What does this mean? What exactly is the word of God? We hear “the word of God” and most of us will instantly think about scripture. John opened his gospel by saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1).” John personified the word of God, but how could John do this and why would he do that? I want to focus on the Word of God in today’s sermon.
To do so, we are going to take a look at a few scriptures from the gospel of John.
34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods” ’? 35 If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), 36 do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
John 10:34-36 NKJV
Click here if you would like to watch this sermon
The first word of God
To answer the how and why of John personifying the word of God, we must understand that this is what John both learned and witness from Christ. John, the writer of this gospel, is the disciple who Jesus loved – he was one of the twelve disciples that closely followed Jesus. He writes to us “the Word was God” because that’s what he heard Jesus liken Himself too.
In this passage of scripture (John 10:22-39), we find that Jesus has been approached by a group of Jews. These Jews had likely been listening to Jesus teaching about being the Good Shepherd. They heard Jesus speak about His sheep hearing His voice and knowing Him (John 10:1-3, 14). There was confusion among these Jews because they felt that they did not know exactly who Jesus was.
They wanted Jesus to be plain with them and tell them who He was (John 10:24). Jesus proclaimed to the Jews (John 10:30), “I and My Father are one” – I recently taught a bible study on this scripture. In saying this, Jesus likens Himself to God – He tells them He is God. This is something that the disciples had learned but not something that the Jews knew. To this response, the Jews were angered and picked up their stones ready to stone Jesus for this blasphemy (John 10:33).
Now we get to our key verse for today’s sermon. There are some things said in our key verse today that I want us to pay very close attention too. Again, today, we are looking at the word of God so let’s start off with a very close look at what Jesus says in John 10:34.
34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods” ’?
John 10:34 NKJV
Jesus says, “Is it not written in your law.” The Mosaic Law was what the Jews were supposed to keep (obey and follow). How did they come upon the Mosaic Law? Let us remember that the Law, while it was taught by Moses, was given by God. The Mosaic Law was the first word – keep this in mind.
35 If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),
John 10:35 NKJV
Jesus then says to these Jews, “to whom the word of God came”. Again, this point reiterates the fact that the Law came from God, not man. The word of God was the Law (scripture) and the Law should be kept, not broken. This is why John writes in parenthesis (and the Scripture cannot be broken). The Law was to be obeyed and followed.
The second Word of God
The first word of God, we must recognize, was something that was verbally given to mankind; it was then written and recorded into what we have today. The first word came from God and was given to the prophet who then relayed the word of God to the people. Let us also recognize that the first word of God had the power to make gods out of those who kept the word.
Jesus said, “if He called them ‘gods’ “. This is to say, that the people were called gods by God. Why? Because they obeyed the word of God! If you keep His word, and are of genuine faith in Him, you become like Him! Let us remember what we saw in last week’s sermon – The Best Gift Ever. John wrote (John 1:12), “as many as received Him, to them He gave the [a]right to become children of God.”
Let us look one more time at what Jesus says in John 10:36:
36 do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
John 10:36 NKJV
Jesus plainly testifies that He is the Son of God. Jesus says to us that He was sanctified before He was sent into the world. At this time of year, we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Jesus was born separated from the world (sin)! God, Himself is already sanctified from sin because He knows no sin – God is only righteous! Therefore, there is no way that Jesus could come into the world the same manner that we came into the world.
When God placed Himself into the womb of Mary, He remained sanctified – He went into the womb of a woman that knew no man! Jesus exited the womb of Mary sanctified and lived in this world as a sanctified man! You see, we are not sanctified until after we have faith in the Lord’s word. However, the word that was given to us was not the Mosaic Law.
Jesus says that He is the word! Jesus brought up the Law to the people to liken Himself to the Law. Again, the Law was the first word that was given by God. However, Jesus is the physical manifestation of the Lord’s word. This is why John writes to us that the Word (Jesus) is God. That’s because in both instances, verbal or physical manifestation, the word comes from God!
Born into the world was the physical manifestation of the Word of God. This Word of God was given to the world! Faith is now in the Word that was physically born, walked among us, taught us, and even died for us. Faith is now in the Word that said to us, “all who believe in Me will not perish but have everlasting life!” Understand, that at Christmas time, we celebrate the coming of the Word of God.