2. Meditation: Chapter 1. God's Calling To Contemplate His Only Begotten Son

Chapter 1

God’s Calling To Contemplate 

His Only Begotten Son  

John 1:1-18

1. The Word Is Jesus Christ

I chose “the Word” as my first topic because of spending a lot of time to meditate on the verse 1 and 2. “The Word” are used four times (in verse 1 and 14) in this chapter. I feel that the verse 1 and 2 are so mystical and remote! Verse 1 and 2: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, He was in the beginning with God.” What is that?! It is not easy for me to understand them entirely! And it seems that verse 1 and 2 have nothing to do with us! 

However, the former half of verse 14 is inspiring, and helps me to understand the intention of God for us. Verse 14: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” That is the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was the eternal word in the beginning, and then He came from the past eternity into the time. He became a real human being like us, and lived on the earth for thirty three and half years. Finally Jesus Christ finished the salvation on the cross, so that He could save those that believe on his name.

But my focus point is that the crucified Christ not only saved us from the world, the sins, and the selfishness, but also released us from the time and the space into the realm of eternity. In other words, the nature of our life had changed drastically, and the time and the space could no longer limit us because we belongs to the eternity by union with Christ in Holy Spirit. Therefore we should always bear in mind that Christians are people of eternity, and we have to pursue the eternal things positively, not the temporary pleasure of this evil world. That is the searching challenge for the modern Christians.

On the other hand, Dear children of God, are you in the deep afflictions and sufferings for the Lord’s testimony and His interests? Be not afraid! We could rest in a mighty fact that our origin, source and foundation lie in the eternal rock and our heavenly Father will protect us with His eternal power, so that none could destroy, remove and blot out our ministry and life. We will remain and abide with Him forever! That is the comfort for the faithful Christians.

2. The Baptist John

I chose verse 6 as the second topic. I believe that we could learn many precious lessons from the baptist John. Verse 6: “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.” God have to set aside John for almost thirty years. The thirty years are necessary preparation for his public ministry in the future. And that period is the very important and hidden history with God Himself alone. We could never expect to be sent forth from God if we don’t have such secret history under God’s sovereign hands.   

In that period, the servant of the Lord have to cultivate the strong and solid relationship with God. Moreover, he must have the first-hand knowledge of God Himself and the living revelation under the fresh anointing, not the old traditional teachings (even according to the bible). And then he must spend much time to adjust himself to what he received directly from God to make sure that the details of his life is in accordance with God’s revealed will. The adjustments are made by bearing the cross. It is always the costly process! And such a servant could be trained by God Himself alone. That is the spiritual rule of making of a servant of God.

By the way, Christians must have hidden life from the public eyes, and we have to enter the inner chamber and shut our door, so that nobody could bother us, and we could open freely to our Father Who is in secret. The inner chamber life is the secret of the power for our services and the root of the righteous. 

3. We Have Contemplated His Glory

I chose the latter half of verse 14 as the third topic. And I think verse 14 is the key to open the gospel according to John. Verse 14: “and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Have we ever calmed down and contemplated His glory, His beauty, His greatness before the throne of grace? Have we ever felt that our Lord Jesus Christ is so wonderful, so glorious, so excellent, so marvelous, so precious? 

God invites us to look unto His only begotten Son, Who is the chief treasure in the bosom of the Father. We should thus pray: “Oh! Heavenly Father! Please let Your son’s glory and excellency always capture our hungry heart!”

God so loved us, that He gave His only begotten Son to us. How do we receive Him? What position do we leave for Him? Does our Lord occupy the preeminent place in our heart? Do we love Him more than other things? What we could say is that: “Lord, You know all things, You know that I love You.”