Because of All That the Son Is

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 

Tonight, I asked my kids what we should do our Bible study on, and my son said on John 1:18 not really knowing what he was saying or even if it was a correct passage in the Bible.  After a brief moment of looking it over I led my kids in the following study on John 1:16-18 (CEV), “16 Because of all that the Son is, we have been given one blessing after another.17 The Law was given by Moses, but Jesus Christ brought us undeserved kindness and truth.18 No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is truly God and is closest to the Father, has shown us what God is like.”

The first thing I talked to them about was the power found in the simple two letter word “is” in verse 16 as it relates to who Jesus is.  We discussed all that Jesus is.  He is love, grace, peace, kindness, the creator of everything, our Savior, and He is also God.  Stop and thing about all that Jesus is and see if you are not as amazed as I am.  It was hard to go on after getting so much out of the first part of the verse.  Yet, we see in the second part of this verse that Jesus has given us so many blessing.  I explained to the kids we have been blessed with each day, snow, wind, rain, friends, family, and the list goes on and on, because Jesus blessings are endless.

After building the base of who Jesus is and how he has blessed we discussed what verse 17 meant.  I told them it was the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament.  The law Moses provided in the Old Testament was given to convict us of our sins as well as provide us a way to honor God by obeying His law.  This is contrasted with Jesus in the New Testament who came to relieve us of our sins.  Jesus willingness to die on the cross for our sins is the undeserved kindness John is talking about here.  It is I that deserved to be hung on the cross for my sins and not Jesus, but He took on all my sin and yours and endured extreme pain and suffering because of His love for us. 

John closes these verses in verse 18 by reminding us Jesus is God.  God sending his Son to earth allowed us to have a brief glimpse for God in the flesh.  The value of this for us is that it was recorded in the Bible for us to study and follow.  But, if you are like me you will take a moment as I did with my kids and think about what it would have been like to walk along a dusty street with your friend Jesus or be invited to His house for dinner or a sleep over.  

I rejoice in the fact that Jesus lives and he is coming back again, and then I will be able to walk and talk with him.  My charge now is to live my life so that others will see Jesus in me.

Your brother in Christ, 

Mike