Friday
Friday
John, Part 1—Jesus the Light of Human Beings
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 men.
John 1:3–4
Many people are troubled by the apparent remoteness of God. He seems to them distant, aloof, and unreal. They cry out with Job, “If only I knew where to find him!” (Job 23:3).
It is this image of an absentee God that John smashes to smithereens. In the prologue to his Gospel he writes of three comings of God into the world in Christ.
Firstly, he was coming into the world. It is a great mistake to suppose that the first time God came into the world was when he was born into it. No, he made the world and has never left it. He is “the true light that gives light to every man,” who “was coming into the world” (John 1:9). Thus, long before he came he was coming, giving to all both life and light. So everything beautiful, good, and true in the world we claim for Jesus Christ. People may not know this, for usually he preserves his incognito, but he is “the light of men” (v. 4). No human being is plunged in total darkness.
Secondly, he came into the world. “He came to that which was his own” (v. 11). He who had been coming to all people now came to his particular people. He who had been coming incognito now came in person, openly and publicly. The eternal Word became a human being. The tragedy is that the world did not recognize him.
Thirdly, he still comes. He comes now by his Spirit, and to those who receive him, who believe in his name, he gives the right to become God’s children, born of God (v. 12).
A fourth coming could be added, although John does not mention it here. But later he records Jesus’s promise, “I will come back and take you to be with me” (14:3, emphasis added).
So here are God’s four comings. He was coming continuously as the light and life of human beings. He came on the first Christmas Day. He comes still, waiting for us to receive him, and he will come on the last day.
For further reading: John 1:1–14