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THE KING’S BUSINESS
seen in V. 3, but in spite of that fact, and though the whole created universe declare His glory (cf. Ps. 19:1; Rom. 1:20), the world knew Him not. What a dark, blind world this is (cf. V. 5). The personal character of the Word even before the incarnation is brought out in this verse by the use of the last Him.” In the Greek, the first “Him” might be neuter, but in the Greek, as well as in the English, the last “Him” is and must be masculine. V. 11. “He came unto His own, and (they that were) His own received Him not." Not only did the world as a whole not recognize the eternal Word but even they that belonged peculiarly to Him (that is Israel) did not receive Him. “The land of Israel was “His own home,’ and the people of Israel ‘His own peo ple.’ ” Still they did not receive Him when He came. We have here in the coming of the Word to His own a prep aration for the definite statement of the incarnation found in the 14th verse. But it was not only in the incarnation that He came to His own,.though that was His full coming, but the verb, “came,” must refer to a definite event and the event the Apostle had in mind was,the incarnation. In His incarnation the Word came first of all to those who were His own, seeking a welcome from them (cf. Matt. 21:37). But He did not receive the welcome He sought. He was rejected and murdered rather than received and worshipped. The Greek verb translated, “received” here is the same word that is so translated in ch. 14:3 of our Lord’s receiving of us to Himself at His second coming. It is a very strong and meaningful word, a somewhat different word from that translated “receive” in the next verse. The first “His own” in verse 11 is neu ter and refers to things, His own pos sessions or home; the second “His own” is masculine and refers to persons, those persons who belonged peculiarly to Him, His own chosen people. It refers to the great truth that Israel was His peculiar treasure above all peoples (Ex. 19:5), a special (or peculiar) people unto Him self, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth” (Deut. 7:16). The Jews longed for a deliverer to free them from Herod and from the Romans, but they did not long for such a de liverer as the incarnate Word was, One to deliver them from darkness and sin. His own people proved “stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart” (Acts 7:51). They “denied the Holy One and desired
nificant fact that this Gospel was writ ten in Ephesus the very place where Paul found certain disciplSs who were in danger of being disciples of John the Baptist instead of Jesus (John 19:1-6). V. 9. “That was (rather “there was”) the true light (“even the light”) which llghteth every man that cometh (rather “coming”) into the world.” Not John the Baptist, but the eternal Word, was the true Light. In His coming into the world, not only His coming in the incarnation in Jesus of Nazareth, but also in His com ing in the preliminary manifestations of “the Word,” which preceded the in carnation, He lighteth men. Every ray of light that any man has ever received, comes from Him. Men were never left altogether alone to grope in the dark ness, the eternal Word was always com ing and shining and lighting men. In the incarnation of which we are to read soon, the light received its fullest mani festation, its perfect manifestation. The eternal Word and He alone “was the true Light.” All other lights are only par tial—He fully realizes all that is meant by Light. It may be said of Him as is said of God in I John 1:5, He is “light and in Him is no darkness at all.” He is called the “true Light” not merely in contrast to false lights but in con trast to all imperfect, incomplete lights. In the Lord Jesus as the incarnate Word God “has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (II Cor. 4:6). The force of the tense of the verb “lighteth” indicates continuous action, the Word continually is lighting men. The verb so translated is used 11 times in the New Testament, b. The World and the Children of God in Their Attitude Toward “The Word.” 10-13. V. 10. “He was in the world, and the world was made by (rather, “through”) him, and the world knew him not." This verse refers to the presence of the eternal Word in the world before the incarnation. “The Word” did not first come into the world when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. He was in the world from the beginning of creation as He was with the Father before creation. He was in the world, not merely as speak ing through the prophets, He was in the world in personal presence. But though He was in the world, the world did not recognize Him. It “knew Him not.” Man ever since the Fall has been blind to the presence of God. The world was created through His agency as we have already
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