Who Is Jesus Christ? The Answer from John's Prologue

Who is Jesus Christ, really? The apostle John, the last surviving member of the twelve disciples, spent the end of his life answering this one question. His Gospel opens with a breathtaking prologue that reaches back before the beginning of the world. This pastoral message walks through John 1:1-13 to show you who this Jesus is, the one you're invited to receive.

Introduction

The four Gospels tell the same life, but each from its own angle. Matthew writes for the Jews, Mark for the Romans, Luke for the Greeks. John, however, writes for everyone, believers and non-believers alike. And he doesn't just report events: he explains why they happened and who caused them to happen.

John is the only one of the twelve disciples who didn't die a martyr. His eleven companions, except Judas, were all executed for their faith. He was thrown into boiling oil and miraculously came out alive. He lived through persecution, watched the church grow, and grew old. And at the end of his life, he summed up, with unshakable conviction, who Jesus Christ is: "But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." (John 20:31)

The "life" John speaks of isn't biology. It's the quality of your relationship with God. A life where you receive his love, where you delight in who he is, where you stand firm in peace, even when everything around you is shaking. That's what the prologue of John comes to announce.

Message Outline

1. In the beginning was the Word (John 1:1-2)

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1-2)

John deliberately echoes the words of Genesis: "In the beginning..." He takes you back before everything that exists. Before the stars, before the galaxies, before time. There, God was already there. And the Word was there, in Greek, Logos. This Word isn't a concept, nor an impersonal force. Verse 2 makes it clear: "He was in the beginning with God." The Logos is a person. And that person is Jesus Christ.

Jesus didn't begin to exist in Bethlehem. He was already there, eternally, before anything at all was created. He was with God, and he was God.

2. All things were made through him (John 1:3)

"All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made." (John 1:3)

The Father conceived, but the Son created. When God said, "Let there be light," it was the Word who brought that light into existence, exactly as the Father intended it. Paul confirms the same truth: "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible... all things were created through him and for him." (Colossians 1:15-17)

Take a moment to let that sink in. The earth feels enormous when you walk across it. Compared to the sun, it's a speck. Compared to our galaxy, the sun becomes a speck. And our galaxy, within the universe, is just a single point. The one who thought up and holds all of that together is the very same Jesus who walked the roads of Galilee.

3. In him was life, and that life was the light (John 1:4-5)

"In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1:4-5)

Jesus doesn't merely possess life: life is in him, it flows out of him. And this life gives light to every person. When you look at Jesus in the Gospels, you see who God is: his goodness, his mercy, his love, his strength, his righteous anger, his patience. The invisible Father becomes visible in the Son.

4. A witness sent to testify (John 1:6-9)

John the Baptist wasn't the light. He came to bear witness to the light. His mission: to prepare the way, to point to the One who was coming, so that all might believe through him. Today, the mission of believers hasn't changed: point to Jesus, not to yourselves.

5. He came to his own, and his own did not receive him (John 1:10-11)

"He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him." (John 1:10-11)

The paradox is striking. The Creator enters his own creation, and his creation doesn't recognize him. Worse still, his own people, prepared for centuries to receive the Messiah, rejected him. Why? Because the human heart prefers to decide for itself what is good and what is evil, rather than submit to the One who made it.

This is where the story of Eden comes back in. God didn't place the tree of the knowledge of good and evil there out of cruelty. He placed it there because without real choice, there is no real love. A husband who told you, "I married you because I had no other choice," doesn't truly love you. Love requires freedom. God gave humanity a free will (to the point that it can even reject him), because he wanted a relationship of love, not the obedience of a robot.

6. To all who received him (John 1:12-13)

"But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:12-13)

Here is the promise. Those who receive Jesus become children of God. Not because they earn it, not because they try hard enough, not because they were born into the right family. Only because God caused them to be born from above. This is Ephesians 2:8-9: "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God."

Grace means receiving a good you neither earned nor deserved. God starts everything: he creates the universe, he creates you, he gives you light, he brings you to meet Jesus. Your part is simply to receive. And when you receive, the Spirit comes to dwell in you and lets you taste this reality: you are loved by God, exactly as you are, the way a child is loved by a perfect father.

Key Takeaways

1. Jesus is eternal. He didn't begin in Bethlehem. He was with God and he was God, before the beginning.
2. Jesus is Creator. Nothing that exists exists without him. The whole universe finds its origin and its coherence in him.
3. Jesus is the face of God. The invisible Father becomes visible when you look at the Son in the Gospels.
4. Receiving Jesus makes you a child of God. This new status comes neither from your efforts, nor your family, nor your performance. It comes from grace.
5. Good works follow faith, they don't precede it. When you understand how much God loves you, the desire to live for him arises naturally.

Personal Application

1. When you think of Jesus, who do you really picture? A moral teacher? A friend? Or the eternal Word through whom everything was created?
2. Have you already received Jesus, in the sense John gives that word, not merely admiring him, but entrusting your life to him?
3. If you are a child of God, do you live out that reality daily, or do you still feel like an orphan?
4. What do you base your worth before God on: what you do, or what he has done?
5. Who can you point to Jesus this week, the way John the Baptist did?

Scripture References

• John 1:1-13 · The prologue of John's Gospel
• John 20:31 · The purpose of John's Gospel
• Genesis 1:1 · "In the beginning, God created..."
• Colossians 1:15-17 · Christ, image of God and Creator
• Ephesians 2:8-9 · Saved by grace, through faith

FAQ

Why does John call Jesus the "Word" (Logos)?

Because a word expresses a thought. The Father has a thought, a character, a will; and Jesus expresses it perfectly. To look at Jesus is to see exactly who God is. The word Logos also spoke to John's Greek audience: it evoked the rational principle that structures the universe. John says: that principle is a person, and that person is Jesus.

How do you "receive" Jesus in practice?

Receiving isn't simply intellectual agreement. It's recognizing that he is the Son of God who came to save you, placing your trust in him, and handing your life over to him. It's an act of the heart that then plays out through your whole existence.

If salvation is by grace, why live a holy life?

Because when you understand what God has done for you, the desire to respond to him arises spontaneously. Good works aren't the cause of salvation, they're its fruit. You no longer obey out of fear or obligation, but out of love.