Christ, like God, is eternal. This devotion looks at when the Word and Light came to earth.
Nuggets
- Yeshua was present in all eternity.
- Yeshua is the Word.
- Yeshua also existed before the foundation of the world.
- Being with God means more than Jehovah and Yeshua being in the same room.
- Jehovah and Yeshua are the same nature and essence.
The first four books of the New Testament are called the Gospels. They tell the story of Yeshua.
But Yeshua’s story didn’t begin when He walked on this earth. We can’t trace its beginning.
What we do know is that Yeshua was the inspiration for creation of this universe. Jehovah created it to showcase Yeshua’s love.
John began his Gospel trying to line that out for us. He explained that the Son is not a piece of God but God Himself — distinct in person yet fully sharing the same divine nature.
What does that mean to us? If the One Who created all things is the same One Who came to save you and me, then He is not distant, and He is not uncertain. He is both the Author of our beginning and the One Who secures our end. That is the One we can trust.
Let’s dig in.
Let's Put It into Context
To read devotions in The Battle for the Heart theme
Devotions in the Preparing for the Christ Child series
Eternal
“In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God” (Jn. 1: 1-2 NLT).
In the Beginning
Yeshua was present in all eternity.
John opened his Gospel in an unusual way. Instead of doing a genealogy, he hooked Yeshua back to Genesis – the creation, the origin. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1: 1 NLT).
One point John wanted to get across was the team that Jehovah and Yeshua made. Both were present at creation. We’ll talk about this more in a little bit.
Was the Word
Yeshua is the Word.
We get that Yeshua is divine. We also get that He divested Himself of that divinity and became human.
“Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross (Phil. 2: 6-8 NLT).
But we don’t necessarily get it right off why Yeshua was called the Word.
I like how John 1: 1 reads in the Orthodox Jewish Bible. It can be a little confusing, but I think it will help us process all this.
“Bereshis (in the Beginning) was the Dvar Hashem …, and the Dvar Hashem was agav (along with, etzel, …) Hashem, and the Dvar Hashem was nothing less, by nature, than Elohim! …” (Jn. 1: 1 OJB emphasis added).
Dvar in Hebrew is Word. Hashem means God. (In the Greek, Word gives form and meaning.)
To me, that connects Word/Yeshua and God. We would say that as the Word of God.
The Gospel – the good news – God’s Word – is Yeshua’s story: His birth, His death, and His resurrection. His story is told because it is only through Him that we are redeemed. “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved” (Ac. 4: 12 NLT).
That makes Yeshua THE Word!
Further clarification of Yeshua as the Word is given in Revelation 19: 13. “He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God” (Rev. 19: 13 NLT). That is a perfect description of Yeshua.
We come to Yeshua – the Word and Light – by God’s Word. We’ll get into Yeshua as the Light later too.
- “So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ” (Rom. 10: 17 NLT).
- “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps. 119: 105 ESV).
Yeshua is the Light that illuminates the path that leads us to Jehovah.
Already Existed
Yeshua was present in all eternity.
Jehovah had to be here before the beginning. Otherwise, He couldn’t create it.
Paul also talked about Jehovah and Yeshua already existing before the creation of the world. “For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time – to show us his grace through Christ Jesus” (II Tim. 1: 9 NLT emphasis added). That also shows His clock is different from ours.
But Jones didn’t think John could say before the beginning. He wrote, “Had St. John said ‘before’ the beginning, he would have presented eternity under the laws of time, a mistake as grave as to describe the Infinite under the conditions of the finite. But mounting up higher than time and space, he leads us to the calm where God dwelleth.”
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Either way, it is our way of trying to describe the before. We don’t really understand it – and we can’t because we aren’t Jehovah.
We just have to take it by faith that – however it should be described – Jehovah and Yeshua were both there, planning for the creation of humans.
We can be as confused about Yeshua’s origin as we are of Jehovah’s. When did They begin?
One mission for Yeshua is to reveal Jehovah. Moment said it this way. He wrote, “God revealed Himself through His Son before the Incarnation.”
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- “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him …” (Eph. 1: 3-4 ESV).
- “He [Yeshua] was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you” (I Pet. 1: 20 ESV)
- “Father, I [Yeshua] desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world” (Jn. 17: 24 ESV).
If we want more of a first-person account, look at Proverbs 8.
“The LORD formed me from the beginning, before he created anything else. I was appointed in ages past, at the very first, before the earth began. I was born before the oceans were created, before the springs bubbled forth their waters. Before the mountains were formed, before the hills, I was born — before he had made the earth and fields and the first handfuls of soil” (Prov. 8: 22-26 NLT).
This translation says formed. Some say created. If we go back to the Hebrew, it says “… the LORD possessed the beginning of his way…” (Prov. 8: 22 INT).
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Possessed here means brought forth or established. So, it doesn’t mean created.
It is pretty obvious that LORD is Jehovah, but who is me? If we go all the way back to Proverbs 8: 1, we find out. “Listen as Wisdom calls out! …” (Prov. 8: 1 NLT).
Let’s take a look at the Hebrew.
- “Doth not Chochmah [wisdom] cry out? …” (Prov. 8: 1 OJB).
- “Hashem [a title used to refer to God] possessed me in the reshit [firstfruits] of His derech [way], before His works of old” (Prov. 8: 22 OJB).
Wisdom – chochmah (חָכְמָה) – is a pure, active, and insightful form of intellect that comes from “nowhere” and serves as the initial inspiration for creation.
Yeshua is Wisdom personified. This understanding is reflected in the Aramaic word memra (מֵימְרָא) — Word — which Jewish rabbis used to describe God’s self-revelation. Yeshua is both the Memra (Word) of Jehovah and Wisdom personified. Through Him, Jehovah expresses and reveals Himself.
Once again, Yeshua was the inspiration for creation. Jehovah created the universe to showcase Yeshua’s love.
- “God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin” (I Cor. 1: 30 NLT).
- “But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died” (I Cor. 15: 20 NLT).
- “But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back” (I Cor. 15: 23 NLT).
Look at I Corinthians 1: 30 in the Orthodox Jewish Bible. “But you are of Hashem [a title used to refer to God] in Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua who became to us chochmah (wisdom) from Hashem, our Tzidkanut (Righteousness) and our Kedushah (Holiness) and our Geulah LaOlam (Redemption to the world), [Jer 23:5,6; 33:16]” (I Cor. 1: 30 OJB).
Go back to Proverbs 8: 22. “The LORD formed me from the beginning, before he created anything else” (Prov. 8: 22 NLT).
Goulburn took a stab at explaining all this. He wrote, “St. John intimates that THERE WAS A PERIOD WHEN, although both blessed Persons existed, yet THE SON WAS IN THE BOSOM OF THE FATHER; when, though the Word was, yet the Word came not forth. That is like reason, with the faculty of speech latent in it, not put forth.”
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So, when do we see Yeshua first revealed in creation? “Then God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light” (Gen. 1: 3 NLT). Light came forth on Day 1 — the “… first of the works of old” (Prov. 8: 22 JPS).
The Hebrew word used in Genesis 1 for darkness is choshekh (חֹשֶׁךְ), which leads to death and destruction. The word used for light – or (אוֹר) – means divine illumination, truth, hope, and the presence of God.
If Satan is darkness – choshekh (חֹשֶׁךְ) – then Jesus is Light – or (אוֹר).
Think about it. Yeshua is said to be the Light of the world. This symbolizes salvation, truth, life, and joy.
Pochtar explained it this way. He wrote, “It’s what shattered the darkness at the very beginning when God said, ‘Let there be light’ (Genesis 1:3). And ever since, God’s light has been at the center of His plan to rescue and restore this world.”
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The Light at the center of Jehovah’s Plan of Salvation has always been Yeshua. That Plan is told in the story of His birth, His death, and His resurrection — the Gospel, God’s Word — which is Yeshua.
With God
Being with God means more than Jehovah and Yeshua being in the same room.
Remember, we just talked about Jehovah and Yeshua having the same nature. It is more than just having the same personality.
Jehovah and Yeshua have the same purpose, the same love, the same outlook.
Jones said it this way. “The Word was ‘with God’ in respect of personality. Omnipotence is eternally in God; Jesus Christ is eternally with God — a mode of speech signifying distinct, but not separate, personal subsistence.”
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I know. How can They be the same but different?
Don’t worry. We aren’t the only ones to struggle with that. The early Church did, too – that is why the concept of the Trinity took root.
The Word was God
Jehovah and Yeshua are the same nature and essence.
John said here that Jehovah and Yeshua are equals. Yeshua said, “The Father and I are one” (Jn. 10: 30 NLT). Yeshua being God makes Him and Jehovah One and the same.
We generally think this is talking about unity and equality, especially of nature. God’s Word tells us there is more to it than that.
In today’s language, we would say they are the same all the way down to the DNA.
- “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned. And he is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen” (Rom. 9: 5 NLT).
- “But to the Son he says, ‘Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever. You rule with a scepter of justice’” (Heb. 1: 8 NLT).
- “And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life” (I Jn. 5: 20 NLT).
This is the Savior of whom John will be discussing in the succeeding verses.
Thomas helped us understand that Yeshua is a separate entity from Jehovah. He wrote, “‘And the Word was with God?’ The expression implies that He had a conscious existence distinct from the Absolute One.”
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As Thomas said, that makes Yeshua Jehovah in action. This is how He expresses Himself.
When we see Yeshua, we see Jehovah.
Making the Connections #1
Why would John go all the way back to creation to set up his Gospel account? It is easy.
There is only one way in which sin can be eliminated within humans. It is through acceptance of the Savior in order to gain forgiveness from Sovereign God.
Who better to take away the sin of the world than the Creator? Who else but Sovereign God could accomplish that?
Why is it important to eliminate that sin? Look what Ryle said. He wrote,
“If no one less than the Eternal God, the Creator and Preserver of all things, could take away the sin of the world, sin must be a far more abominable thing in the sight of God than most men suppose. If Christ is so great, then sin must indeed be sinful!”
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That is why we cannot take away our own sins.
So, John wanted to set the stage Who by giving His qualifications.
Making the Connections #2
There is another reason it is appropriate for John to begin his gospel by taking us back to creation. Adam, the first man, sinned and fell from grace. Yeshua, the second Man, came to restore that which was lost.
“The Scriptures tell us, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living person.’ But the last Adam — that is, Christ — is a life-giving Spirit. What comes first is the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later. Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven” (I Cor. 15: 45-47 NLT).
Culross explained. He wrote, “While the evangelist begins with creation, he goes very far beyond, and consequently uses many words that were not needed in Genesis, but are indispensable to his purpose, such as law, grace, truth, faith, sons of God and sin.”
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Genesis 1 started with no explanation of Who God is. Now, we are introduced to our Savior.
I can see this. I am sure Moses and the Prophets were writing thinking their audience would only be Hebrews/Israelites/Jews.
Yeshua changed that. He was battling for the hearts of all people — Jews and Gentiles.
Making the Connections #3
Goulburn had a great quote that fits in well with our The Battle of the Heart theme. He wrote,
“Like the Personal Word, the Written Word rises up in meek majesty to make those who approach it with hostile intent go backward and fall to the ground; upon it descends the holy dove; over it hangs the bright cloud; it quickens human souls; it says to the stormy sea of the human heart, ‘Peace, be still’; before it the demons of lust, pride, covetousness, worldliness, quake and flee.”
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Yeshua is the Personal Word. God’s Word is the Written Word. Both are eternal.
Jehovah’s Word testifies about Yeshua because it carries His authority and presence.
Look at these verses.
- “And you know that the Scriptures cannot be altered …” (Jn. 10: 35 NLT).
- “So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son” (Jn. 1: 14 NLT).
God’s Word is true and unchangeable. They reveal Yeshua and His glory to us. If it were not about Yeshua, it would be as any other book on the shelf.
Yeshua is the Light — God’s Word is the lamp. It is the vehicle through which the Light can shine.
We also read of Yeshua’s authority in the Garden of Gethsemane. “As Jesus said ‘I am he,’ they all drew back and fell to the ground!” (Jn. 18: 6 NLT).
God’s Word has the same effect on some. When they approach it arrogantly, skeptically, and hostilely, they will find out its authority is true.
The dove is a perfect image to include. Remember the dove was present at Yeshua’s baptism (Mt. 3: 16).
This is the same Spirit that gives the Word as divine revelation to the human authors that record it. “Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God” (II Pet. 1: 20-21 NLT).
Yeshua’s authority was also seen at the Mount of Transfiguration. “But even as he spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him’” (Mt. 17: 5 NLT).
One purpose of God’s Word is to tell those words to us: peace, be still (Mk. 4: 39). When our hearts become the battlefield, Yeshua will calm us as well.
It is by Yeshua’s authority that demons are driven out. When we hear the word demons, we may think of all the miracles where demons were cast out.
But we experience demons — demons of lust, prides and covetousness. “For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world” (I Jn. 2: 16 NLT).
- Physical pleasure = lust
- Craving everything we see = covetousness
- Pride = pride
God’s Word shows us what sin is and what is in our hearts.
We see in the pages of God’s Word the Light that dispels darkness. When the Word enters our hearts, the war begins — and the darkness cannot stand against us.
How Do We Apply This?
- Trust in the One who is Creator of all things.
- Come to Yeshua as the only way to the Father.
- Submit to the authority of God’s Word as His revealed presence.
- Allow His Light to expose and overcome the darkness in your heart.
- Rest in His eternal plan, established before the foundation of the world.
Father God. We can’t comprehend eternity, but we accept that You and Yeshua have always been. We thank You that He is Your Word and Your Light. We are humbled that the first thing You placed in creation was Yeshua as Light. You knew that we would disobey You, so You wanted our Salvation in the world even before we were created. Thank You for loving us so much. Amen.
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