The WORD (Book of John)

These lessons are for older children.

See Index at the bottom for this series on The Word from the Book of John.

WHAT’S IN A WORD?

If it’s the Word of God, more than you can imagine!

Jesus Christ said that He came into the world to fulfill the Word of God.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Matthew 5:17)

BibleSTG

GOD’S WORD IS HIS PROMISE

Jesus Christ (Yeshua in Hebrew) is the fulfillment of God’s Word. In other words, Jesus Christ did what God said He would do! God promised throughout the Scriptures that He would send the Messiah, a Savior who would save us from our sins. God kept His most important promise in sending Yeshua. He is “God with us”, Immanuel. He lived with people, died on the cross to save us, and then rose up from the dead in a new resurrection body that would live forever!

God kept His promise. God always keeps His promises. The Christian faith begins when one believes God’s promise, that He sent Yeshua the Messiah. But God has many promises for us and we can believe in those as well! Because… GOD’S WORD IS TRUE!

GOD’S WORD IS YESHUA!

Yeshua is God’s best promise, a promise kept. The Scriptures tell us about Yeshua. If you want to know God, start by reading His Word. He Himself IS “the Word”.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)

This is the first line of the Gospel written by John the apostle. It reminds us of the very first line in the Bible from the book of Genesis:

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)

These verses, with the ones following them, tell us that Yeshua is God Himself, the Creator.

The “Word” back during the time John wrote, had a lot of meaning in both the Jewish and Greek cultures. So John, in calling Yeshua “the Word”, is telling us that Yeshua is the cause of everything, the foundation of the existence of everything. Without Yeshua, nothing would be. Without Yeshua, things would cease to exist! Things would fall apart!

“He is the image of the invisible God, ….And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:15,17)

That shows us that GOD’S WORD IS VERY POWERFUL!

WORDS ARE IMPORTANT

God’s Word is powerful and very important. Our words are important, too. We need to be careful what we speak. Wrong words can bring hurt to people. Our words should be towards one another words of encouragement, words of truth, and words of love which sometimes include words of correction.

I know a mother who tells her children when they misbehave, “I love you too much to have you act like that.” That’s a word of correction, given in love, given because she cares for her children and wants them to do good to others, as Christ’s Second Commandment speaks.

“MAGIC” WORDS

Sometimes “please” is referred to as a “magic” word because it is a word that is polite and opens doors of favor for us. But I don’t think it should be called a “magic word” because that confuses two different ideas. We should say “please” and “thank you” to be polite, but that’s not at all magic. It’s just courteous and polite. (Read Granny Vee’s poem “Please!”)

“Magic” is a misused, over-used word that has come to have different meanings. There are “magic crayons” and “magic tricks” like coin tricks and card tricks. If some advertiser wants to sell something, they call it “magic” to make it appealing. In that sense, “magic” means a product does something special.

But there is a kind of “magic” that is wrong. God warned us not to have anything to do with the magic that is witchcraft. God considers witchcraft to be rebellion, disobedience to Him. (1 Samuel 15:23) That kind of “magic” is trying to make things happen your own way, not God’s way. Casting “spells” on people to try to make them do things your way is absolutely wrong!

We should rather pray for people to become Christ-like. Yeshua taught us to pray that God’s “will be done”. God wants the best for everyone and He knows best! Yeshua prayed Himself to the Father God, “Not My will, but Yours be done.” Should we not follow our Savior’s example?

Some books and movies geared at children talk about “magic” words. This is misleading and dangerous because God does not want His children to use these “magic words” and chants or incantations. Some so-called “magic words” actually have meanings that are very evil. You should be careful not to say words that you don’t understand their meaning.

Remember the song: “Oh, be careful little mouths what you say… For the Father up above is looking down with love…”

GOD’S WORD IS LIFE

God wants us to speak His Word. His Word is truth and life!

“The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”
(John 6:63)

So don’t let the devil fool you into using bad words by calling them “magic”. Pray for God’s best in every situation and for everyone! That’s not the example that the rest of the world is giving, but we have the Holy Word of God, the Truth to speak. We, believers in Yeshua the Messiah, have the Word of God who came in a human body Himself and walked among people as our holy example to follow.

“but in these last days he has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world.” (Hebrews 1:2)

God has spoken to us through the life of Yeshua. We can follow Yeshua into abundant life, for His words are life!

May we put our faith, our hope, our trust, in the Word of God not in so-called “magic”. We have something much better! We have the best! We have His Word, His Promise, His Truth. We have Yeshua!

God has graciously given us the Holy Scriptures, His Word in writing. He has also given us His Word in sending Yeshua to set a example for us! If we follow His Word, we will not walk in darkness and sin but in His wonderful Light!

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

So what’s in a Word? Better, what’s in the Word of God?

Answer: Life, Light, Truth, Promises, and “God with us”, Immanuel, Yeshua!

StJohn