Joseph would like to share a word with friends and family. (All verses are out of the NIV translation.).
The Mystery made Known
John 1:1
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
John is describing Jesus here and God wanted him to begin his description of Jesus in this way. The three other gospels begin by describing Jesus’ physical birth and life. The gospel of John focuses on Jesus in His eternality; meaning he describes Jesus in the most intimate way. To be known physically is only to be known temporarily, but to be known intimately is to be known spiritually; eternally. If this is a description of Jesus, how can He be the “word”; something we read? A “word” is usually a term that defines written communication or a message. John translates Jesus here in a way that doesn’t register to many when they read this verse; something is lost in translation. This lost translation is important and is described in more detail later. For those who do understand it, this verse is probably the most climactic verse in the entire Bible! Some verses later John describes Jesus physical birth spiritually in this way.
"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”
John 1:14
The whole Bible concentrates God’s desire with us: eternal relationship and this is entirely revealed, made possible, and sealed (past, present, future) in the person of Jesus Christ. It has been said “The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed; the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.” All this statement means is that Jesus is concealed in the Old Testament and He is revealed in the New Testament. That’s right; the entire Bible is for us to get to know Jesus better. It’s all about Him…and us. Us too? Yes. In the words that follow it is my prayer that special revelation pours out all over you like a refreshing waterfall and that you come to know our savior Jesus Christ in a new, exciting and powerful way; seeing the world and our lives in a whole new way. You mean so much to God and He wants you to know how you fit into the wonderful woven mosaic of life as he intertwines your life with others in the great fabric of life. This is the secret of life; the mystery of life.
This one verse (John 1:1) is the doorway into the “mystery” that Paul writes about throughout most of the New Testament. Here are some examples to set the stage and give some perspective.
“Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him.”
Romans 16:25-26
“I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness- the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory".
Colossians 1:25-27
“My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
Colossians 2:2
In Christ all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.
There are many more verses which connect Jesus to the mystery of the gospel. Jesus is the great mystery of life; the walking Word. Let’s take this a step further; if Jesus is the translated word and doesn’t lie, because God doesn’t lie, than He is more than just the walking word, he is the walking Truth. Jesus answered to a questioning Thomas:
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you would know my father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
John 14:6.
How many times have we heard or read this verse? Even as you began to read it you may have begun to recite it. But pause for a moment and let the realities of this verse permeate into your heart. Jesus came to bring us into the freedom of the truth. What truth? If there is truth, than there has to be a lie.
This is where you are about to travel down the proverbial rabbit hole like Alice in Wonderland; or the scene in the Matrix when Morpheus offers Neo the blue pill. Satan doesn’t want you to live in freedom. He doesn’t want the truth to set you free. I will pause a moment and come against the enemy right now in the Name of Jesus. That all truth will come alive in your heart. That your heart will become fertile soil. That any scheme of the enemy over your life would be routed and destroyed. That the fullness of His glory would be revealed in rapid fire succession over your life as you read ahead. That the Holy Spirit would fan into flame the truths of Jesus and He would be revealed to you in the most intimate way. Jesus, I pray that whoever reads this becomes the answer to your prayer. That they would become the reality of John 17; that they would be one with You as You and the Father are one. Amen.
You see, Satan wants you to continue to live the great lie. The great lie is this: you were born, you grow up, you go to school, maybe college, buy a house, have relationships, live tormented by bills, death, frustration, hate, bitterness, lost hopes, lost loves and then die alone. Have you ever heard that “misery loves company?” Well, Satan is no exemption. He is promised eternal punishment. He knows that everyone is going to live forever, many people don’t. Many people think that when you kick the bucket that it is over; so live, party, fully divulge in all that this life offers because this is it. Well I am here to tell you that this is not it! Far from it! So back to the concept of eternity; since we are going to live forever, where would you like to be? In heaven for eternity in the presence of the King of Kings or in Hell forever with the Liar of Lies? I know, it is a rhetorical question.
Satan has lied to you, he called you lost; he called you loser, broken, fat, ugly, poor, weak, stupid, unhappy, and alone, you can add more to the list. I know you can, because you have heard him call you many of these things and maybe, even more. I know, because I have heard him call me many of these things. Then I read:
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes, not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
I don’t care how bad of a situation you think you are in. Jesus can turn it around. I don’t care how far down you feel you have fallen, Jesus can pick you up. Your light and momentary troubles are a lie of the enemy. Satan loves getting people selfishly lost in all of their own troubles; in a spiraling mess, a “train wreck.” He is the great author of any train wreck story ever told. But thank God that the story doesn’t have to end there, because remember, where there is a lie, there is truth.
The truth is that you are actually a winner, healed, beautiful- even sexy, rich, strong, intelligent, happy, overjoyed, and never alone. Check this out. I warn you now, there is no turning back. Get this:
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.”
Galatians 5:1
“You, my brothers, were called to be free.”
Galatians 5:13
Jesus tells us,
“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8:32
We have already heard that Jesus is the Truth. Let these verses sink in; we were called to be free, and when we know the truth (Jesus, The Word) we will be free. Jesus squashes all of the lies of the enemy, just like the flick of the light switch, when light wipes out darkness. All of the “reality” Satan has shrouded you with; your devastated life, it is all a lie. It is fake; a mere backdrop. All the problems we face in the flesh are props; implements, or tools of the evil one. Everyone who thinks that this is too good to be true or just way too easy, look at Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus said:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30
“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
John 8:36
Not free maybe, or free partially, but free indeed! Let whatever defeat in your life be destroyed by the blood of Jesus Christ; in His freedom.
Remember when I mentioned that some have lost the translation of John 1:1? This is where I drop the bomb. Jesus has always been. What? You might be scratching your head…what about Christmas? That is when God wrote Jesus down. He picked up the pen, sent the Holy Spirit to the young virgin Marry, and began to write. He wrote of people lost and then found, He wrote of pain and then healing, He wrote of blindness and the restoration of sight, He wrote the greatest love story ever told to mankind. He wrote passionately for 33 years. Then His pen lifted from the paper; Jesus ascended into heaven. All through the Old Testament we see God trying to show people how to love and to live in relationship with Him. They didn’t get it, many didn’t understand, so He sent His son to show us the way. And, just before he ascended into heaven He said, “Ok, you have seen me do it. Now you go out and do it.” (Matthew 28:18-20 paraphrased). Still many, even Jesus disciples, missed the boat and still didn’t understand what was going on. What God wrote, His Truth, was written in a supernatural language. Have you ever seen the Arabic language? Or Chinese? Both are beautifully written languages, but I can admire them all day and could never tell you what they say! If you don’t know the language, you won’t understand the message. This is where many miss the translation. If one needs to understand a foreign language that they don’t know, they need a translator.
Before I go any further, go to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Read the whole chapter (only 16 verses). You see, men’s wisdom is the lie of this world, and is only what he can see. But remember we need to fix our eyes on the unseen, the spiritual. Now look at verse seven:
“No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.”
1 Corinthians 2:7
Stop here for a moment and look back up at the verses used to reveal the mystery of the gospel (Romans 16, Colossians 1 and 2). Did you catch the correlation? You can take mystery and wisdom and interchange them in these verses. This is very important and will be discussed in detail very soon. But first, what, or better who, is this secret wisdom? We will only find out when the mystery is translated to us. Paul quotes Isaiah 64:4 right in the middle of this chapter (Old Testament truths revealed to him by the Holy Spirit). Look at what is translated! “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” Try as we may, we cannot even conceive with our own minds what God has prepared for those who love him. We would be lost here, but there is a “but.” See verse 10, “but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.” This is really brought home in verses 13 and 14. In verse 13, “This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.” In verse 14 he finishes this thought by explaining that those who fix their eyes on what is seen only will not understand, because the person without the Spirit will not understand the things of God because the things of God are “spiritually discerned.” That is why non-believers cannot understand why Christians are the way we are. That is why they call those who believe in something that can’t be touched or scientifically proven fools. No surprise to us, it is an eternal truth that those who do not know God will call those who believe in Him foolish.
So spiritual language needs a spiritual translator. Who is the Holy Spirit? Quickly, the Holy Spirit is our translator. A whole different study will need to be done on the person of the Holy Spirit; this will be done at a later time. The Holy Spirit is discussed here, just briefly, in order that we may be able to even understand the main topic of this discussion; Jesus. We need the spiritual truths of Jesus to be discerned to us because to know the King of Kings, Prince of Peace, Emanuel (God with us), we need the Holy Spirit to help us process the person of Jesus Christ.
Now we are getting somewhere; getting deeper. If your head hasn’t exploded yet, just wait for this next one. Jesus was there when God created the heavens and the earth. Not only that, but He was the one doing the work. Kind of ironic that God incarnated the great builder of the entire universe as a carpenter! Amazing, I know, but as we look deeper into whom Jesus is you begin to fulfill Jesus’ own desire, His own prayer. He wants us to know Him and to know the Father, so much that you will be “one” with God. You may be thinking that the author may have gone too far…don’t take my word for it. Turn to John 17:20-26. Look at what Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane the night He was betrayed, the night before He was whipped, beaten, spat upon, and crucified. First Jesus prays for Himself, then He prays for His disciples, and then, starting in verse 20 Jesus prayed for us! Meditate on this for a moment… “Father, just as you are in me and I am in you”… “May they also be in us”… “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me.”… “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.”… “and will continue to make known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” Did you catch that? God loved Jesus before the creation of the world. How? Because Jesus was there! So was the Holy Spirit. Go now to:
“Then God said, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
Genesis 1:26
God is plural, meaning He is more than one, but is one; a Trinity. The Trinity is composed of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. They were all there together in the beginning and Jesus has been the Wisdom of God; the Truth of God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
A lot to process, I know. Let’s go back to 1 Corinthians to regain our focus. Read chapter 1, verses 18 through 31. Look at what is said at the end of verse 24… “Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” Christ is God’s wisdom. God used Jesus to create us and then He used Him to save us. 1st John 1:1, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched- this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.” Jesus, the Word of life, was there from the beginning. Revelation 1:8 Jesus said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
I hope this has helped you better know who Jesus is. The Word of life, Alpha and Omega, our Creator, our Salvation. This work is not inclusive and was not meant to be the destination, but only a part of your personal journey as you become one with God. Be an answer to Jesus’ prayer and seek to know Him more. God bless you mightily!
