John 1:1-5 "In the beginning..." [Part 2]

Last week I, very messily, looked at Genesis 1, and explored the possibility that in the beginning, along with everything we know and see, God created time.

This week I look at the second "In the beginning"



John 1:1-2

In the beginning the Word already existed.
    The Word was with God,
    and the Word was God.
He existed in the beginning with God.

Here we see that there was more in the beginning than meets the eye. Jesus, the very work of salvation; The Way, the Truth and the Life was with God in the beginning. In fact, not just with God, but God! A part of the Trinity and the very person from which Christians take their name.

Jesus was sent for our salvation and took our sins on the cross. But that's not all He did. Jesus is vital to our very existence:

John 1:3-5

God created everything through him,
    and nothing was created except through him.
The Word gave life to everything that was created,
    and his life brought light to everyone.
The light shines in the darkness,
    and the darkness can never extinguish it.

Without Jesus, none of what God created would exist. John tells us the everything that was, has and will be created, could be except through Jesus. When Jesus tells us He is the Alpha and Omega, beginning and end, He means it. Only He has the authority to create and annihilate.

In some ways we could reword it to say "In Jesus, God created the Heavens and the Earth..."

It's easy to look at the image of Jesus on the cross and glory over His sacrifice. Indeed this is the Good News of the Gospel; That Jesus lived a perfect, faultless life and died for my sins on the cross, taking the punishments meant for me, that I would not die but have eternal life in the presence of God.

But Jesus is so much more than the reason for Christmas and Easter; So much more that the helpless babe of carols or the mighty man on whom history pivots. Jesus is the very vehicle that creation rides on and, without Him, you, I and all we hold dear wouldn't exist.

The formless void would still be a formless void and the tick of time would not have begun.

When I thank Jesus for my day, my family and my salvation, I think I should start thanking him for the fact I exist and that He not only loved me enough to die for me, but that He saw fit to allow my existence in spite of my imperfections and issues.

May you also see in Him not only salvation, but your very ability to live and know Him.

Disagree with something I've said? Have a testimony of the greatness of Jesus? Feel free to share in the comments below.