Love The Word

Rev Albert Kang  

The Word of God is not an idea, a principle or a concept. It is not even the Bible (even though the Bible is the words of God) because the Word of God is a Person. John the Apostle wrote the Gospel of John and boldly identified Jesus as being the Word of God. The Greek word for “Word” is “Logos”. At that time, there was a group of people know as the Gnostics. They were saying that Jesus was not really God. They said that He was only a demigod – a kind of smaller angelic being that was a little lower than God and a little higher than the angels. John proved them wrong by exposing their ignorance in his Gospel. Today, there are still cultic churches that do not believe Jesus is God. However, we know that the Bible is very clear about the fact that Jesus is divine. In short, He is God.

Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, John wrote that in the very beginning was the Logos and the Logos was with God and Logos was God (John 1:1). He used the very word, “Logos” that was used by the Gnostics but he qualified it. Therefore before any written words were published, the Word of God already existed. This is the second Person of the Holy Godhead and He was involved with the creation of the universe.

In John 1:14, John made that connection between the pre-incarnate Christ and the incarnate Christ. He said, “The Logos became flesh and made His dwelling among us.” Wow, what a wonderful revelation. Here was this God who was involved in creating the whole universe, coming to live with us as a man. You can imagine the kind of feeling you will have if I were to tell you that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will be visiting you at your home. You would want to prepare a big fiesta and also your cameras. You would be calling your relatives and friends, telling them about this visit too.

Of course the visit of Christ should far surpass the importance of any presidential visit. Yet when He turned up as a human being, He ended up being born in the manger in the small town of Bethlehem . There was no firework. No big time celebrities welcomed Him. Neither did the nobility of Israel happy that He came. In fact the king sent soldiers to destroy him but ended up killing hundreds of innocent baby boys. The only dignitaries who gave Christ the proper honor and worship were the three wise men from the East. They had followed that special luminous star. After that, Joseph had to take his wife and baby Jesus to Egypt because of the murderous threat. In His early childhood, the King of kings was made a refugee.

The low-key way by which Christ came was done on purpose. He was coming as a Servant and not a King. In the first coming, He would be wearing the crown of thorns. It will only be in the Second Coming, that He will be wearing the golden crown. The impossible was happening. The Limitless One was to allow Himself to be limited. The Creator was to become like His creation.

The angels watched in amazement at how far God would go to redeem mankind. When they saw God in the form of a baby, they could not control themselves and broke out in praise. Their songs transcended the invisible world and shocked those poor shepherds who were out in the open country looking after their flocks. However, it was most appropriate that such glorious announcement was made to the shepherds because Jesus was to identify with them – He was to be the Good Shepherd (John 10:11 ).

We can imagine how thrilled John the Apostle was when he learned that he was to write a gospel. He knew Jesus intimately and he was always reclining or sitting next to Jesus. He was also one of the three confidants who were in the inner circle of Christ. The other two were Peter and James. John addressed himself as the “disciple whom Jesus loved” in his gospel. In fact, John was so close to Jesus that he was the only disciple left standing by Jesus at Calvary . He risked being arrested but he stood firm in his loyalty to Christ. While Jesus was dying, He requested John to look after His mother, Mary.

After the resurrection, it was John who recognized Jesus during one of the fishing trips that Peter had organized (John 21:1-14). When John was imprisoned in the island of Patmos , Jesus revealed to him the events of the end-time. In a vision, John saw the glorified Christ in the midst of golden lamp stands. Once again, John had the honour to write about Jesus as the Conqueror and King. John's book of Revelation also reveals how the history of the world will conclude and how Evil will be dealt with.

John was not always a loving person. Like his brother, James, he was a hotheaded and boisterous young man. In fact Jesus gave these two brothers a nickname, “ Boanerges”, which means “Sons of Thunder”. At one time, when a Samaritan village did not welcome Jesus, these two brothers tried to convince Him to give them power to call down fire from heaven and burn up that village (Luke 9:54).

What a changed man, John was to become. From his writings and church history, we learn that John had become an apostle, full of “Agape” love. As he walked faithfully with the risen Lord, he was thoroughly transformed by the love of Christ. In turn, he had loved His master so dearly that he suffered many persecutions. At one time, he was thrown into boiling oil but he survived. In spite of all the injustice and suffering, he was not bitter. He was willing to pay the price. John had become so much like his Savior – he had Christ-likeness in him. John testified for his Lord until AD 100. He was the only apostle who died a natural death but he was a martyr in will even though not in deed.

We should follow the example of John. It is only by staying close to the Lord that we can become more like Christ. To love the Lord is to know Him more. We need to get back to the words of God written in the Bible because its primary theme is Christ. We need to set time aside every day to read the Bible and to have fellowship with Christ. Nothing can take the place of spending time with the Lord. Let us love the words of God (Bible) and the Word of God (Jesus Christ) by being obedient. By so doing, may we bring glory to our God.

“If a man love me (Jesus), he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” (John14:23)