When God Became Man / Part 2

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Scripture references are from the King James Version Bible.
(This message is also included in the hardback book, Feasting on the Word,
Copyright 1992 by Thru the Bible Radio.)

Now let us consider some of the cement that holds them together.

All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

(John 1:3)

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Creator. Not only did He exist before Bethlehem, but He created the vast universe, including the material out of which man constructed Bethlehem. All things were made by Him. He is the instrument of creation. Nothing came into existence without Him.

In him was life; and the life was the light of men. (John 1:4)

Now we are confronted with something else – two of the simplest things in the world: light and life. Zoe and phos are the two words in the original language. From zoe we get zoology, the study of life; and from phos we get photo or anything that is built on it, such as photograph – it is light. These two things are so common that we take them for granted. Life – we see it everywhere. There may be a great deal of life right where you are at this moment. You go out in the woods and you see the same thing – life. It greets you on every hand; but can you explain it? You see in the Sunday pictorials and the sensational magazines that men now have discovered the source of life. But if you read them, you find that they have not found the source at all, though they think they are close to it. They put the microscope down on a green leaf. One moment that little cell is arranged one way and is dead as a doornail. The next moment the thing is rearranged in another way and it is alive. And then the thing starts growing and doubling, dividing and multiplying itself. Why does it do that? Life.

The other common thing is light. What is light? I listened to Irwin Moon try to explain it (and Irwin gave the best explanation I have heard), but when he got through I was not sure if light is a real something or if it is just waves, because they can cut the thing off and still light will go through objects that would stop waves. What in the world is light?
You see, we are dealing with things that are fundamental, though men today, with all their scientific gadgets, know so little about them.

"In him was life" – all life is in Jesus Christ. "In him was life; and the life was the light of men." You and I live in a universe that is spiritually dark. The fact of the matter is that it is physically dark to a certain degree. But God said, "Let there be light," and these light holders are placed about throughout His universe like street lights in a big city. We are told that when a man gets away from this earth a short distance, he is in total, absolute darkness, and it is frightening to be out where there is nothing from which the sun can be reflected. Our little globe is out in a dark universe, yet that is nothing compared to the spiritual darkness that envelops it. When the sun disappears, there is physical darkness over the land; but twenty-four hours a day there is spiritual darkness here, awful spiritual darkness. Man does not know God; man is in rebellion against God; man is in sin that blinds him to God. In the Lord Jesus Christ there is life, and the life that He gives is the light of men. In fact, His life is the only thing that can kindle light in the heart of an individual. An unregenerate man has no spiritual life within him. This is the reason that when you present to him Jesus Christ, he says, "I don’t get it. I don’t understand that at all."

I used to go down to the jail in Cleburne, Texas, and speak to the men. It was not a large jail and I could talk to them in a conversational tone. I would start off talking about football (because in Texas football is a religion!) and those hardened men would get enthusiastic about it. I talked also of other things, and they were interested. Then I would turn the conversation to something spiritual, and I could see the darkness come over their faces. I might just as well have been talking to corpses. And that is what they were – men dead in trespasses and sins. This world today is in spiritual darkness, and the Lord Jesus Christ has brought the only light there is in the world. He is the light.

In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. (John 1:4, 5)

Darkness of Doubt

The light shines in the darkness of this world at this moment. I have a notion that somebody reading these pages is saying, "Why is that preacher talking about being in spiritual darkness? I understand everything." No, unless you know Jesus Christ as your Savior, you do not understand. The Spirit of God has to open your heart and mind and enlighten you before you can ever see Him as your Savior and receive Him as your own. May I say to you, friend, this world is in spiritual darkness.

The light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. (John 1:5)

That word comprehend is an unfortunate translation. And a wiseacre did not help it by rendering it, "and the darkness was not able to put it out." That is no translation at all. The word in the Greek is katelaben, meaning actually "to take down." It is the picture of a secretary to whom the boss is giving dictation, and she stops and says, "I can’t take that down; I am not able to take it down." The light shines in darkness, and the darkness is not able to take it in. That is it exactly. Someone said to me, "Boy, was I in darkness before I received Christ! And I don’t know why I didn’t see." Well, that is it, you were in darkness and you did not see. The darkness just cannot take it in.

Now this is something quite interesting, and it is not true of physical light. You go into a dark room, and the minute you switch on the light, the darkness leaves, it disappears. Darkness and light cannot exist together physically. The moment you bring light in, darkness is gone. The minute light is taken out, darkness will come right back in. But spiritual light and darkness exist together. Sometimes here is a husband who is saved and a wife who is unsaved – or vice versa. Here is a man working next to another man. He says, "What do you mean when you talk about being a Christian? I do the best I can. Am I not a Christian?" There you have light and darkness side by side, and the darkness just cannot take it in. That is exactly what is said here, "The light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."

He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

(John 1:10)

That was the tragedy – the world was in darkness, spiritual darkness, and did not know Him. Even today we are seeing the rise of atheism and unbelief and will see it more and more in the days ahead. A great many people do not seem to recognize that unbelief and atheism go naturally with the natural man. Somebody says to me, "Oh, did you read in the paper what Dr. So-and-so of a certain seminary wrote?" Yes, I read it. "Well, isn’t it awful?" No, I do not think so. He would upset my apple cart if he said that he believed the Bible, because he is an unbeliever by his own statement. He says that he does not believe in being born again, that he does not believe he has to receive Christ in order to be saved. Now I do not expect that man to say he believes the Bible. That would be absolutely contrary to his statements. The so-called theologians and theological professors who espouse the "God is dead movement" present us with the preposterous, untenable claim that they are Christian atheists! Obviously atheism precludes the possibility of being Christian, yet unbelief has moved into our seminaries and pulpits across the land. The world does not know Him.

He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own [his own things], and his own [people] received him not. (John 1:10, 11)

He came into His own universe, but His own people did not receive Him.

Deepest Need

"But as many as received him, to them gave he power.…" The word "power" is not dunamis power like dynamite, physical power, but exousian power which is delegated power, authority.

But as many as received him, to them gave he power [the authority] to become the sons of God [children, tekna of God], even to them that believe on his name. (John 1:12)

This week I looked over the shoulder of a person who was reading an out-of-town paper (that’s a Scotchman’s way of reading newspapers) and I saw where an outstanding columnist, writing about this present-day spree of trying to get peace by going to a psychologist and by using tranquilizers, made the statement that until men find peace in God they will never know what real peace is.

Notice that this is for "them that believe on his name." And always with the word "believe" there is a preposition. You see, faith, as the Bible uses it, is not just head knowledge. Many people ask, "You mean all that I have to do is to say I believe?" Yes, that is all you have to do, but let’s see what that implies. With the verb to believe there is always a preposition – sometimes en (in), sometimes eis (into) or sometimes epi (upon). You must believe into, in, or upon Jesus Christ. Let me illustrate with a chair. I am standing beside a chair and I believe it will hold me up, but it is not holding me up. Why? Because I have only a head knowledge. I just say, "Yes, it will hold me up." Now suppose I believe into the chair by sitting in it. See what I mean? I am committing my entire weight to it, and it is holding me up. Is Christ holding you up? Is He your Savior? It is not a question of standing to the side and saying, "Oh, yes, I believe Jesus is the Son of God." The question is, have you trusted Him, have you believed into Him, are you resting in Him? This chair is holding me up completely. And at this moment Christ is my complete Savior. I am depending on Him; I am resting in Him.

In the state of Mississippi, back in the antebellum days, a slave preacher was speaking to the other slaves at the close of the day. They were tired and weary and were reclining on their cotton sacks at the end of the cotton rows. He quoted to them, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will rest you." One of the men raised up from his cotton sack and said, "Preacher, them’s good words, but who said them?"

That, my friend, is the most profound question that can be asked. "Who said them?" And that question, voiced long ago in a cotton field in the South, is the same question in the mind of modern man, weary of the pressures and frustrations of life.

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

(Matthew 11:28)

"Them’s good words, but who said them?" Who said them? Jesus, the Word, God become man.

I ask you the question: Who is Jesus? Do you have some question about Him? If you do, there is no peace in your heart. But if by faith you can accept God’s record – the Word came out of eternity, was made flesh, walked these dusty roads down here, went to a cross, died as man’s substitute, and arose from the dead to be an adequate Savior – if you can believe this, you not only will be God’s child for eternity, but you will have rest, the peace of God in your heart right now. You will have a Savior who is too big for Bethlehem, who is bigger than this world, who is adequate to meet your need.

I present Him to you today as Jesus, the Savior of the world.