"The One-of-a-Kind Glory"

Scripture: John 1:1-5 and 14

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Observations:
This week in FpStudents we are starting a new series called "Godfidence."  This series is going to help us understand some theological truths that will prepare us to do what 1 Peter 3:15 says:

"But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect."

This first week, we'll be answering the question, "Was Jesus God?"  This question caused a lot of issues when Jesus was walking on the earth.  He claimed to be God (John 10:30) and the religious people took quite a bit of offense to that.

Looking at today's scripture, we find several truths that will be an important foundation for this series:

• Verse 1-
• Jesus was there at the beginning of time.
• Jesus was with God.
• Jesus is God.
• Verse 2-
• Jesus was with God at creation.
• Verse 3-
• Jesus the personification of the Creator.
• Verse 4-
• In Jesus we find life- both at creation and for eternity.
• In addition to providing us a way to be with Him for eternity, Jesus also was a light, showing us how to live here on earth.
• Verse 5-
• Jesus came to light up the earth, which is under the power of darkness.
• Jesus' light wins over darkness EVERY TIME.
• Verse 14- 
• Jesus was the one and only Son of God.
• God sent Jesus as the personification of himself.
• Jesus came to offer two things: Grace to live with Him for eternity and truth for living here on earth.

Application:

This whole business is hard to understand-- Jesus being the Son of God but also the Son being a part of the Trinity.  In other words, Jesus is one aspect of God himself.  It's just about more than I can wrap my brain around.  But here's what's important for me to remember, God had a perfect plan since creation.  The Complete God- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit- was there before creation, created us, watched us sin, revealed the law to Moses, walked with the Israelites in the desert, pointed us towards our need for a savior, made a way for us to be saved through Jesus, and still does life with us every day.  We think of different aspects of God doing different parts of those things.  But in all, that is God living out His love story with His people.

I love the Message version of John 1:14...

"The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.  We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, generous inside and out, true from start to finish."

We desperately needed to see God's one-of-a-kind glory, and so God suited up in human skin and came to save us.  And he was perfect, and holy, and glorious and human all at the same time.  And he offers us a relationship with him.  He made a way for us to see his one-of-a-kind glory right here while we're on earth (through the Holy Spirit) and for eternity in heaven. 

Prayer:

God, you are beyond our understanding.  Your ways are amazing.  And Lord, I want so badly to be ready when someone asks me the reason for the hope I have.  So Lord, please reveal your truths to me during this study.  Today, I pulled apart individual truths from your Word, but Lord, I pray that over the next few days as I study this huge question, you would weave those truths together and help me to see a more complete picture of You.  In Jesus' name!  Amen!

Confident in this…

Miranda

(After writing this post, I watched a message that made me realize I had missed a huge, important truth in this scripture.  Check out this post to hear about it.)