Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
Trying to Grasp Forever
When my kids were younger, we would often have discussions about God, and one of the concepts that was really hard for them to understand was the concept of forever. I remember having discussions with one of my kids, and they just could not grasp the concept of forever. I certainly can't grasp it well either, but it was one of those concepts where we'd say, "Eternity—that means God's forever. He's been here forever."
It was just an amazingly difficult concept. I think one of the reasons why it's difficult is because we can't control forever. There's a Being—there's a God—who lives forever.
Our Verse of the Day is really an excellent passage that shows us how God is forever. In John chapter 1 verse 1, the Bible says, "In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God."
In the context of the Gospel of John, John is writing, and in John chapter 20, verses 30 and 31, he basically says, I write these things to you, and I want to tell you that if you believe in the name of Christ, He is the direction and He is the way you need to go. John is writing evangelistically, to help people know who Jesus is so that they can follow and believe in Him.
Three Truths That Reveal Jesus Is God
As we look at our passage in John chapter 1, very simply, there are three truths that reveal Jesus is God. Essentially, we see the reason why it's so important to understand that, and really, the problems we'll have if we don't realize this.
Number one: Jesus is eternal. It says it right there in the verse. He always existed. "In the beginning the Word already existed." It's hard for us to comprehend. I mean, who was before God? I would say this with my kids: "So God was in the beginning—Genesis chapter 1, verse 1. But who was before God?" "Dad? Nobody?" No one. God always existed. This God that he's talking about in John chapter 1, verse 1—he says in John chapter 1, verse 14 that this Word, this Person, Jesus Christ, became flesh and dwelt among us.
This God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is eternal. He existed before Bethlehem, before He was born of the Virgin Mary. He's always existed. He is eternal.
Number two: Jesus is distinct from the Father. The Bible says, "In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God." We have God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
They enjoyed perfect fellowship, perfect communication, perfect communion with one another before any of us ever existed.
Finally: Jesus is not only eternal and distinct from the Father, but thirdly, Jesus Christ is fully God. It says at the end of the verse, "and the Word was God."
Recently I spoke with a guy who said Jesus was just a man. He's not God. He said Jesus was a good teacher. He was a good moral person. But He wasn't God. The reason that we don't like Jesus Christ being God is because we have to bow to His authority. In this passage, again, God the Father is not the Son; God the Son is not the Father. Jesus Christ is fully God, uniquely God.
He's not just a part of God. He is uniquely God. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit—the Trinity—are all there together. Here in this passage, uniquely, Jesus Christ is fully God.
Celebrate the God Who Pursues You
How do we apply this? How is this relevant to your life and mine? I find it incredibly relevant.
Number one: celebrate the God who pursued us. I love what Sinclair Ferguson—he's an author and a pastor—says: this is the Son before time, the Son with the Father, and the Son is God. He pursued us. We love Him because He first loved us.
I mean, this God who came and stepped into time pursues you and me—pursues you and me so much that He lives a perfect life. Then He goes to the cross and He dies a terrible death, thinking of you and thinking of me, knowing the life that you and I would live and all the imperfections and sins that we would commit, looking directly at us, as it were, in the distant future of time, when we would be born and live.
He died for you and for me. That's incredible. Celebrate the God who pursues us. That's amazing grace.
Build on the One Who Never Changes
Secondly: build your faith on the unchanging divine identity of Jesus. Why is this so important? It's because people, circumstances, the weather—things change in our lives. There are so many things that you and I rest our faith on, our belief on and our lives on that are changeable.
God here is immutable. It's a big theological word. It means He's unchangeable. He's unchanging. He will not change. I love the verse in Hebrews chapter 13, verse 8: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." Malachi chapter 3, verse 6 says, "I am the Lord, and I do not change." In the vernacular, He ain't going to change. As we think about this to close—since Jesus Christ is eternal, He's distinct from the Father, He's fully God and He's all-powerful.
He is worthy of your and my complete trust and total surrender. Let's build our lives on Jesus, the One who never changes.
