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Scripture Reading: John 1:1-4
In this chapter we will pay attention to the first half of John 1:4, which says, “In Him was life.”
In the previous chapter we said that if sensible and thoughtful people only acknowledge the fact that there is God in the universe, God will still be objective, distant, and mysterious to them. Acknowledging God does not mean that they have contacted, touched, or obtained God. For them, God is beyond their reach. This is not only the case with ordinary people; even religious people, who devoutly worship God, will not contact or obtain God if they do not know Him as the Word. We all must know that God is no longer merely objective; He is also the Word.
This mysterious matter is conveyed in simple yet profound words at the beginning of the Gospel of John. In the universe God is not only God but also the Word. Without God being the Word, we would not be able to understand Him or touch Him. God can be likened to electricity. No one has ever seen electricity, but the light produced by electricity is the expression and manifestation of electricity. Electricians can study electricity only through its manifestations. This is a very good illustration. The manifestations of electricity makes electricity subjective in our lives; it is no longer merely objective to us.
If God did not speak, express, or manifest Himself, He would be unapproachable, incomprehensible, uncontactable, and unobtainable. Thankfully, the Bible tells us that God is not only God but also the Word (v. 1). He is God as the Word, and He is God coming to us as the Word. A word is an utterance. If a person stands on a podium and says nothing, no one will know his thoughts or feelings. However, as soon as he opens his mouth to speak, words will come forth from within him. The more he speaks, the more his person will be manifested. The more he speaks, the more transparent his utterances will be and the more people will understand him. Hence, God’s being the Word and God’s coming as the Word are God being declared. As the Word, God is no longer a hidden, mysterious God but the God who comes forth. This manifested God, who speaks forth Himself, is our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus bears a particular title in the Bible — Word. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The Lord Jesus, in whom we believe, is not separate from God. He is God Himself; He is God coming forth and being manifested. Therefore, the Bible speaks of Him being the effulgence of God’s glory (Heb. 1:3), just as light is the effulgence of electricity.
Some say that it would be easier to understand John 1:1-2 if we substituted Lord for Word: “In the beginning was the Lord, and the Lord was with God, and the Lord was God. The Lord was in the beginning with God.” However, John did not write in this way, because if he spoke only of God as the Lord, a sense of God’s coming forth would not be conveyed. God is the Word in order to come forth.
The Lord Jesus is the Word, God’s coming forth. When the hidden God is revealed, He is revealed as the Word, and the Word who was manifested is the Lord Jesus. In the Lord Jesus, God as the Word came forth to manifest and release Himself in order to be comprehended, known, understood, contacted, and obtained by man. Thus, the Lord Jesus is particularly named the Word. He is the utterance of God, the declaration of God; He is God coming forth to be received and obtained by man.
John 1:4 says, “In Him was life.” In the God who came forth, there was life; in the God who was manifested and expressed, there was life. In God as the Word, there was life. God is the Word in order for man to have life. Without God being the Word, man would have no way to receive Him as life. Man would be able to worship, fear, thank, and praise God, but he would not be able to receive God as life. In order for God to be man’s life, He must be the Word to come forth to man, among man, and into man.
Whenever we think of God, our natural concepts always involve fearing Him, worshipping Him, serving Him, or doing good to please Him. We never think of life. Everyone in the world thinks of God in this way, because the thought of God being life is not a human concept; it is a divine concept. The apostle John, however, received a revelation and burden from God to present this exceedingly mysterious matter in simple words. He revealed that God did not desire to withhold Himself from man but that He was the Word who could come forth as the Word and in whom was life. I hope that we can fully understand that God is the Word in order that man can obtain God as life.
When I was a new believer in the Lord, I would act very devoutly whenever I read the Bible, especially the Gospels. I would kneel down and solemnly pray, “Lord, You are the Lord who created heaven and earth. You are my Redeemer. I will now read Your biography, Your Gospels. I hope to meet You here.” Even though I regarded the Gospels as the Lord’s biography, I would always be surprised by what I read because the Lord who is presented in the Gospels was not according to my concept. I considered Him to be a glorious Lord, full of majesty and power, but the Bible showed that He was so approachable. He talked with children (Mark 10:13-16; Matt. 19:14), walked by the sea (4:18; 15:29; Mark 2:13), and went to the mountains (13:3). When a Samaritan woman was drawing water from a well, He asked her for a drink (John 4:7). The Gospels rarely speak of Him in a high and lofty way.
The Gospel of John tells us that He is the Word. The unbelievers do not understand the significance of the Lord being the Word, and even Christians do not understand. The Word is God’s utterance. When we read the Gospels, we should realize that the descriptions contained in the Gospels are the utterances of God. As the Word, Christ is the coming forth of God in order for God to be received through hearing. God does not want man to worship and serve Him objectively. God’s only desire is for man to receive Him. The Lord Jesus was truly unique on the earth because He was the Word of God.
Chapters 3 through 6 of the Gospel of John reveal that the Lord is the Word so that man may have life.
John 3 begins by speaking of Nicodemus, who was a very orthodox Jewish religionist. Nicodemus realized that Jesus the Nazarene was unique, but he also knew that many people despised Him. Consequently, he was uncomfortable visiting Him during the day. Instead, he came to see the Lord Jesus secretly at night, respectfully calling Him Rabbi, which means “teacher.” Nicodemus said, “You have come from God as a teacher” (v. 2). When the Lord responded, He did not arrogantly say, “I am not merely a rabbi; I am superior to the rabbis; I am God, the Lord who created all things.” There was no sense of such an attitude from the Lord. Instead, He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (v. 3). The Lord Jesus did not speak of Himself as being God or even the Lord. Instead, His speaking was related to man’s receiving of Him.
As soon as Nicodemus heard the Lord Jesus, he was not afraid to speak further. When the Lord said, “Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” Nicodemus asked, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” (v. 4). The Lord Jesus explained, saying, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (v. 6). The Lord told Nicodemus that “being born anew” was not related to the flesh, to entering into his mother’s womb a second time. This would not only be impossible, but it would be useless because that which is born of the flesh would still be flesh. Only the human spirit can be born again of the Spirit. When Nicodemus heard this, he immediately asked, “How can these things be?” (v. 9). The Lord Jesus said, “You are a teacher of Israel, and you do not know these things?...As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that everyone who believes into Him may have eternal life” (vv. 10, 14-15). The conversation between Nicodemus and the Lord does not convey the impression that Nicodemus had met the high God, because Nicodemus met the Word, the God who has come forth. John then reveals that those who believe into Him as the Word have eternal life.
The Lord told Nicodemus that He did not come as God to be worshipped or as the Lord to be served. Moreover, He did not even come to be a teacher. Rather, just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, the Lord came to be lifted up, to die, so that everyone who believes into Him may have eternal life. He has come as the Word of God to utter God, to release God, to declare God so that man may receive and obtain God. In Him, as the Word, was life; when man obtains the Lord as the Word, he obtains life. The Lord Jesus did not come as God or as the Lord but as the Word; He came so that man may have life (10:10). The Lord is God’s utterance, God’s coming forth; in Him is life.
John 4 shows a different picture. Chapter 3 speaks of an orthodox religionist, whereas chapter 4 speaks of an improper and superstitiously religious woman. She was religious and worshipped God, yet she had had five husbands, and the one she was currently with was not her husband (v. 18). Even though she was living a defiled life, she could talk about religion in a superstitious way. She was completely different from Nicodemus. In the preceding chapter there is a proper person; in this chapter there is a dishonorable woman. In the preceding chapter there is a human being seeking the Lord Jesus; in this chapter the Lord Jesus is seeking a human being.
When the woman went to draw water, the Lord Jesus said to her, “Give Me something to drink” (v. 7). The Samaritan woman marveled and said, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, who am a Samaritan woman?” (v. 9). Then the Lord talked to her in an ordinary manner, going back and forth with questions and answers. The woman did not have any sense that the One in front of her was God, the Savior. As their conversation progressed, the Lord let the woman know that He had what she needed — living water that quenches the thirst of human beings. The woman immediately said, “Sir, give me this water” (v. 15). The Lord Jesus is truly the Word; as the Word, He is God’s utterance, God’s explanation, so that man may be clear concerning God. The woman was at first unclear concerning spiritual matters, but when she heard the Lord’s speaking and learned of the Lord being living water, she asked Him for this water. God spoke, and this woman met the One who is the Word. The Lord Jesus knew that she wanted living water, so He said, “Go, call your husband and come here” (v. 16). The woman was clever and covered up her situation with facts, saying, “I do not have a husband” (v. 17). Knowing this, the Lord said, “You have well said, I do not have a husband, for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly” (vv. 17-18). The Lord’s word touched her history and her living; her whole secret story was in the light. This shows that there is life in the Word and that this life becomes the light of men when it enters into men.
Once the Lord Jesus spoke these words to the woman, she understood. The Lord Jesus manifested Himself to her not as God or as the Lord but as the Word. In the Word was life; once man touches the Word and believes the Word, he touches life. The Lord said, “I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly” (10:10). In other words, the Lord did not come for man to worship Him, to serve Him, or to do good. The Lord came so that man may have life and may have it abundantly. The Lord gives man life in the Word. When man comes to the Lord, he sees God coming forth as the Word. Man meets the Lord by touching the Word.
John 5 describes the condition of a man who is dead in religion. Although the Jewish religion had the holy city, the holy temple, and the Holy Scriptures, as well as religious feasts, a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered were lying by the five porticoes of a pool near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem, waiting for the water to be moved by an angel (vv. 2-3). The blind could not see, the lame could not walk, and the withered were half dead. This speaks of man’s condition in dead religion. If the Lord Jesus had come to such ones in dead religion and had majestically said, “I am God; you should worship Me,” the blind would have said, “I would like to worship You, but how can I worship when I cannot see?” The lame would have said, “I would like to worship You, but how can I worship when I am lame?” and the withered would have said, “I would like to worship You, but how can I worship when I cannot get up?”
I thank God that the Lord Jesus did not come as such a God. Instead, He went to a man who had been a paralytic for thirty-eight years and said softly, as an ordinary man would, “Do you want to get well?” (v. 6). The man sorrowfully said, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me” (v. 7). Dead religion has many methods, yet all these methods require man’s strength in order for them to be carried out; thus, such methods were useless for the impotent man, who had been paralyzed for thirty-eight years. The paralytic told the Lord Jesus about his miserable condition without any sense that the One before him was God. The Lord Jesus listened to him and said, “Rise, take up your mat and walk” (v. 8). When the paralytic received the Lord as the Word, he immediately took up his mat and walked. In the Lord, who is the Word, there is life. He did not come as God to be worshipped; He did not come as the Lord to be served. He came as the Word so that man may have life. This Word is life and resurrection. “The dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live” (v. 25). Those who hear the Word will live; those who touch the Word will rise up. This is a mysterious matter.
I am afraid that even though many among us have been saved for a while, our concept is still that the Lord Jesus is merely a great God, a glorious Lord whom we should worship and serve. We do not have the concept that the Lord is the Word as well as God and the Lord. When we touch Him, we touch not only God but also the Word, the God who has come forth. When we touch the Lord as the Word, we obtain life in the Word. These are two totally different matters.
I knew a brother who would speak to his wife and children on the Lord’s Day, saying, “We should put on our best clothes, and polish our shoes because our family is going to the worship service.” Then he would give one child five dollars and another four dollars, saying, “Keep this with you and give it when the church collects donations.” The whole family would then go to worship God. After the service they would return home, and the wife would say in the afternoon, “Let’s invite our aunts over and play mah-jongg,” and the children would say, “We saw an advertisement about a good movie in the newspaper today.” It is possible to worship God without touching God as the Word. If they touched God as the Word, they would be made alive and would not be able to play mah-jongg or watch movies.
Is our gathering together for the purpose of having a worship service or for touching the Word of God? Man may worship God and serve the Lord outwardly, but only touching the Word gives life to man. If we touch the Word even once in a meeting, our whole being will be different because life is in the Word. With one touch of the Word the paralytic could walk, the blind could see, the weak could be strong, the dead could resurrect, and the mah-jongg lovers could overturn their mah-jongg tables. There is life in the Word and great power in the life. This is to believe in the Lord Jesus. We need to see the difference between religion and the Lord Jesus, the difference between Christianity and the Word of God.
We absolutely acknowledge our Lord Jesus as the glorious God, the Lord of all. But please bear in mind that the Gospel of John shows His reaching us, not just as God or the Lord but as the Word. Furthermore, what He speaks into us as the Word of God is still just God Himself. God does not want us merely to worship Him, fear Him, or serve Him; God wants us to touch Him to obtain the life that is in Him. Once God is obtained by us, every problem is solved.
In John 6 we see a picture related to man’s livelihood. In this chapter there were crowds by the sea waiting to be fed and who were willing to make the Lord King by force (v. 15). This is altogether related to man’s livelihood. Although many of us would have been happy to be made king, the Lord did not want to be such a king. He did not come to be such a king but to be the Word. In some situations He would not even perform miracles. To the crowds He said, “Work not for the food which perishes, but for the food which abides unto eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you” (v. 27). He also said, “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, that anyone may eat of it and not die” (vv. 49-50). This again speaks of the Lord being the Word. The picture in chapter 6 shows that the Lord did not want man to worship Him as God or to serve Him as the Lord; He wanted to be the Word, the bread of life, to be received and obtained by man as life.
Then the Lord said, “The bread which I will give is My flesh” (v. 51). The people could not understand the Lord’s word and asked, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” (v. 52). Then He said, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life within yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life...For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink” (vv. 53-55). This created even more confusion, but the Lord explained, saying, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (v. 63). This shows that the Lord was the Word. He was the Word, and in Him was life. The bread of life that the Lord spoke of was the Word, which contained the nourishment of life in order for man to have life.
Upon hearing this, however, many of the disciples found the word too hard to accept and went back one by one (vv. 60, 66). Jesus, therefore, said to the disciples who remained, “Do you also want to go away?” Simon Peter answered Him, saying, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life” (vv. 67-68). Peter often spoke nonsense, but this time he spoke clearly. This is the very life that we want to receive; this is the eternal life that is in Him as the Word.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (1:1). This Word was in the beginning with God (v. 2). All things came into being through Him, and in Him was life (vv. 3-4). He is the Word to utter God forth and to speak God into man. Once this Word enters into man, man touches life. Once man has life, he is made alive, and he is fed, strong, assured, and restful.
When we come to a meeting, we often are not full of joy, but as soon as we touch the Word in the meeting, we are released, strengthened, and uplifted. We may come dead, but we become living when we touch the Word. We may come sorrowful and full of heavy burdens, but we become joyful, and our heavy burdens fall away when we touch the Word. We may dislike a brother, but he becomes lovely to us when we touch the Word. We have many such experiences when we touch God as the Word.
We should not touch life only when we meet; we should also touch life when we pray. Many Christians have a concept that we should pray to a high and lofty Lord. They think that prayer is related to worshipping Him from afar and that we have no relationship with Him. Such prayers are not proper Christian prayers. Proper prayers touch God, who is speaking as the Word in our spirit; we should touch God, who is the Word. When we touch Him, we touch the Word, and when we touch the Word, we are enlivened. When we pray in this way, we will be connected to Him, and we will be full of light. Furthermore, we will be inwardly strengthened and satisfied.
We also need to touch life when we read the Bible. Many feel that the Bible is the word that the God of heaven has given to us and that we should piously kneel and read it. After reading in this way, however, we will still feel that God is far from us. We should read the Bible to touch God, who is the Word, in order to receive the life that is in the Word. Once we touch the Word, we will have life.
As Christians, we should touch God as the Word in our gatherings, in our prayers, in our Bible reading, and in our daily life. As we walk on the street, we can contact Him and touch Him as the Word. He will enter into us and speak Himself into us to be our life. This is true Christian worship. The worship that we render to God is different from the worship rendered to God by people in various religions. People in all religions worship a distant God, and there is no contact between them and God, because God is not the Word to them. However, the worship that we render to God involves touching God by worshipping in our spirit because He is the Word in us. Our God is not only God but also the Word. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God, and in Him was life.
