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Millennial Dawn
Saviour, we place the inspired Word of Scripture, John 1 :1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God”. By the Word of course is meant the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Three majestic truths are here set forth: (1). The Word’s eternity—“ In the beginning”—the noun is with- out the article; it is unmarked, uncounted duration that is meant. “Was”, not came into existence; He was already in existence before the creation of the universe; therefore prior to all beginning, in a timeless age which transcends time, in eternity, Christ was. Millennial Dawn says there was a time when Christ was not; the Apostle John affirms there never was a time when He was not. (2). His eternal personal existence is maintained: “The Word was with God ; His equality with God, for John goes on to ascribe to Him crea- tion. (3). His Deity : “And the Word was God”. Most emphatic is the order of the words in the original: “And God was the Word”. Jesus Christ was no subordinate or created being. “Who subsisting in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant” (Phil. 2:6-11, R. V.) It is here taught that Christ existed in the form of God. “The form of a thing is the mode in which it reveals itself; and that is determined by its nature”. John Chrysos- tom long ago said: “It is not possible to be of one essence and to have the form of another”. Christ existed in the form of God because He Himself is God. Hence the Apostle asserts that He was God’s equal, but in His self-abasement He did not hold fast to this equality but emptied Himself of it, and instead took the lowly form of a bond-servant. His humiliation presupposes His former dignity and glory. Had He not been infinitely more than a created being, it would have been no renunciation to become a servant; that' He already was, according to the blasphemous teaching of Dawn- ism. Out of such a condition He could never have risen.
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