Devotionals by Stuart and Jill Briscoe

For the law was given through Moses; God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. But his only Son, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart; he has told us about him. - John 1:17-18

The more sophisticated man becomes, the more fascinated he is with origins. He peers with ever increasing erudition into the universe and discovers new galaxies and unheard-of wonders. The question “How did it all begin?” grips man’s attention. The scientific answer is, “We don’t know exactly.” So the search goes on—for origins and significance and meaning.

What science and speculation are not equipped to determine, divine revelation reveals with certainty. Divine revelation announces, “In the beginning the Word already existed.” This “Word” was God, and he “created everything there is” (1:1-3).

The Jews reading “the Word” would think of authority. When “God said,” “it was so.” When God would say, “This is what the Lord says,” it would be so. The authority of the Word! But Greeks reading about the “Word” would think of “reason” being communicated, which is what words are supposed to do. The Word is authoritative reason communicated to men.

But who is this Word? He became human, lived among men, was full of unfailing love and faithfulness, and was identified by the apostle John as Jesus Christ, the Son of God (1:17-18). The Word was eternally God. Through him and for him, the world was created. Then he came into the world, populated by men who have never seen God, to tell them what God is really like. Science cannot do that. Speculation cannot do that. Only God can show God to man—and he did it. But would you believe that men in large measure have rejected the revelation, preferring to live in the darkness of their established beliefs? Yet Jesus, still full of unfailing love, still offers, to those who believe him and receive him, “the right to become children of God” (1:12).

We admire members of the armed forces who sacrifice their own comforts and safety, leave home and hearth, and head for foreign lands to defend what is dear to them. We respect courageous missionaries who brave loneliness, disease, unknown perils, and misunderstanding to take the message of hope and deliverance to people in bondage. How much more should we revere Jesus, the Word who became flesh, who knew glory in eternity with the Father and gladly laid aside all privilege, assumed our humanity, bore our sorrows, truly felt our pain, and died our death! How sad that so many have neither recognized him nor revered him. How glad are those who do!

For Further Study: John 1:1-18

Excerpted from The One Year Devotions for Men, Copyright ©2000 by Stuart Briscoe. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

For more from Stuart Briscoe, please visit TellingtheTruth.org.

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