The Gospel According To John

Lesson Two

The incarnation of the Son of God

John 1:1-18

The Deity of Christ

John 1:1,2

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God

In these two scriptures we see that the "Word" was with God from the beginning of time.

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning "God"

We could leave it there and it would say a lot. God was here, always has been here and always will be here. Without Him there was nothing.

If we continue that verse we see

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

So since John says that the "Word" was with God, we need to establish who the "Word" is.

1 John 1:1-2 That which was from the beginning which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of Life, the life was manifested and we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us, ....truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

So we see here that the "Word" was and is Jesus. So that establishes that he indeed is God.

The Pre-incarnate Work Of Christ

Verses 3-5

We see that Jesus was there when God created all things.

That without Him nothing was made. In Him was Life and that Life was the light of men. But also that not all men would comprehend who He was.

That is hard to understand. That someone can be in darkness and not see the light. If I was in a dark room I would be fumbling around looking for the switch to turn the light on and most grateful when I found it. And yet alot of people go their whole life in the darkness, continually bumping into things, grumbling and complaining, but will not acknowledge the light and even complain when someone tries to turn the light on. They want to do it their way and turn their "own" light on. But in themselves they have no light. It is only in Jesus. But they are stubborn and will perish in the darkness that they have chosen of their own free will. When the light was just a prayer away.

The Forerunner of Christ

Verses 6-8

This introduces John the Baptist. He was a man, sent from God to show people to the light. So that people would turn to the light and believe. He did not claim to be the light, but that he was sent to tell of the light.

The Rejection of Christ

Verses 9-11

What was the light that John was bearing witness of? The True light. There will be many false lights that will come to deceive you. That is what Satan does best, deception.

II Corinthians 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

Satan will appear to be what he is not to deceive people. He knows that if someone finds the "True Light" they will have their eyes opened and will get saved. So he will make things appear "Good". There are many false doctrines that have the appearance of being "scriptural" but indeed are a distortion of the truth. They are traditions of man that will keep people in bondage. This is one of the most dangerous kind of deception as it is taught by some Christians and keeps people from seeing the truth of the word of God and keeps them in bondage and in a lot of cases, sick in body and mind. We dealt with these in my lessons on Hindrances To Faith

Colossians 2:8 

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world and not according to Christ.

Then there are the less subtle, but still deceptive things like cults. They have the appearance of good but are lies of the devil and will lead you in the path of the devil. You will be caught up in it before you know it and be convinced that there is nothing wrong with it and suddenly you will find yourself trapped and headed for destruction. They all end in the same place, no matter how "Good, and Pure" they seem. They are a deception to keep you from the "True Light".

The Acceptance of Christ

Verses 12-13

But if you will receive Christ, the True Light, you will become the children of God, if you believe on His name. We cannot get there on our own. It has to be through God. V13 says, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Only through God will we find salvation. No matter how hard we try we cannot make ourselves saved. We do as an act of our will have to accept the sacrifice of Jesus, but we cannot get to heaven on our own merit. It just is not good enough.

The Incarnation of Christ

Verses 14-18

We see in these verses how Deity became man.

The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his Glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth

This is what John bore witness of. "This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me’"

And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace

Colossians 2:9-10 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power

Through Christ we have it all. He is God and he is man. He is our advocate with the Father. When we receive Him we receive all he has.

We are no longer under the law as they were in the Old Testament. They were waiting for the promise to come.

Romans 8:2-4 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

We now live under Grace and Truth. We have direct communication with God through the Son. No one has seen God, but they have seen Jesus, and He declared that He is real, so we can believe that He is, and that Jesus is one with Him.

 

Lesson 3 of John

 


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