A New Beginning - Longing and Light Advent Bible Study Episode 1

We live in a world longing for light and hope. Much like people of all time, we recognize that all is not as it should be here in the Shadowlands, and we long for a new beginning. The sure hope we hold is that God has already brought that new beginning in Christ… and He promises to fulfill every longing, to make right every wrong, once and for all when He returns. The book of John shows us just who Jesus is, and calls us to believe Him fully so that we can have eternal life.

We start our study with John 1:1-18 (the Prologue), and John introduces Jesus’ coming as a new beginning, in a creation narrative that echoes Genesis 1.

A couple notes about John, the author and the gospel:

John uses a circular, repeating style in his writing. He introduces a thought or topic, then repeats it in greater depth. (You can see this same writing style in his letters 1-3 John, as well as Revelation.)
He repeats several words in his gospel, emphasizing their theme and importance. Among these are “witness,” “signs,” “testimony,” and “life.” John’s purposes are to verify that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and indeed, God Himself, and to exhort us to believe Him. Watch for these and other repeated words to see the important themes John wants us to see and hear!
John is writing with both an apologetic and an evangelistic purpose in this gospel (source). This means He wants to his reader to see Jesus’ identity as the second person in the trinity, and to believe that identity is the reason and source for our salvation. He validates who Jesus is, so that we might believe and be saved. HE is our Light, our Life, and our Hope!
John uses contrasting images to reinforce his purposes. Life and death, light and darkness, love and hate, nothingness and creation all convey vital information about the message John lays out. They point us to aspects of the person and work of Christ and the need to believe in Him (source).
John’s gospel includes the 7 “I AM” statements which identify Jesus as God and Messiah. These, together, offer a RICH study on Jesus and an unshakeable illustration of His deity.
John records John the Baptist as the “last of the prophets.” In the Old Testament, there was a long period of time when God sent prophets to speak to the people. After the prophet Malachi speaks and before the introduction of the gospels, there was a 430 year period of silence where God was not appearing to speak to His people. This dark period of waiting is where we are going to begin.

Just as we often feel the weight of darkness in what C.S. Lewis calls the Shadowlands, God’s people felt this weight in many ways as they awaited the coming of the Messiah – the new beginning promised by God.

From an insightful article by David Shrock:

God’s word had been silent for over 400 years.
Rome was painfully oppressing the followers of God.
The church was divided and at odds – the Pharisees, Saducees, Essenes and Zealots battled to be “right” and in charge.
Mary was a virgin – Jesus’ birth would be under a cloud of suspicion
Mary and Joseph were poor, and an evil dictator sought to kill their newborn baby (along with countless baby boys born at His time!)

DARKNESS APPEARED TO REIGN.

What darkness do you feel in your own life and surroundings? In what ways do you long for God to speak, to make all things new, to right the wrongs in this world?

In John 1:1-4, we see a strong reference Genesis 1 – from one beginning that quickly went downhill, to a NEW beginning in Christ!

God creates by speaking. Jesus is The Word, and we are told He created all that has been created… and that He was and is God.

See Genesis 1:3, Proverbs 3:19, and Psalm 33:6! We see this reference to Jesus as The Word repeated in Hebrews 4:9-16. The Word sharper than a two-edged sword; The Word is a Person who shapes and refines us as He discerns our thoughts and intentions! By the way, we will also see in that same passage that He is our source for REST. So when we feel overwhelmed and exhausted, we must return to Jesus and we will find the respite we need.

Into darkness, Jesus brings LIGHT. Into nothing, Jesus brings a new creation. Jesus, the second Adam, brings new hope for new LIFE! (For more on this, read Romans 5 and I encourage you to listen to this sermon about Christ the second Adam.

In Christ, every person has the opportunity for a new beginning.

Isaiah 9:2 says, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.”

Isaiah 60:1-5 says, ”Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes all around, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip. Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult…”

John challenges his readers (and that includes us!) to see and believe in Jesus. When we do, we will receive life, and we will radiate His light for a world waiting in darkness.

“Jesus is called the Word of God in John’s Gospel because he is the human embodiment of the eternal word of God who created life at the beginning and is still actively initiating new creation life today. As we listen to Jesus’ words and let them shape and recreate us, we echo his creative words of life and participate in God’s mission to renew all of creation.” (source) And Hebrews 1:1-2 tells us this: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”

Christ, by highest heav’n adored,

Christ, the everlasting Lord:

Late in time behold Him come,

Offspring of a virgin’s womb.

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,

Hail th’ incarnate Deity!

Pleased as man with man to dwell,

Jesus our Immanuel.

Hail the heav’n-born Prince of Peace!

Hail the Sun of righteousness!

Light and life to all He brings,

Ris’n with healing in His wings:

Mild He lays His glory by,

Born that man no more may die;

Born to raise the sons of earth;

Born to give them second birth.

(Hark! The Herald Angels Sing: Lyrics:Charles Wesley (1707-1788) bio; Altered by George Whitefield (1714-1770); Music:Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847); Adapted by William H. Cummings (1831-1915) | source)

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