A
Message by Pastor Michael Palmer
Given
to
February
14, 2010
JESUS IS
GOD! THAT IS THE GOOD NEWS
John wrote
his gospel after Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
His gospel is unique in that his purpose was to show that Jesus is
God—the unique Son of God. John reveals
Jesus as the eternal, pre-existing Son of God who became man in order to reveal
the Father and to bring men access into eternal life through his historical
death and literal resurrection. He
stated his purpose at the end of his gospel: “Jesus did many other miraculous
signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this
book. But these are written that you may
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may
have life in this name” (John 20:30-31).
The book of John is a majestic presentation of Jesus to all
mankind. The first 18 verses have such
rich theological content that we could spend a year or more (a lifetime!)
preaching, teaching, and discussing the implications of these truths. In John’s gospel are the seven “I AM” sayings
of Jesus. And in John’s gospel are the
seven SIGNS that point to the divine nature of Jesus—proving beyond all doubt
that Jesus is the Word of God and He is God.
1.
I am the bread of life – John 6:35,41,48,51
2.
I am the light of the world – John 8:12; 9:5
3.
I am the door of the sheep – John 10:7,9
4.
I am the good shepherd – John 10:11,14
5.
I am the resurrection and the life – John 11:25
6.
I am the way, the truth, and the life – John 14:6
7.
I am the true vine – John 15:1,5
Note the phrasing is like Genesis 1:1. This is no accident! Note also Revelation 1:8,17 and Philippians
2:6. Jesus is eternal because His is
God!
There was
a heretic in the first century named Cerinthus.
He taught that Jesus was merely human and the Christ part of His nature
was given to him at baptism, but left Him on the eve of His suffering—so that
was not the Christ that died but Jesus the man that died. Certainly, John was aware of this, but the
main purpose of his writing is for people to have proper belief in Jesus as God
and that by believing “we” might have life in His name.
Consider
the following quote from New Testament Commentary, The Gospel of John, by
William Hendriksen, p. 70
The term “Word” is rooted not in
Greek but in Semitic thought. Note
especially Ps. 33:6: “By the Word of Jehovah were the heavens made.” What is probably the best commentary on John
1:1 is found in Prov. 8:27-30:
“When he established the heavens, I was there:
When he set a circle upon the face of
the deep.
When he made firm the skies above,
When the fountains of the deep became
strong,
When he gave to the deep its bound,
That the waters should not transgress
his commandment,
When he marked out the foundations of the earth;
Then I was by him, as a master workman;
And I was daily his delight,
Rejoicing always before him.”
As
a New Testament designation of the Christ, the term Word occurs only in
1:1,14; I John 1:1; and Rev. 19:13. A
word serves two distinct purposes: a. it gives expression to the inner
thought, the soul of the man, doing this even though no one else is present to
hear what is said or to read what is thought; and b. it reveals this
thought (hence, the soul of the speaker) to others. Christ is the Word of God in both respects:
he expresses or reflects the mind of God; also, he reveals God to man (1:18;
cf. Matt. 11:27; Heb 1:3).
The phrase “the word [dabar] of the Lord” expresses one of
the fundamental ideas of the Hebrew Old Testament. Among the many contexts in which it appears,
it was used:
(1)
as
the basis for the covenant with Abraham (e.g., Gen. 15:1)
(2)
as
the foundation for the establishment of
(3)
as
a clue to the closeness of the relationship of
(4)
as
the stated source for the proclamations of the prophets (e.g., 1 Kgs.
12:30;18:1; Isa. 1:10; Hos. 1:1; Joel 1:1)
(5)
as
the wise means for guidance (e.g., Ps. 17:4)
(6)
as
the key or way to enlightenment (e.g., Ps. 119:105)
Yet the creation statement of Ps. 33:6 reminds us that
in
(New American Commentary, p. 105)
II. JESUS HAS A SEPARATE PERSONALITY FROM GOD
THE FATHER, BUT IS STILL FULLY GOD!
John 14:9: “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” This verse speaks to the doctrine of the
Trinity.
“and the Word was with God”
“and the Word was face to face with God” (Hendriksen)
The meaning is that the Word existed in the closest possible
fellowship with the Father, and that He took supreme delight in this
communion. The word “PROS” or “toward”
is used here. It indicates motion toward
a place or person or as here close proximity.
Hence there is this sense of reciprocal intimacy and connection. Once we understand this, we see the
incarnation stand out more clearly as an act of incomprehensible love and infinite
condescension (Hendriksen).
III. THERE IS NO SEPARATION BETWEEN JESUS AND
GOD. JESUS IS GOD.
“and the Word was God”
“KAI THEOS EN ‘O LOGOS”
The New American Commentary tells us:
Some Christians have been troubled by
misinformed Jehovah’s Witnesses who appear at their doors and argue that the
Word (namely, the one who became flesh) was not actually God but was some
lesser reality or a lower deity than God.
Those misguided interpreters have sought to argue their case from the
fact that the Greek word for God (theos) here does not have an article.
Possessing a little Greek knowledge can
sometimes lead to incorrect deductions and to very inappropriate theological
conclusions. Simply because the Greek
term “Word” (logos) here has an article and the Greek term for “God” (theos)
lacks the article does not mean that the term God” should be rendered as “a
god.” In this predicate nominative
construction the Greek verb “to be,” when linking the noun “God,” is used in a
generic or adjectival manner. It does
not therefore mean that the Word is “a god” as over against “God” or that the
Word merely possesses some attributes of the “divine nature.” As Beasley-Murray has pointed out, there is
another Greek word (theios) for that type of divine reference, for
instance in 2 Pet. 1:4, where believers are said to participate in the “divine
nature.” The meaning of John 1:1 is not
merely that the Word has divine characteristics but that the Word participates
in the reality called God. That Word was
true diety, and John wanted there to be no doubt about it.
To clarify further this important text, attention must also be directed
to several other matters. First, the use
of the verb eimi, “to be”—in this case the word “was” (en)—is
extremely important, and readers should pay particular attention to its
appearances in the Prologue (1:1a,b,c, 2,4,8,9,10,15b,c). It is to be contrasted with the use of the
Greek word egeneto (“became”), which is used in the LXX of Genesis 1 and
which is rendered in the NIV here variously by the following formulas: “were
made” (v. 3), “come…who was” (v. 6), “was made” (v. 10), “became” (v. 14), and
“came” (v. 17). The verb “was (en)
in the Prologue was used by the evangelist to denote a supertemporal reality in
existence; the other verb (egeneto) was used to denote that something
had taken place or come to pass in time and space. Accordingly, in John 1:1 we are dealing with
a thesis that means that just as in Gen. 1:1, where there was allowed no hint
of the creation of God, there is here no time envisaged when the Word was not
in existence or in relationship to God.
(New American Commentary, p. 103-104, Gerald R. Borchert)
A man named Arius in the third and fourth centuries espoused
the false teaching that Jesus was not fully God. This controversy was dealt with at that time
and it was deemed to be HERESY! Jesus is
co-existant and pre-existant with the Father; Jesus is not a created being or
person. Jesus is the great “I
AM”!
PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF THE FACT THAT JESUS IS GOD – SO
WHAT!
I. WE CAN
KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT GOD.
Does Jesus Christ hate sin? Yes!
So God has always hated sin also.
Does Jesus Christ love the sinner?
Yes! Therefore, God loves him
also. Barclay says, “What Jesus did was
open a window in time that we might see the eternal and unchanging love of
God.” In fact, God so hates sin and so
loves the sinner that in eternity he planned the way in which he would redeem
the race. We read the Old Testament and
find God saying, “There must be an atonement for sin.” We read the accounts of Christ’s life and
death, and we find God saying, “There is the atonement for sin.” We come to our time and as the Word of God is
preached we find God speaking to our hearts and saying, “That was the
atonement for sin. Believe it and be
saved.” God has always been like
Jesus. (Gospel of John, vol. 1, p. 24,
by James Montgomery Boice)
III. JESUS’ DEATH ON
THE CROSS WAS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT ACT OF GOD FOR ALL MANKIND
It
means that in this way he himself became the one sufficient and acceptable
sacrifice for man’s sin. If you or I
were to be so foolish as to make a statement that we would die for another
man’s sins and then were somehow to lose our lives, in terms of sin our death
would mean nothing. We are sinners. If we were to die for sin, or pretend to do
it, the only sin we could die for would be our own. But Jesus had no sin. Being God, he is sinless. Hence, when he died, he died for the sins of
others, in their place; he removed forever the burden of sin from those who
believe on him. (Gospel of John, vol. 1,
p. 24, by James Montgomery Boice)
IV. JESUS CHRIST IS
ABLE TO SATISFY ALL THE NEEDS OF YOUR (OUR) HEART!
V. SINCE JESUS IS
GOD, HE DEMANDS AND DESERVES OUR HEART’S TOTAL SURRENDER TO HIM
Who do you say Jesus is?
What is He to you?
How can we neglect the have fellowship with Him daily?
Do you know the strength and satisfaction Jesus alone can
bring?