THE WORD BECAME FLESH!

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . And theWord was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth" (John 1:1,14, KJV).

Devotion 1 of 10

INTRODUCTION

Like the womb of the morning, some Scriptural texts are especially pregnant with glory and light. These are texts in which are found Divine expressions that unlock great bodies of truth. In the revelation of God's truth, such texts are like Jachin and Boaz, the two pillars in the porch of Solomon's temple. It is as though the weight of truth was suspended upon them. The text before us is such a text. The Word of God is first of all about a Person, and second about an "eternal purpose." God's Word delineates, or expounds both that Person, and His purpose. Upon these two pillars, the entirety of Scripture is suspended. Apart from them, no word of the Bible has any eternal relevance. Every aspect of truth is integrated into these two things. The Person is God as revealed in Christ Jesus. Through His Son, God's "eternal purpose", determined before the foundation of the world, and toward which all things are moving, is revealed and expounded. Whatever is unrelated to Christ Jesus and God's eternal purpose is unworthy of emphasis, and will ultimately pass away. Concerning the Person of Scriptural emphasis, Jesus said, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me" (John 5:39). God's "purpose" is declared to be the reason for our calling (Rom 8:28), the driving cause behind the obtaining of an eternal inheritance (Eph 1:11), and the eternal objective that is fulfilled in Christ Jesus (Eph 3:11). Peter affirms that both the Person of Christ and the purpose of God were the focus of the prophets. "Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow" (1 Pet 1:10-11). Christ Jesus was the Substance of the prophesies of old. These realities will be the locus around which our consideration of this text will center.

-- TOMORROW: IN THE BEGINNING --