In The Beginning

Date: 01 Jan 2016

Text: John 1:1-5

So, here we are at the beginning of yet another New Year. It seems only 5 minutes ago that I was testing software to check for the Millennium bug, and yet I was working on that in 1999. Do you remember the Millennium bug? It was a bug that never arrived! Just think about all that has happened since the turn of the century, some of it enjoyable some of it not quite so enjoyable; some good and some most definitely not so good; and yet despite everything we are now well in to the 21st century and at the very beginning of 2016.

I chose to read those opening five verses from John 1 because the opening phrase talks of the beginning and they actually match the opening words of Genesis 1 which talks of the very beginning of the world; the time when God created everything. John reminds us that God was involved at the beginning just as He is involved with us now at the beginning of this New Year.

John also tells us that “the Word was God”. His word is powerful; it was so powerful at the time of creation that “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.” (Genesis 1:3-4a). God wanted His creation to live in the light which is why He created light to contrast with the darkness. Notice that in Genesis light is the first thing that He created and He created it by the power of His word; God said something and it happened; now that really is power! We see those two words “God said” appear on ten occasions in Genesis 1; each time God said a few words something happened and creation took place. That truly demonstrates the power of God’s word.

We are still enjoying the Christmas period, the time when we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, God’s Son. His birth also demonstrates the power of God’s word. God’s plan was to send His Son to live among us as an ordinary human being. God also decided that Mary should be the mother of Jesus but that the conception would be quite unlike any other. God sent His messenger, the angel Gabriel, to tell Mary what was going to happen and through the power of that word and the power of God in the Holy Spirit, Mary conceived and in the normal course of events gave birth to Jesus. Just think about that for a moment; it means that God’s word created the universe and God’s word sent Jesus.

These verses in John also talk of light and darkness. John 1:2 actually talks of Jesus and in 1:4 the Apostle tells us that “in Him was life, and life was the light of all mankind”. God sent His Son to bring light to the world just as He created light and darkness so He sent Jesus to bring life and light to a world of darkness. Without Jesus there would be no light in our lives; we would all live in the darkness of sin. Satan, the purveyor of the darkness of sin, may think that he is all powerful, but notice what John says at the end of 1:5, “the darkness has not overcome it [that is, the light]”. The light of Jesus will shine in the darkness and lead people into a new life away from the darkness of sin and into the light of life.

As the New Year opens up before us let us all walk in the light of Jesus and live by the power of God’s word. Let us hope and pray that more would join us in that light and come to know real life in the light of Jesus. It can only happen by the power of God’s word and so let’s also pray that we may all read and respond to His word each day as we grow in Christ and help to bring more into His kingdom of light.E is He is now with usnosjdfmsjnfn