John 1:9-13 The Message
9-13 The Life-Light was the real thing:
Every person entering Life
he brings into Light.
He was in the world,
the world was there through him,
and yet the world didn’t even notice.
He came to his own people,
but they didn’t want him.
But whoever did want him,
who believed he was who he claimed
and would do what he said,
He made to be their true selves,
their child-of-God selves.
These are the God-begotten,
not blood-begotten,
not flesh-begotten,
not sex-begotten.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
In the Beginning
In the prologue to his Gospel, John presents the Lord Jesus Christ as “the Light” that shines in darkness, it was John the Baptist who bore witness of His Light.
The Light of Christ is offered to everyone, yet not all wanted the Light of Christ to shine upon them, and they rejected Him.
Those who embraced Christ, those who believed Christ, were given the blessing of peace with God, and freedom from the bondage of sin, and eternity with the Father in heaven by the work of the Son (John 1:5-9, 14:6).
The inescapable truth is that this self same mindset is with us and among us even in in these last days before His promised return to make all things new.
Why do people choose, decide to not receive the offer of forgiveness and rest offered freely by the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 11:28-30; John 10:28-30)?
There are several reasons given in the Scripture, and none of them are valid excuses or explanations in terms of where we stand before our Sovereign LORD.
From the Beginning
Genesis 3:8-13 English Standard Version
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool [a] of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”[b] 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
From the beginning, the world in general did not and still does not want to receive the Light, even though it is a free gift from God to HIs fallen creation (John 1:4, 9-10, 8:12, 12:46) Whom He made in His image (Genesis 1:26, John 1:3).
He came into HIs own land and among His chosen people Israel (Deuteronomy 7:6, 18:15-18; Jeremiah 2:7).
Both John, Luke and the Apostle Paul writes Jesus’ own family did not believe Him until after HIs resurrection (John 7:5; Acts 1:14; 1 Corinthians 15:1-8).
John also lists other reasons why Jesus’ teachings and claims were rejected, and again, not one of them are the least bit excusable.
He tells us that there were some who deliberately loved darkness more than light, which is in line with what the Apostle Paul says about the condition of sinful humanity and their rejection of God’s glory, existence, and direction (John 3:19-20, 5:42-43; Romans 1:18-32, 3:10-18, 23).
Some were just plain fearful of what others would think of them, or what might happen to them, how they would be punished, how they would be disciplined, how their families would just flat reject them if they followed Jesus, preferring their approval over the welfare of their souls (Mark 8:38; John 7:13, 9:22, 12:42-43).
Some were badly taught by their teachers, or deliberately misinformed about the facts concerning Jesus, but there is no account of any of them taking the effort to check out the truth about Him, save for Nicodemus (John 3:1-21, 7:40-43).
Many of HIs disciples could not nor would not understand the depths of His teachings and simply quit following Him (John 6:6) instead of thinking about them and consciously expanding their knowledge of the deeper things of God.
In the context of our 21st century attitudes of Christ, things haven’t changed.
We want easy belief and shallow teaching that sooth our emotions and tickle our ears, preferring to remain deaf to His call to salvation (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
This goes hand-in-hand with another lame reason why people chose to reject Jesus, and that was they loved their traditions and history (John 9:13-16 Amp).
Controversy over the Man
13 Then they brought the man who was formerly blind to the Pharisees. 14 Now it was on a Sabbath day that Jesus made the mud and opened the man’s eyes. 15 So the Pharisees asked him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, “He smeared mud on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see.” 16 Then some of the Pharisees said, “This Man [Jesus] is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner (a non-observant Jew) do such signs and miracles?” So there was a difference of opinion among them.
People, as a whole, will rush to flat out reject, flat out resist, do not like any kind of change, accept any truths, but their own alternative methods of doing things.
They have long been comfortable and complacent with things as they are and anyone who suggests any kind of change usually does not end very well for the people who dare to rock the boat or shake the system in order to make it better.
Jesus came along, vigorously casting out the money changers in the Temple, declaring the religious work and manner of the Pharisees and other officials was no better than rotting corpses in tombs and were hypocrites headed to hell (Matthew 21:12, Matthew 23:27, 33, John 2:14-16).
He cursed cities that saw His miracles, yet rejected Him (Matthew 11:21-23), chastised His apostles for their unbelief and dullness of mind (Mark 8:14-21), and sharply, publicly, rebuked officials who tried to discredit Him by asking about taxes to Caesar and the issue of the Resurrection (Luke 20:19-40).
People who tend to dwell on “gentle Jesus, meek and mild”, need to re-read the Gospels and see that He was not nice and sweet all the time, but laid it on the line in terms of waking up all people to the fact of accountability before God, the reality of sin its consequences, that He is the ONLY way, truth, life, to salvation (John 14:6).
What if “our God worshipping church” today was “our God worshipping church” in the 1st Century?
I would even dare to say that if the Rabbi Jesus showed up at the average house of worship today and did the exact things He did in the Gospels, the cry for His betrayal, his arrest, his death, would be as loud as those who lived in His day.
However, God’s plan for our salvation would remain God’s plan, and Jesus’ resurrection would still take place to the world’s regret and the devil’s fears.
What about those who receive the Light of Christ?
John tells us that by giving our lives over to Jesus, we have the authority to be called sons and daughters of God, heirs and joint heirs with Him, a wonderful manifestation of the love of Almighty God (John 1:12; Romans 8:14-17; 1 John 3:1).
The privilege of being born of God is not by physical descent, or the work of our flesh, or virtue of power by our will, but is a spiritual rebirth made possible by the Sovereign, merciful, and benevolent act of the Spirit of God alone (John 1:13, 3:5; Titus 3:5).
We receive this free gift by repenting of our sins (Psalm 51:1-17) and asking the Lord Jesus to forgive us and save us (Acts 16:31; Romans 10:9-13), and that we each choose to come to God, give our lives fully over to Him as Lord and Savior.
We belong to Him from that time onward into eternity.
We are to serve Him by sharing what He has done for us with others (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 4:12, 19-20).
We are to reading and studying HIs Word to grow spiritually (John 17:17; Acts 17:11; 2 Timothy 2:15, 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21).
We are to find and support a body of like-minded believers who teach the Scriptures faithfully and who confess Christ as Lord (Hebrews 10:24-25).
We are to follow the Lord’s example by a public confession of faith in Christ and be baptized as a sign of obedience and affirmation to follow Him. (Acts 2:43-47)
Believing and Living as Children of God
John 1:12-13Amplified Bible
12 But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the right [the authority, the privilege] to become children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name— 13 who were born, not of blood [natural conception], nor of the will of the flesh [physical impulse], nor of the will of man [that of a natural father], but of God [that is, a divine and supernatural birth—they are born of God—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified].
John’s gospel tells us that to receive Jesus is to believe in his name.
To believe in Jesus’ name is to acknowledge that Jesus is the Word become flesh.
Others may pass him by, others will pass him by, think him a stranger, or, even worse, call him an impostor and blasphemer–but believers will see his glory.
Psalm 27:8 Amplified Bible
8
When You said, “Seek My face [in prayer, require My presence as your greatest need],” my heart said to You,
“Your face, O Lord, I will seek [on the authority of Your word].”
The Psalmist David, recognized the need to seek after God’s face everyday in prayer and in the reading and the diligent personal study of The Word of God.
John wants us to look on the face of Jesus until the conviction becomes so rooted in our hearts that we are looking into the human face of the living God.
Perhaps for us, in this day, age, this face of God comes most into focus when we see it “eye to eye” (Luke 22:60-62), “face to face” wearing the crown of thorns.
It is said of God no one can behold his face and live. I always thought this meant no one can see his splendor and live. But perhaps, even far deeper, it meant that no one could look upon his true sorrow and live. Or perhaps his sorrow is his splendor.
Believing is more than seeing.
It also involves following and even carrying on a sort of love affair.
Believing is a verb, and in our Scripture reading it is followed by the preposition “in,” suggesting that it unites us to the one in whom we believe.
It is through this union that we His Children are ushered into the family of God.
I pray that if we are seeking the Light of Truth and we have come across this devotion, I invite and implore us read and study and pray the Word of God, to repent of our sins, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation and eternal life.
Consider please, quit stumbling around in the darkness and turn to Him today.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us pray,
Psalm 84 The Message
84 1-2 What a beautiful home, God-of-the-Angel-Armies!
I’ve always longed to live in a place like this,
Always dreamed of a room in your house,
where I could sing for joy to God-alive!
3-4 Birds find nooks and crannies in your house,
sparrows and swallows make nests there.
They lay their eggs and raise their young,
singing their songs in the place where we worship.
God-of-the-Angel-Armies! King! God!
How blessed they are to live and sing there!
5-7 And how blessed all those in whom you live,
whose lives become roads you travel;
They wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks,
discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain!
God-traveled, these roads curve up the mountain, and
at the last turn—Zion! God in full view!
8-9 God-of-the-Angel-Armies, listen:
O God of Jacob, open your ears—I’m praying!
Look at our shields, glistening in the sun,
our faces, shining with your gracious anointing.
10-12 One day spent in your house, this beautiful place of worship,
beats thousands spent on Greek island beaches.
I’d rather scrub floors in the house of my God
than be honored as a guest in the palace of sin.
All sunshine and sovereign is God,
generous in gifts and glory.
He doesn’t scrimp with his traveling companions.
It’s smooth sailing all the way with God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 