John 1.19

'And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites and priests from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?'

It is one of the peculiarities of the Gospels that the Jewish establishment  and their supporters are referred to as being 'the Jews'. Clearly John the Baptist was a Jew, as was John the Evangelist who wrote this particular Gospel. As indeed was Jesus of Nazareth, his mother Mary, his friends Martha and Mary, their brother Lazarus, and all the apostles too.
In the land of Israel, in those days, there were two hierarchical power structures, the military power and the ideological, priestly power. The military power was in the hands of the Romans and their collaborators, such as the Herods. The religious power remained with the Jews. So when the Evangelist states 'the Jews priests and Levites' he was referring to the indigenous religious elite, in the same way that we might say 'the Romans invaded Britain,' whereas most probably the majority of Romans had little to do with it.
The Roman government was not interested in John the Baptist because he did not appear to threaten them. On the other hand John was an increasingly powerful source of religious authority. They would want to assimilate or destroy.
Modern day Jews, like Reformed Christians, do not have priests and so both groups are a threat to the principle of earthly authority, and so both groups are often persecuted.
The 'Jews' sent the priests and the Levites to quiz John the Baptist because they felt threatened.

John 1.18

'No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.'

No man has ever seen God, except God the Son, the Word, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Our Lord 'hath declared him.'
In his words, his teachings, his miracles, above all in his life and death Our Lord has revealed God.
Jesus Christ has revealed the Truth of God.
There is no need for further revelation. L.Ron Hubbard, Joseph Smith, and any others who add to Scripture are false prophets.
Jesus Christ has revealed God's nature, his love divine, the sacrificial love, the giving, serving love that is the creative force of the universe, the Word of Creation, the Light of Life, our destiny to sing the praises of Divine Love for all eternity.

John 1.17

'For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came Jesus Christ.'

This verse sort of sums things up. The law was given by Moses, the law of God, the Law of Love. This great gift lifted mankind out of the rut of superstition and fear, and servitude to kings and idols.
Though following the Law was no guarantee of an easy life, it was clear that blessings flowed to those who who honoured God, kept the Sabbath, refrained from greed, slander and so on. The Jews of today will tell you as much.
With the Law of God there is no need for a king. God's Law trumps all others, much to the annoyance of bureaucrats and tyrants through the the ages.
Those who obey the Law have no need to fear the random anger of a king or nature god, or idol created from Man's imagination.
But the Law also condemns us in the eyes of the one perfect Living God. Our sin is only wiped clean by the sacrifice of Our Lord, the Lamb of God. This is the grace divine, wonderous and kind, of our God. And through the grace of our Lord jesus Christ, the fulness of God's great love, and his purpose is revealed to us . This is his Truth, his purpose, his wisdom, his perfection, his holiness.

John 1.16

'And of his fulness have we all received and grace for grace.'

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was before John the Baptist, who came after John the Baptist, who is preferred before every man and woman, has given of the fulness to those who believe.
It is a remarkable thought that we have received of the fulness of God. Only our stubborn pride forbids us from enjoying such fulness.
Yet God's love is overflowing. His love is free, unmerited, boundless. Such is the nature of grace, such is the nature of God.
For God's love is giving, selfless and sacrificial. It is the stuff of life. Each time we bargain and manipulate our fellows we die a little, we deny a little of the Divine Love.
It is in giving that we live, giving in the abundance we receive from God, even if our abundance appears to us a 'mite'  like that of a widow.
In giving, without expectation of earthly reward, we are truly alive.

John 1.15

'John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before.'

John the Baptist was clearly a well known local prophet whilst Jesus was still unknown. When the time of his ministry came Jesus was proclaimed by the Baptist.
What is so important about the baptism that John gave his followers? Before we can receive forgiveness we need to repent. Before we can see our Redeemer we need to acknowledge our servitude.
Often I find with non-Christans that behind the scepticism about the literal truth of the Bible is an unwillingness to recognize their servitude, or the fact that being on balance a 'good' person is not enough.
Before we can know our Lord Jesus Christ as our saviour we need to repent of our sin  -  that is our sin, not our specific sins. We are not called to wrack our brains in egotistical contemplation before we are allowed into God's presence, but we must acknowledge that we are sinners, we must regret and repent our sin, we must mourn our sin.
John the Baptist was washing away the sins of his followers in preparation for the coming of the Lamb of God and his Kingdom of Heaven, when a people free from sin and superstition, receiving God's unending love, would receive grace for grace, and live fully eternally, in God's presence.

John 1.14

'And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.'

Wow! The Incarnate God is proclaimed. God takes on a human life and lives amongst us. John the Evangelist  says that 'we' beheld his glory. The 'we' are the sons of God, given the eyesight to behold the glory of the Word made flesh.
The Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, is the only begotten son of the Father. Jesus Christ is of the essence of the Father.
In other words he is equal to the Father  -  under his authority but equal  -  like a human child is equal to its parents yet are under their authority.
He is begotten, not created - a very important thing to remember, the only begotten Son of God.
For a few brief years Jesus 'dwelt' among us . He lived, suffered, loved as one of us. he never succumbed to sin, yet he knew temptation. He could not sin, for God cannot sin. It is God's nature to be full of Truth.
And Grace too - God's irrevocable love for us, his children, unmerited by us, freely bestowed by the Lord - a love unconditional and eternal.
Full of Grace and Truth  - one of my favourite phrases in the whole Bible. It sums up our Lord in a nutshell.

John 1.13

'Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.'

The sons of God, those who believed 'on his name', those who 'received him', those to whom he gave 'power to become the sons of God,' were born of woman, of course, but in their true eternal life they were born of God.
Many wishful thinkers like to believe that God resides in all of us, that all of us are chosen by God. Then there are others who like who like to believe that they are responsible for their belief, that somehow, for all their human fraility, they have found God, made a decision, accepted the Almighty. but they are no more active in their birth in Christ than a new born baby is active in her emergence from her mother's womb.
The sons of God are not are not born 'of blood' or 'of the will of the flesh', nor 'of the will of the man', but solely, wholly completely of the will of God.
The heathen enjoys the Common Grace of the beauties of and the joys of this world, of love and laughter and prosperity, as well as the fruits of Common Sin, but the heathen lives absorbed in himself, above him only sky, and when his hour comes, he will suffer eternal death.
But the sons of God can praise the Lord in this world, and bask in his Eternal Truth for ever more, the sons of God, the Elect, born of the will of God.

John 1.12

'But as many received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name.'

The previous verse is qualified a little here. The rejection of the Lord is not absolute. Some people received him. Some people saw the Living God in their midst.
And those who received him, the Lord gave eternal life, true life, not the half life of appetite and gratification, but the life of the Kingdom of Heaven, giving glory to God, living eternally as the sons of God.
These blessed ones, the sons of God, believe on his name, that is that they believe that Jesus of Nazareth, was and is and will be eternally the Son of God, made flesh, God Incarnate.
The Incarnation is a wonderful mystery, the unity of matter and God, the inclusion of the material in God.
There is no duality here, no false Eastern spirituality of self-harm, and bodily abuse, no hatred of the body. By becoming the Son of Man, God honoured our human existence. He loved and suffered and died, not only for us, but with us too. Such great love does God condescend to bestow upon his creatures. The least we can do is receive him with love and give all they glory to God.

John 1.11

'He came unto his own, and his own received him not.'

This must be one of the saddest verses in the Bible. perhaps many of us have felt excluded at times from those to whom we feel we should belong, chiefly family, but also friends and colleagues and associates, exiled and rejected for who knows what reason.
Here the Lord was not recognised by the world he created. Blinded by self, sinful mankind could not see God in His own creation. Engrossed by petty concerns people simply sought the aid of the nearest idol, some saint Anthony, or some State Agency, or some Ideology 'ism' to help them through the day.
Things have not changed much today. As society collapses and service and sacrificial love seemingly become obsolete, and mankind thinks only of gratification, all around us we hear atheists prattling on in their stupidity and immaturity, peddling their evil, rejecting the Lord, blinded by self and hate.

John 1.10

'He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.'

Jesus Christ, the Light of the World, who was God and was with God in the beginning, created the world and yet the world did not know him. The stones, the trees, the brute creatures cannot know him, are incapable of giving glory to God consciously, actively. Only in the very miracle of their existence do they give glory to God.
Even mankind, in its fallen state, is incapable of giving glory to God, blinded as we are by sin and self.
There are many who maintain that man is able to give glory to God, is able to perceive God, through his intelligence and through his conscience.
But man is blinded by his selfishness. In his dungeon of egotism man gropes about in the dark.
The Light of the World was in the world, a world made by Him. In the person of the Lord Jesus Christ the Word became flesh.
Left to his own devices  mankind would never see God. We would stumble around forever worshipping rocks and stones and idols of wood and vanity.

John 1.9

'That was the true Light, which which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.'

Jesus Christ, Our Lord is the Word. The Word is the Light of the world, the light of meaning in the midst of the darkness of chaos.
Each person who comes into the world is made in the image of God, not the image of a monkey. a person is physical, material and earthly, and it is natural that we should seek our well-being and our comfort, but it is the Light of the world, the Light of God who shines upon us and allows us to be loving, creative, just and faithful like God Himself.
This Light that lights every man is the not the same as God the Holy Ghost who is the ever companion of those who believe and trust in our Lord Jesus Christ. It is God the Holy Ghost who sanctifies us, guides us, sustains us.
The Light of our Lord Jesus Christ is the light that gives dignity to us, gives worth to our actions, that raises us above the beasts of the swamp.

John 1.8

'He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness to that Light.'

How easy it is to start thinking that we ourselves are the Light, that somehow we too can do good, that we can save people from their earthly and everlasting perdition, that somehow our kindness, our goodness, can help the unfortunate, taking for ourselves the glory that belongs to God.
Moses made the same mistake when he stood by the Jordan, ready to enter the Promised Land. He began to believe that it was he, and not the Lord, that had taken the Israelites thus far.
Our vanity leads us astray. Sure of our goodness, we do harm, all with the best intentions. We pronounce certain political points of view which originate from our own self-interest and prejudice rather than anything in the Gospel.
I am not the Light that shines in the darkness, and neither are you. For all our efforts we can neither help or save anyone. The best we can hope for is to be God's instrument.
Jesus Christ is the Light who shines in the darkness. Like John the Baptist we are to bear witness to the Light, and to never forget, as Moses did, that all the glory is God's.

John 1.7

'The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.'

John was sent to bear witness to the Light, not to do good to man. He wasn't some kind of social worker, but had come to bring the people to repentance, to proclaim the coming of the Messiah and the Kingdom of God.
Jesus is the Light that shines in the darkness, and like John, it is our duty and privilege to bear witness to the Light.
Although John brought many to repentance and baptised them his ministry was all about God, not all about people. He was true to God. He did not set up social centres or use psychology to help reconcile reluctant Jews to Roman rule.
Rather selfishly, from our humanist point of view, he took himself off into the wilderness.
There are many ways to serve the Lord and every one is the best.

John 1.6

'There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.'

John the Baptist was sent from God. He was chosen by God to do great works. He was truly blessed by God, but of course, in his more difficult moments he might have felt not quite so blessed. We do not know.
What we do know is that we are all chosen by God for more humble tasks, and yet, many of us, like Jonah, will try to run away.
We forget that we are not here to please ourselves, or indeed, to please other people. John was not sent by God so that he could work out problems with his troubled childhood or problems with self-esteem. No, John was sent from God to serve God.
So when we are called to work in the vineyard we should remember that God does not exist to serve us and to give us glory, but that we are are God's servants, sent to give God glory.
And if the work seems onerous, perhaps we should remember those left in darkness, and thank the Lord that we have been called to do his work.

John 1.5

'And the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.'

Outside of God is darkness.
We all know atheists and pagans who flounder in the darkness. They worship their careers, their wives, a set of political or religious rules, their 'life', their happiness, or whatever.
Often these dark souls appear to be nice people, and many of their ideals/idols such as Climate Change, Equality, Democracy, Revolution, Jihad, Nationalism, Feminism, may appear quite worthy.
But too often it is a mask that slips away all too easily to reveal their hatred of other people, their hatred of life itself.
Idealists and idolaters often give the appearance of light, like Lucifer, but that is only in the hope of drawing you into their own private pit.
There is only one true God, the Living God, the God who is the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
It is the true God, the true Light, towards whom we must focus our thoughts and our prayers. Only the Living God can be the Light that guides our way. An idol will only lead us into darkness.
Follow the light, but do not expect others to walk with you, for 'the darkness comprehended it not.'

John 1.4

'In him was life; and the life was the light of men.'

Life itself was in him, our Lord Jesus Christ. Our God is the Living God.
When I read the Bible cover to cover a number of years ago, as I became ever more interested in the Christian faith, the words 'Living God' struck me.
The idols lead to death. Our God leads to life. Indeed, our God is life. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life.
He doesn't lead us to life. He is Life.
And we must eat and drink this life.
Through him were all things created, all that is living - the trees, the plants, the animals, ourselves. Into us he breathes life.
Our Lord is the light of men, the light in the sea of darkness that is death.
Death is darkness, nothingness, the antithesis of Life.
Death is the absence of God.

John 1.3

'All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.'

Jesus Christ is the Word, not just a man who hung around in Galilee two thousand years ago, but the Word, the creative force of the universe, God Himself, the Son of God.
God is the creator of all. People make idols out of what has been created, and worship wood and stones and water. And in these scientific days we make idols out of the State, 'our Life', Democracy, Equality or other people. We look to them for love and meaning, earthly creations, inventions of the mind of man, idols before which we may submit and which may enslave us.
But the universe and all that is in it was not made by some idol. It was made by God the creator of all, and it is the true Living God that we must worship.
Without the Word, without our Lord Jesus Christ, 'was not any thing made that was made.'

John 1.2

'The same was in the beginning with God.'

When was the beginning? We do not know. Our minds cannot understand such a thing. But whenever it was Jesus was there. He was with God, before anything was created. He was not created like you and I. Jesus is God. He is the essence of God. What God is, so is he.
Throughout the ages there have been many sects that have claimed that Jesus is a creature like you and I, but the idea is farcical. How can a creature be the perfect Son of God?
We are born in sin - selfish, compromised, mortal.
Jesus's sacrificial love, his perfect suffering, his boundless love was pleasing to God. How can an imperfect creature do something so great that he could pay the rice for the sins of this world, to set us free from the chains of sin and guilt?
Jesus Christ was in the beginning with God.

John 1.1

'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.'

Jesus Christ, our Lord, is the Word.
The Word gives meaning.
God gave Adam the gift of speech, the ability to make sense out of reality, the power to give names to all the creatures of this earth. The animals cannot speak. Animals can only relate to something from the aspect of their own appetite. An animal might see another animal as something to be eaten, or as something that might eat it. A stone or a fence is simply an obstacle.
But mankind, through the gift of speech can create meaning. And Jesus is the original Word, who was with God, who was God, right at the beginning.
It is Jesus, God Himself, who brings order out of chaos, who brings life and love and meaning to a mass of nothing, whose love redeems us from an eternity of animal egotism.