August 2

From: Continual Burnt Offering By: Henry Allan Ironside

John 1:1‑3

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made”―John 1:1-3¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²The same was in the beginning with God. ³All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:1‑3).

IT is well known that the term “Word” translates the Greek word “Logos,” This was an expression already well-known to thinking people when our Lord appeared on earth. Everywhere in the Greek-speaking world the writings of Plato were circulated. He had spoken of the insolubility of many mysteries, but had expressed the hope that some day there would come forth a “Word” (Logos) from God that would make everything clear. John might even have had this in mind when, directed by the Holy Spirit, he penned the wonderful sentences with which this Gospel begins. It is as though God is saying: “The ‘Word’ has now been spoken. In Christ the mind of God is fully revealed. He who hears Him hears Gad, for in Him ‘are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge’.” The Word never had a beginning. The Son is as truly eternal as the Father is. To teach otherwise is to deny the very foundations of our faith. He could not have a beginning, for He Himself is the beginning and the end (Rev. 22:13¹³I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. (Revelation 22:13)).

“Thou art the everlasting Word—

The Father’s only Son.

God manifest, God seen and heard,

The Heaven’s beloved One;

In Thee most perfectly expressed

The Father’s self doth shine;

Fullness of Godhead, too: the blest, —

Eternally divine.

Image of th’ Infinite Unseen,

Whose being none can know;

Brightness of light no eye hath seen,

God’s Love revealed below.