In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. –John 1:1-4
These simple, short words about the Word capture so much of the eternal origins of the One born of a woman.
Creation comes from him; all that is or ever will be has the Word as its genesis.
Life itself comes from him. That life that comes from him causes the entire conscious reality and experience of human life.
The Word is both the idea and the expression of an idea. In this context, we come to conceive of the Word as the interpreter and revealer of who God truly is. Just as a word reveals something of what is in the heart and mind of the person who speaks it, Jesus Christ is the one who is the interpreter and revealer of what is in the heart and mind of the God the Father. Healing the masses, teaching truth, multiplying bread and fish, sacrificing himself on the cross, raising up on the third day–all these point to the clear nature of who God is, what he is like, and how we might know Jesus as the one who powerfully and perfectly manifests God Almighty.
These words begin the gospel and give us our first glimpse into the gospels this Advent.
