightens hearts and minds. When Christ’s light shines, we see our sin and his glory. We can refuse to see the light and remain in darkness. But whoever responds will be enlightened by Christ. He will fill our minds with God’s thoughts. He will guide our path, give us God’s perspective, and drive out the darkness of sin.
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)
Lord, help me today to be a reflection of the light of Christ in all I do and say.
"Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD." Psalms 89:15 (NIV)
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