Our Constant Star: Advent Day 3

Read & Journal

Reread John 1:1-5 again today, then turn to Genesis 1:1-31. Mull over what you’ve read, using these journal prompts to guide you: 

• What similarities did you notice between John 1 and Genesis 1? Jot down a few in your journal. 

• Why do you think it’s important that both of these passages begin with the phrase, “In the beginning”? 

• What does today’s reading (both John 1 and Genesis 1) teach you about Jesus? 

• Skim over the first verse of “O Savior of Our Fallen Race” once more today. How do you see the concepts presented in today’s reading showing up in the hymn? 

• Why is it important to recognize that Jesus was active in creation? Explain.

Ponder

O Son who shared the Father's might

Before the world knew day or night.

It’s no mistake that John began his Gospel with three words: “In the beginning.” The apostle knew his audience. Genesis was the first book of the Torah and the foundation of the Jewish understanding of life: “In the beginning, God created…”. Many Jews likely would have memorized this passage. 

To understand who Jesus is, John seems to be saying, you have to start with the beginning. Because before the world knew day or night, Jesus was. He played an active role in creation, and nothing has been created except through him (John 1:3, NLT). In the opening of his Gospel, John is remarkably clear in detailing exactly who Jesus is. He is not just some upstart teacher, like all the ones they’ve heard before. He’s not just a prophet. He is one with the Father; he is God; he is eternal, and nothing has been created that does not bear his fingerprint. 

As Kenneth O. Gangel says in the Holman New Testament Commentary, “John could hardly say it more clearly: without him nothing was made that has been made—everything from subatomic particles to galaxies. Only God who created all things can redeem them.”

Say those words out loud: Only God who created all things can redeem them.

As a member of the Trinity, Jesus spoke creation into being. He is the giver of life. But he is also the source—the only source—of eternal life. Only God can redeem us. Only Jesus can save us. We do not have hope if our hope is not in the Savior, Jesus Christ. 

We are broken people in a broken world who are scarred by sin. We need a savior. The good news of Scripture is that the God who spoke the world into being also came into the world he created to save us. To redeem us. To buy us back from sin and destruction, fear and death. You are not alone or forgotten. Before you knew day from night, the very God who created you did all that is necessary to save you.

Sources:

Kenneth O. Gangel, John, vol. 4, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 10.