Before Time

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.
3. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be.
4. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race;
5. the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:1 is perhaps the most important verse in the entire Bible. It is being presented here even before Genisis begins its storyline. Why am I out of sequence you ask? Originally, I was going to go verse by verse through the Bible but after reading it that method did not make sense. The Bible contains circular references and is not linear in nature. Our goal is to make sense of the Bible and one cannot do that unless one holds a grasp of conceptual lenses to look through.

When you take the time to comprehend what John 1:1 to 1:5 means you will understand that it forges the lens you must use to observe Jesus throughout the rest of the Bible. The utmost important truth about who Jesus is along with the very character and nature of God appear in these few words.

This single Bible verse establishes the “Word” as occurring divinely and eternally in nature. EVERYTHING you read in the Bible after this point absolutely needs to be filtered through this reality lens.  That the Word was God. Take all actions, miracles, teachings, everything Jesus does or says and see them with this truth. You will understand why John 1:1 means so much.

How did I jump to Jesus when he was not even born yet? It is important to understand the connections here. I am sure you remember that “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us”. That being made flesh was Jesus. Here in these few verses John is establishing that Jesus existed before He was born of the Virgin Mary. He was there in the beginning, with God, when creation started. This gives credence to the eternal nature of Jesus as well as God.

While everyone thinks of God as the Creator, John is putting Jesus on that same pedestal. He is giving Jesus a place of equality to God. “In the beginning was the word” is a vivid exclamation of equality between Jesus and God. Jesus is not only the Word, but he is also the creator, equal to God.

Before everyone thinks I am crazy, lets bridge the gap of understanding so you see how true it actually is. We know Jesus is the Word made flesh. Time to show how He was the Creator. Throughout Genisis Chapter One we read several lines where God says the words “Let there be”. Note in the beginning there was the Word. God spoke the Word and “puff” it was created. It is not a far leap to see that the Word was the Creator and God spoke the Words.

This also puts into perspective that God is more than just “one person”. The Catholic religion believes that there are Three Persons in God. The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. The Word is the Son made flesh through Mary. But the Word was always there with God at all times.

We covered Jesus as the Word. We went over Jesus being eternal and present with God at the creation. All things came through Jesus at the Creation and nothing was Created without Him.

Now, lets take the last part and figure out what it means. “He is the light of the human race. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it.” When Jesus claims to be the Light of the World in John’s Gospel He is referring to Himself as through His divine nature and purpose. Jesus is declaring that He, and He alone, is the sole source of Spiritual Light. There is no other source of Spiritual Truth made available to mankind anywhere.

I do not want to get too much into this point here because we will go into much deeper depth on this subject later in our studies of other parts of the Bible. Suffice it to say there are two types of light in the world. The physical light we can see which overcomes the physical darkness is one of them. The other is the Spiritual Light we do not see but must have if we are to reach Heaven. Anyone who lives and follows Jesus will never be in Spiritual darkness.