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THE KING’ S BUSINESS
God, “ they worshipped H im .” Were they idolators in doing this? I f the Unitarians are right in their conception o f the person o f Christ, they were idolators and were breaking the law o f God, but the Unitarians are not right: Jesus should be worshipped as God by angels and men (Heb. 1 :6). And what they did then we should do daily. We should not only believe in Him, trust Him, love Him, obey Him, surrender all to Him, we should “worship Him.” Having wor shipped Him they “returned to Jerusalem -with great joy.” Nothing will give greater joy than worshipping Him. In the fuller account that Luke gives in Acts I (all, especially verses 10 and 11) we learn that a message was given to them before their return to Jerusalem which would be abun dant occasion for their great joy. Because they had received this wonderful new truth they did not separate themselves from the regular forms o f worship o f the day, they “were continually in the temple blessing God.” Wednesday, March 29 . John 1 : 1 , 2 . The Gospel o f John is the deepest book and the richest book in the Bible. In these Daily Devotional Studies it will be impos sible, o f course, to go with anything like exhaustive fullness into the passages that we shall study. For example,, whole vol umes o f theology are wrapped up in the two verses before us today. O f these words Canon Westcott says: “ The first sentence o f the Gospel offers a perfect example o f the stately symmetry by which the whole narrative is marked.. . . The sym metry o f form corresponds with the exhaustiveness o f the thought. The three clauses contain all that- it is possible for man to realize as to the essential nature of the Word in relation to time, and mode o f being, and character.” These verses form part o f the introduction to the entire Gospel; the whole introduction covers verses 1-18. In reading most books we omit the author’s introduction, and as a rule lose little by so doing, but in this book the introduction ^contains the very heart o f the whole. The introduction was
written for the definite purpose o f prepar ing the reader for a right understanding o f the incidents and discourses which were to follow. John, who evidently was-led by the Holy Spirit, starts out by giving us a true and full statement o f the nature of Him whose acts and teachings were to form the whole subject o f the narrative which is to follow, “In this introduction to the Gospel we have the theological summary of its contents.” W e shall not understand the rest o f the book unless we ponder deeply these introductory verses. There is no attempt at argument in the introduction. There is something far higher and better than argument—a calm and full statement o f the truth by one who knew the truth. W e have here, not man’s argumentation, but God’s revelation, and we will never truly understand it unless we study it as such. W e are told three things about “ The W ord :” He was (1) “In the beginning.’’ He was (2) “ With God.” ^ He was (3) “ God.” These three statements correspond to the three great facts about the incarna tion declared in verse 14: He Who “was God,” “ became flesh ;’’ He Who “ was with God,” “ tabernacled among us.” He Who “was in the beginning,” “ became” in time. There is a deep significance in the expression “ T he W ord .” He is so called because the word is that by which one expresses not only his thought but himself, and Jesús as the incarnate W ord o f God is God’s perfect expression and revelation o f Himself, He is “the effulgence o f His glory and the very image o f His substance” (cf. Heb. 1 :3). God has revealed Himself in His written Word, but the full revelation o f God is in the incarnate Word, Jesus o f Nazareth; not merely in what Jesus said, but in what Jesus was. T o know Jesus Christ is to know all that can be known o f God (cf. ch. 14:9; 17:3; 1:18; 1 John S:20), “ in Him dwelleth all the fullness o f the godhead bodily” (Col. 2 :9 ). The eternal pre-existence o f Him who became incarnate in the person o f Jesus o f Naz areth is clearly set forth in the six opening words o f the verse. These words carry us back o f all time into the eternal ages
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