"In the beginning was the WORD and the WORD was with God and the WORD was God. He was with God in the beginning." 

LOGOS or word begins to describe the power of Jesus. John begins with creation. To the Hebrews, they knew God created all that exists by His very Word. There is power in the word of God. God spoke and the universe began to take form just by His word. When God said, “Let there be light” there was light. When God said let the seas be filled with all kinds of swimming things, it was so. His word has creative power.

To the Greek mind Logos means knowledge and understanding. It means wisdom and insight.  Plato said maybe someday there will come from God a word who will reveal all mysteries and make everything plain. For them knowledge and wisdom though reason was understood when you used the Greek logos.

John’s presentation provided for the ancient world understanding of power, authority, wisdom and revelation. Since Jesus was with the Father and was the Word and the world was created from the Logos of God, Jesus created it. I remember when I first heard that question on a Bible quiz. I got it wrong. I said the Father created the world, and Jesus came into the world His Father created. I knew that Jesus existed someplace for these billions and trillions of years but what He did - I had no idea. Then I studied all the passages related to the creative power of Jesus, the Word.

1 Corinthians 8:6 tells us that “yet for us there is but one God, the Father from whom all things came from whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.” Listen to Colossians 1:15,16 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created; things in  heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; All things were created by him and for him.”

The interesting thought is - Christ made all things. God was the origin, the source of all things. Christ was the means through which the creative process moved. Man is not able to bring anything into existence from nothing. Jesus can. We can look at the sunsets, the trees, the plants, flowers, an all the rocks and seas and everything in them, but Jesus is the power for life. The WORD gave life to all living beings. Life went forth from God to bring life to inanimate objects.

There are many scientists who say everything happens by chance and there is no such thing as a great thought behind the universe. John’s testimony is vastly different. He says there is a great mind behind the universe. This Word has power to bring about all there is and was. Not only was the WORD spoken through Jesus and the world created, but all the Bible speaks of the WORD of God as the authority behind that Word. We have seen the power of this Word to change lives. 

“Give the word and it shall be done.” depends on who said it. In Bible times, they were awaiting on a word from the King. When that word came from the King, war began or was directed. This last week, I watched the Civil War movie entitled “Of God’s and Generals”. Among other things, one thing that struck me, was how precious it was to receive a letter from a husband who was off fighting in the war. Those words from the written lines, which sometimes took weeks to deliver, were so precious because of who it was that wrote it.  I thought of how much a word from home is an encouragement. A word today can be more than a letter. It can be a phone call, an email, a card, or a chat room. 

When I was watching that movie on civil war there came the word from Abraham Lincoln who gave the proclamation of emancipation. The declaration of his authoritative word allowed the slaves to be free. Of course it passed in the congress making their word authoritative. When Robert E Lee gave his word 100,000s troops moved by the power of his word and authority.

Word symbolizes power. When Jesus spoke the wind and the waves obeyed His voice. When Jesus spoke by His power people were healed and even raised to life again. For it represents the authority of the power of God above all powers. The important thing about the power of the word is the source of that power. I would not do something just because my brother said I should do it. However, when Mother said I should do it that word became much more powerful. A Sergeant might tell the private what to do, but if a Lieutenant says the opposite, whose word do you obey?   The word that has the power is the one with the greatest ranking and authority giving it.

What if God says something different than the lieutenant or the sergeant? Who has the greatest authority in your life? Ultimately, God’s word will prevail and His will be done. God’s Word revealed in scriptures is the ultimate authority.  The Bible is the authoritative and powerful book of God, illuminated and produced by the Holy Spirit. It is more powerful than any two edged sword dividing bone and marrow and spirit and soul.

Dale