Well, if you are not already there, please open your Bible to John chapter 1.
John chapter 1. John's the fourth gospel, fourth book in the New Testament.
And so we're going to be looking at the first five verses of John chapter 1.
Well, growing up, I was always a good student.
It was one of those things, I was just good at school, and so that's why I liked it, because I was good at it.
Except for one subject, math.
Anyone else with me?
I was not the greatest math student.
I have vivid memories, in fact, of staying up late with my dad at the kitchen table in eighth grade, agonizing over algebra.
I just kept saying, Dad, I just don't get it.
This is supposed to be math.
Why are there letters?
What's with the X, Y, and the Z?
But because I was a good student, I kept trying.
But my relationship with my math classes was never very affectionate, and it was always rather complicated.
And then I went to college, and I became a history major, hoping I would not have to take any math classes,
but I did have to take one, and it was calculus.
I was not looking forward to it.
But on the first day of calculus class, something was different.
It was my professor.
Dr. Piston made calculus real to me.
He was patient.
He used real-life examples.
And not only did he make math understandable to me, but he began to unlock the wonder of it to me.
He showed me the beauty of God's world through the language of mathematics, and I actually started to enjoy it.
In short, Dr. Piston made math known to me.
He warmly introduced me to it.
And ironically enough, my experience with calculus is very much what Christmas is all about.
For many of us, God is a bit like math.
He seems distant, maybe boring, cold, unknowable.
Perhaps he's kind of mysterious, kind of out there, not close, maybe even vaguely threatening.
Even for those of us who know him and have been in a relationship with him for years, there are seasons when he seems particularly absent or distant or not very real.
I'm sure most everyone in this room has felt that way at one time or another about God.
And the Bible explains why that's the case.
Each of us is born with a heart that's naturally opposed to God.
Because we were born with a nature bent toward ourselves, not toward God and his way.
So even if you know about God, maybe you were raised in the church your whole life, it's easy to think about God as distant or unknown, maybe even threatening.
A guy who kind of frowns on us a lot.
All this is a perspective problem.
We have a bent and fractured understanding of who God is because of our bent and fractured sinful hearts.
So if our perspective is so shattered, how do we begin to know God?
How can we not just begin to understand him as he truly is, but begin to wonder at him, to enjoy him as he truly is?
Well, we need a Dr. Piston.
We need someone to introduce us to him, to make him known to us.
And in John 1, we're introduced to just such a person.
Someone who's able to show us exactly who God is.
Not only so that we can understand some facts about him, but that we can know him personally.
And have a life-giving relationship with him.
And what the Apostle John is going to tell us is that we can only know God through the unique person of Jesus Christ, the Word.
We can only know him through the unique person of Jesus.
So for the next few Sundays during Advent, we're going to explore the first 18 verses of John's Gospel together.
We're going to mine its depths to understand who this Word person is.
His person, which I'm going to talk about today.
Next week, his mission.
And the week after that, his glory.
This morning, let's look at the first part of this passage.
Verses 1 to 5 to discover who this Word is, who is a person.
And here, we're going to discover that John makes four claims about this unique person of the Word who makes God known to us.
Four claims.
Let's start with the first one.
It's found, the very first phrase, it's this claim.
He is God's perfect self-expression.
The Word is God's perfect self-expression.
In the beginning was the Word.
The Word.
Why start with the Word?
Well, not all, but many of John's original readers would have had some familiarity with who Jesus of Nazareth was.
He seems to have written his gospel to kind of a wide audience, but maybe particularly for believers who already knew and trusted in Jesus,
and maybe folks who were curious about who this Jesus was.
So most folks who read this gospel would be coming to these words with an assumption that this book is about Jesus of Nazareth.
So it's a little curious why John starts with, in the beginning was the Word.
It's a little curious.
He doesn't actually mention Jesus by name until verse 17.
But he starts with the Word.
Well, it's not really curious.
Actually, it's brilliant.
Pretend for a moment that you couldn't write or speak or sign or communicate with anyone in any way at all.
Now, people could see you.
They could observe your patterns of behavior.
They could study your daily rhythms.
They could discover a lot of things about you.
But even if they were with you 24-7, would they know you?
No.
Of course not.
We're known by our words.
We know others by their words.
It's the way we express our feelings, our values, our priorities, who we are.
And it's the same with God.
God, from the very beginning, has been a talking God.
And amazingly, he's not talking in some heavenly language.
No, he's speaking in human languages that we can actually understand.
He wants to be known by us.
He wants us to understand him.
And he has given us his recorded word written down in human history and preserved through the centuries so that we might understand and have a personal relationship with him.
In the Old Testament, God's word is seen to be the way he expresses himself personally and powerfully to his people, particularly as their creator, as their ruler, and their rescuer.
By his word, God creates something out of nothing.
That's how the Bible begins.
By his word, God speaks so that his people know how to live well under his rule.
He tells Adam and Eve, enjoy the garden.
Don't eat from that tree.
He rules over them by his word.
But also by his word, God rescues his people again and again from their own foolishness and sinfulness.
Just read the prophets.
God's speaking his rescuing words to his people.
So it's by his word that God expresses himself personally to his people as their creator, their ruler, and their rescuer.
So it's no surprise that John then chooses the word as the title for the one who is God's mirror image.
As our creator, ruler, and rescuer.
He is God's perfect self-expression.
If you drive up the road a little bit north to the Milwaukee Art Museum, you will probably find some examples of human self-expression.
Through creative mediums like painting or sculpture, photography.
You might even find really odd self-expressions.
It's like the banana duct taped to a wall that sold for $120,000 this last week at an art gallery in Miami.
Self-expression.
But human self-expressions are only partial and they're often corrupt.
But this word, this self-expression of God is the one and only pure, full, undiluted, walking and talking expression of who God is.
Later on in John's Gospel in chapter 14, one of Jesus' disciples, Philip, he says to Jesus,
Show us the Father and it's enough for us.
And Jesus responds by saying, Philip, have I been with you so long and you still don't know me?
Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
So when we look at Jesus, we see exactly who God is like.
Not partially, perfectly.
Three-dimensionally.
From every angle.
Jesus is God's perfect self-expression in a person.
Look down at verse 18.
No one has ever seen God.
The only God who is at the Father's side.
He has made him known.
So John is not just saying that Jesus is a qualified messenger on God's behalf.
Rather, he is the full and final revealing of who God is in a body.
What is utterly astounding about this word, who is a person, is that this word became human.
Look at verse 14.
The word became flesh and dwelt among us.
Someone else has said, he is everything that God wanted to say to us in a person.
That's why John starts with the word.
He wants us to have very clearly in our minds that Jesus of Nazareth was God's perfect self-expression.
That if we want to know God, we must know Jesus.
He's our Dr. Piston.
He's going to introduce us to God personally.
He is going to help us not only understand who God is, but begin to wonder at who he is and enjoy him through the person of the word.
And it is that word that is the infant in the manger.
He is God's perfect self-expression.
And at Christmas time, we tend to focus on the baby that was born, but we must not separate the baby from the man.
All that he said and did was a mirror image of the mind and will and heart of God.
And yet, even as a baby in the manger, not being able to speak or do anything, we see God's perfect self-expression of grace and truth,
as God says later on in verse, or as John says in verse 17.
The simple fact of the incarnation, of the mind-numbing thought of God becoming human,
is enough to fully express the mercy and faithfulness, the grace and truth of God in the person of Jesus.
So that's, first of all, who he is.
He is God's perfect self-expression, the word.
That's the first claim.
Well, if we keep reading verses 1 and 2, we'll see John's second claim about the unique person of the word.
It's this.
He has the closest possible relationship with God.
In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
Well, John doesn't really mess around here.
He just throws us right into the deep end.
He doesn't start us off in the shallows.
With very simple words and just two short sentences,
John paints a beautiful and complex picture about this word's intimate relationship to God.
Look at that first phrase in verse 1.
In the beginning.
It reminds us of another chapter 1, verse 1, doesn't it?
Genesis 1, 1.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
But here, it's in the beginning, the word was.
It doesn't say the word has existed since the beginning or from the beginning,
implying that he had some origin.
It's just rather, in the beginning, he was there.
Putting him pretty close to God, the creator of all things.
And that's where John goes next.
Look at the middle part of the verse.
With the, and the word was with God.
That word translated with isn't the standard word for with that the New Testament uses in its original language.
The word that John uses here not only implies alongside and in the same space as,
but nearness, intimacy, closeness.
We could assume that from his previous statement that the word was in the beginning,
we could assume that that was true, that the word had to be in some sort of close relationship with God.
But John's making it really explicit here.
He wants us to see an intimacy of relationship between the word, God's own self-expression, and God himself.
But not only that, since the word is in close relationship to God,
this also implies that the word is therefore distinct from God.
We don't have relationship with ourselves.
We have relationship with people who are other from us, distinct from us.
So here we see that the word is somehow other from God, somehow distinct,
having a distinct personhood that is in relationship, close relationship to God.
But then John drops a bomb with the next statement.
The word was God.
If we've been picking up what John's laying down so far,
the word has always existed in close relationship with God,
then we're all, they're probably thinking, okay, that's a little weird,
perhaps, maybe this word is some kind of elevated angel
or lesser kind of divine being that is in close relationship with God.
But no, John is making this astounding claim.
The word, who is God's perfect self-expression,
is not only eternally existing, not only in close relationship with God,
but this word shares God's very being.
This word is, by nature, God.
He shares in God's godness.
And yet, yet, this word is also distinct from God.
He's his own person.
And it doesn't just say that the word was somehow partially divine
or had divine qualities about him,
but that Jesus, the word, is fully God.
There's no other way to translate the phrase.
Jehovah's Witnesses might want to try to convince us otherwise,
like, oh, he's kind of a God.
No, there's no other way to translate it.
The word was God.
Well, I told you that John throws us right into the deep end.
In verse 2, John restates the same claims, just in a different order.
It's as if he's saying, yes, you didn't misunderstand me.
I did just say that.
That's what I'm claiming about this word.
The one who is God, has eternally existed with God,
and close relationship with God,
and he does share God's very being while being his own person at the same time.
It's almost like you can see the smile on John's face
as he's trying to see us work it out.
What a person.
What a unique person.
Listen, there's just no other person like this.
There is no one who has eternally existed in relationship with God
as God's perfect self-expression,
and shared God's very being as God,
and then become a human.
This unique person is the baby in the manger.
Don't be fooled by the sentimentality of the season.
The baby that Mary birthed is the God-man.
Divinity united with humanity in a person.
There is no halo around him,
no soft glow emanating off his person to mark his uniqueness,
but John is helping us see exactly who he is.
The one whose birthday we celebrate this month
is the one who had no origin, no beginning.
In fact, he existed before the universe existed,
before time began.
And people, ever since the first century,
ever since Jesus first showed up,
we're trying to nail this down.
How is this possible that God and man
could be together in the same person?
We kind of want to write a recipe for this mystery,
figure it out.
But the fact is, we're in the deep end of the pool.
There's no way we can swim to the bottom
and fully explore how this works.
It is beyond us.
John doesn't explain it for us.
God doesn't want us to go there.
We can't.
He just wants us to behold it and be in awe.
God's perfect self-expression,
eternally existing in the closest possible relationship with God,
sharing God's very being,
became a human.
And we're just supposed to have mouths open.
This great mystery must lead us not only to the end of our intellectual understanding,
but also to our knees.
One cannot celebrate Christmas flippantly if this is what Christmas is about.
If we do, we dishonor the God-man.
If we do not obey the Christmas hymn's words,
Oh, come, let us adore him,
then we fail to acknowledge the most momentous event in human history,
when God, the author of creation,
wrote himself into his own story and became human
to show us who he is and to bring us back to him.
And if that weren't enough,
if our brains can still handle it,
let's look at the third claim.
John makes another claim about the unique person of this word.
He is responsible for the creation of all things.
Look at verse 3.
All things were made through him,
and without him was not anything made that was made.
Apart from the person of the word,
we would not exist.
Nothing would exist.
Notice how the apostle states it positively,
and then just to make sure we get the point,
he puts it negatively.
All things were made through him,
then negatively.
Without him,
not anything,
not one thing would be made.
So that means that dragonflies exist
because of and through Jesus.
Spiral galaxies exist because of and through Jesus.
Music exists because of and through Jesus.
Gravity exists because of and through Jesus.
Tyrannosaurus rex exists because of and through Jesus.
Your next door neighbor exists because of and through Jesus.
Jesus.
Your spouse exists because of and through Jesus.
You, your life, your body, your thoughts,
your past, your present, your future,
you exist because of and through Jesus.
And then later on in Colossians 1,
Paul will add another preposition to that mix.
Not only do all things exist because of and through Jesus,
but they exist for him.
Not only do all things exist because of him,
they exist for him.
All of creation,
from blue whales to Jupiter to hummingbirds,
it all exists for him.
For his glory,
for his purposes,
for his pleasure.
He's the one that gives creation its meaning and its purpose.
If we see our own existence as existing somehow apart from him,
we're missing the very thing that gives meaning and purpose to our life
because we were and all things were created through him.
But like this,
is Paul,
is John just kind of making this up out of thin air?
No.
He's just putting his knowledge of the Old Testament
together with his knowledge of who Jesus revealed himself to be.
You see,
the Bible is kind of like a curtain on a stage.
It's slowly and steadily pulled back,
revealing more and more detail about what has been previously said.
So on the first page of Scripture,
we learn that God created everything through his word.
By speaking,
let there be light.
And there was light.
Psalm 33, 6 says something similar.
By the word of Yahweh,
the heavens were made.
So we already know that God created all things through his word.
But now,
John has given that curtain rope an extra tug,
revealing that the word by which God created the universe
is actually a person.
So this means that the Father and the Son
were in divine partnership
in the creation of the world.
And maybe you're wondering,
how?
How did that work?
Give me some more specifics here.
But he just doesn't go there.
And honestly,
the rest of Scripture doesn't go that far either.
because there are things that the human mind simply can't understand.
Again,
we're in the deep end of the pool here.
We can't swim to the bottom.
That's okay.
Who would want to worship something that you completely understood?
It's right and good for us to come to this and say,
I don't know how exactly this works,
but I see it.
And then John,
in the rest of his gospel,
he demonstrates this powerfully about Jesus.
Only the co-creator of the world
could transform the chemical properties of water
into delicious wine
just with his word.
Only the one through whom all things were made
could take a boy's lunch
and feed a vast multitude
till they were stuffed.
Only the author of life
could speak a word
to a man who was dead for four days
and revitalize every decomposing cell in his body
so that he walked out of the tomb perfectly whole.
And so it is this awe-inspiring word
through whom God made all things
who is lying in the manger.
He's the co-author of life.
He's the co-architect of the universe.
He is the co-creator of every living thing.
Without him,
we would not only know or experience
any good thing in this life,
we wouldn't even exist.
We owe him our existence.
But John's not done.
He has one claim left.
It's highly related to this last one,
but it gets at something even more marvelous
about this word
who is a person
who is making God known to us.
Here's the fourth thing
he wants us to know.
His life
is our light
in the darkness.
His life
is our light
in the darkness.
It's right there in verse four.
In him was life
and the life
was the light
of men.
Verse five,
the light shines
in the darkness
and the darkness
has not
overcome it.
So because all things
came into being
through him,
the first part of verse four
is just not surprising, right?
In him was life.
So this absolutely unique person
of the word
through whom God
made the universe
who shares God's very being
and nature,
he has life
in him.
Now we shouldn't think
of a Genesis 2
kind of life.
Of God breathing
the breath of life
into a lump of dust
called Adam
and making him
a living being.
Not that kind of life.
Because that kind of life
is a completely different
kind of life
that the person
of the word
is said to have here.
Our kind of life
is a created life.
It's a dependent life.
It comes from a source.
Our life is dependent
on other things
for existence.
Not only upon food
and air
and water,
but ultimately
upon God himself.
who is the giver
of life.
But the one
through whom
all things were made
does not have
that kind
of dependent life.
The life
in him
is not from
anything.
The word
has uncreated
life
that he shares
with the father.
Later on
in John chapter 5
Jesus will say
as the father
has life
in himself
so he has granted
to the son
to have life
in himself.
That's the son
has the same
kind of
in himself
life
that the father
has.
A self-existent
life.
It's life
that comes
from nowhere.
It's uncreated.
It's resident
in his very person.
Theologians
from an older
generation
called this
kind of
self-existence
God's
aseity.
It basically
means
God's
from himself-ness.
and the son
shares that
same kind
of self-existing
life.
He always
has
and he always
will.
What does
John say
about this
unique
self-existing
life that the
word has?
Look at verse 4.
That life
was the light
of men.
Well
typical of the
apostle John
there's a
surface level
meaning here
and then there's
a deeper
meaning.
On the surface
it seems that
John
is just saying
that unless
we recognize
that God
the word
is the source
of all things
we can't
understand
our reality.
We don't
have the
light of
understanding
if we don't
recognize him
as the author
of life.
So Psalm 36
states something
like this
with you
God
is the
fountain
of life.
In your
light
do we
see
light.
God
being the
abundant
source of
life
is like
a fountain
ceaselessly
flowing
with water
and it
is in
the light
of acknowledging
that he
is the
creator
and the
source
of life
do we
actually
understand
what it
means for
us to
be his
creatures.
To understand
reality as
it truly
is.
And unless
we begin
to see it
that way
we're
deceived.
Otherwise
we begin
thinking our
life comes
from ourselves
and we
start going
off depending
upon ourselves.
only by
believing the
truth that
all life
originated
with and
is sustained
by God
himself can
we actually
understand what's
around us.
And so all
that John is
doing in
verse 4 is
just tying that
biblical truth to
the word,
to the son.
We must
understand that
everything we see
around us came
into being
through the
person of the
word,
Jesus Christ.
He's the
light we walk
around in.
Everything around
us has the
phrase created
by the
father through
the son written
on it.
Everything from
supernovas to
snails to
shoulder joints,
it all proclaims
the glory of
Jesus, the
wisdom of
Jesus, the
beauty of
Jesus, the
creativity of
Jesus, the
centrality of
Jesus.
So in one
sense that's
basically what
John is saying
here.
He's saying
unless we
recognize him
as a source
of our life
we don't have
light.
We can't see.
We don't
understand our
reality.
But I think
John is also
saying something
a little bit
deeper about
this light.
Look at
verse 5.
The light
shines in
the darkness
and the
darkness has
not overcome
it.
And then we
get further
clues that
John's not
done talking
about this
light.
He keeps
talking about
the light
in verses
6-13.
In verse 7
this light
is borne
witness to
by John
the Baptist
so that
everyone might
believe in
this light.
And then in
verse 9
we see that
this light
was coming
into the
world to
give light
to everyone.
And he
came to a
world in
darkness.
A world
that was
made through
him and a
world that
rejected him.
So we
begin to see
this isn't
just about
God's
the sun's
life being
our light
understanding
who we are
as creatures.
It's about
he's invading
the darkness
to bring us
light again.
yes he is
responsible for
our existence
and in that
way yes he's
our light
but the
plain fact
of it is
we rejected
that light.
All of us
from way back
in the beginning
with Adam
and Eve
to right here
with us
we ignore
the fact that
we are
creatures
dependent upon
God.
Adam and
Eve freely
ate from
the tree
of life.
they were
enjoying
God's
gracious
gift of
life
and existence.
They walked
in the light
of his
life
enjoying
the direct
and unshielded
glory of
his presence
as we were
meant to.
They enjoyed
him through
his good
gifts
they walked
in his
light
but then they
listened to
the one who
can disguise
himself as
an angel
of light.
He promised
that they
didn't need
God's light
they could
create their
own.
Satan's
dismal
lie
tells us
that we
don't need
the one
from whom
all life
and light
come.
We can be
our own
life
we can be
our own
light
we can
create our
own reality
where we
are like
God
but that
is like
telling a
branch
that it
can cut
itself
off from
the trunk
and plant
itself
as its
own
tree.
It is a
self-inflicted
sentence of
death
and so we
became creatures
of darkness
as Paul
says in
Romans 1
our foolish
hearts were
darkened
as we
declared our
independence
from our
source of
life and
light and
we no
longer knew
him.
Like a
rebellious
planet
breaking free
from its
orbit around
its life
giving sun
we hurtled
into the
outer darkness
of cold
and empty
space
where only
death and
destruction
lurk.
But just
as God
in the
beginning
expressed
himself
through
his
word
and gave
light
to banish
the
darkness
he expressed
himself
again in
the person
of his
word
to be
our light
and to
shine
again in
the midst
of our
darkness.
Jesus'
birth was
the dawning
of another
creation
work
a new
creation
the light
and life
giving sun
drew near
to its
rebellious
planet
the
uncreated
life
and light
of the
word
is not
only
our
only
source
of
existence
but also
our
only hope
of redemption
and renewed
relationship
with God.
As Jesus
would later
say in the
gospel of
John
I am
the light
of the
world
all those
who follow
me will
not walk
in darkness
but have
the light
of life.
Look down
at verses
12 and
13
to all
who did
receive him
who recognized
the light
and who
believed in
his name
he gave
the right
to become
children of
God
who were
born
not of
blood
nor of
the will
of the
flesh
nor the
will
of man
but of
God.
Only
those who
receive
and embrace
the light
of the
unique
person
of the
word
by faith
can be
restored
to a
new
kind
of
existence
a new
birth
born again
into a
new life
that only
the word
can bring.
And that
light started
shining into
the darkness
and it
created a
conflict.
The darkness
would try
its best
to overcome
the light
of the
person
of the
word.
Even as a
baby his
life was
plotted against
by Herod.
Satan brought
out custom
made temptations
to bring him
down in the
desert.
Religious
leaders planned
his downfall
that eventually
they succeeded
in doing.
The light
of the
world was
extinguished
in shame
and in
despair
on a
Roman
crucifixion
stake.
Darkness
had succeeded.
But in
the end
the only
thing that
darkness
had succeeded
in doing
was sealing
its doom.
For the
light that
it had
extinguished
exploded
again into
a blaze
of resurrection
brilliance
that would
never go
out.
And that
light still
shines in
the darkness.
darkness
because the
word that
was made
flesh,
the word
that gave
life,
it's his
life for
his own,
is the
word that
rose bodily
from the
grave and
who can
never die
again.
All those
who recognize
his light,
who see
Jesus for
who he
truly is,
and who
embrace him
by faith,
who draw
near to the
light and
walk in it,
they have the
promise of
eternal life.
So this is
the baby in
the manger.
He is our
only hope of
light and
life.
He is the
person of
the word.
He is the
one who has
made the
father known.
He's our
doctor piston.
He has
introduced us
to God long
after we have
forgotten him.
He is God's
perfect self
expression to
us because
he not only
was with
God in the
beginning but
he shares
God's very
being.
And he is
the creator
himself.
He is the
one through
whom all
things came
into being.
He is our
life, the
light who not
only gave us
created life but
offers us
eternal life in
the light that
continues to
shine unconquered
in the
darkness.
So how do
we respond to
this?
We must
recognize him
first of all.
We must
recognize that
there is no
one like
him.
He is the
one and
only true
word of
God, God's
perfect
communication to
us in a
person.
He is the
God man.
He is the
only way we
can truly know
God and be
rescued from
the darkness of
our sin.
Everything
revolves around
him.
So do you
recognize him
today?
God's
God.
You cannot
recognize him
and receive
him with a
yawn.
He demands
our full and
undivided
attention.
There is no
one like him.
You must
either acknowledge
him fully or
reject him
utterly but you
can't ignore
him.
Secondly, we
must embrace
him by faith.
it doesn't matter whether you've heard about Jesus all your life
or for the first time
once you recognize him your only hope
is to embrace him fully by faith
at the end of John's gospel we read the reason he wrote it
he writes
I wrote these things down so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ
the son of God and by believing you may have life in his name
there is no life apart from embracing
this unique person by faith
the one who became human as God
to die for your sins so that you could have life
if you have not embraced Jesus by faith
move toward him today
talk to somebody here
whether it's an elder or pastor down here at front at the end of the service
or someone next to you but respond
he's your only hope of light and life
and for the Christians in the room let me remind you
that that life that we receive in his name
it's not just a future hope
it is a present reality
it's a dynamic relationship with God
in Christ
through the spirit's powerful presence at work in us
I don't know about you but
it's really easy for me
to get up in the morning
and to start thinking about God as if he's math class
distant
boring
unknowable
maybe even threatening
just this last week I had this happen
and honestly it was this passage that God used
to pull me out of it
to behold
the fresh wonder of who God has revealed himself to be
in the person
the unique person
of his son
so dwell on the person in the manger this week
remind yourself
of who became flesh for you
remind yourself of your utter dependence upon him
for life
and for light
that is how we continue to embrace
this unique person
who is our light in our life
now
and he will be forever
and lastly
we must not only recognize him
not only embrace him by faith
but we must adore him
this is
this isn't much different from embracing him by faith
because faith leads to adoration
behold him in the manger
as the incarnated word
behold him as the God man
God's perfect self-expression
when we see him
we see God
so we must behold him
and be in awe of him
behold him not only in the manger
but also in his work on the cross
in the empty tomb
the light who gave himself for us
and rose again to shine forever
as our only hope of life
so behold him too
as your only true future hope
he's the thing we count on
church
in the heavenly city
there's no sun
there's no moon
the lamb himself
is our light
both now
and forever
so come
let us adore him
let's pray
father
you revealed yourself to us
you made yourself known to us
through the person
of the word
Jesus Christ
father would you fill our eyes
fresh with faith
help us to see again
help us not only to recognize him
but to embrace him
to have life in his name
to depend upon him
throughout the week
as our life
and our light
help us Lord
not to walk in darkness
but to walk in the light of life
help us Lord
to see
so we may adore you
and have joy in you
in Christ's name we pray
Amen
haste
Have a nice day
moment
flowers
we pray
for God
who parece
to see
God
who loves you
and how
are we
our light
Good
we pray
them
our
hope
we pray
thank you
for being
helpful
folks
isches
Do me
this
we pray
good
ma
państwo