There are passages of Scripture that speak.There are passages that stir.And then there are passages that open the sky.
John Chapter 1 is the sky-opening chapter.
It is the first breath of a new creation.
A sunrise that never sets.
A door through which all revelation walks.
A beginning before beginnings.
A voice that does not echo — because it never stops sounding.
Every time I return to this chapter, something in me bows. Something in me rises. Something in me remembers that life is not random, light is not fragile, and Jesus Christ is not a distant figure in history.
He is the center.
He is the meaning.
He is the pulse of existence.
And John begins his Gospel by taking us not to a manger, not to a genealogy, not to a prophet crying in the wilderness — but to eternity itself.
Not to time.
But to before time.
Not to earth.
But to the Word who fills all things.
Some chapters are read. This one is entered.
And when you step into it, everything inside you feels it — the shift, the pull, the holy gravity.
This is the place where eternity touches the page.
This is the first step into the revelation of the Gospel of John.
And once you step in, you cannot step out unchanged.
THE WORD BEFORE WORDS
“In the beginning was the Word.”
Not “at the beginning.”
Not “from the beginning.”
In the beginning.
Meaning:
When beginnings began, He already was.
When time broke open, He stood outside.
When creation unfolded, He spoke it into existence.
John chooses the Greek word Logos — a word that carried layers of meaning across philosophy, language, and Hebrew thought. But even that doesn’t capture the weight. What John gives us is not a concept. Not a theory. Not an abstraction.
He gives us a Person.
The Word
that thinks,
speaks,
creates,
reveals,
holds,
and sustains
everything that exists.
The Word who is not spoken — the Word who speaks.
Many people go their whole lives believing God is silent. But Scripture doesn’t begin with silence. It begins with a Voice.
You were spoken into existence.
You were called into life.
You breathe because He spoke.
And you belong because He still speaks.
You come from a Voice.
You are held by a Voice.
And you will return to the Voice that formed you.
THE WORD WAS WITH GOD — AND THE WORD WAS GOD
John draws the curtain back with language so simple that a child can memorize it, yet so deep that scholars drown in it.
He was with God.
Relationship.
Distinction.
Community within the Godhead.
He was God.
Identity.
Essence.
Divine fullness without lack or limit.
John gives Jesus no warm-up.
No introduction.
No build-up.
He unveils Him outright:
Eternal.
Coexistent.
Co-equal.
Creator.
Divine.
Preexistent.
Personal.
God.
Every religion wrestles to reach up toward heaven.
Every philosophy tries to climb its way to meaning.
Every belief system attempts to pull the threads of existence into something that explains itself.
John does not climb.
He does not reach.
He does not stretch upward.
He simply reveals:
God has come down.
ALL THINGS CAME INTO BEING THROUGH HIM
Not “some things.”
Not “spiritual things.”
Not “religious things.”
All things.
Every galaxy, every mountain, every fiber of your DNA.
Every thought, every breath, every beat of the human heart.
Creation did not stumble into order.
God did not outsource His creative power.
Jesus Christ was not a witness to creation —
He was the architect.
John is telling us something the world has forgotten:
You are not accidental.
You are not incidental.
You are not replaceable.
You are not random.
You are not meaningless dust swirling through meaningless existence.
You were made by a God who does not create mistakes.
And the Word who formed the universe still forms lives today.
IN HIM WAS LIFE
Not “around Him.”
Not “because of Him.”
Not “after Him.”
In Him — the source, the wellspring, the origin.
You do not go to Jesus to enhance your life.
You go to Him because there is no life without Him.
Life doesn’t begin when you're born.
Life begins when you meet the Life-Giver.
People chase meaning like it’s hiding.
They chase purpose like it’s elusive.
But life is not a treasure you find.
Life is a Presence you receive.
You don’t manufacture light.
You stand in it.
You don’t invent purpose.
You awaken to it.
You don’t create meaning.
You encounter the One who embodies it.
In Him was life.
And if He is the source, then everything apart from Him eventually drains out.
This is why people feel empty even when they win.
This is why success without Christ feels like starvation.
This is why souls thirst even in abundance.
Because life is not something you accumulate.
Life is Someone you know.
AND THE LIFE WAS THE LIGHT OF MEN
John reveals something crucial here:
Light is not information.
Light is not education.
Light is not inspiration.
Light is revelation — the revelation of God made visible in Christ.
You’re not seeing clearly until you’re seeing through Him.
The world teaches you to define light by opinion.
Scripture teaches you to define light by Person.
He is the light that does not dim.
He is the truth that does not evolve.
He is the clarity that does not shift.
And when His light touches the human heart, something awakens that no darkness can undo.
THE LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS, AND THE DARKNESS HAS NOT OVERCOME IT
This is not poetry.
This is reality.
Darkness does not win.
Darkness cannot win.
Darkness has never won.
From Genesis to Revelation, from creation to new creation, there has been one unbroken truth:
Light wins simply by showing up.
Darkness does not have to be fought.
It only has to be exposed.
You don’t battle shadows — you turn on the light.
And the Light of Christ is not intimidated by the world’s confusion, corruption, or collapse.
Your darkness is not bigger than His light.
Your failures are not stronger than His truth.
Your wounds are not deeper than His love.
Your past is not heavier than His mercy.
When Jesus steps in, darkness loses its argument.
THE TRUE LIGHT THAT GIVES LIGHT TO EVERY PERSON
John makes a universal statement — but not a universal salvation.
The light is offered to everyone.
But not everyone receives Him.
The tragedy of humanity is simple:
Light came.
But many preferred shadows.
Truth stood before them.
But many chose comfort over clarity.
Life reached out its hand.
But many clung to death.
If you ever feel rejected — remember this:
Jesus Christ was rejected first.
Not because He was unlovable,
but because His love was uncompromising.
He did not come to blend in with darkness.
He came to break it.
HE CAME TO HIS OWN, AND HIS OWN DID NOT RECEIVE HIM
Rejection breaks people.
But it never broke Him.
Why?
Because He wasn’t moved by acceptance.
He was moved by purpose.
He didn’t need human approval.
He came with divine assignment.
And still — He came close.
Close enough to be rejected.
Close enough to be refused.
Close enough to be wounded.
Love always comes close enough to get hurt.
Yet He kept coming.
He keeps coming now.
He keeps stepping toward those who push Him away.
He keeps knocking on doors that stay closed.
He keeps reaching for hearts that have forgotten how to open.
Grace does not quit, even when people do.
BUT TO ALL WHO RECEIVED HIM
This is one of the greatest reversals in Scripture.
The world may reject Him —
but anyone, anywhere, at any moment, can receive Him.
You don’t need to earn Him.
You don’t need to qualify for Him.
You don’t need to fix yourself first.
You receive Him,
and He makes you new.
John tells us:
He gave them the right to become children of God
This is not metaphor.
Not symbolism.
Not poetry.
It is adoption.
Identity.
Belonging.
Inheritance.
You are more than forgiven — you are family.
You belong not beside Him but with Him.
You are not a guest in God’s kingdom.
You are an heir.
And nothing — not sin, not shame, not history — can revoke what God has declared.
THE WORD BECAME FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US
This is the crescendo of the chapter.
The miracle of all miracles.
The moment eternity steps into time.
The Word did not send an angel.
The Word did not deliver a message.
The Word did not shout from heaven.
The Word became.
He became what we are
so we could become what we were made to be.
He put on skin,
walked our roads,
felt our pain,
carried our sorrows,
entered our limitations,
and stood inside our humanity without losing His divinity.
God did not stay far.
He stepped close enough to touch.
Close enough to weep.
Close enough to bleed.
Close enough to save.
The Creator stepped into creation to redeem the created.
And He dwelt among us — not as a distant monarch, but as a present Savior.
WE HAVE SEEN HIS GLORY
Glory is not a glow.
Glory is not a feeling.
Glory is not a moment.
Glory is the revelation of who God is.
And in Christ, that glory becomes visible, tangible, undeniable.
The glory Moses saw on the mountain.
The glory Isaiah beheld in the temple.
The glory Ezekiel saw by the river.
The glory Daniel encountered in visions.
That same glory now walks on two feet,
speaks with a human voice,
touches human hands,
and calls people by name.
We saw Him.
We touched Him.
We heard Him.
We followed Him.
We believed Him.
And we still see Him.
Every time Scripture opens.
Every time grace overwhelms.
Every time light breaks through darkness.
Every time Jesus reveals Himself to a seeking heart.
We see His glory.
FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH
Grace without truth is sentiment.
Truth without grace is severity.
Jesus is neither.
He is both.
Fully.
Perfectly.
Eternally.
Grace for the sinner.
Truth for the seeker.
Grace for the wounded.
Truth for the wandering.
Grace that lifts.
Truth that anchors.
He does not offer half of Himself.
He offers all.
And the fullness He carries is the fullness we receive.
FROM HIS FULLNESS WE HAVE ALL RECEIVED
What we receive from Him is not portioned, rationed, or restricted.
We receive from fullness.
Full mercy.
Full compassion.
Full forgiveness.
Full strength.
Full identity.
Full belonging.
Full purpose.
Full life.
You are not drawing from a shallow well.
You are drawing from an endless ocean.
You are not receiving occasional mercy.
You are receiving overflowing grace.
You are not surviving.
You are supplied.
Your life is not defined by your lack.
It is defined by His fullness.
GRACE UPON GRACE
Grace layered upon grace.
Grace replacing grace.
Grace sustaining grace.
Grace that arrives before need.
Grace that remains after failure.
Grace that carries you when you cannot carry yourself.
God’s grace is not a moment.
It is a movement.
A continual, unstoppable flow of divine love extended toward those who cannot earn it.
NO ONE HAS EVER SEEN GOD — BUT THE SON HAS MADE HIM KNOWN
This is John’s final revelation in the chapter:
If you want to know God,
you look at Jesus.
Not opinions.
Not traditions.
Not theories.
Not assumptions.
Jesus is the face of the Father.
The heart of the Father.
The revelation of the Father.
He makes the invisible visible.
He makes the distant near.
He makes the eternal knowable.
Everything you need to understand about God
is found in the Son who reveals Him.
CONCLUSION: THE WORD STILL SPEAKS
John Chapter 1 is not history.
It is present reality.
It is the continual unveiling of Jesus Christ — the Word made flesh.
He is still light in darkness.
He is still life in emptiness.
He is still grace in brokenness.
He is still truth in confusion.
He is still God with us, God for us, God in us.
And He is still calling people to see Him,
receive Him,
follow Him,
and become children of God through Him.
There is no Scripture more foundational to understanding Jesus’ mission.
No revelation more essential to the Christian walk.
No chapter more alive with divine power.
This is the dawn of the Gospel.
The unveiling of the Word.
The heartbeat of eternity breaking into time.
The story begins here —
and the journey leads us forever deeper into the One who was, who is, and who is to come.
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Douglas Vandergraph