Meditations On the Gospel of John 1:9-10

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John 1:9-10

(9) The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

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John speaks of the true Light which enlightens every man. The same Greek word (photizo) translated to enlighten is used elsewhere in the Bible to describe salvation, but it is also used in Hebrews (Hebrews 6:4) to describe people who tasted of the heavenly things but were not actually saved. I believe John is tieing this to verse 7 in which he describes Christ coming into the world to save all those that the Father had predestined.

Was coming indicates that John was speaking about something different from the birth of Jesus. Had John been referring to Jesus’ birth, he would have stated has come. It seems clear that John was referring to the earthly ministry, death, and resurrection of Christ in this particular reference to Jesus as the true light, not just the physical presence of Jesus on the Earth. This distinction is drawn for this passage only, since Jesus, in all forms and in all respects, is the true light.

Combined with the true light, the Greek word ho seems to be used as a defining or restrictive pronoun distinguishing Jesus from other self-proclaiming prophets of the day. Given the context of the sentence, that (vs. which) would have been a better English word in which to translate ho.

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John 1:10

(10) He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.

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The world in which the Lord walked is the same world that He Himself created. John reiterates the deity of Jesus as He walked and ministered on the earth. He does this not just to drive home the point, but truly as words of deserved worship and exaltation. John came from the perspective of a believer, a disciple, and of a close and intimate friend. We should learn from this and pattern our lives in the same fashion by taking every opportunity to proclaim the attributes, name, holiness, and deity of our Lord in our daily lives, even in our routine conversation and when making simple references to Him. The very first elements of what we refer to as The Lord’s Prayer are to proclaim His authority as the Father (creator) of all, and that His very name is holy. We should never let His name escape our lips without acknowledging His majesty in heaven and on Earth.

John reminds us that although Jesus became an actual part of the very creation He created, His creation, as a whole, did not recognize Him as the sovereign creator. We know that those the Father draws, and only those the Father draws, are given the particular grace to recognize Jesus as the creator and to know Jesus as our mighty redeemer.

Meditations On the Gospel of John 1:6-8

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John 1:6-8

(6) There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

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John’s spiritual assignment was ordained before the foundation of the world and was prophesied in Isaiah 40 centuries before John was born. John was sent by God with an assignment from God as we all are but in a unique way—his assignment was to prepare the way for the Lord; the coming messiah.

John’s spiritual assignment—proclaiming the coming of the messiah—contains both common and unique elements. It is common in that every believer has a specific and particular spiritual assignment from the Lord; a calling or specific purpose in the Earth. It is unique (or at least not common) in that John knew his assignment and received the grace to accomplish it before he was even born. John recognized and proclaimed Jesus when they were both still in the womb (Luke1:41)

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John 1:7

(7) He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.

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John was sent as a witness but as a man John did not exist before his conception so he could not have known Jesus in a natural sense. A witness is one who testifies of that which he knows. This combined with the fact that John acknowledged the presence of Jesus while they were both still in their mothers’ wombs indicates that God must have given John a super-natural knowledge of Jesus; the grace to perform his assignment.

John refers to Jesus as “The Light” three times in these passages. Jesus was the light of life coming into a dark (dead) world. His purpose was to shed light into a dark place; to raise people from death (darkness) to life (light).

“All” must refer to specific individuals that God had targeted to believe during John’s lifetime. It could not be referencing all people until the end of time, all people alive during John’s time, or even all people whom John proclaimed the coming messiah; not all of these people ended up believing.

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John 1:8

(8) He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

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John was sent by God, not as the light but as the one to bear witness about the light. This is a difficult role to fulfill; imagine proclaiming the greatness and majesty of one coming after you, getting the crowds and multitudes enthusiastic and excited in advance, and then stepping to the side as the one you have been proclaiming comes onto the scene. Imagine redirecting those who are choosing to follow and exalt you, to the one you have proclaimed. How tempting it would be to maintain even a small following for yourself; to hold onto just a small portion of the glory and admiration for yourself. How often today do men fail in this calling? Pastors and ministers so often lose sight of this fact and build enormous congregations, beautiful facilities, and a plethora of church programs, all to their own glory—not the Lord’s. What we are meant to take from this is that all glory and honor is the Lord’s. The Church belongs to Him and all we do, we do unto Him.

Meditations On the Gospel of John 1:1-5

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John 1:1–2

(1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
(2) He was in the beginning with God.

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John uses the Greek word (arche)—equivalent to the Hebrew word (reshiyth)—that we translate to “beginning”. In The Beginning is a phrase that means “when creation began” or “before creation”. The Greek word (en) translated to “was” indicates before creation or before creation began. John’s phrase “In the beginning was the Word” is a statement that the Word existed in eternity past, was not part of creation, and was therefore, never created. Verses one and two form a statement and a testimony communicating that Jesus and the Father are one and the same. John’s statement is a contradiction if viewed from the human perspective. A human being cannot be a particular person and be with that same person; I cannot be myself and be with myself at the same time. John, however, is not describing a human being; he is describing the infinite and triune God. From this perspective, God being Himself and being with Himself makes perfect and logical sense.

In the beginning God was alone, but He had (perfect) fellowship—with Himself. There was absolutely no lack in God before creation. He was perfectly content; He did not create man to fill a void within Himself or because He was lonely. He had a great purpose in creating man but it was not to make the imperfect perfect, for He was truly perfect and complete in the beginning.

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John 1:3

(3) All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

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This verse is a testimony of Jesus’ deity in that if Jesus is a created being, as many false religions claim, this is a circular argument; if He was made, how could all things that were made be made through Him (which came first, the chicken or the egg?). This is not a circular argument but a beautiful expression of the harmony, majesty, and perfection of the triune God. God is the only being in existence that was never created (i.e., has always existed). God is also the only creator in existence. If all things that exist were created by the Word, the Word must be God. The Word (Jesus) was with God before anything was created because He himself is God and created all things.

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John 1:4-5

(4) In him was life, and the life was the light of men. (5) The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

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All of creation was given life. All, outside of God, was dark, formless, and void before creation. In creation, life was given to everything that now exists. The sun, the moon, the sky, the stars, plants, animals, the oceans; all was dark, formless, and void prior to receiving life. Jesus never received life; in Him was life, meaning before life was given to anything created, Jesus contained life. That life—creative life—shone into the darkness as the light of man. Just as the sun shines into the darkness of night and makes it day, Jesus shone into the dark, formless, void and gave it life, which is His light.

Adam and Eve knew the light of Jesus and turned to the darkness of sin. Now, sin overshadows the world and affects everything in creation but can not overcome the light of Jesus Christ. Just as Jesus shinned His light into the dark, formless, void and gave life to all creation, He now shines His light into the darkness of sin and gives new life to those the Father has called.