And the WORD Is…

If you have traveled to a foreign country and not been able to communicate, you quickly appreciate the ability to understand a word. The very concept of a “word” is amazing because it brings understanding from one person to another. The important thing about a word is the meaning or concept behind it. A written word without a meaning is nothing more than random marks on a page.

The Gospel of John begins with a description of “the Word”. In the context of the first chapter, it is undeniably a synonym of Jesus Christ. Grammatically, it is very simply stated, yet it is a very deep concept. It says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1 NKJV).

The word “Word” in the original Greek text is logos meaning the expression of a thought, a concept, and an eternal principal. Jesus Christ is the Word, the expressed and articulated concept of all that is God. “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation” (Colossians 1:15 NKJV).

Follow along with this illustration reading each paragraph and each corresponding graphic. If I presented native English speakers with a word written in Telegu script and language that is used in India, ninety-nine percent would not have a clue of what the word means. It would look like curvy non-descript lines to us. Such as…

If I wrote it in Latin script used by English speakers, you might be able to approximate the pronunciation, but you may still have no understanding of its meaning.

If it is translated to a more familiar foreign language such as Spanish, many more may understand the meaning behind the word.

And of course, when it is written in English, we instantly know the word and its meaning. The concept and meaning are the same in all four but most only understood one or two.

The point of this little experiment is that words have a meaning behind them. They came from an intelligent source. There is a concept, idea, purpose, and meaning to the written word regardless if we understand the script or the language. The purpose and the meaning of life to some people are like an unintelligible script as in my first graphic. To others it can be said like my second example but it is still not understood. Then others may have a vague idea about life like a word in a somewhat familiar language. It is wonderful when we understand what a written word means even if our understanding is incomplete. Like, how many people really understand everything about God?

Jesus Christ is the Word. In eternity past before His incarnation, He was eternally self-existent with no beginning. The Word [Jesus] was already in the beginning and “was with God” and “was God” according to the scripture.

In Him all that would be, came forth came from Him. He is the expression, the concept, the intelligent thought of everything created. In Him is the articulated thought of God the Father.

Jesus spoke directly to the Apostle John on the Island of Patmos and said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (Rev. 1:8 NKJV).

Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet and Omega is the last, as A and Z are in the Latin alphabet. But Jesus is more than the letters of some acronymous words we could pick out between A to Z, such as “S” for Savior. He is all the word combinations and even more of an infinite Scabble board describing the eternal purpose and meaning of all things. Jesus is The Word of all eternity. He is more than we can read but that which we can read is mind-blowing.

John 1:3 (NKJV) says that “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” Behind every word of all that was conceived and created is The Word where all things are brought into existence. All that was brought forth in the universe was spelled out by Him. Everything.

Scientists today see only four major components of the natural world, which are matter, energy, space, and time. Physics is the understanding and computation of all things in the interactions of these components. Einstein’s famous formula (E=mc²) articulated the formula devised by God and spelled out is [(E) Energy equals (m) matter multiplied by (c) the speed of light (the variable of time) multiplied by itself.]

All of science in the natural world is spelled out by and in Jesus the Word. Every speck of matter, every force of energy, every cube of space, and every tick of time came from the Mind of God. We could say the mind of God is the eternal womb of all knowledge, wisdom, and understanding.

Every creature, every force, every atom, every sparkle of light, and all the essence of life had its conception in the mind of God. It was then executed by the Holy Spirit. The concept was completed in the expression of the Son of God. “Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light” (Gen. 1:3 NKJV). When the Father spoke, he uttered forth from His great inexhaustible core of knowledge, wisdom, and meaning the concept He wanted to create. His breath [Heb. Ruach], the Spirit, issued forth to execute His concept, and the Son manifested the concept in His completed breath of the first syllable to the last (the Alpha and the Omega).

Beyond matter, energy, and time as we know it in the natural world, is another sphere altogether known as the spiritual realm. The Word expresses all that is in the spiritual realm but it is a language that is mostly scribble and mostly unknown to earthlings.

In the eternal sphere our understanding barely comprehends a mere utterance. It is known only by revelation of God to men, not by men’s discovery. Eternity is a time dynamic totally different than our universe. It is made of a constant now that encompasses the universe’s past, present, and future as if it is all current. Spiritual objects are different than earthly matter that exist and operate in a different dimension that is beyond our three-dimensional world. Spiritual power is so beyond the energy of the physical universe that an earthly atomic bomb is not even a flicker of an eternal candle. BOOM!

The Apostle Peter replied to Jesus when asked if they would also go away, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words [my emphasis] of eternal life. / Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (John 6:68-69 NKJV).

And so, THE WORD IS! Why do we look for another? Nothing outside of Jesus makes sense. How can it? HE IS THE WORD!

Yours on the Journey,

Harry L. Whitt