Merry Christmas from Heaven On Wheels
John 1:1-18 - The light shines in the darkness
A very Merry Christmas to all of you! Barb’s morning devotional has already zipped to your email inbox or app, and with today being one of the two most important holy days of the Christian faith, we thought it would be appropriate to send out a second devotional.
At our church Christmas Eve service, the focus was on the Gospel of John — in particular, the prologue (John 1:1-18). Here are those verses in their entirety:
“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. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 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 did receive 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 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. (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ ”) Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.”
John 1:1-18 NIV
Here the apostle John wrote of the true divine nature of Jesus, John the Baptist’s testimony about Jesus, and the gospel — “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”.
The prologue is also full of references to Jesus as light, specifically as “The true light that gives light to everyone.” (John 1:9) Barb wrote about these verses in her devotional for January 5, 2023, and here’s an excerpt from that post for your consideration:
The true Light comes into the world to enlighten every man, according to the Gospel writer John. The world was made through Him but the world does not know Him. How does enlightenment happen for every human when so many reject Him or ignore Him? The Light shines on our sin and corruption and fallen state, so it shines on everyone equally. Many will scatter and run away from that Light, just like cockroaches that have invaded a kitchen that run for the cupboards when you turn the light on (there’s a fun thought!). Others will stop in their tracks and consider the Light and then turn towards it.
Fallen humans that run from the Light love their sin (I was a runner from the Light for many years, justifying bad behaviors by saying “I’m only human” or “it’s fun to be bad”). People who run from the Light know that they face eternal judgment and just can’t give up sin or they think they are sinless(!) or they honestly don’t care that there is more to hunger for than this temporary material existence. David Guzik from Enduring Word has some good commentary on why we don’t know Him; even those who should have known Him (the people of Israel) rejected Him:
The world did not know Him: This is strange. God came to the same world He created, to the creatures made in His image, and yet the world did not know Him. This shows how deeply fallen human nature rejects God, and that many reject (did not receive) God’s word and Light.
He came to His own: “We might translate the opening words, ‘he came home’. It is the exact expression used of the beloved disciple when, in response to Jesus’ word from the cross, he took Mary ‘unto his own home’ (John 19:27; cf.16:32). When the Word came to this world He did not come as an alien. He came home.” (Henry Morris)
“This little world knew not Christ, for God had hid him under the carpenter’s son; his glory was inward, his kingdom came not by observation.” (John Trapp)
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Becoming a Child of God is not a result of any efforts that we can do (works, rituals, reading the Bible, trying to be a “good person”, going to church, penance, fasting), but is strictly from God when we wholly accept His salvation; this is from the Spirit. Charles Spurgeon says it well about this transformation (quoted in the same Enduring Word commentary referenced above):
“The man is like a watch which has a new mainspring, not a mere face and hands repaired, but new inward machinery, with freshly adjusted works, which act to a different time and tune; and whereas he went wrong before, now he goes right, because he is right within.”
We are fine-tuned and in sync with God when we accept His Grace! Fall out of love with your sin and step forward to the Light!
May your days be filled with the light of our Lord Jesus Christ!