The Word Was God

• How would you respond to someone who said, “Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God”?

• What does Jesus teach us about God?

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:1

People who have grown up in the church have been taught that Jesus is God since they were little. To them, there’s nothing unusual about the idea. To other people, though, it’s one of the most radical and controversial claims imaginable.

Jewish people in particular have a very deep respect for God. They treat his name with such reverence that they won’t even spell it out when they write it. They use G-d instead. Imagine the horror among Jewish leaders in New Testament times when a teacher named Jesus arrived on the scene claiming to be God.

Of course, they set out to prove that he wasn’t God with the intent of punishing him for his blasphemy. The problem was, they couldn’t disprove his claim. Every time they challenged him, he responded with wisdom that could only come from God.

Jesus didn’t just say he was God. He proved it through his actions. He performed miracles that showed his power over God’s creation—even over death. No one but God has that power.

Most of the Jewish leaders never believed Jesus during his lifetime. That’s why they pushed so hard for his crucifixion. After he died and rose from the grave, though, many of them changed their minds. They discovered that Jesus is God.

PRAYER
Dear God, before anything else existed, there was you—and your Word. Never let us forget how incredible it is that we can have a personal relationship with you, the eternal Creator of the universe. Amen.