[The following devotional is a part of our 2014 Advent Devotional Guide. We will be posting a devotional each day on this blog between November 30 – December 31, 2014.]
In the Beginning by Mark Robinson
Read: John 1:1-3
Look around you right now. Everything you see had a beginning. If you are in your living room at home, you might see a TV that was built in 2011, a newspaper that was printed last night, furniture that was constructed three decades ago . . . even the house you are sitting in was built in a certain year! Everything around you had a beginning – even you have a birthday!
In John 1, a very interesting time is described. John 1 describes the time known as “the beginning.” “The beginning” is the time before anything was created. If you could somehow journey back in time, to the beginning and look around, you would see . . . NOTHING. There were no trees, no houses, no people, and no animals in the beginning. They had not yet been created. Though there were no “things” in the beginning, there was Someone. John 1 tells us that in the beginning, the “Word” was there.
The “Word” in John 1 is describing Jesus. John calls Jesus the “Word” because Jesus brings to life for us who God is and what He is like. As words (like the ones on this page) help us understand the ideas created by their author, so Jesus helps us understand God. By looking at the way Jesus treated others, we can understand how God feels about us.
John 1 lets us know that Jesus existed long before His birth in Bethlehem! His birth did not begin His life (He was around at the beginning), but was simply His arrival in this world. He arrived at Bethlehem in order to help us understand God more fully. If Jesus had not been born, we would not know so many things about God. I am thankful that the “Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14)” so that we might know Him.
Question
- What are some things that you know about God by looking at the life of Jesus?
Advent Prayer
- Focus your eyes on the beauty of Jesus being born into the world so that we might know God!
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