“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1
At the opening of his gospel, John, the person who the Bible refers to as the disciple “whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23), introduces Jesus as the “Word.”
Through 3½ years of living, learning and working with Jesus, John went from a person whom the Bible calls one of the “sons of thunder” (Mark 3:17) to this man, “whom Jesus loved.”
Charles Spurgeon, in a sermon given on May 23, 1880, described this relationship. “And yet within that circle of love there was an innermost place in which the beloved John was favoured to dwell: upon the mountain of the Saviour’s love there was a knoll, a little higher than the rest of the mount, and there John was made to stand, nearest to his Lord.”
In the original Greek, this “Word” is “Logos”, which literally means “the thought”. Not just any thought but “The Thought.” It gives us a whole different dimension of understanding to this phrase. It lifts the comprehension of it above the mundane, temporal, and earthly. For it is not merely an action but the essence or birth of action.
Before we speak, first our minds must generate the thought; and hence, we understand that as in all things, Jesus is the first.
“In the beginning was the Thought, and the Thought was with God, and the Thought was God.”
Action cannot come before the thought. So, it is important to really understand that no other existence occurred before this “Thought.” No big bang to initiate life into existence. No “God particle”, nothing. Nothing could happen before “The Thought.”
But this beloved disciple did not just stop there. This Thought was with God and was God.
“The Sovereign of the universe was not alone in His work of beneficence. He had an associate who could appreciate His purpose and share His joy in giving happiness to created beings. See John 1:1–2.
“Christ the Word was one with the eternal Father, one in nature, in character, in purpose. ‘His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.’ Isaiah 9:6. His ‘goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.’ Micah 5:2.
“The Father wrought by His Son in the creation of all heavenly beings. ‘By Him were all things created, … whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers.’ Colossians 1:16. Angels
are God’s ministers speeding to execute His will. But the Son, the ‘express image of His person,’ ‘the brightness of His glory,’ ‘upholding all things by the word of His power,’ holds supremacy over them all. See Hebrews 1:3, 8.” –From Eternity Past, p. 9
No action existed before “The Thought” and no thought existed before “The Thought.”
This understanding brings a deeper meaning to the proceeding texts in John chapter 1 as the beloved disciple introduces the work of “The Thought.”
“In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness.” –Selected Messages, bk. 1, p. 246
Life proceeds out of The Thought. The Thought cannot help but create life because He is life.
Despite all of man’s wonderful inventions, his scientific study and discovery, man is unable to create life. Despite all of his boasting and accusations Lucifer was unable to create life. Then becoming Satan, he and his evil demons are unable to create life. Life can only come from “The Thought.”
This life that proceeds from The Thought is the light of men.
Lucifer, his name meant the light, because he was created by the Light and, as the covering cherub, he dwelt in the very presence of the Light. But he lost that light because he lost that life that can only come from The Thought.
Satan means adversary or darkness, which is literally the absence of light. The absence of “The Word” or “The Logos or “The Thought”.
“Through successive ages of darkness, in the midnight of heathenism, God permitted men to try the experiment of finding out God by their own wisdom, not to demonstrate their inability to His satisfaction, but that men themselves might see that they could not obtain a knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ His Son, save through the revelation of His word by the Holy Spirit. When Christ came to the world, the experiment had been fully tried, and the result made it evident that the world by wisdom knew not God.” –Christian Education, p. 92
Many years before, king David came to the same conclusion as John. David, like John, had many character flaws, even to the point of adultery, murder and betrayal. Yet David had also lived with Jesus in his life. He came to know The Thought intimately. The psalmist said, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Psalm 119:105
In Psalm 33 David uses the Hebrew word Dabar, which also means “thought”, to describe Jesus. “By the word [Dabar] of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.” Psalm 33:6
Just like John, David realized that the light that lit the path of his life, through all of its turns, came from the life that came from The Thought, and The Thought—Jesus, was revealed in His word.
John, Spurgeon further mentioned in his sermon of May 23, 1880, “He was exceedingly livid in his beliefs, and believed to the utmost what he had learned of his Lord. Read his Epistle through, and see how many times he says ‘we know,’ ‘we know,’ ‘we know.’ There are no ‘ifs’ about him; he is a deep and strong believer. His heart gives an unfeigned assent and consent.
“Withal there was an intense warmth about John. He loved his Lord, he loved his brethren; he loved with a large heart, for he had a grand nature. He loved constantly, and he loved in such a way as to be practically courageous for his Master, for he was a bold man, a true son of thunder. He was ready to go to the front if he was bound to do so, but it is in quite a quiet way, and not with a rush and a noise: his is not the dash of a cataract, but the still flow of a deep river.”
Is your experience with Jesus a “we know”, “we know” as was John’s? The Gospel of John is a first-hand experience with Jesus—the Thought. John experienced the Light firsthand. Unlike before he met Jesus, The Thought is what now came before John’s actions. John was now patient, kind and faithful. He was at the foot of the cross when all of the other disciples fled. He personally saw Jesus fulfil His promise to take his sin away.
“True faith rests on the promises contained in the word of God, and those only who obey that word can claim its glorious promises. ‘If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.’ John 15:7. ‘Whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.’ 1 John 3:22.” –Christian Experience And Teachings, p. 126
These texts are witness to John’s first-hand experience of a relationship with Jesus as “the Word”, “the Logos” or “the Thought”, and John testifies that we will find this same relationship with Him in His word. This intimate and life changing relationship is available to you.
“Those who expect to be children of God are not to expect an easy time in this life. There are battles to be fought. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness in this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. We are not left alone to engage in this conflict. Jesus Christ is the Captain of our salvation. He clothed His divinity with humanity, and took the field Himself, that He might teach us to fight the battles of the Lord. He says ‘Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart.’ [Psalm 40:8].
“Who is this? We ask Isaiah, and he answers, ‘Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace’ [Isaiah 9:6]. John the Baptist tells us who He is: ‘Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world’ [John 1:29]. And the beloved disciple adds his testimony, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’ [John 1:1].” –Manuscript 61, 1899
“In his old age John revealed the life of Christ in his life. He lived to be nearly one hundred years old, and over and over again he repeated the story of the crucified and risen Saviour. Persecution came upon the believers, and those young in experience were often in danger of losing their hold on Christ. But the old, tried servant of Jesus steadfastly maintained his faith.” –Manuscript 92, 1903
May God grant us this same intimate relationship with “the Word”, “the Logos”, “the Thought.” Amen
John Formosa