WORD OF GOD - IN THE BEGINNING. John 1.

In the beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God and the Word was God. In Psalm 90:1,2, it reads ’ Before the mountains were brought forth, ( whether Himalayan or Andes or rocky mountains) or ever You had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting You are GOD.’ The Word was really in the beginning.

The oneness of the Word with the Father was shown in Proverbs 8:22-31, where ‘The Lord possesses me at the beginning of the way.’

Our Lord referred to His Being as the word in John 17:5, which reads ‘And now O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself with the glory which I had with You before the world was.’

Eph 1:3,4 enlarges on this truth; ‘Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.’

In verse 3 the Scripture spoke of CREATION as being the colossal work of God’s hand.

In understandable language, it stated ’ All things were made by Him, and withpout Him nothing was made that was made.’ No room for an alternative view whether promoted bt intelligent or philosophic leaders. Peace follows the acceptance of this amazing statement, while unease or restlessness is the outcome for rejecters. Enjoy the fruit oif true faith.

The ancient follower of our ord wrote in 1 John 1:1 ‘That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, seen with our eyes, looked upon, and our hands have handled of the WORD OF LIFE, linking the birth of Jesus from the virgin Mary with the infinite, eterfna; One from the beginning. Profound? Sure it is; yet gloriously true! David presents another aspect of this marvellous Person in Psalm 102;25 ‘You laid the foundation of the world.

The Heavens are the works of Your hands. They will be changed. You are the same. ‘

In the moment of speaking, our state had witnessed the SOLAR ECLIPSE, which drew vast numbers of scientists and astronomers to asmall country town in our South Australia. Actually, 15,000 assembled at small fishing village, Eucla, where the Lord parted the clouds minutes prior to the eclipse so that His glory would shine through. Thousands converged on Lyndhurst, hundreds of kilometres inland Our son-in-law, Pete photographed the 22 second eclipse from a lonely Strezlicki track, with whirling wind unsettling his tripod. We praise the Lord that he captured this awe-inspiring moment. ‘Everything after was anti-climax!’

WE must discard the BIG BANG concept of God‘s miraculous creation. Astronomers estimated the shadow travelled at 24,000miles (38,000 kms )per hour, giving 31 seconds full eclipse on the coast. GOD did it precisely. To the second! All calculations were accurate.

A secular announcer pronounced the event as ‘awe-inspiring! All else faded. God demonstrated HIS mathematical genius, demonstrating that Evolution had lied. Sadly many have been deceived and robbed of the certain faith in His Creation and redemption.

The Holy Spirit inspired Isaiah( 45;12).when he wrote, ‘I have made the earth, and created man on it. IT WAS I. My hand stretched out the heavens. All their host I have commanded ,’

While in 45;18 ‘ The Lord created the heavens, who is God. Who formed the earth and made it.’ God in three Persons wa there; this title was unchallengeable. He continued, Who has established it. Who did not create it in vain. Who formed it to be inhabited.’

The main discussion turns to the eerie darkness of the godless in V5, where ‘the Light shined in darkness. Darkness could not blot it out.’ You may wrestle inwardly, where you are walking contrary to the Light that the Lord Jesus gives, but you cannot blot out the Light of God which illumines your sleeping conscience. Paul continued the thrust in Romans chapter 1:18, writing that the ’Wrath of God was revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.‘ Don’t suppress truth.

You can’t really. The reason was found in 1 Corinthians 2:14, ‘The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him.; neither can he know them ,for they are spiritually discerned.’

When our car had broken down while in Java, we viewed the padi-field from a pony cart, jogging slowly home. There were no other human lights, but the fields glowed with millions of worms, giving a gentle, silver lustre. Pages of our Bible glimmer with divine splendour as Christ is illuminated. If your heart is darkened, ask your Lord, the true Light, to shine.

In Verse 6, we meet John Baptist, ‘. A man sent from God, whose name was John, meaning Jehovah is a gracious Giver. He was sent to be a witness, and not the true Light. How John contrasted with the Word, that was made flesh, and conceived of the Holy Spirit: while the

conception of John was from Zechariah and Elisabeth, both past normal reproductive age.

While John was the greatest man, born of women, he preached that ‘He was not worthy to undo the sandals of God‘s Son.’ Contrast John with the One whose Name shall be called ‘Wonderful, Counsellor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.’ (Isaiah 9:6)

John clearly understood his purpose in coming, for ‘ This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through Him might believe.’ the word ‘witness’ means ‘martyr’ which described John in laying down his life for the Lord whom he preceded. John was beheaded by the brutal Herod, whose immoral life was exposed by John’s faithful preaching .

The Word was ‘the true Light, which gives light to every man who comes into the world. ‘

Herein is a marvellous truth, that our Lord Jesus pours His pure light into the inner life of every believer, regardless of our nation, culture, language, or circumstance. I pray regularly with my accountability group; an Anglo-Indian, a Greek, an Australian - all pastors, yet from different backgrounds, namely Ships’ architect, a carpenter-builder, an accountant and CEO, while I have spent my days in the practice of medicine. We pray for each other, our beloved wives and children, exchanging majestic truths of Christ for teaching.

‘He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him’ (v10) It seems impossible that the Creator of the universe, having perfected the DNA and RNA should come to His created world: botanical, zoological, mineral , oceans and His human creatures, made with a capacity to love and adore Him ,yet did not recognise their Maker. Every baby born followed the pattern established by the WORD, where the one cell of the woman is fertilised by a single spermatozoa , taken from the hundreds of millions in each male ejaculation. Yet, they did not know Him. How blind they were; and we likewise!

Saddest of all was that he came to His own , and His own did not receive Him’ (v11) although the prophets had foreseen His coming, and described it in minute detail, yet they were biased and prejudiced; and could not see the Son of God. His temple should have rejoiced. His preachers in the synagogue should have shouted, : He has come’ every Passover should have proclaimed Him For ‘Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.’

This study will be continued in the next chapter.