How far back do we need to go to REALLY tell the story of Jesus? Farther back than you might think.
This is Scripture for Students. I’m Steve Whitacre, president of Trinity College and a pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville. I want to help students build a daily habit for life-long Bible reading. Today is December 23, 2024 and this episode of Scripture for Students is called In the Beginning Was the Word. Grab your Bible and let’s get started.
Please open up your Bible to John 1. Have you ever had a friend who gives you way more backstory than you thought you needed for the actual story? Maybe you’re having a normal conversation and you ask an innocent followup question, “Wow, that’s interesting, so how long have you disliked popcorn? And he reaches back impossibly far and gives you impossibly deep background. “Well, it all started when my great-grandfather parachuted into Normandy on D-day.” Really? What does that have to do with you and popcorn? How far back does the background to this story go?” But I love it when you are talking to a good storyteller who knows how to bring all that background together so that in the end, you see what gramps parachuting into Normandy has to do with not liking popcorn today.
In the Bible, the apostle John is kind of like that guy, but the background he provides to his story is important to the story in all the best possible ways.
You probably know that if we want to read the Christmas story in the Bible, we almost always start with Luke’s gospel. There, the angel Gabriel visits Mary, plus we get the census and the trip to Bethlehem, the angel of the Lord and the angel choir appearing to the shepherds, and the classic scene with Mary laying the baby Jesus in the manger. We get a bit more in Matthew 1 and 2: we get more of Joseph’s side of the story, then we get the wise men from the east and all the business with Herod.
Mark’s gospel doesn’t tell us anything about Jesus’ birth or childhood. Mark opens up with John the Baptist and the baptism of Jesus and then, “immediately,” he is off to the races.
But if you ask John the Apostle for the story of the incarnation, he’s like:
Let’s sit down. We’re going to need to back a bit.
How far, John? Should we go back to the time of the prophets, maybe around 500 BC?
No, further back.
David, the great King, maybe 1000 BC?
No, further.
Well, surely we could start with Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, maybe 1800BC?
No dude, you gotta go to the beginning.
Oh I see, so you want to tell the story of Jesus starting with Adam?
You’re not getting it.
Let’s see where John actually begins his story of the incarnation. I’m going to read John 1:1–14. Would you please follow along with me as I read:
John 1:1–14
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.
8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
May the Lord bless the reading and the hearing and the keeping of his Word.
I love how John’s version of the story takes us WAY back to the beginning. We’re reaching back much further than the little town of Bethlehem, the stable, or the census.
According to John, in the beginning, was the Word. When the beginning began, the Word was already there. The Word was with God and the Word was God. And we know from verse 14 that this Word is the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, who came to earth as the man Jesus Christ.
There’s a lot to talk about in these verses, but I want us to focus on verse 3: “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” Jesus created all things, from stars to starlings, from rainbows to rainbow trout. And the book of Hebrews tells us that he not only created all things; he keeps them going.
Hebrews 1:3 says, “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.”
This is quite a picture to contemplate at Christmas. Every Nativity set on the planet depicts Jesus as a doughy, wiggly little baby. Totally helpless: he had to be fed, cleaned, dressed. And yet somehow, this little baby was fully God and all the fullness of God was concentrated in this tiny human. Jesus joined his divine nature to a human nature and will forever remain fully God and fully human in one person.
This is a great mystery. He remains the powerful creator who upholds the universe by his word. When he still had yet to learn to speak, his powerful word held all things together.
I’m pointing all this out to you because there is so much of the Christmas story that is so familiar and so expected. As Christmas is almost here, let’s not lose sight of the mystery and miracle of Christmas. There is more here than we can understand, but more than enough to lead us to worship. If your church has a Christmas Eve service tomorrow night, you might sing the question, “What child is this?” I hope John 1 gives a fresher and fuller way to answer that question.
That’s all for today. If you enjoyed this episode please share it with a friend and follow us on Apple Podcasts.
And, as we near the end of this Advent Edition of Scripture for Students, I hope you will plan on joining us in January and throughout 2025 for the Scripture for Students Read Through the Bible Challenge.
This content is sponsored by Trinity College of Louisville. We shape young men and young women for Christ and for the church. Learn more at TrinityCollegeLou.com. Until next time, keep growing!