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Jesus the Son God
by Rev. James Young Lee
We believe in God who created and governs over everything in the world.
We came to know God because God revealed Himself to us through nature, in history, and also with God-given human qualities such as consciousness, instinct, and spirituality.
God also talked to human beings directly to His servants or indirectly through dreams or angels.
God ultimately, however, showed Him by His Son Jesus (Heb. 1:1-3, In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.).
The Bible is the book in which these revelations are written- the Old Testament is about the coming Messiah, and the New Testament is for Jesus who came.
Knowing Jesus better means knowing God better.
Even though my understanding of the truth is very limited, I want to talk about Jesus based on a particular verse from the Gospel According to John- the fourteenth verse of the first chapter.
It says, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
There are several important words in the passage such as the Word, Flesh, Glory, Grace, and Truth.
I hope we may come closer to the knowledge of the Son God Jesus by examining these words.
It is rather obvious what the word Flesh means.
It is Jesus- not only as a physical mass but as a whole person.
The manifestation of Jesus as a physical mass, of course, has its own significance because He has been there, as the Word, from the beginning- the beginning of time before creation- without mass and without anyone knowing of His existence(Jn.1:1-10).
Since He finally came to us as a person with physical mass, John is able to see Him as he claims "We have seen."
John is saying the unknown Word is now known to us as Jesus.
What is, then, the meaning and significance of the word "Word"?
Does it mean with this word is a written or a spoken word- a letter or perhaps its sound?
Or perhaps it means God's voice of ordering the creation as it is written in Gen. 1:3, "Let there be Light"?
The selection of the word "Word" in the English translation could be somewhat confusing or misleading, because I do not think that the word "Word" means any of these.
So, I checked the Greek word for this and found the word "Logos".
Therefore, I am going to use the term Logos rather than the term Word from now on in this writing.
The usage of the word Logos seems to be very significant as the style of the statement implies.
Knowing the meaning and usage of this word, particularly here in this passage, might lead us to the insight of knowing who Jesus is.
Maybe that's why I came to realize that a lot of biblical scholars devoted many writings just for this word Logos.
However, the teaching in the Bible is rather very simple and self-explanatory.
The Logos is the pre-existence of the Son God Jesus.
As apostle John testifies, the Logos- the Son God Jesus- was there before the creation and at the creation (Jn. 1:1-3).
He was and is the Light and Life, or Light of Life (Jn. 1:4-5).
He has been in the world all the time from the beginning until the Logos became flesh and dwelled among us (Jn. 1:9-14).
Again, the Logos indicates the pre-existence of the Son God Jesus.
But, then, why is John using this word Logos to indicate the pre-existing Son God Jesus?
A hint for my understanding is in verses 10 and 11.
“Nobody knew Him who was there, and His own people did not accept Him who came to their own place.”
That means until He came to the world as the Flesh, the Son God Jesus was unknown to people.
Why, then, was it a problem to not know the existence of the true Savior?
This is the most crucial problem of people because everybody, according to the teachings of the Bible, needs the true Savior.
Therefore, I conclude that John is using the word Logos here to indicate "the Unknown Answer- the Hidden Truth."
Actually, the Greek word logos can be translated into truth.
Everybody needs and seeks the truth of life, knowingly or not knowingly, but no one knew or had the truth until Jesus showed Himself to us as the Flesh.
That means Jesus is the Answer and the Truth to every question and every issue of life.
When you try to find a mathematical answer that you do not know yet, you use a letter or symbol, such as "a" or "b", and "x" or "y", to conceptualize the unknown.
It seems to me that John is using the word Logos not only for the purpose of conceptualization but also to indicate what we all need is the truth.
That's why I like the Chinese translation for the word Logos- 道, Tao or Do, which literally means a Way, but figuratively Truth.
You should remember what Jesus says in Jn. 14:6; "I am the way and the truth and the life."
Do you think that Jesus is the answer to your questions?
I mean every question regardless of any individual differences.
Actually, the question of life is the ultimate question which includes every other question.
What is the truth which is in Jesus, then?
John also says that the truth from the word of Jesus will set us free from the bondage of our own sin and its consequent death (Jn. 8:31-32).
Only life in Christ, justification, sanctification, and glorification in Christ, can set us free from sin and eternal damnation.
The truth is in Jesus, and Jesus is the truth Himself.
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the LIFE (Jn. 14:16)
When we had the answer, the life which is the truth for us, we do not have to worry to know the meaning of the word Logos any more.
Our unknown answer has been revealed in Jesus as the life in Christ.
There is no more enigma in our lives.
That's why John never talks about Logos in his writing any more.
He just talks about Jesus in the whole Gospel.
Everything John wants to say about Jesus is in those three words- glory, grace, and truth.
What do those three words mean to us?
To be the last first, what the word truth means?
To make my long agonizing studies and meditations to understand better of this truth short, but to give you a lot of rooms to think about it yourself, and as it is indicated above, I conclude that the Truth is the Life in Jesus Christ.
Truth is a very big and such an ambiguous word that has a lot of different meanings to different people, as the Logos is.
Jesus makes it solid and clear with Himself.
Our truth, at lease for those who believe in Jesus, does not have to be complicated or ambiguous any more.
Life in Christ Jesus is the truth.
Truth in Jesus Himself is His identity- who He is and what He is.
What is the Grace, then?
Grace is giving the precious gift away to those who are not able to deserve the gift.
Grace of Jesus, therefore, means His death on the cross to give us His truth- the Life.
If we say that the truth His identity, we may say that the grace to be His ministry and manner of the ministry.
It seems to be a paradox or a contradiction that He died on the cross to give us life.
Life and death together at the same time?
But I remember Jesus says, "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds" (Jn. 12:24).
Death of Jesus means life for us.
When Jesus died for us, we live.
When we die, Jesus and other people will live.
This is how the truth of life supposed to work.
Dying and Living as one unit is everything of Christian life.
Glory finally!
What a glorious word it is!
John says that Jesus is the glory of the only begotten Son of God.
Can you imagine how glorious Jesus is?
Can you imagine how glorious the Creator God is?
Can I?
It is honestly frustrating question for me who has such a limited brain capacity.
I even forcefully compared my understanding to the real glory of God with a tiny brain size of a mouse of mine.
It is beyond my conception or imagination.
God, thankfully though, after a long time of frustration, gave me a sneak preview of Jesus' glory.
It is in nature and in the written Word.
No wonder nature tells us the glory of the One who created, in the beginning with God together, the everything (Jn. 1:3).
David sings the glory of the nature which is reflecting the small part of the glory of the Creator, saying;
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat (Ps. 19:1-6).
What a splendid, majestic, and glorious song it is!
And we see the same things here in this wilderness where much less civilizations but a great nature as it is made by the Creator.
In addition to the nature, which possibly can mislead us to animism or to other wrong ideas of God, the written word Bible also shows the glory of Jesus who is the central figure of it.
The power and the glory of the book is not in the material of the book or the letters printed but in the One Himself who is the Final and Perfect Revelation of God (Heb. 1:1-3).
Because of the glory of the Hero, we spend so much time and so much effort on this Book.
Have you ever trembled while reading the Bible because of its awesomeness?
Have you ever shed tears because of the uncontrollable enthusiasm from an encounter with the truth?
Have you ever held yourself back for a moment to ease yourself from the breathtaking excitement from reading the Bible?
Even David continues in Ps. 19:7-14;
The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul.
The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.
The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever.
The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous.
They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey,
than honey from the comb.
By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults.
Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.
Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression.
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Is it a coincident for David to sing of two different themes- the Nature and the Word in the same nineteenth chapter of the Psalm, without having any glimpse of the glory of the Son God?
You may ask yourself.
These two evidences of His glory are already revealed to us.
If you see these two positively, you will see the third- the final and the ultimate in the same manner but in bigger size.
Otherwise, you will see the third manifestation in totally different manner.
The glory of the King Jesus Christ is in His Second Coming!
The first and the second are just a mere reflection or shadow of the Real.
But the coming one is not.
Jesus Himself foretells how it will be in Mt. 24:29-31;
"Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.
At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn.
They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.
And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other."
When Jesus comes back, every nature, which has been glorious in such a way, will be shaken, fallen down, and shame will lose its glory before the glory of the King Jesus.
The written Word, the Bible, will be transformed and completed at the same time, not with added words but by the Logos Himself.
We will see and know Him not by reading or hearing but by facing Him without any disruption or distortion (1Co. 13:12).
The world will be covered with the knowledge of God as the water covers the sea (Isa. 11:9).
We all will know and see the ultimate glory of the Lord Jesus at His second coming!
As I have mentioned above, the way we are going to encounter the final glory of the Son God Jesus will be determined by how we see His glory in nature and in the Bible which have been already revealed to us.
If you have accepted Jesus as your personal Savior and Lord, and see nature and the Bible under the true reality of Jesus, you will welcome the final manifestation of His glory with joy and happiness by shouting, "Marana-tha! Amen. Come, Lord Jesus" (1Co. 16:22, Rev. 20:20).
Otherwise, you will want to hide yourself from His glory by hiding or hoping to hide yourself saying, "Mountains! Rocks! Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!" (Rev. 6:17)
John's intention to write about Jesus, however, is that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name (Jn. 20:31).
May John's wish be granted to you by God.
He is the Answer to every question we have. He is the Glory of God, full of Grace, and Truth
Glory to our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son God!
Here some more references about Jesus for your own study:
Name of Jesus
1. Jesus (Mt. 1:21)
2. Christ (Messiah) (Mt. 16:16)
3. Lord (Eph. 1:20-22)
4. Son of God (Jn. 5:18)
His Life and Ministries
01. Pre-existence (Jn. 1:1-3, 1Jn. 1:1-2), One with God (Phil. 2:6), Creator (Jn. 1:3), God Himself (Jn. 1:1)
02. Born from the Virgin Mary (Lk. 1:26-38, Mt. 1:18-25)
03. Grew up like other people (Lk. 2:40, 52)
04. Tempted as other people with emotion and desire (Mt. 4:1-11)
05. Only One without sin (1Pe. 2:22, 1Jn. 3:5, Rom. 5:18)
06. Proclaim the Good News, taught the word, heal the sick (Mt. 4:23), and performed miracles (Jn. 11:17-44 and more)
07. Died on the cross for sinners (Jn. 3:14, 8:28, 12:32, Mk. 15:25-38, Rom. 5:8, 1Pe. 3:19)
08. Buried in tomb (Lk. 23:50-55, 1Pe. 3:19)
09. Resurrected from the dead on the first day after sabbath (Jn. 20:1-29)
10. Ascended to the heaven before His disciples (Lk. 24:51, Ac. 1:9-11)
11. Seating next to God (Heb. 1:3) and interceding with God for us (Rom. 8:34)
12. Coming back again as Savior, Judge, and Ruller (Jn. 14:1-6, Mt. 24:30-31, 1Thes. 4:13-18, Rev. 20:4)
Summed up in Jn. 1:14- Glory of God, and full of Grace- Death, and Truth- Life
Jesus is a man and God in the same person.
He is One of the Triune God with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
We worship on Sunday on which He was risen from the dead.