'Such a stupendous thing to grasp'

“When you read the Book of John, you have to do like in Luke—notice the little things.

John 5: [5] And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.
[6] When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?
[7] The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
[8] Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.

“When it says in verse 6, ‘Jesus saw him,’ and it will be the same way with the blind man, He sees that individual, not everybody else and there’s this great multitude: [3] In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.

“Out of all that crowd, God’s grace focused on this guy," explains Richard Jordan. "Their faith in God’s Word to them brings God’s grace into their life. How is it that He’s going to give them power to become? There’s the how.

“When you read these miracles, all of them are designed together to tell you: [11] He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
[12] But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

“What the Holy Spirit’s doing as He writes the Book of John is He’s going back to this original plan that the godhead has. In verse 3 He talks about that original plan for creation and the One who is the expression of that plan.

“What in the world would it mean to call the Lord Jesus Christ the Word? What do you do with words? You express yourself; you reveal what’s in your mind, your heart. The Lord Jesus Christ is the one who’s going to reveal what’s in the mind and heart of God.

“If you want to know God you’re going to have to look at Jesus Christ. To understand who God is and to grasp His person, you can’t look at creation because it doesn’t tell you about the person of God; it will tell you about the power of God.

“Jesus tells Philip in John 14:9: [9] Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
[10] Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

“There’s that wonderful passage in II Corinthians 4:6: [6] For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

“The whole issue of Jesus Christ being the Word is not just to tell you God’s righteous. You can get that by reading other things in the Scripture.

“Jesus Christ is not just simply revealing God as God with all of His attributes. His purpose in revealing God is to reveal to you what’s in God’s heart, because that’s how you really get to know someone.

“You don’t just want to know about them; you want to know them. The way you know them is to understand what they’re thinking. How do they think about things? How do they react to things? What are their plans? What are their purposes? Where are they going? Are they able to get there?

“Well, Jesus Christ as the Word, that implies that the godhead’s got a plan and Jesus Christ is the agency of the godhead through whom that plan is going to be communicated.

“That is such a stupendous thing to grasp. It’s not to diminish at all, in fact, it’s to glorify the fact that Jesus Christ is the revealer of God, and without Him you couldn’t know God.

“What you’re learning about God isn’t just that He’s high and mighty and lifted up, righteous and holy. I mean, He revealed that to Moses about Himself.

“The purpose in all that revelation is to bring you into an appreciation of what God’s plan in His creation is and what’s that plan? The ultimate goal of God is to glorify Himself in Jesus Christ.

John 1:18: [18] No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

“When you declare something, you set it forth. You ever heard the southern expression, ‘Well, I do declare.’ You tell it out.

Hebrews 1: [3] Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

“In John 1 and 2, He’s going to tell you that Jesus Christ is the spoken out image of God. You want to know God and God’s mind? It’s in Christ. He’s completely, fully qualified to tell you that because He is God.

“It says in John 1:3: [3] All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

“You’re going to learn that that verse isn’t just talking about the birds and the bees and the stars and the nebula and the plants and stuff. It’s talking about a government and creatures put in that government to run this universe, because God’s got a plan and it’s going to focus in His Son.

“John begins his book by pointing out to you that the Son is the focus where all of God’s glory is going to be revealed. We’re going to behold Him in human flesh so we can ‘behold his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.’

Revelation 1:8: [8] I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

Verse 11: [11] Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

“Alpha is the first letter in a Greek alphabet; Omega is the last letter. What Jesus is saying there is, ‘I’m God’s alphabet and I’m going to spell out and display . . . Words are made out of letters and I’m the one going to lay out for you the mind of God and what God’s got to say.’

“By the way, when He says ‘I am Alpha and Omega,’ He’s saying, ‘The last thing God’s going to say to you is going to come from me.’ That why in Hebrews 1 He says ‘in these last days.’ The conclusion of revelation is going to come from Jesus Christ.

Acts 14:12: [12] And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.

“That term ‘chief speaker’ is the word for 'word' over there. If you took that translation of the word and applied it to John 1, what you would have is that Jesus Christ is the chief speaker of the godhead. They nominated God the Son for that job.

“That’s exactly the idea there. In Colossians, it says He’s the image of the invisible God. He was like Adam in the earth back there. Adam was God’s spokesman in the earth. Jesus Christ is the one member of the godhead who’s going to speak on behalf of the godhead.

“John 1 is not the first time the second person of the godhead has been referred to by that terminology. Psalm 33:6: [6] By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.
[7] He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses.
[8] Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
[9] For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.

“Notice again how it’s connected with creation, just as it is in John 1. John 1:1: [1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
[2] The same was in the beginning with God.
[3] All things were made by 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.

“Notice it didn’t say the Word was with the Father. That’s because there are more than two members of the godhead. If He’s with Him, that means He’s distinct from the other members. There’s a difference between being in God and with God.

“Genesis says Enoch walked with God. They’re distinct from one another. ‘Can two walk together, except they be agreed?’ They’re walking together.

“Not only is God eternal and self-existent, He is, in His person, distinct from other members of the godhead.”

(new article tomorrow)