As you journey through the book of Hebrews, we encourage you to invite the Lord into your studies through prayer, reading of the word, and reflection.

• Pray: Before you start each devotion, ask the Lord to use it to grow you up in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
• Read: Invite God to open your eyes and deepen your understanding of His Word through each daily passage.
• Reflect: Ask the Spirit to help you take to heart what He wants to show you.

In the Beginning

The Gospel of John is one of the easiest books to read, yet one of the most profound Gospels to understand. We might get the surface meaning easily enough, but to understand the deep truths, we need the Lord Jesus to be our teacher.

The purpose of the Gospel of John is to explain that Jesus is fully God and fully man—and to help us “believe” that. This key word, “believe,” is used over 100 times. To believe something takes an act of the will. It looks like this: When you hear the facts of the gospel, you recognize that Jesus died for your sins, and you trust Him as your Savior who died to pay the penalty for your sins. That’s believing.

Now, let’s dive into this marvelous book at the beginning.

The first couple verses of the Gospel of John sound like something from Genesis 1:1.

Read John 1:1-3.

The beginning in Genesis goes back to the creation of the physical universe, but even then, the Word was already past tense. Go back a billion more years, put down your stakes, and out of eternity the Lord Jesus will walk out to meet you. Jesus never began. He was already there at the beginning.

From the beginning, Jesus was God. “And the Word was God.” He made all things—He is the Creator. He’s life itself. And His life was the light of men.

Tragically, John tells us next that Jesus came to His own world, yet His own world wouldn’t receive Him (v. 10). . . . But not everyone. There is good news: Some do receive Him by faith, and when you do, you’re given a new birth. Your new life doesn’t come through your own effort or by anything you do to earn it (not even by learning the Bible). Your new life in Jesus comes through God’s hand.

Here’s more wonderful news about Jesus: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (v. 14).

Have you ever noticed that John’s Gospel doesn’t mention Jesus’ birth? It’s because the One he’s talking about is too big for Bethlehem. A little child was born in Bethlehem, but the Son walks out of eternity. That’s the Christmas story in John’s Gospel.

Jesus “dwelt with us.” Literally, He pitched His tent with us—He moved into our neighborhood.

Though it’s true that no one can see God the Father (v. 18), when you see His Son, you understand who God is. But to do that He had to become one of us and bring God to where we are.

Next, we’ll meet the first disciples to follow Jesus.

1. What does it tell us about Jesus that He always was, and He never had a beginning?
2. Already in John’s Gospel, he is bombarding his readers with ideas like light and life. How do these ideas paint a picture for you of what the life of Jesus was about?
3. Although he is doing so in a very unique way, John really wants you to understand that Jesus was God in the flesh. Why do you think this was so important a message for John to tell?