Who was the Word of God?
- The apostle John wrote in the 90’s AD. This was long after all the other witnesses of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection had died. He was dealing with a lot of confusion about the nature of God. So, he wrote about the Word of God to clarify things that had become obscured. John in rehearsing the words of Jesus made dogmatic statements that the Lord God of Israel, who was both seen and heard, could not have been God the Father. But, John was also emphatic in stating that the Word of God, who in the beginning was with God and was God, was the being who became flesh — Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Is this what you have been taught to believe?
In the Beginning with Elohim
The Word was with God, when as Moses scribed, God (elohim-m/pl) said, “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness.” And as John recounts, these two great beings, were together at the beginning of creation. The one was the great Designer, and the other was the Word, the one who spoke and it was created. However, in reading further in the book of “Beginnings — Genesis,” it is revealed that it was the Lord God (YHVH elohim), who created man out of dirt. He placed both Adam and Eve in the garden where he could walk and talk with them. But, as we learn from John, Jesus said that no one has seen or heard the Father, so we must conclude that it was the Word — the spokesperson — who interacted on an intimate and personal level with the people he had created.
John confirmed that the Lord God, The Creator, was the Word when he wrote, “All things were made through Him (the Word), and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men…That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. (John 1:1-10)
But what did Jesus say about himself, and his life before his birth as a human? The Pharisees of his time wanted to know. “Who are you?” They were dumbfounded by the authority that Jesus seemed to possess, as he did not fit any of their preconceptions. So what was Jesus’ response to the religious leaders of his day?
Who Did Jesus Claim to Be?
Jesus, claimed to be the ‘light of the world,’ and the ‘light of life.’ Unlike the Pharisees who were full of doubt and fear, Jesus knew who he was and what his destiny would be. He knew he had come from being with the Father, and he would return to the Father. Then repeatedly, Jesus claimed to be “I Am.” He stated emphatically that, “Abraham saw my day and rejoiced … before Abraham was, I Am.”
Today, we may miss the significance of this simple assertion. But the religious leaders of Jesus day knew exactly what he was saying! As a result they sought to kill him for blasphemy. Why? Because Jesus was saying that he was the “I Am, the Lord God of Israel.” He claimed to be the one that Moses had written about, the One who was the light, the truth, the shepherd, and the Word of life. And Jesus asserted that those who did not believe that he was, ‘I Am’ would die in their sins. (Jn 8:24)
The Jews of Jesus’ day were infuriated, knowing that Jesus was equating himself with the one who spoke to Moses from the burning bush. In the Exodus account, Moses asked the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob his name. And the Lord replied, “I Am that I Am.” The Lord God was YHVH, the everliving one, the eternal, the self-existent one, the I Am. Isaiah, added his witness in writing that the Lord God was the ‘first and the last’ (beginning and end) and thus ever-present, eternal.
Who was the ‘First and the Last’
In the book of Revelation, John confirms Moses’ and Isaiah’s witness when he wrote the message that Jesus delivered to him:
Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.
To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
So, who is Jesus Christ, the Word of God? He was the Creator who walked and talked with Adam and Eve. He was the Lord God of Israel, YHVH elohim, the I Am, the Eternal, who met Moses in the burning bush and led Israel through the wilderness. And, he became the Lord Jesus who died to wash away our sins. But what will he be in the future?.
Who will Return to Rule the Earth?
Zechariah wrote of a time when the Creator, the Lord God of Israel, would return to save his people from destruction.
“Thus says the Lord, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him: 2 “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. …
“The Lord will save the tents of Judah first, …
10 “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.”
Zechariah 12
John takes up this same scenario in writing the message given to him by Jesus Christ in the book of Revelation. He describes that day when Jesus Christ, the one who was pierced, will return in the clouds, and claim his rightful place as ruler over the earth. His name is the Word of God and he will return to the earth to become King of kings and Lord of lords and his witness is Faithful and true. (Revelation 1, 19) If you believe John’s vision of God, and Jesus testimony about himself, then you know who the Lord Jesus was, is, and will be.
Learn more about the Nature of God:
https://cogwebcast.com/beliefs/nature-of-god/