1. Why is Jesus called the Word?
The Greek word here is Logos, which means thought or reason. It’s where we get our word “logic.” This Logos of God, or Word of God is the expression of God’s thoughts. He is the Word, or the message, God wants to communicate to us.
John 1:18 - No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
Jesus is God’s communication to us. He’s the one who makes God known to us, communicating to us what God is really like.
2. Was Jesus God?
No, Jesus was not God. The Logos, or God the Son, was God. Jesus was the human body the Logos lived in. The Word was in the beginning, not the body and soul of the man Jesus.
But…
Philippians 2:5-11 - In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being
in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used
to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore
God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
The Logos of God was with God in the beginning and had no body. He was Spirit, just as God the Father is Spirit. But when He came to redeem us, the Logos, God the Son, comingled with the man Jesus, and God the Son (Logos) and the Son of God (Jesus) became one being. After He had completed His work, God exalted Jesus for His obedience. The Logos of God comingled with the man Jesus, and now, the Logos will never be separate from the man Jesus. They are eternally joined.
3. Read verse 15. Why does John say that Jesus came before him? Remember that John is Jesus’ older cousin.
The Logos, God the Son, who was in Jesus is one with the eternal God. The Logos came before John even though the man Jesus did not.
4. What does it mean for the Logos to have life and to be the light?
The Logos is the fullness of God. He’s life, purity, goodness, etc. When He came, His job was to point us toward and give us that fullness. He was like a light shining in the darkness, helping us to find our way.
John 10:10 - I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
5. What does it mean to be a child of God (verses 12-13)?
· Love – God adopts us as His children because He loves us
· Provision – God is going to care for us and provide for us
· Protection – God will protect us. He won’t let anything take us away from Him (except our own choice to leave the family)
· Inheritance – God gives us His Kingdom
· Dignity – We become part of the royal family
6. What does it mean for the Logos to be full of grace and truth (verse 14)?
Remember that the Logos is the expression of God’s thought; He is God’s message to us. For the Logos to be full of grace and truth means that God wants to give us grace and show us the truth. He wants to take us out of our sins (grace) and show us the right way (truth).
7. Read verses 16 and 17 again. What does it mean for the Logos to give us grace in place of grace already given?
The Law of Moses showed us God’s holiness and His requirements for us. God communicated His standard. The Law also prescribed how people could be forgiven when they failed to meet God’s requirements; they had to sacrifice an animal. God telling us His requirements and giving us a way to be forgiven was an expression of grace. The Logos takes that grace even further by showing us who God is more fully and becoming the one-time sacrifice for all our sins.
What to do after reading this passage
Jesus brings us grace and truth. Spend some quiet time before Him, simply listening for the grace and truth He wants to share with you.
1. Why did the Jewish leaders ask John if he was Elijah or the Prophet?
Deuteronomy 18:18-19 – I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. 19 I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name.
Malachi 4:5-6 – See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.
The Israelites were expecting the prophet Moses wrote about and the coming of Elijah prophesied by Malachi. These would be authoritative figures in Israel. The Jewish leaders are asking if John is the Messiah or one of these prophesied figures so that they will know if they should listen to him or not.
2. If John is not one of these prophesied figures, why should the people listen to him?
John says he is the one who calls “Make straight the way for the Lord.” People should listen to him because he is preparing them to receive the Messiah. We should also be proclaiming the coming of the Messiah and preparing people to receive Him.
3. Why does John say he is unworthy to untie the Messiah’s sandal?
John was very humble in his service to God. So must we be. We should recognize that Jesus is elevated so much higher than we sinful humans are. He is God, and we are His creatures. He is the Ruler, and we are His servants.
The grace of Jesus is that even though we are unworthy to serve Him, He loves us and wants us to show our love to Him by doing what we can for Him. He invites us to serve Him even though we don’t deserve to.
4. We’ve seen that Jesus is like the Passover lamb in that His blood shields us from God’s wrath. But how is Jesus like a lamb who takes away our sins?
In the Old Testament, God required that people make a sacrifice as a penalty for their sins. The animal would die instead of the person. Jesus takes our sin away by dying in our place, just as the animal would have died in its owner place. The difference is that Jesus died once as the penalty for everyone’s sins who would believe in Him.
Unlike animals, Jesus could die one time for everyone’s sins because He wasn’t a human person only; He was God. The infinite God died to cover an infinite number of sins.
What to do after reading this passage
Reflect on what you respect about John the Baptist.
How can you show those same qualities in your own life?
John 1:35-37
The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.
John the Baptist again points to Jesus, saying, “Look, the Lamb of God!” And two of his disciples then left to follow Jesus. Later in the passage, Andrew and Philip both go and tell those close to them about Jesus.
Are we pointing others to Jesus? Are we inviting the people around us to take a close look at who He is so that they’ll be interested to find out more? Our lives and our words should be screaming, “Look at Jesus! Look at who He is! Look at what He can do for you! Come meet Him for yourself and you’ll see!”
Are you open to drawing attention to yourself like John did so that you can bring attention to Christ? John exclaimed, “Look at Jesus!” He wasn’t quiet about his faith. What about you? How does God want you to be a little louder about your faith so that you can point others to the Messiah?
John 1:38-39
Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.
John’s two disciples go and spend the rest of the day with Jesus. We need to be spending time with Jesus, don’t we? How can we let Him nourish our souls – How can we let Him teach us as our rabbi – if we aren’t spending enough time with Him?
I love how Jesus invites these two men to come to the place where He’s staying, and when we spend time with Jesus, He invites us into His home as well. He brings us into the very Presence of God. That’s worth spending some focused time with Christ, isn’t it?
But how much time is enough? Like eating a nutritious meal, you’ll know when your soul is satisfied. You’ll know when you’ve spent enough time with Jesus and He says, “That’s enough for you for now. Go and live in what we’ve talked about. We’ll meet up again later.”
If you don’t have a desire to spend time with Jesus, pray to the Holy Spirit to give you a hunger for the things of God.
John 1:42 and John 1:47
Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter)…When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”
Jesus knows who you are, and He knows who you will be. He knows everything about you – the sins, the shame, the regrets, the good intentions, the honest desires of your heart – and He calls you to be His disciple, to follow Him.
The only way for us to truly change is to follow Jesus. The only way for us to let the good parts of us truly shine is to follow Jesus. He teaches us, and as we respond in obedience, His Spirit transforms us from the inside out. We become the best versions of ourselves. We become who He created us to be.
Will you follow Jesus today and let His Spirit work in you?
John 1:51
“Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”
Jesus is quoting and calling to mind the vision Jacob saw when he was fleeing from Esau after he tricked his father into giving him the blessing of the firstborn (see Genesis 27). The vision is recorded in Genesis 28:12-17:
He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” 16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
Older translations call the stairway a ladder, so this vision is often called Jacob’s Ladder. When Jesus says the angels will go up and down on the Son of Man, He’s saying He is that ladder or stairway. He’s the way to Heaven.
To climb a staircase from one floor to another, you have to trust the staircase, don’t you? You have to trust it won’t fall. Will you trust Jesus to be your way to Heaven? Will you thank Him for providing a way for you? We can’t be our own way to Heaven, and we can’t create any other ladders that will get us there. In sending His Son to earth, God was lowering the staircase for us to climb up.
Do you have another insight into this passage? Please share below!
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