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In The Beginning: A Christmas Mediation

December 22, 1996 ~ Pickering Standard Church

John 1:1-18 - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’" From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.

Genesis 1:1 - In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

God spoke and into the void were created the wonders that surround us. From the tiniest of living things and the even tinier things that make them to the wonderfully complex bodies which we inhabit for a time and on to the magnificent glory of the heavens around the ball upon which we live. There is glory all about us, the astronomer, the biologist, and the nuclear physicist have all discovered wonders that defy the imagination and it is all there for us. God could have omitted creating the things we'll never see and we'd never have missed them. Galaxies that only now is the Hubble Space Telescope revealing to us seemingly have no impact on our lives save to make us wonder the occasional "Why?"

But it all does serve a purpose. There is a reason for everything, even if it is to cause us to answer the question "Why? with the exclamation "How awesome is our God!"

If creation were all that is it would be enough to earn God praise from the lips of every thing that ever drew breath. But there is more. And at this time of year, this very week in fact, that more becomes more apparent and perhaps more beautiful than at any other time. This week we will celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, our Saviour. It is incredible to think that this baby that adorns many of the cards we send and receive, who occupies the central position in almost every crèche is also the creator of those who worship Him. Jesus said to the Pharisee "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58). He existed before anything we'll ever see in this life and yet He came among us as a child. Again the question "Why?"

John, in the opening chapter of his gospel, provides the answer. Just as on the first day of creation God spoke forth the light that brightens our day and extends it into the night, so Jesus came as THE light. The light that would once and for all take all darkness away. While the galaxies of light far beyond our furthest gaze will pass away at the second coming, our sins which affect us daily are removed instantly as we have faith in Him whose birth we celebrate.

Because of the birth of the Christ child we can all be born as children of God. Why? Because He loves us more than anyone ever will.