GOOD NEWS FROM ST. JOHN
THESE four verses mark the end of the introduction to St. John’s Gospel, which is often called the Prologue. This prologue is a presentation of the subject of the whole Gospel, and indeed of all Christianity, which is the Word made flesh - our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The prologue gives us a truth perspective concerning our Saviour, Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God, eternal God and redeemer.
Firstly, in these verses, we have the testimony of John the Baptist. John the Baptist testifies to Christ as being high over all and eternal. When John the Baptist speaks of Christ as the one who was before him, he is testifying to the fact of Christ’s eternal existence as God, and when John the Baptist speaks of Christ as far surpassing him, he is speaking of Christ the Redeemer and the Saviour, whereas John the Baptist was merely a prophet, though the greatest of the prophets.
The theme of the last meditation on verse 14 is continued here - the glory of the grace of God revealed in Jesus. God gave the law through Moses. By this God showed himself as a holy God, and made clear the evil of sin. By the law is the knowledge of sin, but there is no grace and no salvation. The law of God can only condemn and terrify. It can’t save. When we are under the law of God we are under condemnation, for the law of God can only judge and punish sin. The revelation of God through Moses and the law can only terrify.
In opposition to this Jesus revealed the grace of God. Grace and truth came by Jesus. Only through Jesus is the unmerited favour of God, his grace, revealed and made possible, because God’s grace found a way whereby God can be just and at the same time justify - that is account righteous - those who sin against him. Through the grace of God in Jesus, God’s face is changed from a frown to a smile for the believer; from judge to a father, from condemnation to forgiveness; from eternal death to eternal life.
So we are told here that out of the fullness of Christ’s grace we have and are receiving countless blessings. God’s grace to us in Jesus Christ is full because in it we see that God has done everything in Christ which is needed for our complete salvation. The countless blessings are realised in this fact. In Christ we don’t only receive the blessing of forgiveness, but the cancelling of all our sins past, present, and future. We don’t only escape death and hell, but are given eternal life and heaven. We don’t just receive a place in heaven, but are exalted to the place of sons and daughters of God, and know God as our Father.
Together with this overall view of the blessings we receive through God’s grace, there is all the blessings of life, whereby we know ourselves to be under the care and protection of God, we are given the Spirit of God to dwell within us, we are given a fulfilling purpose in life, and the assurance that God will guide and keep us throughout our lives. We also have the amazing privilege of coming into God’s presence at any time through our Lord Jesus Christ, and knowing that we are heard, and our prayers answered in the way most expedient for us. All through our lives God, in grace, showers blessing on us for Christ’s sake. Let us always affirm that it is of grace that we are saved, and that these blessings are ours through the grace of God, in giving his Son to die in our place on the cross.
The last thought in the prologue, which is given us in verse 18, is that Jesus gives us a clear and unambiguous revelation of God. No one has seen God. No one can look on God and live because we are sinners, and God can’t abide sin. Because of this, outside of Christ and his grace, we would not be able to look towards God and be safe. Nor can we fallen creatures look upon God. However we can see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We may look at and upon Jesus, and we see God in him. Jesus, in his life amongst us, faithfully showed forth all we need to know about God, and about the ways and requirements of God. In Jesus we have revealed to us a gracious God who has come to save and redeem sinners, and reconcile them to himself.
We tend so often to try and look at God directly. We bypass Jesus and seek to come into the presence of God in prayers or worship. This is dangerous for there is no way we can come into the presence of God without Jesus. Jesus reveals God to us in grace, and reveals a God we can know and be loved by; but it is only in Jesus. Jesus is the way to the Father. When we come to God in the merits of Christ our sins are covered, but this is possibly only in Jesus.