The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into him, that they may delight in his presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God himself in the core and center of their hearts.
-A.W. Tozer
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I am going to start off by making it very clear that I do not have all the answers. I don’t even have all the questions for that matter. But one thing I do have is a growing love for the ancient words of the New Testament. I am finishing up my third semester of Ancient Greek, which I decided to cram into two weeks. Things have been pretty crazy, but it has also been awesome just to be engulfed in the original language of Gospel according to John (of which we are translating about 40%).

Yet, those opening words of John’s still ring most powerfully in my mind: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This one was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and not one things came into being without him. That which came into being through him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend [or overcome] it.”

It’s interesting that John calls Jesus “The Word”. Through the word of God, he made all things. The Word of God was, is, and forever will be. Once a word is spoken by God it rings throughout eternity, for he is not bound by time or space, and neither is his word. But the word, which is powerful and eternal, became flesh and pitched his tent among us.

The Word entered into time and space. The Word became hungry and tired. He thirsted, he sweat, he cried, he bled, he died. But death itself, the ultimate unknown, could not comprehend the light of God’s Word. Death itself, the ultimate realm of darkness, could not overcome the light of God’s Word. The Word, though bound by time and space, still had authority over all things which he created. The Word continued to have power over time, space, and natural laws which He had set in motion from the beginning. No one could shut the Word up, but he chose to silence himself before Pilate. No one took the life out of him, but he gave it up so that we might have life eternally.

The Word spoke to thousands but was heard by only a few, and those few have gone through the trouble of bringing the Word to us that we may know him. The Word became flesh, not paper and ink, but the words and deeds of the Word have been preserved through paper and ink for us to hear and obey.

Are you listening?