Wednesday, February 11, 2009
John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
AND THE WORD WAS GOD
The Bible is quite plain, it says the Word (Jesus) was with God and the Word was God.
Thankfully, we do not have to reason it out, for we don't have the necessary equipment. We do not have to figure out how this can be so, but we can trust the simple clarity of the phrase: the Word was God.
It is to our eternal benefit that Jesus is of the divine essence. It gives meaning to all He did for us. The entire reason for His coming to this earth through human birth would have been wiped away were He not God. What would His sacrifice on the cross to God have meant had He not been God? Had His sacrifice been perfect and yet He had been only a man, how could He have been the substitute for more than one of us sinners? Were Jesus mere man, even a sinless one, His shed blood would not have been valuable enough to pay for the sins of the whole world.
If Jesus were not true God there could be no atonement, no salvation, no forgiveness of sins, no eternal life.
And no reason for us to worship, or to serve God, or to be happy about anything for very long.
But thanks be to God, the Word was God and is God -- and our Savior.
Christmas is a time to remember that the Son of God was made man, was "conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary."
Epiphany is a time to remember that Scripture reveals again and again that Jesus is truly "very God of very God . . . who, for us humans and our salvation, came down from heaven."
