Day 5: The Word of God

We continue to study our theme, "Titles of Jesus." I've chosen this theme for a special, practical purpose -- to help you focus your heart and mind on the one without whom our lives have no real meaning, Jesus Christ. For example, during the Christmas season, unfortunately so many people today leave Christ out of Christmas and so miss its real and permanent significance. Have you ever noticed how many people can no longer find time to write Christmas in full so they just write Xmas? Really, that's very revealing. Conventionally, the letter X is used to represent an unknown quantity. So, when people write Xmas instead of Christmas they are really acknowledging that for them Christ is an unknown quantity.

One practical way to become better acquainted with Christ is to study the titles of Him that are used in Scripture. Each title reveals some important aspect of his wonderful, many-sided nature. The two titles of Christ that we've looked at so far were both taken from Isaiah 9:6, Wonderful Counsellor and Prince of Peace. The title that we're going to study today is found mainly in the writings of John. It is the Word of God.

Let's look, first of all, at the opening verse of John's gospel. John 1:1:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Notice in that verse the phrase "the Word" is used three times. The one so designated is Jesus in his eternal nature, not Jesus the son of Mary but Jesus the Son of God. The one who was eternally before creation with God. The one who was Himself God, the second person of the godhead. And then, again in John 1:14:

“The Word became flesh and lived for a while 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.”

Again, the Word is a title of Jesus. He is the one and only Son, the eternal begotten Son, not created but begotten. Eternal, of one nature and being with the Father Himself. And as such He, the Word, became flesh [that's the incarnation, that's what we celebrate at Christmas] and lived for a while among us. But, it was the eternal Word that came into human history in the person of the little baby who was born in the manger at Bethlehem and grew up to be the carpenter's son.

Now, Jesus not only came once as a baby but the scripture makes it clear He's coming back again in power and glory to judge and to reign. And there's a very vivid picture of this, his future coming, in Revelation 19:11-13. And once again, in this context he is called the Word of God. John says this:

“I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True [that's Jesus]. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one but he himself knows. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.”

So there He is again in His glorious majesty, coming to judge and to reign, wearing many, many crowns (diadems, kingly crowns); dressed in a robe dipped in blood [speaking of his sacrifice of Himself on the cross] and His name is the Word of God. That Greek word that's translated "word" is logos, a word that is quite frequently used today in various contexts. We need to understand a little about logos.

I remember meeting an orthodox Greek priest who is a friend of mine now and whose native language was Greek. I've also studied Greek myself since I was 10 years old. And this friend of mine, he gave me a lecture on the meaning of the word logos that I've never forgotten. He said, "Logos isn't just a spoken word," he said, "Logos means mind, it means counsel, it means a whole understanding." And that's what Jesus is. He's not just a spoken word but he's the total mind and counsel of God. Everything God knows, everything God wants to say, everything God wants to do is all wrapped up in Jesus, the Word of God.