Holidays
Apollo II landed on the moon July 20, 1969. When Commander Neil Armstrong became the first person to ever step onto the moon's surface, his first words were:
"One small step for man....one giant leap for mankind."
Today, in John I we look at the largest giant step ever, for humanity....
when God became man to make Himself known and to work out His Will for us.
There is an old hymn entitled, "No, Not One" and the chorus goes like this:
'Jesus knows all about our struggles,
He will guide 'til the day is done.
There's not a friend like the lowly Jesus,
No, not one....No, not one!'
Another hymn emphasizes the same:
'Jesus is all the world to me, my life, my joy, my all.
He is my strength from day to day,
Without Him, I would fall.
When I am sad, to Him I go;
No other One can cheer me so.
When I am sad, He makes me glad;
He's my Friend!'
There are Scriptures that are very definite about Jesus being The One and Only:
John 14:6...."Jesus said, 'I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes unto the Father, but my me.'
Acts 4:12...."Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said concerning Jesus, 'Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.'
Romans 10:4...."Jesus Christ is the end of the law, for righteousness to everyone that believes."
Galatians 4:4-5...."When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem those that were under the law, that they might receive the adoption of sons."
As far as I personally can see, John I is the greatest passage on Jesus as the One and Only.
I) JESUS IS THE ONE AND ONLY LOGOS: (Greek for 'the Word'). (Verses 1-3)
Verse 1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
Jesus was...and is....the last word on the subject!
Hebrews 1:1-4 emphasizes God's Ways of revealing Himself and then says, "In these last days, has spoken unto us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things!"
I think that it was Arnold Toynbee who wrote:
"There never was a time when the Word was not, but a time when the Word was not flesh. The Divine ideas which had wandered through the world until they had almost forgotten their Divine origin, did at last clothe themselves in flesh and blood. The idea and the fact met in Jesus and were wedded."
A word can fill in a blank and there are a lot of blanks in our lives....
until Jesus becomes our Savior and Lord.
My prayer is that the written Word may become flesh...
and that you will help someone find THE answer to their blanks.
II) JESUS IS THE ONE AND ONLY LIFE...AND LIGHT: (Verses 4-9)
Plants can not live long without light, so we can not really live, without The Light. (Revelation of Jesus).
A great old song is entitled, "The Light of the World is Jesus". This song was left out of a recent hymnal, but we must be sure that we do not leave Jesus (The Life and Light) out of our lives!
Tennyson said, "Christ is to man what sunshine is to flowers."
Clement of Alexandria said, "Jesus turns all of our sunsets into sunrises."
Many have tried, but have not succeeded in putting out the Light of Jesus!
There were 400 years of spiritual darkness between the Old and the New Testaments, but how glorious it was when Jesus (the Light of the World) came!
What a difference He made...and still makes. Many have said when they are near death, that they see the brightest light they have ever seen. I have an idea that it will be the Light of Jesus.
It was a great day when REA brought electricity to our farm in the early 1940's. However the greatest days were when Jesus shined in our dark hearts and brought His salvation to each member of our family.
There is a saying 'It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.'
We have served many places to try and bring His Life and His Light to people.
Jesus said, "Let your light so shine that they may see your good works and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven."
As you serve (perhaps in dark places) please remember:
"All darkness cannot put out one light...and yet one light can make a difference!"
Enjoy the light, but pass it on!
Adrian Rogers said recently, "Kids are afraid of the dark, but worse is adults who are afraid of The Light."
(Pastor Rogers passed away last month and is now enjoying the Presence of Jesus and many people whom he led to know The Light and Life of Jesus!)
III) JESUS IS THE ONE AND ONLY PERFECT LOVE:
Note the following words in John I that describe His Love...
Vs.16...FULNESS:
When Jesus does something in our lives, He wants to fill us full of His love.
Colossians 2:9: "In Christ dwells all the fulness of the Godhead in the body and we are complete in Him Who is The Head of all principality and power."
Vs. 17.....TRUTH AND GRACE:
"The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."
Vs. 18 speaks of Jesus as The Only Begotten Son of God.
This reminds us of John 3:16.
This is a paraphrase of John 3:16:
For God - the greatest lover
So Loved - the greatest degree
The world - the greatest number
That He gave - the greatest act
His only Begotten Son - the greatest gift
That whosoever - the greatest promise
Believeth - the greatest simplicity
In Him - the greatest attraction
Should not perish - the greatest difference
But have - the greatest assurance
Everlasting life - the greatest life
I'm afraid that the 'begotten' (which means 'the only one of it's kind')
has been forgotten.
Please remember (and practice) that 'Perfect love casts out ALL fear'. I John 4:18
The key verses concerning personal responsibility with Jesus, comes in Verses 11-14:
"He came unto His own and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the Sons of God, even to them who believe on His name; who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
IV) JESUS IS THE ONE AND ONLY LAMB OF GOD. (John 1:29)
John the Baptist was baptizing and saw Jesus coming and said, "Behold the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world."
In verse 32, John the Baptist said, "I saw the Spirit descending from Heaven, like a dove and abiding upon Him.
He will baptize with the Holy Spirit and I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God."
The next day seeing Jesus, he said again, "Behold the Lamb of God".
While we were serving as missionaries in Korea, we were at a retreat on the Yellow Sea side of Korea, with many other missionaries families. I was asked to bring the message at the Sunday evening vespers which met on a knoll overlooking the Yellow Sea.
I preached on 'Jesus is the Great Shepherd and we are His sheep'.
Little did I know that a young man from Iran was on the beach down below and was listening to my message.
Later a Methodist missionary shared with me that the young man had accepted Christ, saying, "I'm the lost sheep that the man was talking about and I need the Shepherd!"
That young man was baptized in the Yellow Sea and in a few days he made his way back to Iran, ending his 'around the world' journey.
That night for that young Iranian, the Logos became the Lamb...
and the Revelation became Redemption.
God truly works in mysterious ways to make His Will known!
I'm reminded of the little poem, 'What Can I Give Him':
'What can I give Him, poor as I am,
If I were a shepherd, I'd give a lamb.
If I were a rich man, I'd do my part....
What can I give Him? I'll give my heart'
Have you given your heart (and your whole being) to Jesus?
Remember He is The One and Only!
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You wrote: Hebrews 1:1-4 emphasizes God's Ways of revealing Himself and then says, "In these last days, has spoken unto us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things!" Ps. 2:7-I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, You are My Son, Today I have BEGOTTEN You, (8) Ask of Me, and I will GIVE You, the nations for Your INHERITANCE, and the ends of the earth for Your possession. He and He alone is the heir, He is the one and only begotten of the Father. Thank you for sharing another great article with us Travis! Blessings, Sharon
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