Digging Deeper into the Gospel of John (John 1:1-18)

Where the darkness was vast, Jesus came as the light.

Where chaos ensued, Jesus brought order.

Where light and order reign, Jesus is King and life is abundant.

These are just some of the things John is trying to show us as he introduces Jesus to us in his own unique and purposeful manner. Before time even existed, Jesus was there … and He’s been there at the right side of God ever since the beginning.

This is where we are starting our journey through the Gospel of John. As Pastor Josh Argubright discussed on Sunday, and as we are encouraging you to discover for yourself in the journals through our series, the Gospel account of the “disciple whom Jesus loved (first mentioned in John 13:21-30)” is a deep and penetrating one. We learn things about Jesus in this book that are uniquely found only in John.

Here are some of my takeaways from our study of this week’s passage:

Where Matthew starts by taking us back to Abraham (and his genealogy) to understand Jesus, Mark starts with John the Baptist, and Luke starts with John the Baptist’s parents—John starts at the very beginning of time and with the actual “Word” of God.
In Jesus, we have the very incarnation of God in human form. He was and is the clearest picture of who God is, and how He relates to us at a relational level.
Grace and truth are fully realized in Jesus.
John’s use of the term life and light are interchangeable. They are one in the same but expressed to arrive at the same point each time they are used.
Jesus came to “tabernacle” with us … to dwell among us in a human “tent” and thus allow us access to God in ways we never had prior to Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.
John is filled with “hyperlinks”—passages quoted throughout the book that hearken back to the Old Testament and connect what we know about God, and Jesus, to the New Testament writings.
Before time even began, God spoke words to create things, and He did so through Jesus.
Jesus had to come for people to see the true “light” of who He is, and what He accomplished to gain the “life” God created us to experience.

How about you? What sort of discoveries and takeaways have you stumbled upon in your study John 1:1-18? (Stop by the church and get your own journal to follow along with our series in the Gospel of John).

…but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name (Jn. 20:31, ESV).