In the Beginning: The Word

 

Photo by Esther Monzo-Nebot 2021

As the ladies’ Bible study that I am blessed to teach continues in the Book of John, I often find myself meditating on its opening verse:

John 1: 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The Greek for “Word” is “logos,” meaning the Word of God, or principle of divine reason and creative order. In John’s Gospel, the Word is Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Trinity, incarnate. We know that Jesus is the Word, for that is revealed as His Name when He appears in Revelation 19:13 as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

In simplest terms, Jesus Christ was present since before the beginning of time, in the company of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, and He Himself is equally God.

To me, John 1:1 is the most deeply profound sentence ever written. It refers to our Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, and also to His spoken word communicated through the Bible. It is reminiscent of:

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

These two verses together Identify the Word as being God Who created everything (Psalm 90:2). God is eternal, self-existent, not created, present in eternity past since before the beginning of time. The Hebrew word used in Genesis 1:1 is Elohim, which is a plural noun referring to the Trinity. From John 1: 1, we know that Jesus, God the Son, was present in the beginning, with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. The Word was God, because Jesus the Son is equally God with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.

It is fascinating to consider why Jesus Christ is called the Word. In the beginning of creation, “God said, Let there be light: and there was light (Genesis 1:3). “God said” repeats throughout the account of creation of heaven, earth, and all its inhabitants. God, Jesus Christ the Word, spoke everything into existence.

As we are made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27), the spoken word is also of crucial importance to our existence. Thought involves words. What we think governs our speech, and what we say determines our actions and their outcomes.

God has in these last days spoken to us through His Word, and has directed us to hear Him, as God the Father’s voice commanded during the Transfiguration of His Son (Matthew 17:5). Jesus is the Word speaking from God the Father to us, first through the prophets (Hebrews 1:1), then through Himself during His earthly ministry (Hebrews 1:2), and now through His written Word. Jesus Christ the Word also speaks to God the Father for us as He sits at His right hand, interceding for us in prayer (Hebrews 1:3; Romans 8:34).

The very instructions for each of our lives, and the instructions from which God will create our heavenly bodies, are composed of words. King David referred poetically to the directions for how our body parts are formed being recorded in God’s book long before we are even born (Psalm 139:16).

Millennia after this was written, scientists discovered that our genetic code is composed of 4 “letters,” or base pairs in our DNA, making up “words,” or genes, on our chromosomes, that control all our biological characteristics.

Words are not only essential for thought, communication with God through prayer, and even our very biology, but also for our salvation. Being saved requires hearing or reading the words of the Gospel (Romans 10:14), then calling on the Name of the Lord (Acts 2:21; Romans 10:13) and confessing that He is God and rose from the dead:

Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Once we are saved by believing that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for our sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), proving His divinity, and we speak these words in our heart and aloud, Jesus will use His words to tell God the Father that we are His own, granting us eternal life. Alternatively, if anyone who uses words to deny Jesus, He will deny that person before His Father, leading to condemnation (Matthew 10:32).

Having confessed verbally that Jesus is Son of God, our Lord and Savior, we become His ambassadors, representing Heaven (2 Corinthians 5:20). Like any earthly diplomat, we represent our Leader through our words as well as our behavior. Jesus Himself warned us not to speak any idle words (Matthew 12:36), for life and death are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). James warned us to control our tongue, for our words have the power to build others up or to tear them down (James 3: 1-13).

In the beginning was the Word! His words created all that exists. His Word saves us! May we allow His Word to govern our heart, thoughts and actions, and share it with others so they too can be saved!

© 2022 Laurie Collett

 

Man Down!

 

As I looked ahead to Sunday's readings in our yearly Bible study plan, I was intrigued to see that one of them was 2 Kings 17, which seems to me to convey a warning  for the date 9/11, the anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks. The overall theme is that the children of Israel disobey God by following false gods, serving idols, infant sacrifice, sorcery, and breaking His commandments. As a result,  "And the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight." (v. 20). 

While 9/11 was a time of terrible tragedy and suffering that forever changed the lives of Americans, it was also a time of great revival as many people, even who those who had rejected or rebelled against God turned to Him for answers and for healing. It reminded me of the post below, recalling a dream about firefighters risking their own lives to save others. Whether the rescue is from physical danger or from spiritual damnation, may we as Christians do all we can to help, not hinder, God's deliverance, allowing Him to work through us to accomplish salvation.

In this dream, I am returning to my hotel room in a strange city at night. The only way I know how to get there is to take a narrow side street, but it is barricaded. Afraid I will get lost if I don’t go this way, I cautiously slip under the barricade and instantly regret it.

In the middle of the street is an open manhole, surrounded by a circle of firemen in fluorescent yellow and orange coats, each lying prostrate with his head facing and eyes peering into the manhole. A little girl stands outside the circle, clutching a small, gray mutt in her arms and yelling excitedly, over and over, “Daddy saved Scruffy!”

Her mother, huddled over her, is sobbing uncontrollably. The awful realization hits me that the mutt ran into the open manhole; and the father risked his life to deliver him, but now could not himself escape. Even worse, apparently he was tangled in some electrical wires, and if the firemen could not extricate him or if they crossed wires in the attempt, he would be electrocuted instantly or set on fire in an explosion.

Some of the wires they had partially freed were now stretched out of the manhole and into the street. To my horror, I realized that I had disturbed these by wandering too close to the scene and that I had endangered the man’s life even further.

I awoke in a cold sweat and began to think about the symbolism of the dream regarding the Gospel, and our reaction to it. God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to pay for our sins, so that anyone who trusts in His death, burial and resurrection will have eternal life (John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4). He died for all (1 Corinthians 15:3), and He offers His freely given gift of salvation to all (Romans 10:13; Revelation 22:17). 

But some people are like the dog in the dream – oblivious to their own transgressions, and to what He has done to save them and what it means to them. They don’t know they will spend eternity in hell unless they trust Christ (Mark 9:45; John 3:18), so they have no reason to appreciate His sacrifice. And yet, ignorance is no excuse (Romans 1:20).

Some are like the little girl, happy to have her pet safe and sound but unaware that her father’s life was still in danger. Some Christians get excited about receiving God’s blessings but have little love for others who are not yet delivered from the pit of hell (John 13:3-8).

Like the wife weeping for her husband, who could die at any moment, some who are born again (John 3:3-35; 15:17) do earnestly grieve for their loved ones in danger of eternal damnation (2 Corinthians 7:10). Sadly, they are so consumed by this fear (Philippians 4:6) that they are ineffective in leading them to the Lord by witness, prayer, love, and showing a strong testimony of faith (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 1:8; Colossians 4:12 James 5:16,20; 1 Peter 4:8).

Looking at my own role in the dream, I was in a strange city at night, symbolizing our earthly journey as we pass through this dark, foreign country until He takes us safely home (Hebrews 11:13). I knew there was only one way I could go to reach safety. He is the only Way to salvation (John 14:6), which can be entered only through the narrow gate (in the dream, squeezing under the barricade; Matthew 7:13).

But once there, I failed to help anyone who was in danger. In fact, I made the situation worse by tangling the wires that the firefighters had worked so hard to make straight (Isaiah 42:16). It saddens me to think how many times I inadvertently was a stumbling block, getting in the way of someone being saved, whether through careless words or behavior that is not Christ-like (Romans 14:13; 1 Corinthians 8:9). 

I wonder how many times evangelical missionaries lay the groundwork for salvation in their preaching to the lost, only to have an uncaring believer disrupt it by an offhand remark or an unloving attitude.

The firefighters in the dream represent those Christians who are on fire for the Lord (Luke 24:32), doing all they can through His power (Philippians 4:13) to rescue souls from the flames of hell. The firemen worked together (Acts 2:44-47), as a formation team positioned around the chasm of hell, to deliver the endangered soul. 

Yet so often Christians allow Satan to divide and conquer them (Proverbs 6:16-19), dissipating their collective power, rather than being like a building fitly framed together (Ephesians 2:19-22) so that the gates of hell cannot prevail against the church (Matthew 16:18).

Each of the firemen was face to the ground, symbolizing fervent prayer (James 5:16), which is essential if the church is to win souls to Christ. Each was fully suited up in his protective uniform, just as Christians should put on the whole armor of God daily (Ephesians 6:11-13) before they attempt soul-winning or even getting out of bed! And each of them was highly focused on the task at hand, letting God work through them rather than being distracted by the commotion and chaos all around them (Hebrews 12:1).

Ultimately, it is Christ Who alone has accomplished all that is needed for our salvation through His shed blood, perfect and sinless sacrifice, and completed work on the cross (John 19:30; Romans 3:25; Hebrews 10:10-14). He rose from the dead to conquer sin, death, and the devil and to give those who trust Him eternal life (1 Corinthians 15:24-27, 53-57). Only the Holy Spirit can convict unsaved souls of their sin and need for a Savior and work in their hearts for them to be born again (1 Corinthians 3:6-7).

But, praise God, He has given His children the awesome privilege and responsibility of leading souls to Him through verbal witness, lifestyle testimony of loving behavior, prayer for others to be saved, and working together as the church to reach the unsaved and encourage one another in soul-winning in our local communities and across the globe.

May we daily thank Him for His freely given gift of salvation, guard our own words and lifestyle so as not to hinder anyone from being saved, keep our eyes fixed on Him, and work together as His body to increase His kingdom!

© 2015 Laurie Collett

Edited and reposted from the archives

Water and Oil: Physical and Spiritual Milk

 

As we saw last week, water and oil in Scripture are rich symbols of the Holy Spirit, with His light shimmering on the surface of the Living Water (Jeremiah 17:13; John 4; 7:38). But the symbolism may also extend to God’s physical and spiritual provision, as He is not only our Creator and Redeemer, but also our Sustainer, feeding us with water and oil.

1. Water nourishes plant and animal life on earth (Genesis 2:6,10; Job 8:11) and marine life in the seas (Genesis 1:20,21). Without these, we would have no food source, and without water, we die (Genesis 21:15,19; Psalm 23:2). 
   
   Polluting the water is a terrible plague, as in Pharaoh’s judgment when God turned the waters to blood (Exodus 7:17-24; Psalm 105:29). Moses ground up the golden calf and added it to the drinking water, so that the Israelites would be reminded of their sin of idolatry that separated them from fellowship with God (Exodus 32:20).
   
   Springs and fountains are a blessing from God (Joshua 15:19, Judges 1:15, Song of Solomon 4:15), Who provides water (Psalm 78:16; 104:13; 105:41; 107:33-35; Isaiah 35:6-7; 4117-18; 44:3-4, etc.). When we place our faith in Him, we become “like a tree planted by the rivers of water,” (Psalm 1:3; Jeremiah 17:8), growing in the spiritual blessings of fruitfulness and abundant, eternal life (John 10:10).

Water and oil are each necessary for human life, to quench our thirst and appease our hunger, and to keep our body hydrated and lubricated like the finely tuned machine that God designed it to be (Psalm 139:14). As I am reminded whenever I step on our high-tech digital bathroom scale, our body is made up of about 50% water and less than 13% to more than 35% fat, depending on age, sex, and physical fitness.

Jesus, the Good Shepherd, provides water and oil to His sheep, symbolizing the physical blessing of food and water and the spiritual blessing of joy and peace in Him (Psalm 23). Man may mistakenly think that oil and drink come from the world (Hosea 2:5), forgetting that every perfect gift comes from above (James 1:17).

Oil is a food staple that binds wheat together into cakes (Deuteronomy 7:13), and even the manna from Heaven tasted like fresh oil (Numbers 11:8). The Promised Land was a “land of oil olive,” along with other bountiful provisions (Deuteronomy 8:8).

God used both Elijah (1 Kings 17:9-16) and Elisha (2 Kings 4:1-7) to demonstrate His sustenance and miraculous provision in desperate times to those with faith. When the widow gave her last drops of oil to feed Elijah before she and her son had what she thought would be their last meal, God rewarded her by continually replenishing the oil in her cruse and the meal in her barrel until the drought was over.

In Elisha’s case, a woman had a debt so large that she would have to sell her sons into slavery to repay it, and all she had was a pot of oil. He told her to pour the oil into every vessel she could find at home and round up from all her neighbors, and God poured out a blessing of oil so abundant that it covered her debt and freed her sons. What a beautiful picture of how God Himself paid the price to redeem us from bondage to sin and death, if we place our trust in His Son’s death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:4) as the only Way to Heaven! (John 14:6)

Although water and oil do not mix, they can be blended into an emulsion by adding a third substance known as an emulsifier. When we vigorously shake a mixture of oil and vinegar, we see a cloudy liquid as tiny globules of oil swirl through the water. This is a temporary emulsion, for as soon as we set the bottle down, the oil again floats to the top of the water in a smooth layer. Adding an emulsifier stabilizes the emulsion so that the oil, or fat, and water mix together in an opaque blend of even consistency. Milk, for example, is a permanent emulsion of butterfat in water, with casein, or milk protein, acting as the emulsifier.

Breast milk alone contains all the nourishment needed to sustain a newborn infant’s life, for it is a perfect blend of water, butterfat, and protein in ideal proportions for survival and growth, and it also contains antibodies and other vital substances from the mother’s blood that help protect the infant from disease. Only God could have designed such a perfect, complete first food! Job compares God’s nurturing love and source of all provision to “breasts full of milk.” (Job 21:24).

Throughout Scripture, milk and butter are symbols of God’s abundant physical and spiritual blessing (Isaiah 7:22; 55:1; Joel 3:18). God promised the Israelites a land of milk and honey (Exodus 3:8, 17; 13:5, etc.) and nourished them with milk and butter, animal fat (meat), and grape juice, which is mostly water but which also symbolizes Christ’s blood shed for us (Deuteronomy 32:14).

Abraham offered a meal of milk, butter, and a calf to his three heavenly guests – preincarnate Jesus and two angels – and was rewarded with the promise of a son who would bring abundant spiritual blessing, as he would give rise to the great nation of God’s chosen people (Genesis 18:1-19).

Peter wanted new believers in Christ to be fed with the sincere milk of the Word (1 Peter 2:2). Jesus, our beloved Bridegroom, delights us as if with milk and honey under His tongue and clear eyes as if washed with milk (Song of Solomon 4:11; 5:1,12)

Water and oil may also have lessons to teach regarding worship, healing, and judgment  May we thank God daily for His physical and spiritual sustenance, symbolized by water and oil! 

© 2013 Laurie Collett

Reposted from the archives