Episode 2183 - Lesson 3 - Tuesday Oct. 15 - Hearing or Not Hearing the Word

Read John 1:9–13. What harsh reality is John depicting here about how people respond to Jesus? The Prologue, John 1:1–18, describes not only who Jesus Christ, the Word (logos), is but also how people in the world related to Him. In John 1:9, He is called the true Light, who enlightens every person coming into the world. That light illumines the world, making it understandable. As C. S. Lewis puts it, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”—“Is Theology Poetry?” (n. p.: Samizdat University Press, 2014), p. 15, originally presented in 1944. Also, look at the implications of what John 1:9 is saying. Light comes to everyone, but not everyone welcomes the light. As we will see in tomorrow’s study, a major theme in the Gospel of John is how people receive or reject Jesus. That theme begins here. The sad litany is that the Messiah came to His own people, the people of Israel, and many did not receive Him as the Messiah. In Romans 9–11, Paul deals with the same tragic theme, of many Jews rejecting Jesus. But Paul doesn’t end on a negative note, saying in fact that many Jews, along with Gentiles, will accept Jesus as their Messiah. Indeed, he warns the Gentiles not to boast against the Jews. “For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?” (Rom. 11:24, NKJV). In a similar vein, John says that all who do receive Jesus as their Savior will become the children of God. This happens by believing on His name. (See John 1:12, 13.) Here is the connection between the prologue and the conclusion of the Gospel. In John 20:31, the apostle presents why he wrote—that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life by His name. Thus, the introduction and conclusion form a kind of unity. They are related concepts that enclose all that occurs between them. This linkage points to the overarching goal of the Gospel of John—that people will be saved by believing on Jesus Christ as their Savior. How has your life changed by becoming a son or a daughter of God?