Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent. The fourth candle on the wreath is the angel's candle, the candle of love. When an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream, the angel told him to name the child growing in Mary's womb "Jesus"—which means "God saves."
This had been God's plan ever since Adam and Eve rebelled in the Garden of Eden: to save humanity from their sins. This redemptive plan flows out of God's love for us, which is why we light the fourth candle, the love candle.
But God's plan wasn't just to save us from our sin—it was also to bring us to Him. When Jesus returns and establishes the new heavens and new earth, there will no longer be any barrier between us and perfect fellowship with God. All because of God's love.
"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." (1 John 4:10)
Earlier this year, Ligonier Ministries commissioned Lifeway Research to conduct their sixth theology survey. They've been doing this about every other year since 2014, asking 3,000 Americans their opinions and viewpoints on theology—questions about God, the church, sin, and other topics. They break down results by age group, gender, region, and religious affiliation.
Four specific questions on the survey determine whether someone gets labeled an "evangelical." What's fascinating—and troubling—is that evangelicals don't know their own theology. They contradict themselves.
For instance, 97% of evangelicals said God is a triune God—one God, three persons: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. That's been the teaching of the church for nearly 2,000 years.
Yet later in the same survey, when asked "Is Jesus a good teacher but not God?" 40% said yes.
Now, it's possible some misread the statement. It's also theoretically possible someone believes in a triune God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) but that Jesus is not God the Son. But really, when it boils down, the majority were basically saying: "Yeah, Jesus is God. He's God the Son. Oh, but wait—Jesus is not God. He's just a good teacher."
This idea of a man being God has always been confusing. For some, it's irreverent, heretical, offensive. If you talk to adherents of Islam or Judaism, the idea of God becoming man seems fundamentally wrong.
Other cultures throughout history have been fine with it—they've had different individuals, leaders, kings, pharaohs whom they thought were a god, if not the God. But for the majority of cultures around the world, this is a crazy idea and a crazy notion.
In fact, there are Christian denominations that say Jesus was the perfect man who lived a sinless life and died on the cross in the sinner's place, but He was not God. They say God created Him for that purpose, but He's not part of the Godhead because God is just one.
What doesn't help the matter is you cannot open your Bible and find a specific spot where Jesus definitively declares, "I am God." Nor can you find a spot where Jesus declares, "I am not God."
So if you find yourself like that 40%—a little fuzzy on the particulars—you're not alone.
Thankfully, John, in the prologue of his Gospel, in his description of the advent of Jesus, is extremely clear.
Today, we're going to see that Jesus is God. Not just a good teacher. Not just a great moral example. Not even the greatest human God ever created for the purpose of the cross. Jesus was and is and always will be the one true God.
And we'll see how that gets to the heart of Christmas and to the heart of the gospel.
Let's read these two verses together:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God."
In these two little verses, John declares three times that Jesus is God. What we're going to see today is that Jesus is God in relation to time, in relation to proximity, and in relation to essence.
Three weeks ago when we kicked off this Advent series, we looked at verses 3-4. We read: "All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made."
To help you see the context, we went back to verse 1 and that first phrase: "In the beginning."
Where do we hear that phrase elsewhere in Scripture? Genesis 1:1—the first book of the Bible, first chapter, first verse: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."
That little sentence has an assumption in it. It says "In the beginning, God"—it just assumes God's already there. Because God exists even before time began. Before anything was made, God already was. Nobody or nothing created God. God has just always been.
When John's readers started reading this for the first time and read "In the beginning," they recalled Genesis 1. But when they expected the fourth word to be "God," they instead got "the Word."
It's the same assumption. This Word, this Wisdom, this thing or person, already exists before anything else was created. Through that Word, everything was made. Without Him was not anything made that was made.
Jesus existed before anything was created—not just the physical world, but the spiritual realm, cognitive realities, even time itself.
If Jesus had a start, if He'd been created, that would mean He started in time and would be confined to time. For God to truly be God, He must be outside of time. At no point was Jesus ever created. He has just always been God in relation to time.
The Author in the Story
Anytime you read a fiction novel, you experience the story page by page—just like the characters. The characters don't know the end of the book because they're in the book. But the author knows the beginning, the end, and every chapter in between.
Christmas is not about the creation of Jesus on page 933. Christmas is about the author entering into the story.
Even though when He entered the story Jesus experienced life page by page, He was still the author of it all. He knew what the beginning had been like. He knows what the end will look like. He knows every single part in between.
Christmas is not about celebrating that Jesus was created in Mary's womb. John isn't telling us Jesus was the first one created, and then everything else was created through Him. John is saying that in the beginning, Jesus the Word was. He just always has been because He is God.
The Comfort of This Truth
This theological concept should bring you comfort. It means Jesus is in a hot air balloon looking down on the parade of life. He can see the end, the beginning, and everything in between—not just at a cosmic level, but at a personal level.
He knows your past. He knows your present. He knows your future.
He's not just Santa, who knows whether you've been bad or good. He is God, who knows where you've been, where you're going, what you've been through, what's happened to you. He knows how this chapter is playing into the next chapter.
No matter what you're facing, I hope this will calm you, give you peace, quiet your anxious thoughts. May it give you motivation to persevere, no matter what you're facing, and to trust in His sovereignty.
Because He sees what's next. And in that next chapter, He's still God.
I hesitated to use this word because it can be misunderstood and misapplied. Right now, you and I are in physical proximity. But proximity doesn't necessarily mean I am you and you are me. Proximity can also be misused—someone might accuse you of believing something just because you were present when it was said, even though you don't actually believe it.
So proximity doesn't necessarily mean agreement or unity. But the more I looked at John's second phrase, the more I couldn't get around this word.
Look at it: After saying "In the beginning was the Word," John says, "and the Word was with God."
There's a proximity. But somehow in this proximity, there's a separateness and a togetherness. How can this be?
A Marriage Illustration
Right now, you're hearing me speak to you. But what you don't realize is you're also hearing my wife speak to you. Because a big part of who I am is because of my wife. My faith is so much stronger because of the way God has used her in my life. When I'm teaching, you're inevitably hearing a little from her.
Genesis 2:24 says God takes the man and woman and unites them into one—the two become one flesh. We see that not only in the creation of children, but anyone who's been married can sense it emotionally and spiritually. There's something deeper.
Yes, you can see me standing here and my wife sitting over there. Yet somehow we're intertwined, interlinked so much that we're one. There's a separateness and yet a togetherness.
That's John's point. Jesus, because of the proximity He has with God, is an indication that He is God. There's somehow a separateness, but there's a togetherness.
The Trinity
It's verses like this that have contributed to the theological concept of the Trinity. Critics say, "Nowhere in the Bible is the word 'Trinity' used." They're right. Yet we see the concept all over the place—like right here.
It is one God. Not three gods. One God. Completely unified in purpose, essence, will, and love. Yet that one God has revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three persons.
Not a force like from Star Wars. The Holy Spirit is a person. Jesus isn't just a really good person who shows us what God's like—Jesus was God. They're separate, yet they are completely together and intertwined. They have a proximity that reveals something far deeper.
But critics would say, "This proximity doesn't equate to equality. Just because you're near someone doesn't mean you actually are them." This is the argument Islam or Judaism would make. It's what groups like Jehovah's Witnesses try to argue—that Jesus is not God.
That's why John doesn't stop there.
John goes for the jugular to kill that argument with the third phrase. After saying "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God," he just states it:
"And the Word was God."
There it is. Clear as day.
Because it's so brazenly clear, people have tried to wash it away. Some say, "This isn't God's Word—the Quran is God's Word, and it says Jesus is just a prophet." Others say, "The Torah is God's Word, and it says there's one God, so Jesus can't be God."
Others say, "We believe the Bible is God's Word, but this has been mistranslated. The translators messed up. Actually, what this means is..."
Yet critics, skeptics, and scholars have scrutinized this passage. Even some skeptics and non-believers look at it and say, "Yeah, John clearly believed Jesus was God." They don't believe it, but they know John clearly did.
You can't get around this. John is saying: Jesus is God.
Not just a good teacher. Not just a moral example. He is the one true God.
Why? Because it's baked into His very essence. If you could somehow codify Godhood into DNA and extract some DNA from Jesus, every single strand would scream: "This is God."
At the very core of who He is are the goodness, grace, love, wisdom, power, and majesty of the one true God. You can't get around it.
Jesus is God. And that is the heart of Christmas.
God takes on human flesh for us. This is why we see Jesus worshiped throughout Scripture—from the time of His birth until the very end of Revelation. Jesus is heralded and worshiped because He's God at the very core of who He is.
The Question
So the question is: Do you worship Him as God? Do you see Him for who He truly is? Are you part of the 40% that's confused?
I realize what John says here makes other passages difficult to understand. For instance, in John 17, Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane praying to God. But wait—if Jesus is God, is He praying to Himself? Or in Mark 13, Jesus says only the Father knows the end of time. So if Jesus doesn't know, does that mean He's not God because He's not omniscient?
Yes, there are other parts we're trying to grapple with and understand. But just because it's difficult to understand doesn't mean it's not true.
I don't understand quantum physics. Even scientists who study it deeply are still confounded. There are paradoxes within quantum mechanics they can't figure out, but the more they test it, the more it seems to be true.
Just because it's difficult to understand doesn't mean it's not correct.
Just because you may struggle understanding the Trinity doesn't mean it's not true. Jesus is God.
If we can start there, we're going to begin to have a wonderful, deep Christmas—because we'll be worshiping Jesus for who He truly is.
We can't end there. There's one more critical point John makes.
In John's day, there was a philosophy going around that believed anything physical was bad, evil, sinful. Only the spiritual was good and pure. That sounds really spiritual, right?
However, that meant Jesus couldn't take on a body. If Jesus had taken on a physical body, He'd be bad, sinful. But no—He's God. He's got to be good, pure. So He must have been only spiritual.
To John, that is absolute hogwash.
John shares later in his book (John 13) that at the Last Supper, he leaned against Jesus and asked Him a question. You cannot lean against an apparition.
In John 20, Doubting Thomas comes into the room. He doesn't think Jesus has risen. Jesus is there and invites him to touch the wounds in His wrists and side. You can't touch a hologram.
That's why John said what he did in verse 14:
"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."
He entered into the pages of the story. By allowing us—the characters in time, in the story—to see Him, we have seen His glory.
Yes, John wants us to clearly see Jesus was God. Don't fall for the idea He was just a really, really good person. He was God in every part of His being.
Yet don't fall for the idea that because He was God, He didn't really live a fully human life.
Hebrews 4:15 says: "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin."
Jesus knows exactly the kinds of things you've faced in life—because He went through it too. He knows what it is to be hungry, to have sorrow, to have joy, to be tempted. Yet He did not sin.
Not because He was God and therefore better and more powerful, but because He was the author and knew how the story was to be lived.
When you see and behold Jesus as being fully God and fully man, it will lead you to worship Him like Doubting Thomas did.
When Thomas walked into that room and the risen Savior appeared before him and invited him to touch the wounds, suddenly Thomas fell on his knees and said:
"My Lord and my God."
Jesus is God. Your God came to this earth at Christmas for you.
Christmas is not about celebrating the creation of Jesus. Christmas is about celebrating that God became man—that the eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing God who existed before time began chose to enter time, to take on human flesh, to experience everything we experience.
He did this not because He had to, but because He loved us.
Three weeks ago, we saw Jesus came to bring spiritual light into our spiritual darkness.
Two weeks ago, we saw He came to bring spiritual life and resurrect us from our spiritual death.
Last week, we saw He came to be the spiritual restorer, to restore our relationship with Himself.
Now today, we see that all of that—spiritual light, spiritual life, and spiritual restoration—is all found in Christ because He is God.
The innocent baby born to a virgin went on to live the only sinless life ever lived so He could die in the sinner's place—which includes you and me.
This wasn't just a good man dying a noble death. This was God Himself paying the penalty for our sin. That's why it works. That's why it's sufficient. That's why it's powerful enough to save anyone who believes.
When you hold communion elements, you're remembering His body that was brutally beaten—which should have been us. When you take that juice, you're reminded it's our blood that should have been shed. But He did it instead so our sin could be forgiven and we could be restored into relationship with our living Heavenly Father.
Jesus is not just a good teacher. He is our Lord and our God.
And that changes everything.
