I was just breezing over the book of John today and I wanted to just throw thoughts at you:
- John 1:1,2
The Word was in the beginning. - That's like saying the Word Always Was.
The Word was with God. - That's like saying the Word can be acknowledged distinctively from God (The Father).
The Word was God. - That's like saying... the Word is the SAME as the Father
The Word is God's self-knowledge,
or God's self-awareness.
John 1:3
All things were made through the Word: without him nothing was made that has been made.
John 1:10-13 - This is how the Word Saves people:
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 received 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.
The Word (Jesus/God) saves people by giving them the right to become children of God, and this giving makes people receive and believe. The text says "...children born not of...human decision....but born of God.
- John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The Word = The One and Only, who came from the Father.
God has only One Word (One Oppinion/Awareness of Himself)
God only has One Self-Knowledge - and this Self-Knowledge/Self-Awareness, is eternal and perfect and therefore, has all the fullness of God.
So with that said, we have to remember that God is not a sum-total of three "parts". God is One Spirit, One in essence (look up the word essence for better understanding), and yet God is three in distinct persons that are revealed in sacred scriptures.
Since I was made in his image, I have Three things in common with God.
1) I am a self
2) I have an awareness of myself
3) I have a love/passion in regards to myself
But I don't know myself perfectly and eternally like God knows himself. Therefore, my love for myself is based on my flawed knowledge of myself. So the three things that make me a "being" are not Triune.
Since God is the eternal and supreme source of perfection, those three things I listed are perfectly and eternally the SAME. This makes God Triune. God's Tri-unity is what makes Him GOD. This is why God is the most Valuable Being in the Universe and outside the Universe. He is outside everything that exists, but yet He makes himself known to us in a very intimate way.
It's amazing!!! The Hebrew word for Unique is HOLY. God is so in a class by himself. He's soo HOLY.
Anyways... let's continue.
3) Snake - John 3:14,15/Numbers 21:4-9
"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the *Son of Man* must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." _ Jesus
In Numbers 21:4-9, The Israelites were saved from the poisonous snake bites if they kept their eyes on the bronze snake which God commanded Moses to build for that very purpose. God gave Moses and the Israelites a foreshadowing of what was to come. Jesus became like one of us (human), but without the sinful nature. He was lifted up on the cross, just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert. Jesus resembled the curse (sinful man) and became the curse for us. God wanted to show us what we look like, and made an example out of His own Son.
2 Corinthians 5:21
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
I hope this was encouraging.
Next time, if God allows, I'll write about the names of Jesus: Son of God, Son of Man, King of Jews.
Always learning,
-Chevy
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