“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
Dear Ones:
If ever there was a passage in Scripture that brings us face to face with objective truth, the life of God, and the believer’s experience of God, it is in John’s gospel, chapter 1, verse 14. We are confronted with a mystery, one which we cannot understand or fathom, and yet, so very simple in its declaration. John writes: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (1:1) This “Word” was, and is, the Lord Jesus Christ. Why does Scripture present Him to us as “the Word?” This “Word” is the objective form, presentation, revelation of that which is absolutely true OF God, Christ THE truth. All that He is, and forever shall be, will be TRUTH in the absolute form, being perfectly complete, and irrevocably God, as He reveals Himself to be. Now, we might ask the question: “What is the relevance of knowing that Christ is the “Word made flesh,” and the matter of our communion with Him? The answer is found in the reality that there is no contradiction, nor dissonance, between that which Christ IS as the total objective truth, and the very power and essence of His life. To know God, and have true communion with Him, there has to be a grasp of the truth revealed to us OF Christ. On the basis of that knowledge, by faith, there can be the experience of His LIFE, the living expression of truth. The fact that Christ “…became flesh” and dwelt among us reveals to us that it is possible, not only to “behold His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father,” but to KNOW His presence in the life, in truth by the Spirit. It is as the knowledge of the Son of God increases in mind and heart, that our experience of Him, by faith, as the one “..full of grace and truth,” is increased.
At the end of the period of the Judges in the Old Testament, we find that “…in those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25) It seems that apart from certain individuals who had a limited knowledge of God, Israel was like a drifting boat on a sea of ignorance and faithlessness. However, with the coming of Samuel the prophet, we find where God decisively REVEALS Himself to an individual, the results resounding throughout the nation, and ushering in the era of David, one of the great periods of revelation of God to the people, and to the world. But what was the key for Samuel? How could God change the course of history through one man? We read in 1 Samuel 3:21, “And the Lord appeared AGAIN in Shiloh, for the Lord REVEALED Himself to Samuel, in Shiloh by the word of the Lord.” It is essential to see here how God chose to reveal Himself, first to Samuel, but also to the nation. It is by “…the word of the Lord.” Why then is this so significant? Again, as we see in John’s gospel, there is a perfect correlation between the word of the Lord, and Christ Himself as our life. It is when the word of God is known, with the Spirit taking that word, and applying it to the heart, that God becomes real to the believer. Simply put, God SPEAKS through His objective word, by the Spirit of Christ. What then is personal revival? It is the revelation of God through His word to the soul of the believer, and the believer’s response to the revelation. Wonderful are the words of the hymn: “Speak Lord in the stillness, while I wait on Thee. Hushed my heart to listen, in expectancy.” The revelation of God to the heart is His call to the believer to fellowship, or communion with Him.
Dear Father, Please give us grace today to hear Thy voice in and through the objective, living word of God. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Love, Dad