OPINON —
There are certain passages in the Bible that seem to answer more questions than we realize at first. John 1:1–5 is one of those passages. In just a few verses, John tells us who Jesus is, where He came from, what He has done and why we can trust Him when life gets dark.
John begins with words that immediately take us somewhere familiar: “In the beginning.” Those are the same opening words we find in Genesis 1:1. Genesis tells us, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” while John tells us, “In the beginning was the Word.” John is making it clear from the very beginning of his Gospel that Jesus did not start in Bethlehem. When creation began, Jesus was already there.
That truth changes the way we think about Him. Jesus is not simply a great teacher who appeared at one point in history and He is not merely one more important religious figure. John says the Word was with God and the Word was God. Before there was a world, before there was a human being, before there was a problem to solve or a sin to forgive, Jesus already existed.
John then goes one step further and says, “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” Colossians 1 says something very similar, telling us that all things were created through Christ and for Christ and that in Him all things consist. The One who walked the roads of Galilee is the One through whom those roads, mountains, seas, stars and people came into existence.
Sometimes, I think we forget just how big that is.
We often come to Jesus with the problems right in front of us and of course we should. We come with our fears, grief, failures, questions and burdens. But John reminds us that the One we are coming to is not overwhelmed by the things that overwhelm us. The One who created everything is not confused by our circumstances or surprised by what has happened in our lives.
Then John moves from creation to life. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” Jesus is not just the source of physical life; He is the source of spiritual life as well. He is the beginning of hope, mercy, forgiveness, grace and a restored relationship with God.
That is one of the things I love most about the way John describes Jesus. He was there at the beginning, but He also becomes the beginning of something new in us. In Christ, guilt does not have to be the end of the story. Failure does not have to be the end. Sin does not have to be the end. Jesus brings the possibility of a new beginning.
And then John gives us one of the most encouraging statements in the entire opening of his Gospel: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” The word can also carry the idea of overcoming or overpowering. In other words, darkness may surround the light, but it cannot defeat it.
That matters because darkness is real. Grief is real. Fear is real. Sin is real. Addiction is real. Pain, disappointment and uncertainty are all very real parts of life. Christianity does not require us to pretend those things do not exist.
What it does tell us is that none of them are greater than Christ.
Jesus said later in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world.” In John 16:33, He told His disciples, “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John begins his Gospel by telling us that darkness cannot overcome the Light, and later Jesus Himself tells us He has overcome the world. The message today stays the same.
Jesus was there before the darkness began and He will still be there when the darkness is gone.
That is why I think Revelation’s description of Jesus as the Alpha and the Omega is so powerful. He is the beginning and the end. He is the beginning of hope, love, forgiveness, mercy and grace, and one day He will also bring an end to pain, grief, suffering, death and everything else that sin has broken.
We are living somewhere in between those two realities right now.
Some days feel bright. Other days feel heavy and uncertain. There are moments when the darkness seems closer than the light. But John’s message is that the Light is still shining.
So when life gets dark, do not measure Jesus by the darkness around you. Measure the darkness by Jesus. He was there in the beginning. He is with us now.
And when everything else has passed away, He will still be there.
