“In the beginning…”

1. “In the beginning…” John 1:1

2. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.” (Genesis 1:1-3 NASB)

3. “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was already with God in the beginning. Everything came into existence through him. Not one thing that exists was made without him. He was the source of life, and that life was the light for humanity. The light shines in the dark, and the dark has never extinguished it…This was the real light---the light that comes into the world and shines on all people. (John 1:1-5,9 GNB)

4. Genesis parallels • In the beginning… • God/Creator/”the Word” • Light/darkness

5. The Word (Logos) • The Divine Logic

6. The Word (Logos) • “Jesus is God’s one, true self-portrait…Jesus is the embodiment of the Divine logic. The Greek word translated “Word” is Logos, which refers to God’s self-revelation. Whenever God truly reveals himself, John is saying, it looks like Jesus. We catch glimpses of this self-revelation in the Old Testament, but only in Jesus is God’s true character unambiguously revealed.” • Greg Boyd

7. The Word (Logos) • “No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is the same as God and is at the Father's side, he has made him known.” (John 1:18)

8. The Word (Logos)

9. “Let there be light…” • “The people who live in darkness will see a great light. On those who live in the dark land of death the light will shine.” (Matthew 4:16 ) • “I am the light of the world,’ he said. ‘Whoever follows me will have the light of life and will never walk in darkness.’” (John 8:12) • “While I am in the world, I am the light for the world.” (John 9:5) • “I have come into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness.” (John 12:46)

10. “Now the message that we have heard from his Son and announce is this: God is light, and there is no darkness at all in him.” (1 John 1:5)

11. “Glory” “The Word became human and lived among us. We saw his glory. It was the glory that the Father shares with his only Son, a glory full of kindness and truth.” (John 1:14)

12. “Glory” • “They do not believe, because their minds have been kept in the dark by the evil god of this world. He keeps them from seeing the light shining on them, the light that comes from the Good News about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God…The God who said, ‘Out of darkness the light shall shine!’ is the same God who made his light shine in our hearts, to bring us the knowledge of God’s glory shining in the face of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:4)

13. “Glory” • “Then Moses said, ‘Please let me see your glory.” (Exodus 33:18) • “The LORD came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and pronounced his holy name, the LORD. The LORD then passed in front of him and called out, ‘I, the LORD, am a God who is full of compassion and pity, who is not easily angered and who shows great love and faithfulness. I keep my promise for thousands of generations and forgive evil and sin…(Exodus 34:5-7)

14. Jesus: The revealer of God’s glory/character Omnipotent? Omnipresent? Omniscient?

15. Jesus = God “This saying made the Jewish authorities all the more determined to kill him; not only had he broken the Sabbath law, but he had said that God was his own Father and in this way had made himself equal with God.” (John 5:18)

16. “The Father judges no one. He has given his Son the full right to judge.” (John 5:22)

17. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” (John 8:19) “You will die in your sins if you do not believe that ‘I Am Who I Am’... ”Who are you?’ they asked him… ‘I Am Who I Am’… “I am telling you the truth…Before Abraham was born, ‘I Am’.” “Then then picked up stones…”*

18. “The Father and I are one.” (John 10:30) • “Whoever sees me sees the one who sent me.” (John 12:45) • “Now that you have known me,’ he said to them, ‘you will know my Father also, and from now on you do know him and you have seen him.’ • Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father; that is all we need.’ • Jesus answered, ‘For a long time I have been with you all; yet you do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. Why, then, do you say, 'Show us the Father'?” (John 14:7-9)

19. Jesus came as God in human form to reveal the outrageous beauty of God’s true character • What difference does this make?

20. The Old Testament “You’ve heard it said…but I say…” Difficult stories in the Old Testament were “a concession to your hard hearts, but it was not what God had originally intended” (Matthew 19:8)

21. How we do theology “You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me!” (John 5:39 MSG)

22. Reshaping our picture of God “My idea of God is not a divine idea. It has to be shattered time after time. He shatters it Himself...Could we not almost say that this shattering is one of the marks of His presence? The incarnation is the supreme example. It leaves all previous ideas of the Messiah in ruins.” • C.S. Lewis

23. “We cannot deduce anything about Jesus from what we think we know about God; we must now deduce everything about God from what we do know about Jesus.”- Brennan Manning

24. “The historic Christian doctrine of the divinity of Christ does not simply mean that Jesus is like God. It is far more radical than that. It means that God is like Jesus.”- D. Elton Trueblood

25. “When I was growing up, I tended to see the God of the Old Testament as the tough one; Jesus was so gentle I didn’t even see him as God. I knew he was "Son of God" and "divine" but God himself? Not really. Some vivid Old Testament stories and the picture of Jesus pleading with the Father on my behalf had convinced me that only as a last resort would the Father let me slip through the back door into the kingdom.

26. Not until I was a second-year seminary student...did the "truth" strike home that Jesus was God in the flesh. Unless you have had such an experience, you cant possibly imagine the joy that flooded my soul. No longer was I haunted by the picture of a distant and reluctant God. If God himself took human flesh and came to earth to save sinners, he must really want me in his kingdom. The whole universe suddenly became a much friendlier place.” - Alden Thompson

27. How we live… “…the Son of Man, who did not come to be served, but to serve…” (Matthew 20:28) “…I am gentle and humble.” (Matthew 11:29) “Love you enemies…do good to those who persecute you…”

28. “Jesus is what God has to say”

29. Suffering/injustice

30. “Just as he arrived at the gate of the town, a funeral procession was coming out. The dead man was the only son of a woman who was a widow, and a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart was filled with pity for her, and he said to her, ‘Don't cry.’” (Luke 7:12-13)

32. Jairus’ Daughter “He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha, koum,’ which means, ‘Little girl, I tell you to get up!’ She got up at once and started walking around. (She was twelve years old.) When this happened, they were completely amazed. But Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell anyone, and he said, ‘Give her something to eat.’” (Mark 5:41-43)

34. “A man suffering from a dreaded skin disease came to Jesus, knelt down, and begged him for help. ‘If you want to,’ he said, ‘you can make me clean.’ Jesus was filled with pity, and reached out and touched him. ‘I do want to,’ he answered. ‘Be clean!’” (Mark 1:40-41)

35. Outcasts “When the Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company [prostitutes, tax collectors, and fisherman], they had a fit, and lit into Jesus' followers, ‘What kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and riff-raff?’” (Matthew 9:11 MSG)