In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John is introducing Jesus as 'the Word' - God's ultimate way of speaking to us. Before anything existed, this Word was already there, living in perfect relationship with God, and was himself fully God. This Word didn't stay distant but became human flesh - Jesus. It's like the author is saying: 'The God who created everything chose to step into his own story.'
Eternal Word, thank you for not staying safely distant but moving into our mess. When I feel alone in my struggles, remind me that you've walked this road first. Help me see your fingerprints in my ordinary days. Amen.
Picture the vast silence before time, when only love and light existed between the Father and his Word. That same Word who shaped galaxies and whispered stars into being decided your street address was worth moving into. The infinite became an embryo. The voice that thundered at Sinai learned to cry for milk. This means your ordinary Tuesday is drenched with glory. When you're scrubbing dishes or stuck in traffic, the same Word who holds planets in orbit is sustaining your heartbeat. The God who could have stayed safely distant chose to know scraped knees and hunger pains and the weight of being misunderstood. Whatever you're facing today, you are not facing it alone. The Word became flesh and moved into your neighborhood of exhaustion and hope.
What does it mean that Jesus is called 'the Word'? How is God speaking through him differently than through prophets or Scripture?
Where do you most need to remember that God became flesh and entered your specific circumstances?
Does the idea of God becoming fully human comfort you or unsettle you? Why?
How might truly believing 'God moved into your neighborhood' change how you see a difficult person you're dealing with?
What's one practical way you can embody God's presence in someone's life this week?
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Genesis 1:1
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
John 1:14
And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
Revelation 19:13
And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Colossians 1:17
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
1 John 1:1
And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
John 17:5
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
Revelation 22:13
(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)
1 John 1:2
In the beginning [before all time] was the Word ( Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself.
AMP
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
ESV
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
NASB
The Word Became Flesh In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
NIV
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
NKJV
In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.
NLT
The Word was first, the Word present to God, God present to the Word. The Word was God,
MSG