The Shortest Nativity

“In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were made through Him, and apart from Him nothing was made that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overpowered it.”

‭‭John‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬-‭5‬ ‭TLV‬‬

It is no coincidence that John starts His Gospel in that same place that the Torah, the Books of Moses, began: “In the Beginning…”

John takes us back to the creation of space and time and says, “Yeshua, Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah was there.  Not only was He there, but He was the word and deed.

“The Word and deed was with God and the Word and Deed was in fact God Himself.

This is a mystery.

If we look at the creation story , in Genesis 1:26, you see the term “us”.

It says, “Let US make mankind in OUR image”

Who is this “us” and “our”?

We find the answer in John 1.

The Word was in the beginning and was not only with God the Father, but was God Himself.

Furthermore, being the Word and the Deed, He himself was the act of creation.

Again, Genesis 1:3

The Word is, “Let there be…and there was.”

The Trinity, the Godhead, Father, Son, and Spirit (Which we find hovering over the waters in verse 2) spoke creation into existence.

Nothing was created without the Word and deed.

That creator Created Life and Light.  And that Light (which was to everyone in every tribe and language) was the very name by which the Word and Deed would be called: Yeshua.  He is salvation.

Next we have the only Nativity story or story of Yeshua coming into the world that John offers.  It is a simple verse:

Verse 5

The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overpowered it.

Let us explore this.

Again, in Genesis 1 creation is described as formless and void.  There was no light as yet, and the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters.

In the beginning…the world was, in Hebrew, Tohu v’vohu.  It was dark chaos.

Isn’t this the state of the world that Yeshua was born into as well.

Yes, of course, Creation had not only been created but had replicated for millennia.  But spiritually, it was at least as bad as it was “in the beginning”. The people had turned to religion and away from God.  They worship piety instead of the God of Grace.

They had lost their blessing from God because, instead of keeping His commands and seeking a relationship with Him, they perverted His commands made their own rules.  The priests and Torah scholars set up their own commands and oppressed the people.

Politically, they had lost their sovereignty to the rule of Rome.

They were lost, desperate, and ignorant of what the Scriptures really said.  Therefore they did not fully even know how god had told them to live and could not follow His commands as a result of their rebellion.

They felt lost.  They felt desperate.  They felt like, in the beginning, darkness and chaos.  And they hoped for a Messiah that had been promised.

However, like the misunderstanding of God’s commands, they misunderstood what the Messiah would come to do.

“The true light, coming into the world, gives light to every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him; but the world did not know Him. He came to His own, but His own did not receive Him.”

‭‭John‬ ‭1‬:‭9‬-‭11‬ ‭TLV‬‬

They were looking for a king that would overthrow Rome.  They would get a servant king that would overthrow the power of sin and death.

And this is the starting point for this Gospel.  The Word and Deed comes into darkness and choas as light and life.

Are you feeing darkness and chaos in your light? In your circumstances? In your world?

Do you understand the light and life that has come into your darkness and chaos?

Do you misunderstand Him?

God, help us to put aside what we think we know about You and be open to Who you truly are and what You truly want to do in our lives.