The Christmas Story
Greetings OC Fire family- Merry Christmas to you and your families! In the spirit of Christmas- I’m keeping that theme for this devo. Its my favorite version of the Christmas story -told by the John the Disciple and it comes from the Gospel of John. It reads;
John 1:1–18; The Word Became Flesh
[1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] He was in the beginning with God. [3] All things were made through 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. [5] The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
[6] There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. [7] He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. [8] He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
[9] The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. [10] He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. [11] He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. [12] But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, [13] who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
[14] And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. [15] (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) [16] For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. [17] For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. [18] No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known. (ESV)
This is told differently than the previous Gospels. John is the only Disciple to die of old age and he’s looking through a more broad lens than Matthew, Mark and Luke. John has one point to his Gospel and he says it later in John 20:30–31
The Purpose of This Book
[30] Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; [31] but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (ESV)
Jesus is God! John doesn’t want us to focus on what he did, but who he was. John wants us to truly believe- to not just have a knowledge of Jesus, but to truly place our complete Hope and Trust in Him. We are called to not just accept this Truth, but to Trust and put complete confidence in this Truth-Lordship! This is putting our Faith, our Hope, finances, relationships and health in the governing power of 1= Jesus.
I want to dive a little deeper into these verses for more meaning John is telling us. And full disclaimer- I use a few sources for this info- David Guzik’s “the Enduring Word” Bible commentary, Chris Brown from North Coast Church and John Piper. So back to the text; The first words- “In the beginning”- these are the first words in the book of Genesis as well. John is immediately taking us back to the creation of Heaven and Earth. John uses “The Word”- at this point in time, by using “The Word”- this spoke directly to the Jewish people. The Jews would use “The Word of God” ie; “God said- Let there be light” “God said-Let there be Life.” For Jews “The Word” was eternal, The creator of everything, the source of Life- God! But by John using “The Word”- in the Greek the word is “Logos”- Greek philosophers used this term to describe “sense of the world”, its not chaotic, but there’s perfect order and an “ultimate reason” that controls all things. John is meeting both the Jews and Gentiles right where they’re at! He then says, “the Word was with God and the Word was God”- This is way before the manger in Bethlehem- Jesus was with God from the beginning.
Now in verse 12 John says, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, [13] who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” John is telling us to receive Jesus- become a child of God- this will then let God do something in our life that only he can do.
Then in verse 14 the Christmas story-“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” In verse 17 it says, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” John is saying God came to us through Jesus! All throughout scripture God is coming to us- He cares for us- He loves us. And this is evident through the gift of his son Jesus. So I just want us all to remember to look to Jesus and God will meet you there. Lets look to Jesus for our example of how to live our lives here on earth. A final verse I want to leave you with to help is this- John 13:34-35, “34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” So this Christmas season- Lets look and focus on Jesus- lets try our hardest to love one another the way Jesus loves us.
-Merry Christmas OC Fire Family!