...and the Word became flesh

Have you ever heard or experienced someone talking to you and using scripture to illustrate what they're saying? If you know any Christians then I'm sure you have. What impact did this have on you? Was it the essential message during your time of need? Did it have impact? Or was it delivered in such an empty way that the person speaking could have been spelling their name backward for the level of conviction with which they spoke?

Today whilst waiting for my bus, I over heard a young man having a conversation on his mobile phone doing exactly that. Now let me clarify something... I was not eaves dropping - there nuff said. Now we have that established, let me go on. As I was saying, I didn't hear the entire conversation, but I did hear as he walked past what sounded like a scripture...you know when you hear the usual 'it says in the Bible...' or 'that's why it [the Bible] says...' Now please don't think that what I am saying is being judgemental - not at all, in fact we are instructed through the words of Paul to use the Word to instruct, edify and reprove one another. Without any hesitation, I accept the authority of the Bible as God's word and the first and last authority over my life. But at that particular point a thought entered my mind - what impact do these words have when we proceed to give instruction, guidance or encouragement prefixed with 'it says..' I don't know about you, but I couldn't help but think how empty and unconvincing these words can sometimes sound. Don't get me wrong, like I said, there is nothing I love more than the Word of God, it is more than the lamp upon my pathway, it's the very bread I need, but there is something different when we use the Word from a point of personal conviction through experience or through impartation by the Holy Spirit compared to when we recite the Word according to what sounds relevant or fitting to the circumstance at hand having no true experience, revelation or conviction of what we are actually saying. Or put another way, when the Word is not 'flesh' to us.


We all come to Christ through our own personal journey's and when we accept the gift of Salvation through partaking in the death and resurrection of Jesus, we do this through personal conviction, not just that we acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God (who came in the flesh and walked the earth as the Son of man to destroy death and sin so that through His death and resurrection, we too might live), but also through acknowledging our sinful state. This requires us to accept through personalisation of the Word (The Gospel) and then to partake of the living Word (Jesus).


John 1:1-2 states In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning and verse 14 'The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth'. i.e. Jesus himself took on physical form and became flesh. How do we know this? well let's break this down.

1. In the beginning was the Word. God's word has always existed - it precedes creation.

2. The Word was with God. Here the Word is the logos. Logos is and in this context represents Jesus.

3. And the Word was God. God and His word are one - they cannot be separated. One simply does not exist without the other. Matthew 24:25 (KJV) Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away and So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Isaiah 55:11 (KJV). More specifically - Jesus tells us in John 14:6-11 "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him." Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves."

4. He was with God in the beginning. Again referring to Jesus, He was with God right from the very beginning and therefore knows the way directly back to God....I am the way..no-one comes to the father except by me.


One of the amazing things I love about this passage is how matter of fact it is. It doesn't seek to argue, rationalise or present a theory - it tells us simply how it was!


So let's summarise this - Jesus was not only with God from the very beginning, but He was the Word of God - that word being the message of Hope and the life of salvation in Him. But we also know that God is spirit and part of His redemptive plan of salvation required what was spirit to become flesh - to take on form, to dwell in the physical, to manifest and become established. You see God is a practical God. We see this throughout the account of the creation in Genesis - God did not simply think the world into existence, He established it through His spoken word (And He said "Let there be light") - The Rhema! What exists in the spiritual realm can be spoken in order to see it manifest in the physical realm. That's not to say it does not exist or has not been established it just takes on physical form.


We saw earlier in the passage of scripture taken from Isaiah 55 that God stated His word shall not return to Him void, but it will accomplish what He pleases and prosper in the thing where He sent it. We can apply this to Jesus - the Logos. Jesus came, prospered and accomplished what God sent Him to. So now let's consider when we use the Word (the Rhema).


When we use the Word of God, do we use it in the context of the Rhema - spoken word or the Logos - the physical manifestation? You see something supernatural happens when we operate in the Logos - the Word becomes flesh; It becomes established. It is no longer a thought or an intent, it is a true and living testimony because it has become real to us. it is no longer an idea or something we have heard used in sermons, or repeated passively within Christian circles - it is our own personal testimony. Just as we experience Jesus through salvation, we experience the power of God's word.....it becomes flesh.


Now I'm not trying to say that we have to experienced everything within God's Word in order to use it, but without a shadow of doubt (and with Jesus - the Logos as our example), I am convinced that something happens when we speak Logos - when we speak God's word through personal account, personal experience of what we are saying....when the Word has becomes established in us because it becomes our testimony. That is when the Word becomes flesh to us - when we experience Jesus for ourselves.


They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Revelation 12:11.


Stay Blessed!