So, we’re going to look at some of the names of God, and I
want to start off with some of the names and titles of the Lord Jesus Christ,
God the Son. As I've said before, there are some names that are used of all
three persons of the trinity, and then there are some that are unique to one
person. God revealed Himself in a special way when the Son became a man and
took on a human body. When the Lord Jesus went about as a man people were able
to see Him and interact with Him and hear the words that He spoke. And people
got to see what God was like through the Lord Jesus Christ. For instance, in
Mark chapter 10 a man came to the Lord Jesus, and the Bible says that the Lord
Jesus looked at Him and loved Him. What do you think about the heart of God the
Father toward that man? We know that God loved him because we read that the
Lord Jesus loved Him. And the same is true in any and every event in the
earthly life of the Lord Jesus. If we want to find out what God is like we
simply need to look at the Lord Jesus. He is the perfect and complete
revelation of God to mankind.
I want to look at one of the names of the Lord Jesus that
sheds some light on this aspect of His life, and that is the Word. John 1:1
says - "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God." What is this verse talking about? What is this Word? This
verse tells us that the Word was in the beginning. It also tells us that the
Word is God. As we continue in John chapter one we read that the Word came to
His own and they did not receive Him. We also read that those who receive the
Word become sons of God. And in verse 14 we're told that the Word became or
took on flesh. The Word is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son.
Why is "the Word" an appropriate name for Him? What are we supposed
to learn from this name, the Word? Well let's consider it, what are words used
for? Words are used for communication. Words convey thought. Have you ever
tried to get to know someone without using words? Two people can be face to
face with one another and both think really hard, but neither one is going to
know what the other is thinking unless it is revealed through their words. You
realize how important words are. In the game of charades you have to try to act
something out and get people to guess what you are thinking, but how many wrong
guesses do you have to go through before you finally get the right answer?
Well, when it comes to our relationship with God, He didn't leave humanity
guessing as to who He is. God didn't engage humanity in a game of charades and
leave us guessing as to who He might be. He revealed Himself to us. Man left to
himself will come up with all sorts of ideas about who God is and what He is
like, but God has told us who He is through the Holy Scriptures, and He has
spoken to mankind in His Son, the Word of God. In the beginning was the Word.
Why is this so important? Why do we need the Lord Jesus as
the Word? The fact of the matter is we are in a relationship with an invisible
God. In 1 Timothy 1:17 we read - "Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible,
the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen." And in chapter 6
verse 16 we read again concerning our God - "who alone possesses
immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can
see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen." And 1 John 4:12 says
- "No one has beheld God at any time."
So, we're trying to get to know God but immediately we
run into a problem, God is invisible. How do you get to know someone who is
invisible? We just read 1 John 4:12 which says that no one has beheld God at
any time. There is a similar verse in John chapter 1 verse 18 which says -
"No man has seen God at any time;" but the verse goes on to say,
"the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained
Him." Okay, here we're given a clue. No one has seen God, but the Son of
God has explained or declared Him to us. He has made Him known. God is
invisible, but John 1:14 tells us that - "The Word became flesh, and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the
Father, full of grace and truth." God the Son, the Word, became a man and
He explained and declared God to us. God became a man and entered into the womb
of the virgin Mary, so when we go through the gospels and see the Lord Jesus He
demonstrates to us and speaks to us of the invisible God.
Colossians 1:15 says concerning the Lord Jesus - "He is
the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation." The Lord
Jesus Christ gives us an image for the invisible God. If we want to know what
God is like we simply need to look at God the Son revealed through the flesh of
the Lord Jesus. Yes, God is invisible. But the Word, the Lord Jesus, declared
and explained Him to us. In John 14 the Lord Jesus is talking to His
disciples and we read in verses 7-9 - ""If
you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know
Him, and have seen Him." Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us
the Father, and it is enough for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come
to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say,
‘Show us the Father’?"" Here The Lord Jesus says that if
you've seen Him you've seen the Father. He is the visible representation of God
on earth. Philip says "Show us the Father." and the Lord Jesus
responds "If you have seen Me you've seen the
Father." God is speaking in His Son. The Lord Jesus is the
communication of the invisible God. Hebrews 1:1-2 says - "God, after He
spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many
ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of
all things, through whom also He made the world." In times past God spoke
through His prophets, but in these last days God has spoken to us in
His Son. The Lord Jesus is the Word because God has spoken to us in the Lord
Jesus. He didn’t merely tell us the Word, but He Himself is the Word
through whom God spoke. Verse 3 goes on to tell us - "And He is the
radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature." The
Lord Jesus is the exact representation of the invisible God. This tells us that
everything we find in the gospels about the Lord Jesus in His character is true
about the character of the invisible God.
This is a name that the Lord Jesus had in the beginning,
"In the beginning was the Word" He possessed this name at the
incarnation, "The Word became flesh" And He this is His name when He
rides forth on a white horse in Revelation 19, for we read - "And I saw
heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called
Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a
flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on
Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in
blood, and His name is called The Word of God." His name doesn't
change. He has been and always will be the Word.
There is another name that sheds light on the Lord Jesus as
the Word. In Revelation 22:13 the Lord Jesus says - "I
am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the
end." What does the Lord Jesus mean when He calls Himself the
"Alpha and Omega?" These are the first and last letters of the Greek
alphabet. We just looked at Christ as the Word, so what are words made up of?
Letters. So Christ is the first letter and the last letter. He is first and
last and everything in between. Basically, Christ is the A to Z on God. So if Christ as the Word is
the revelation of the invisible God, then Christ as the Alpha and the Omega
combined with the truth that Christ is the Word tells us that He is the complete
revelation of God. Nothing is left out. So when God revealed Himself in flesh
through the Lord Jesus Christ He didn’t leave anything out that we needed. The
Lord Jesus, the Word, is the complete revelation of God.
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