Just Who Is Jesus to You?

When we read any of the four Gospels, we have the wonderful opportunity to see Jesus live life on planet Earth. The Word encourages us to emulate Him, to copy Him, to move as He moved, and to overcome as He overcame. The first eighteen verses of John’s gospel, known as “The Prologue,” introduce us to who Jesus is. What do these verses teach us about Jesus, and how does this knowledge help us to fulfill God’s plan for our lives? That’s the focus of this week’s Light on Life.

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You can view a basic transcript of this podcast at the bottom of this section.

Accept the Challenge

Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put into operation.
This weeks call is:

The person who lives wisely like the five wise virgins in an unwise world is the one who is ready, prepared and faithful even when the Bible time-line is delayed. This faithful person is one who keeps doing. He keeps giving out meat in due season. Faithfully does this servant put out God’s Word. He keeps building the Kingdom of God and puts it first. Flowing in his God-ordained place is this person’s first priority. He refuses to lose heart. Courage and ‘sense of purpose’ are his hallmark. Make the commitment to be this person.

Join the Conversation

Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony. Testimony is vital to a believers life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11).
This week’s question is:

Question: Spiritual life is all about adjustments. Which ones do you need to make in order to be God’s wise man in the midst of an unwise world?

Episode Resources

You can find more information on the subject of ‘Who Jesus Is’ by clicking on the links above.

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 40 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. Both he and his wife Sharon of 37 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is both the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate it on Stitcher Radio and leave a review. If you have a suggestion for a Bible topic you would like to see taught, or if you have a question, please e-mail me at emery@emeryhorvath.com

Podcast Notes

Who Is Jesus?

There are two questions which demand an answer of every person on planet earth.
Number one: who is Jesus?
And, number two: who is Jesus to you personally?
The answer to question one should lead you to the answer to question two.
That is once you see Jesus for all that He is, you will want to know Him on a personal level.
The correct answer to these questions is the difference between eternal life and eternal death.
It’s the difference between heaven and hell.
But, it’s even more than an eternity destination question.

Hebrews 7:25 (KJV) — 25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

The fact that Jesus ascended to heaven and is praying for you right now means that He is interested in your life now on planet earth.
So, just exactly who is Jesus?

The Prologue in John’s Gospel

The first eighteen verses of John’s gospel are known among theologians as ‘The Prologue’.
A prologue is an introduction to a story.
In this case, the story is about Jesus.
The first eighteen verses introduce Him as the gospel’s main character.
Right from the get-go, John gives us deep insight into who Jesus is.

John 1:1–4 (KJV) — 1 IN the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

Who is Jesus? ‘Beginning’ Matters

John’s gospel opens up the same way as the book of Genesis does with the words, ‘In the beginning’.
That’s no accident.

Genesis 1:1 (KJV) — 1 IN the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.

With that thought here is the illustration of the day.

Creation Illustration

God created the world.
The ancient Egyptians believed that a flat world rested on four pillars of stone and the ancient Hindus believed that a flat world rested on the back of a huge elephant, the elephant stood on the back of an enormous turtle, and the turtle stood on an immense coiled snake!¹¹
Isn’t that silly?
Instead of such ignorant theories, and that’s what a theory is, it’s a supposition based on ignorance of the subject under discussion, Moses, inspired by God to write the creation account in Genesis, gave us the true, God-breathed account, of creation.
He said, “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.”

Jesus Is Pre-Existent

The very first ‘Jesus fact’ you are confronted with in John’s gospel is that He was in the beginning, that Jesus is preexistent.
John opens his first epistle the same way as he did his gospel.

1 John 1:1 (KJV) — 1 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, of the Word of life;

Every great life has a beginning.
Every great story a commencement.
Matthew and Luke record the supernaturally natural virgin birth of Jesus.
That’s where we find out that about the manger, the shepherds, the angels who proclaimed His birth and His name.
We find out about Joseph, Mary, Elizabeth, and Herod’s plot to kill Jesus and the fifty some odd children in Bethlehem who died in the crossfire.

How the Gospels Point to Who Jesus Is

These two gospels point to Jesus supernatural identity by pointing to His supernatural birth.
John’s gospel is different.
It points out Jesus supernatural identity by pointing to His supernatural pre-existence.
Jesus always was.
There never has been a time when He wasn’t.
No opening paragraph to his biography exists.
There is no chapter one.
He existed before chapter one was ever written.
Jesus doesn’t have a birthday like you or me.
My life on earth began November 28th of 1957.
Your life began on whatever day you were born.
But, Jesus life didn’t begin in the manger when He looked up into the face of his mother Mary for the first time.
We act like that’s when it began.
We try to celebrate His birthday, here on earth, on the twenty-fifth of December but the festivities are for us not for Him.
Heaven doesn’t have a ‘birth’ party for Jesus.
In the realm of God, they don’t celebrate His birth, they celebrate His life, a life that has always been.
I mean what kind of cake could hold a gazillion candles anyway?
We should take a clue from how heaven does business.
Since they proclaim His life, we should do the same.
The celebration starts by knowing that He was in the beginning.

Hebrews 7:3 (KJV) — 3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.

What Does Jesus Pre-Existence Mean for Us?

Jesus doesn’t have beginning of days or end of life.
Now that’s all well and good but, how does this knowledge of His pre-existence help us as we navigate the troubled waters of planet earth?
What does Jesus Ancient of Days status mean for you and I in our everyday lives?
First, it means there is someone greater that we can look to.
The length of our existence on planet earth is a finite wisp in the winds of time.

James 4:14 (KJV) — 14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

The Greek word ‘vanishes’ means to disappear.
We impact the planet for a little while and then our influence vanishes, it disappears.
Jesus influence is eternally greater, He never vanishes.
He is not a small grain in the sands of time.
He is the Creator of time.
That’s comforting to know.

Jesus Pre-Existence Means We Don’t Have to Have All the Answers

It’s not up to you or me to solve world hunger or to garner peace in the Middle East.
No, that’s the Pre-Existent One’s job.
He will set all things straight.
Why? Because your Savior, the Lover of your soul, is in the know.
Because He always was, He predates every problem known to mankind.

Any Problem You Have, He Has Already Seen

He already knows the answer.

2 Peter 2:9 (ESV) — 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,

The Greek word ‘knows’ as in ‘the Lord knows’ how to deliver you’ means to know reflectively.
This is knowledge or information about someone or something that’s acquired through reflection or thinking.
Reflective knowing is involved thinking.
God isn’t just a ‘knower’, He is a thinker.
He thought about your situation.
He used His ‘omniscient brain cells’ where you were concerned.

Genesis 18:20–21 (KJV) — 20 And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; 21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.

If God has ‘all knowledge’ and He does, that’s a Bible fact, then why did He come down to see if the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was as advertised?

Jesus Is the I Am of God

So, Jesus wasn’t just born on a fixed day and time, He has always been the ‘I am’ of God.

John 8:56–58 (ESV) — 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” 57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

Think about the two ‘in the beginning’ phrases in John’s Gospel and Genesis for a minute.
Jesus was at Creation with His Father, says the Genesis record.
But John’s gospel goes further back in time, past the six days of Creation to a place called ‘in the beginning.’
The day before ‘in the beginning’, Jesus was there.
The day before the words ‘let there be light’ permanently changed the universe, Jesus existed with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

John 17:5 (ESV) — 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

In the Beginning Was the Word

John now adds three words to his ‘in the beginning’ statement.
In the beginning was the Word.
So, in the beginning, God, in the beginning, the Word.
Notice John didn’t say, ‘In the beginning was Jesus’.
He didn’t start out that way.
He could have started out that way.
No John says, In the beginning, was the Word.
It’s not until later in John chapter one do we understand that the ‘Word’ and Jesus are the same.

John 1:14 (KJV) — 14 And the Word 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 1:17 (KJV) — 17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Why Did John Introduce Jesus as the Word?

Why is Jesus introduced in this gospel as the Word?
The Greek gives us a clue.
The Greek word for ‘the Word’ is ‘Logos’.
In the beginning was Logos and the Logos was with God and the Logos was God.

Jesus, the Logos of God Unleashed

The word ‘logos’ is used in many places in scripture.
The term is used to describe the Scriptures itself.

Romans 9:6 (ESV) — 6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,

It is not as though the word of God has failed.
The Greek for ‘word of God’ is logos.

Hebrews 4:12 (ESV) — 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

So, logos describes the written Word of God.

Logos Is Also Used to Describe the Teachings of Jesus

Luke 5:1 (ESV) — 1 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret,

In Acts, logos is used to describe the gospel message.

Acts 4:31 (ESV) — 31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

But, of special interest to you and me is how Logos connects to the person of Jesus.
In John 1:1 the scripture says, “In the beginning was the Word, the Logos, and the Logos was with God and the Logos was God.”
The Logos, the Word of God, the person of Jesus is God, did you hear that?
That means Logos is divine.
With that thought here is the definition of the day.
The Greek for WORD or ‘logos’ means thought, reason, spoken word, discourse, message, speech, declaration, logic, revelation, reckoning, expression of thought.
That’s the definition you will find if you look up this term in a Greek dictionary.
John uses this word as a name for Jesus.

John 1:14 (ESV) — 14 And the Word (the Logos) became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus is the Logos of God who represents God to us and us to God.
What does that mean?
Here’s what it means, connecting Logos to the Word means that Jesus is God’s ultimate communication of truth about Himself.

Logos in the Ancient World

Logos in the ancient world had a wide range of meanings and no English equivalent.
In the New Testament, God’s message is the Word.
It was common to call it such.
We’ve already seen a few examples of that.
Here are a few more.

Acts 8:4 (KJV) — 4 Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.

Acts 11:19 (KJV) — 19 Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only.

Acts 8:25 (KJV) — 25 And they, when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.

All of that is logos.

Logos and the Bible Timeline

A look at the Bible timeline helps us to understand why John did that, that is, call Jesus the Logos of God.
John’s gospel was written near the end of the 1st century, approximately 90–95 AD by most scholars.
We know that the first 15 chapters of Acts cover approximately the first 15 years of the church; approximately 29–44 AD.
As seen by the scriptures above, of which there over thirty more just in the book of Acts, there already existed many references to God’s message as ‘the Word’ in the time frame before the gospel of John was penned.
So, we can conclude that the Word, the Logos, the message of Jesus, took root well before the gospel of John was written.
So, when John uses the word ‘logos’ to describe Jesus in John 1:1 , that analogy would have made an immediate connection with the recipients of this gospel.
But the Holy Spirit, through John, wasn’t only trying to reach believers with this idea that Jesus is the Logos of God.

Logos Among the Gentiles

John 20:30–31 (KJV) — 30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: 31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

John’s gospel was written so that people might believe Jesus is the Savior, the anointed one of God, knowing that people believing that would lead them to salvation life.
Now, you have to know that three classes of people exist on planet earth, Jew, Gentile and the church of God.

1 Corinthians 10:32 (KJV) — 32 Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:

So, the church would recognize what John was saying by calling Jesus the Logos of God, but so would the other two classes, Jew and Gentile.
They also would feel the influence of these opening words in John’s gospel, ‘In the beginning was the Word’.

Logos: Historical Background

With that thought, here is the Historical Background of the day.
Let’s look at how the Gentiles would be impacted by the term Logos.
John was no doubt aware that among the Greeks, an extensive philosophical usage of ‘logos’ existed.
This usage traces back to Heraclitus, an Ephesian born (Ephesus being the birthplace of philosophy) Greek philosopher of the 6th century B.C.
Heraclitus postulated that everything in the universe is constantly changing but that there existed a ‘rational principle’ or ‘reasoning’ that brought order in the midst of change to the universe.
To this world governing force, likened unto fire, he attached to the term ‘logos’.
Today, the writings of Heraclitus are non-extant.
What remains are fragmentary quotes from other authors.
The word ‘logos’ and its associated context continued to evolve throughout the classical Greek period right up through Roman times.

Stoic Philosophers and Logos

Stoicism, which was the most influential philosophy in the Roman period preceding Christianity, had as one of its core ideas the concept of ‘logos’.
Stoics believed in ‘logos’ but not the way John declared it.
Their concept of ‘logos’ was an impersonal thing.
They held that ‘logos’ was responsible for everything that came into being.
To a Stoic ‘logos’ was some impersonal force that created everything kind of like the Big-Bang Theory.
The Stoic concept of logos’, mirrored pantheism.
Pantheism is a belief that God and the universe are the same.
In other words, the universe, the laws of the universe, the forces of the universe, all of that is god.
So, God was not a person to a pantheist or a Stoic.
The cosmic universe is god.
Stoics are in the Bible.
Paul quotes one of the Stoic writers, a man named Aratus, in his sermon on Mars Hill.

Acts 17:22–23 (KJV) — 22 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. 23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.

How God Used the Gentiles Own Incorrect Concept of ‘Logos’ to Reach Them

So, in six simple words, ‘in the beginning was the Word’, John presents Jesus to both saints and sinners.
The saints who already knew Logos as the gospel and the sinners who understood Logos as the universe.
What John did in effect was use a device known as piggybacking: taking a pervading concept and tying it to something well known and commonly accepted in order to make a truth known and easily accepted.
In this case, John by the Holy Spirit of God used a worldly established idea ‘logos’ to show a new spiritual truth: that Jesus possesses the divine attribute of deity in identity and eternalness.
John swiftly identifies Jesus as the real Logos’.
No longer is ‘Logos’ just a principle or an impersonal universal force.
Nope, ‘Logos’ ‘was in the beginning.’
Logos was with God.
And, Logos was God.
Logos is Jesus.

The Five Wise and the Five Foolish Virgins

References

—Fred J. Meldan, Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), 396–397. ↩
—Fred J. Meldan, Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), 396–397. ↩

emeryhorvath.com

Equipping people to pursue God's glory

Just Who Is Jesus to You?

Podcast: Light on Life Season Five Episode Ten

by Emery Horvath

Listen to the Audio

Click Play to Listen | Right Click to Download | Subscribe in Stitcher Radio

Read the Notes

Accept the Challenge

Join the Conversation

Question: Spiritual life is all about adjustments. Which ones do you need to make in order to be God’s wise man in the midst of an unwise world?

Episode Resources

You can find more information on the subject of ‘Who Jesus Is’ by clicking on the links above.

About Emery

Subscribe to the Podcast

Share the Love

Podcast Notes

Who Is Jesus?

The Prologue in John’s Gospel

Who is Jesus? ‘Beginning’ Matters

Creation Illustration

Jesus Is Pre-Existent

How the Gospels Point to Who Jesus Is

What Does Jesus Pre-Existence Mean for Us?

Jesus Pre-Existence Means We Don’t Have to Have All the Answers

Any Problem You Have, He Has Already Seen

Jesus Is the I Am of God

In the Beginning Was the Word

Why Did John Introduce Jesus as the Word?

Jesus, the Logos of God Unleashed

Logos Is Also Used to Describe the Teachings of Jesus

Logos in the Ancient World

Logos and the Bible Timeline

Logos Among the Gentiles

Logos: Historical Background

Stoic Philosophers and Logos

How God Used the Gentiles Own Incorrect Concept of ‘Logos’ to Reach Them

Listen to the Audio

Click Play to Listen | Right Click to Download | Subscribe in Stitcher Radio

Read the Notes

Accept the Challenge

Join the Conversation

Question: Spiritual life is all about adjustments. Which ones do you need to make in order to be God’s wise man in the midst of an unwise world?

Episode Resources

You can find more information on the subject of ‘Who Jesus Is’ by clicking on the links above.

About Emery

Subscribe to the Podcast

Share the Love

Podcast Notes

Who Is Jesus?

The Prologue in John’s Gospel

Who is Jesus? ‘Beginning’ Matters

Creation Illustration

Jesus Is Pre-Existent

How the Gospels Point to Who Jesus Is

What Does Jesus Pre-Existence Mean for Us?

Jesus Pre-Existence Means We Don’t Have to Have All the Answers

Any Problem You Have, He Has Already Seen

Jesus Is the I Am of God

In the Beginning Was the Word

Why Did John Introduce Jesus as the Word?

Jesus, the Logos of God Unleashed

Logos Is Also Used to Describe the Teachings of Jesus

Logos in the Ancient World

Logos and the Bible Timeline

Logos Among the Gentiles

Logos: Historical Background

Stoic Philosophers and Logos

How God Used the Gentiles Own Incorrect Concept of ‘Logos’ to Reach Them

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