Summary:
While science believes that “The Big Bang” created our universe, the Bible says “in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen.1:1), and in John 1:3, we learn Christ was the specific member of the Trinity that created!
While mainly a New Testament revelation, this fact was hinted at in Isaiah 40, a passage that describes John the Baptist (1-8), followed by a description of the Lord as the Good Shepherd (9-11), who is also then described as the Creator (v.12). Further proof that the Lord was the Creator of all is seen in Psalm 102:24-26, a Creation account that is ascribed to “God” (v.24), but a passage that is quoted in Hebrews 1, where the writer identifies the Creator as Christ (v.10-12). Hebrews 1:2 further affirms that God created all things “by His Son.”
“In Him was life” (John 1:4), speaking of Christ after He came to earth, and referring to eternal life. While we too have eternal life in us, we just have it, while the Lord could give it (ICor.15:45). Don’t forget the context speaks of how the Lord created plants, animals and people, breathing physical life into man (Gen.2:7), and in the same way, the Lord gives eternal life to all men who will believe on Him.
But what does it mean when John says that the life that was in the Lord “was the light of men” (John 1:4)? Well, in John 8:12, the Lord said that “he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” But what kind of light does eternal life give, and what kind of darkness were you in before you got it? Well, in John 12:35 the Lord said, “he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth,” and if you don’t have eternal life, you don’t know where you are going after you die.
What’s the solution? In John 12:46, the Lord said, “whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.” If you are not saved, you are in darkness, but you don’t have to abide there! Trust Christ as your Savior right now.
John goes on in our text to say that “the light shineth in
Darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not” (John 1:5). Since some in Israel comprehended Him, we know this is referring to the nation as a whole (cf. v.11). But why didn’t they comprehend His life-giving light? Surely be-cause He was not the kind of Savior they were looking for!
When we think of a Savior, we think of Someone who saved us from our sins, but this is not what Israel thought of. Psalm 106:21 says that God was “their Savior, which had done great things in Egypt.” Verses 7,8 further explain that when God parted the Red Sea for them, “He saved them.” Thus when they thought of God as their Savior, they thought of a physical salvation (cf. Ex.14:13). Even when Israel thought of a man whom God would send to save them, they thought of someone who would save them “out of the hand of their enemies” (Neh.9:26,27).
So when the angels announced the birth of “a Saviour” (Lu. 2:11), they naturally thought of the kind of “salvation” (Luke 1:70) wherein they would be “saved from our enemies” (v.71-74). Now do you see why the darkness of Israel didn’t comprehend or understand His light?
Didn’t the Lord want to save them from their enemies? Yes, but He knew that in order to do so, He would have to first save them from their sins. That’s why He preached “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt.4:17), just as John had (3:2). And so all Israel came to John “confessing their sins” (Mt.3:5,6). How would this help? Leviticus 26:38-42 stated that they could be saved from their enemies by confessing their sins and getting forgiveness (I Kings 8:33,34).
How was Israel to know all this? By knowing all the Scriptures that pertained to their program. They seemed only familiar with the prophecies that said Christ would save them from their “oppressors” (Isa.19:20). If you are think-ing no one could possibly know all this, Zechariah knew that the way God would save Israel physically was “by the remission of their sins” (Luke 1:77). Like Zechariah, may we determine to know all of the Scripture in Paul’s epistles that pertain to our salvation and program!
