John Chapter 1 is HUGE. What was I thinking asking us to write for 5 minutes or an hour on 51 verses? It would take quite a bit of time to truly dive into this chapter. I only wish I had the time to adequately speak to the awesomeness and depth of this chapter. But I’ll do my best to make some sense of it as a whole and then go a little deeper into a few verses.
I’ve read it five or six times so far. It is a great read and quite deep. It breaks down into some distinct directions (thank you Matthew Henry for your commentary):
* The presentation of Jesus (1-5)
* Jesus as divine and human natures (6-14)
* John the Baptist and his personal testimony (15-18)
* John and other public testimonies (19-36)
* Other testimonies and the calling of the first disciples (37-51)
The first verse is almost poetic. It flows and brings me back to Genesis 1. They both start with, “In the beginning” and flow very poetically. Genesis 1 uses “God” and John 1 uses “Word.” Very interesting how they seem interchangeable. But John never replaces God with Word, they are side by side almost. The first several verses are very deep and really grab my attention.
As I read John 1, I knew I wouldn’t be able to write about the whole chapter. So I read and re-read and then I became stuck on the following verses.
[b]John 1:11-13. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.[/b]
V. 11 - [em]“…those who were His did not receive Him.[/em]” - He came into the world as a human and the human race rejected Him. God the creator of the heavens and earth was walking among the people and the people wanted nothing to do with Him. Mankind, the nation of Israel whom He came to redeem and gift life to…rejected Him.
V. 12 - He says that some did believe - As “many” as received Him. Mark 10:45 says that Jesus gave His life for “many.” So some did believe and they were given [em]“the right to become children of God.”[/em]
V.13 - The children of God were not:
- [em]“born not of blood”[/em] - The “children of God” were not offered salvation through family inheritance or of anything that their parents had done (born of blood).
- [em]“nor of the will of the flesh[/em]” And not because of anything related to themselves or their flesh. Think about Romans 8:6 where it says the mind set on the flesh is death or 8:8 where it says that those in the flesh cannot please God.
- [em]“nor of the will of man”[/em] So the ones called the “children of God” didn’t do a single thing on their own to “earn” this salvation. Without God’s calling and the work of the Holy Spirit, man cannot choose his eternal destiny.
Father, thank you for picking me up out of a life that was leading to Hell. A life that was without fruit and purpose going no where...fast! I now realize that on my own I was on a path of destruction. I also realize that You called me LONG before I accepted you. I see the places in my past where you longed for me and I rejected you. Forgive me for doubting that my life could be better with You. I’m not a doubter anymore as I realize how much better I am when serving You.
Help me today Lord to be the husband and father that you called me to be. I complicate my life so much by injecting my own flesh and want so desperately to surrender to You more and more each day. If you are willing Jesus...help me to do so today.
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