Awakened by His Word: Devotions to Start Anew

FRIDAY, 1 AUGUST 2025

TEXT: JOHN 1:1-18

1: 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.

5: The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6: There was a man sent from God whose name was John.

7: He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.

8: He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

9: The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

10: He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.

11: He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.

12: Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—

13: children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

14: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

15: (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”)

16: Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.

17: For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

18: No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

(New International Version Holy Bible)

TOPIC: IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD

John begins by introducing someone as 'the Word'. There are a few things John wants his readers to know about the Word: The Word is eternal.

This is a very ambitious statement because eternal means endless, eternity, everlasting, forever, infinite, ever-present, etc.

Who could be this person that shares God's attributes of eternality? When we say someone is eternal, we mean he is transcendent, existing beyond and outside of all creation.

The Word is self-existent, as implied by the term "and the Word was God, He was with God in the beginning."

One can notice the similarity between this phrase and Genesis 1:1, concluding that the Word was already there when the world was created. While this is true, it is too limiting.

John wants his readers to understand that the Word, which is Jesus Christ, existed with God the Father from eternity past to eternity future.

The summary of John's argument is that Jesus is the second person of the triune God. If you don't know Him, you do not know God.

QUESTION: Do you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior?

PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, if I have never received You sincerely into my heart, I do so now. Come into my heart as Lord and Savior. Amen.