The baby Jesus is the same Jesus revealed in Revelation who, is, and was and is to come, the Almighty. [Revelation 1:8]

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1 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling amongst us [John 1:14] Reading John 1:1-14 We come to our third Sunday in Advent and consider this idea of God with us in the Person of Jesus Christ. Matthew identifies Jesus in the gospel as the fulfilment of the prophesy that; The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel which means God with us. [Matthew 1:23] It sets the Christmas story in a bigger context; that there was a before and there will be an after to the story of the Nativity; that the Child of Bethlehem is more than the vulnerable baby in a manger. Here Time is somehow enveloped in the purposes of Eternity. The baby Jesus is the same Jesus revealed in Revelation who, is, and was and is to come, the Almighty. [Revelation 1:8] God of God Light of Lights Begotten not created. Come let us adore him, Christ the Lord [John Francis Wade] * John begins to unravel this mystery in his prologue with the statement: In the beginning was the Word The Word of course refers to Jesus. Like other Greek words translated into English, the meaning in its original is easily lost. 1 P a g e

2 They tell me that John Wayne, famous to some of us present here as the epitome of the hero in Wild West films of yesteryear and only of interest to younger people who might like to watch black and white television for the fun of it, has upon his gravestone only one word apart from his name and age details. American. He embodied what it meant in the public mind to be an American, those characteristics and qualities which speak of the best of the American spirit. We have a similar idea here. The Greek Logos embodies the attributes of God. He gives flesh to the divine Will. God said: let there be light, and there was light [Genesis 1:3] let dry land appear, and it was so [ibid 9] let the land produce vegetation, and it was so [ibid 11] That creative power is located in the one John calls the Word. He suspends the laws of nature, stills the waves and hushes the storm, makes the blind see and the deaf hear and gives life to the dead. All things were made by him and without him nothing was made that has been made [ibid 2] Paul said it earlier to the Colossians: (c 50CE) The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or 2 P a g e

3 authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. [Colossians 1:15-17] In the same way Jesus as the Word of God is the Mind of God, the Wisdom of God if you will. Wisdom is personified in Scripture and in Greek philosophy, treated like an entity, a thing of itself, a person almost. God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells [Job 28: 23] Proverbs 8 is a good example of this idea. An old song and one of the first recorded by the Staff Songsters when they reformed in 1980 gives it a voice: The Voice of Wisdom cries, be in time To give up every sin In earnest now begin The night will soon set in, be in time [SASB 111:1 Anon 1930 ed] The Word is the Mind of God, the will of God, the purpose of God - now in human likeness; Jesus says, he who has seen me has seen the Father [John 14:9] and Paul writes: God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself [2 Corinthians 5:19] The work of reconciliation is in time. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you [Luke 2:12] 3 P a g e

4 But it has an eternal context and eternal consequences. John sees in the Apocalypse: a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True... he is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God [Revelation 19:13] The Word Mind, Will, Purpose, of God, will finally subdue all those things contrary to the intentions of God and bring all things into submission to him, the whole order of creation, both temporal and spiritual. The rebellion of the human will equally must ultimately submit to the will of God, to Jesus. If not in this life, then in the next. That at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. [Philippians 2:10] In life this is an invitation. John writes again, That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched this we proclaim concerning the Word of Life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. [I John 1:1-4] Eternal life has appeared to us in the person of Jesus Christ and the invitation is to know him and be in fellowship with him Koinonia in the Greek: to share a 4 P a g e

5 common life. Jesus spoke of it as being a plant, a Vine [John 15] where the life and substance flows from the root to the branches. Our root, Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ [ibid 3] The life of God is in us. Eternal life. We are invited to receive it as a gift in receiving Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. In the life to come this becomes a consequence. To return to the Vine, Jesus is clear: If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers, such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. [John 15:6] It is a choice to be made. The tissue of the Life to be We weave with colours all our own, And in the field of Destiny We reap as we have sown. [Raphael: John Greenleaf Whittier] To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling amongst us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the Only Begotten Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. [John 1:12-14] 5 P a g e