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The ultimate revelation of God

December 29, 2021
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Daily Scripture

John 1:15-18

15 John testified about him, crying out, “This is the one of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is greater than me because he existed before me.’”

16 From his fullness we have all received grace upon grace;
17 as the Law was given through Moses,
so grace and truth came into being through Jesus Christ.
18 No one has ever seen God.
God the only Son,
who is at the Father’s side,
has made God known.

Daily Reflection & Prayer

John’s gospel crystalized the first Christians’ conviction about Jesus. The letter to the Hebrews, likely written before John’s gospel, began, “In the past, God spoke through the prophets to our ancestors in many times and many ways. In these final days, though, he spoke to us through a Son. God made his Son the heir of everything and created the world through him. The Son is the light of God’s glory and the imprint of God’s being. He maintains everything with his powerful message” (Hebrews 1:1-3).

  • Scholar William Barclay wrote, “When John said that no [one] has ever seen God, everyone in the ancient world would fully agree with him…. But John does not stop there; he goes on to make the startling and tremendous statement that Jesus has fully revealed to [us] what God is like…. Here the keynote of John’s gospel sounds: ‘If you want to see what God is like, look at Jesus.’”* How will you deepen your grasp in 2022 of what Jesus taught about God’s heart, character and will?
  • John’s message showed us that the person of Jesus, not a book, was God’s ultimate revelation. Pastor Hamilton wrote, “I’m proposing that we hear, examine, and interpret all scripture through the lens and filter of the definitive and unmitigated Word of God, Jesus Christ…. it is Jesus who serves as the final Word by which other words of scripture are to be judged.”** How can you study the Bible, not as a source of abstract facts, but as a way to get to know Jesus better?
Prayer

God, you have always wanted your human children not just to know about you, but to know you. Thank you for coming in Jesus to give us the clearest picture of your loving, forgiving heart. Amen.

GPS Insights

Picture of  Shannon Starek

Shannon Starek

Shannon Starek serves as the Director of Discipleship at Resurrection Downtown. She loves to travel and has been to 49 states, 11 countries and lived in Vancouver, Canada for grad school! When not gallivanting all over the world, she lives in Liberty with her husband, Aaron, and two sons, Owen and Porter.

I love Christmas. But Christmas can also be hard.

As you read this, my family is finally celebrating Christmas morning with our two boys. You see, my husband and I have each walked the road of divorce and now co-parent and step-parent and parent along the way. With that comes the reality that sometimes you celebrate holidays whenever you can.

I can make all the best laid plans for Christmas, but then I must hold them loosely. I have learned to have grace for myself and grace for others along the way…grace upon grace.

Sometimes this comes easily, but oftentimes it doesn’t. In the hard moments of this season of Christmas I try and rely on part of our Scripture from today…

“From his fullness we have all received grace upon grace…” -John 1:16

Grace upon grace…

When Christmas doesn’t turn out the way you planned, when life doesn’t turn out the way you planned…it is during those times that I am so thankful that Christ comes and lavishes grace upon grace upon us. So may you, in this season of joys and disappointments, look for the grace upon grace that we find.

© 2024 Resurrection: A United Methodist Church. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References

* William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of John—Volume 1 Chapters 1–7 (Revised Edition). Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1975, pp. 73-74.

** Hamilton, Adam. Making Sense of the Bible: Rediscovering the Power of Scripture Today (pp. 175-177). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.