Post by M.R. Hagerty on Feb 1, 2023 10:07:07 GMT -7
John 1:9-13
9 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.
Every man? We draw back from this because in our experience we seem to encounter a host of people who give no indication they have been so enlightened. In Romans, this idea is revisited. Paul discloses that God has made Himself known to all men everywhere so that all are without excuse (Rom 1:20). It is the idea that at the judgment no man can claim, “I never knew a thing about you all my life, so how can I be judged?” God will be able to point to that place in time when He revealed Himself inwardly to every man.
And yet surprisingly, we then have “the world did not know Him.” How does this relate to having the Light enlighten every man? This is simply to say that after the revelation of God to every man, the world tended to forget this experience, primarily because this was subjective, and man became entangled in the practical aspects of living and society. Men learned to get along without God. Thus, God and His Spirit were in the world, yet the world no longer recognized Him, even when the Son was here in person.
That His own did not receive Him seems strange until we realize that one’s home town is a place of familiarity and social intimacy and “familiarity breeds contempt.” This is simply to say that we get indignant when someone we have known for years begins preaching and exhorting us, as if they’ve become something special. In Jesus’ case he was indeed special, but in ways that are spiritually discerned and this is not always appreciated in all people.
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Many people believe that just being a human being makes them a child of God, since He is our Creator. But the Bible makes it clear that this is not automatic, but involves a right. The bestowal of that right has a prerequisite we must all meet. We must receive Him. This means we must not merely acknowledge that Jesus existed, died and rose again, but we must make these facts personal. We must “accept” what He stands for - His message - and the changes in our life He calls all men to make. Separating the mere fact of Christ from what He taught and commanded does not succeed.
It’s akin to saying Jesus was a great teacher, a righteous man. You can’t say this and ignore the import of His teaching. He doesn’t give us that option; and people who do this anyway are simply being superficial. His words are of a nature that one must make a decision about Him one way or the other. We must decide if He was self-deceived or deluded about His message, or if He and His message are the truth about the real world as it is. To decide the former is to reject Him. To decide the latter is to accept Him.
To be born of God is declared as distinct from being physically born, and is not achieved by willing it into being. It is not acquired by trying really, really hard. It requires an act of God. So for those who are skeptical about miracles, they have been given the first lesson in Miracles 101. Their being born of God at conversion is the first instance of miracles in their life.
To be born of God is talked about later in John as the second birth, to be born again (3:7). We are born to biological life that begins as dead unto God. We must then be born a second time, but in spiritual terms that make our spirit alive unto God.
Birth means introduction to life and the expectation is to then walk out in it. It is not an experience we have, then put on the shelf and go about our business as before. We have been changed because this birth is of God and has expectations we cannot ignore.
To be born of God means that we are now aware of another world, the one God operates in. Our eyes become open to see that world and it changes how we walk, act, and perceive in the physical world.
9 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.
Every man? We draw back from this because in our experience we seem to encounter a host of people who give no indication they have been so enlightened. In Romans, this idea is revisited. Paul discloses that God has made Himself known to all men everywhere so that all are without excuse (Rom 1:20). It is the idea that at the judgment no man can claim, “I never knew a thing about you all my life, so how can I be judged?” God will be able to point to that place in time when He revealed Himself inwardly to every man.
And yet surprisingly, we then have “the world did not know Him.” How does this relate to having the Light enlighten every man? This is simply to say that after the revelation of God to every man, the world tended to forget this experience, primarily because this was subjective, and man became entangled in the practical aspects of living and society. Men learned to get along without God. Thus, God and His Spirit were in the world, yet the world no longer recognized Him, even when the Son was here in person.
That His own did not receive Him seems strange until we realize that one’s home town is a place of familiarity and social intimacy and “familiarity breeds contempt.” This is simply to say that we get indignant when someone we have known for years begins preaching and exhorting us, as if they’ve become something special. In Jesus’ case he was indeed special, but in ways that are spiritually discerned and this is not always appreciated in all people.
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Many people believe that just being a human being makes them a child of God, since He is our Creator. But the Bible makes it clear that this is not automatic, but involves a right. The bestowal of that right has a prerequisite we must all meet. We must receive Him. This means we must not merely acknowledge that Jesus existed, died and rose again, but we must make these facts personal. We must “accept” what He stands for - His message - and the changes in our life He calls all men to make. Separating the mere fact of Christ from what He taught and commanded does not succeed.
It’s akin to saying Jesus was a great teacher, a righteous man. You can’t say this and ignore the import of His teaching. He doesn’t give us that option; and people who do this anyway are simply being superficial. His words are of a nature that one must make a decision about Him one way or the other. We must decide if He was self-deceived or deluded about His message, or if He and His message are the truth about the real world as it is. To decide the former is to reject Him. To decide the latter is to accept Him.
To be born of God is declared as distinct from being physically born, and is not achieved by willing it into being. It is not acquired by trying really, really hard. It requires an act of God. So for those who are skeptical about miracles, they have been given the first lesson in Miracles 101. Their being born of God at conversion is the first instance of miracles in their life.
To be born of God is talked about later in John as the second birth, to be born again (3:7). We are born to biological life that begins as dead unto God. We must then be born a second time, but in spiritual terms that make our spirit alive unto God.
Birth means introduction to life and the expectation is to then walk out in it. It is not an experience we have, then put on the shelf and go about our business as before. We have been changed because this birth is of God and has expectations we cannot ignore.
To be born of God means that we are now aware of another world, the one God operates in. Our eyes become open to see that world and it changes how we walk, act, and perceive in the physical world.