The Extended Christ. September 8 John 1:4-5 Bible Study

The Extended Christ

John 1:4–5, 9–14

Our spiritual growth is inextricably bound up with the size of our vision of Christ. Once we get away from a one-dimensional or overly narrow picture of Christ, once we see the fullness and glory of Christ in the Scriptures, our lives will be enlarged. I believe most of us need a bigger vision of Christ. We need to see what John 1:1–3 reveals—that he is eternal, that there never was a time when Christ did not exist. We need to see that he was with God, was always coming together with God, always was God in every aspect. We need to see the drama of his being Creator:

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:3)

… sustaining all things together by his powerful word. (Hebrews 1:3)

The universe is held together by Jesus’ word. He is the force that holds all things together—from the smallest atom to the greatest galaxy.

If believers were to recapture the greatness of Christ, it would make an enormous difference in this world. A progression takes place in our spiritual lives, for as we see the greatness of Christ, we grow stronger in him. As a result, we will see more of the greatness of Christ and will grow even more. Growth to greatness, greatness to growth—this is an ascending spiral that, according to Ephesians 3, never ends.

We know from our creeds and the teachings of Scripture that God did not create us because he was lonely. God was all-sufficient in the Godhead. Rather, he created us for his glory. The Westminster Confession of Faith states, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” We were created for the glory of God. But I believe there is also another reason for our creation—his love. Love has to have an object. James points this out in 2:15 when he says, “If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?” Love has to have an object, and God’s love brought creation into being.

Some time ago I discovered from the Scriptures that God accomplished his creation to music. Job 38 gives us God’s response when he was finally fed up with all the dialogue and rhetoric of Job and his “comforters” and spoke out of the whirlwind:

“Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?” (vv. 2–7, emphasis added)

As God spoke the world and the universe into being, the angels exclaimed with joy, and the stars burst into song. Music surrounded the creation of God!

There is a beautiful passage describing the beginning of the world in the sixth book of the Chronicles of Narnia (The Magician’s Nephew). Lewis describes Aslan as standing with his face to the sun. His coat is shining and radiant. His mouth is wide open in song, and as he sings, green begins to form around his feet and spread out into a pool. Then flowers and heather appear on the hillside and move out before him. As Aslan begins to sing a more lively song, showers of birds fly out of the tree, and butterflies begin to flit about. Then comes great celebration as the song breaks into even wilder song. This is not mere fantasy—the creation was in fact done to music!

The first few verses of John, speaking of Christ’s preexistence and his glorious creation, are beautiful. Creation was a joyous event filled with celestial music. In Proverbs 8:30–31 Wisdom, a Christ-image, says: “Then I was the craftsman at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence.” Then she adds, “rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind.” The wonderful, joyful love of God was spread throughout creation.

But the joyous love found in the creation of our universe is just a shadow of the joy God finds in the spiritual creation of his people. Focusing on the greatness of Christ in the Light and on the vast, bottomless, shoreless sea of his love will fuel our praise and service

 Hughes, R. K. (1999). John: that you may believe (pp. 23–25). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.The