Wednesday, January 12, 2011
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
YOUR BROTHER IS THE ETERNAL GOD!
Yes, before the manger, see the divine essence of Jesus. He was in existence from eternity and thus He was (and is) rightly called God. He is God.
We say, "How can this be?" First the Scripture says, "The Word was with God," and then in the very next phrase it says, "The Word was God?" How can one be with another and also be that other?
So we are immediately confronted with another miracle. The miracle that is God -- that God the Father and God the Son are separate persons in a way that They can be *with* one another through all eternity, and yet ... still ... somehow they are *One*. For the Bible is quite plain, it says the Word 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 it can occur, but we can trust the simple clarity of the statement: THE WORD WAS GOD.
It is to our eternal benefit that Jesus is of the divine essence. It gives extraordinary meaning to all He did for us. The entire reason for His appearing on this earth at Christmas would have been washed 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, His shed blood would not have been valuable enough to pay for the sins of the world. Without Jesus' being true God there would be no atonement; no salvation; no forgiveness of sins; no eternal life.
But THE WORD WAS GOD.
Oh, then rejoice that through His Son God is with sinners now at one;
Made like yourselves of flesh and blood, Your Brother is the eternal God.
What harm can sin and death then do? The true God now abides with you.
Let hell and Satan rage and chafe, Christ is your Brother--ye are safe.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 103:3-4)
