2021 Christmas Advent Day 10: The Eternal God visits His people

• Main Passage: John 1:1-2
  • In the beginning was The Word, and The Word was with God, and The Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.
• You may not think of John’s Gospel as having the classic Christmas story, such as Luke or Matthew, but we see in the first paragraphs of chapter one the Christmas story indeed, of how the eternal God stepped down into humanity and became a man.
  • The Word John speaks of is Jesus. In verse 14 John says, “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we gazed upon His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of The Father,) full of grace and truth.” [John 1:14] The Eternal Word, which was in the beginning, existing in perfect union with God, and being equal to God, “became flesh.” As Paul says, “and without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in The Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” [1 Timothy 3:16] God Himself was manifest in the flesh. This claim is clearly and firmly proved to us through Jesus’ resurrection. As Paul says again, writing to those at Rome “concerning [The Father’s] Son Jesus Christ our Lord, [who] was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be The Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of Holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” [Romans 1:3-4]
• In Micah, we receive a prophesy of The Messiah, which also shows us His eternal origins. Micah writes, “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting.” [Micah 5:2] Christ was to be born in Bethlehem [Matthew 2:4-6], and this was indeed fulfilled Luke shows us, who writes, “and so it was, that, while they were [in Bethlehem of Judea], the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a feeding trough.” [Luke 2:1-7]
  • Notice that Micah says the one which “is to be ruler in Israel” would be “from of old, from everlasting.” His origin would not be from man or woman, it would be from eternity. We see then that Jesus is from eternity: Jesus is eternal; He is the eternal God made flesh. In Hebrews, the writer quotes a Psalm, attributing it to Jesus. He says, “But unto The Son He saith…and Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of Thine hands: they shall perish; but Thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt Thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail.” [Hebrews 1:8; 10-12, Psalms 102:25-27] Therefore we clearly see that Jesus is eternal; that He was in the beginning, and unlike the world which fades into corruption, Jesus will never fade away: His “years shall have no end.” [Psalms 102:27]
• Paul says in Colossians regarding Jesus, “He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together.” [Colossians 1:17] Jesus is before all things; as He Himself testifies, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I Am;” and again, “I Am Alpha and Omega, The Beginning and The End, The First and The Last.”  [John 8:58, Revelation 22:13]
• John testifies again to Jesus’ eternal nature in His epistle to the brethren: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning The Word of Life; (for The Life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with The Father, and was manifested unto us).” [1 John 1:1-2]
  • Very God Himself stepped down in to eternity, and those living at the time got to hear, see, gaze at, and touch. Jesus Himself was The Word of Life; He was and is The Living Word: all of God’s words, which are “living, and productive,” [Hebrews 4:12] find their fulfillment, find their lasting and eternal nature, in the fact that they are merely a textual manifestation of Jesus. Without Jesus, God’s Word does not exist. He is The Word and The Word is Him. The Bible is far, far more than ink on paper: it is not ink at all; The Word is literally alive. God’s word does not die when books are destroyed; no, as Peter says, “the Word of The Lord endureth for ever.” [1 Peter 1:25] God’s word is absolutely inseparable from Jesus because they are the one and the same; and they are both eternal.
• In only a few powerful words, John reveals to us that Jesus, that Child which was born to us and given to us, existed before all things in absolute, perfect, union and equality with God Almighty. From birth in the feeding trough to death on the cross, to glory in heaven, to His reign on earth: there has always been and always will be, zero deviation from God: Jesus is the exact representation of God’s substance in bodily form, The Eternal God.

Questions for Day 10

1. Jesus, who is our Savior, who is the Anointed One of God appointed for the salvation of men, is God Himself. He has many characteristics; one of them is that He is eternal. Our God has never been created, and will never die. Everything that we can see with our eyes, everything physical, has been created by Him. Before anything existed, heaven, hell, earth, or the sea, there was just God. He existed by Himself: He is reality, and He is the only solid and reliable person/entity in all of the universe. What about Jesus’ eternal nature is most comforting? How should it affect our life, our attitude, our emotions, etc.?
   • “Thus saith The LORD the King of Israel, and His Redeemer The LORD of Hosts; I am the First, and I am the Last; and beside Me there is no God….Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? Ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? Yea, there is no God; I know not any.” [Isaiah 44:6; 8]