“That was the true light which lights every man coming into the world”. (John 1:9) The true light – that is, there is an untrue light. But that was the true light which lights every man coming into the world. This is interesting. It turns out that Christ’s light lights all people, it lights not only believers, but every man who comes into the world. A baby is born, it is at the mother’s breast, and the light begins to light it. When does it actually happen – when he is 5 or twenty or when he knows love? This is mystery. How does it light him? When he takes breast milk, feels the warmth or mother’s smell? Like Augustine wrote in his Confession that he remembered how he was in his mother’s arms, how he was breast fed, he remembered all things.
I think of my early days, when I was about four or perhaps younger, I remember certain experiences very distinctly. What a marvelous mystery is that when powerful and stressful things flash and disappear, and things insignificant and unpractical remain forever? I think this is the true light, which identifies what is important for man.
You have your own value scale grounded by your experience or opinion or education and culture, but light choose it on its own, where to anoint or mark you. And this touches me strongly – that was the true light which lights every man coming into the world. There’s the light that shines for all, and this isn’t certainly the sun, it’s not the day, it’s not people’s good – this is the light of Christ, God’s light.
Even yet in the world I saw I was chosen. No matter what a trouble or situation I was as if kept by Angels. I was always amazed how it happened. This was the true light which lights every man coming into the world. We come into the world, you know, we are spirits, we’ve come into the world and the light has lighted us. And I think this not a one-time action, but a constant value that keeps shining like cosmos, which is regardless of us. But it is us who think it regardless, in our light-mindedness we don’t think it relates. All things relate.
“He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him”.(John 1:10) Here we already come to redemption, we come to suffering, we come to the chaos and Lucifer, who spoiled it all from the beginning, he tried to spoil, and man took his side. Here we approach the apogee of the world catastrophe and world sensational happening of the glory triumph. These two powerful events happened: the cataclysm of Lucifer’s fall along with man, how he fell into the man’s heart and settled there; and how Christ came, broke His heart and healed Adam, and had him seated next on the throne.
And this is the Messiah. Don’t think this is only Jesus Christ. This is the Messiah. This is even more than the Son of God. And He created the world – “and the world began to be through Him”. And He came to this very world He created, incredibly huge, all the cosmos, all the galaxies, all of the Universe, and then He came into it. And the world did not know Him. This is incredible, what a great catastrophe – your child did not know you and denied you.
“He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”. (John 1:11-13)
This is amazing – the Messiah comes and embodies not even in a man, but a being – the Son of man, that is, human Son. He come into the world He made and no one recognizes Him. Everyone has forgotten something, everyone has lost something and got mean. They kill Him, and He resurrects, and those who receive Him by faith, He gives right (authority) to be His children and bears them not of man, but of God.
Do you see what a mystery! This is more than a congregation, this is more than a church, than prayer schedule, this is more than us visiting church meetings. This is more than our worship songs, this is more than our Bible – this is more than anything. This is incredibly global, and this is incredibly personal, always. Do you know that God is always personal? Maximum personal, because part of the Godhead is you. You are that little piece of the divine lava, and you recognized this, you recognize the nature, you love what is God’s and you reject what is not God’s. This is incredible, unshakable, predestined, guaranteed salvation. I can’t imagine how I cannot be with God if I am from God. I don’t want to tremble with fear, I want to believe, I choose to believe – this is my choice. I choose to believe, I choose to love, I choose to live and look into heaven with pure eyes, and tremble with a broken heart. This is my choice. I choose this. It doesn’t matter to me what this world dictates – I make my choice, and I choose God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt with thus full of grace and truth – what sweetness, what beauty. Those apostles had the bliss to see the Word in flesh. They saw the Word of God of whom everything came to be – they could touch Him, they could hear Him, sleep near Him. And this is incredible, this isn’t what a man and a woman feel, this isn’t about fleshly touch, it isn’t about the mother’s womb connection – this goes to the very eternity.
This Word dwelt with us fuuull of grace and truth. That is, hyper-mega good is there that can never become evil, that can never make harm. We, being evil, know how to give good gifts to our children – here’s God’s definition of our good. But the Word is full of grace. Why are our words not full of grace? Today I want to speak a word of grace, which is full of grace and truth.
There’s no need to interpret anything here. I am not supposed to prove this to you that this is true, take it to pieces and chew it for you. I simply believe and you simply eat this. Don’t try to understand it, but simply open your mouth and eat this, this is useful and incredibly powerful. I felt this today: “read the Word with faith to them, so that they eat it the way you eat it, and this it what we are doing. I don’t want to filtrate things through the mind today, I want to read this pure, the words of Apostle John. This first chapter is amazing, a wide open powerful rose, where you can merge and dissolve in this beauty, because the work of the Lord is glory and beauty. He is a radiant God, He is not a man, He is like man and not because He became man, but because we are made in His image and His likeness.
“And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father”. Is this what John writes about himself and the Apostles? – No, I am in here as well. And I saw His glory, otherwise what am I doing here with you? I know with my spirit that this is true. I did not come from the darkness, but from the light.
“And of His fullness” – He has no lack in anything, because He is full. We are all infected and poisoned by this fear of lack of beauty, intelligence, money, happiness. This lack is a trouble, which paralyzes our mind, we see things and people distorted, look with suspicious glance.
“And of His fullness have all we received grace upon grace”. Think about this. I wish that you can penetrate and embrace this mystery, that from His fullness there can be nothing except for grace, only grace.
So you came as a baby into this world, true light lighted you. Then you were somehow introduced before the heavenly host, and you were accepted. It is not you who accepted Christ, but you were accepted. You were restored, and now you are a community person, you do your best to be a good church member and other awkward things instead of being God’s son or daughter, remain there. And all things come from there: you grow in grace, walk in grace, walk in love and walk in the Spirit, because without the Spirit we can see God in no way.
Being in our spirit, plunge all our consciousness in there, shift the axis of our life activity into the spirit, and from there spin our life, shine forth from there, there kindle our spiritual emotions and thoughts and feelings. The spirit of man is the backbone of man, his source, his basis.
It dwells not only here, but it came from eternity like a meteorite, thickened into the mother’s womb, like Job writes, “you thickened me like cheese” (Job 10:10), then body organs were formed, the blood, and all of this is the light of truth.
“Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
I want to give a little secret here. It is a promise here that we will see angels, why don’t we see them then? – It says that you will angels descending and ascending to the Son of man, not to you. And if we are not in the Son, aren’t joined to Him, we don’t see. Join to Him and angels will manifest. There’s no promise here that they will come to us, but to the Son of man. The heavens are open for me, above me personally, and if I am in the Son and He is in me, the angels come to me as well, and I receive what the Son receives. This is amazing.
This is not just the Scripture we read. This is life, this is the Word. Preach and reveal the Word, because it is stronger than our thoughts, feelings or experience, which encourages, but don’t remain. It’s like perfume that is quickly gone.
The Word is taken into the womb and doesn’t cease, it makes you bigger and bigger, it builds up, it performs its work. It changes us when we eat it.
I desire that we get focused so that Christ is in the center. This is the highest, the most accurate what we can do at all on this earth in our bodies and lives – put Him in the center, not us. This will be our exploit, and it’s the highest exploit in the life of a man, to give Christ the center in our lives. We won’t be able to do anything greater than that, but all thing will proceed from there.
Christ the Messiah is in the center of my universe. Let us make him center of our universe! Each of us has a universe with its laws, movements, wars…
Jesus is a Man, this is human nature, there have been many with this Jewish name. And God doesn’t make any special divine name, but gives Him a human name that had been with many. And the Messiah takes this body, in order to be the Son of man, and starts to ascend from the very low to the very top. From this poor virgin and a carpenter, an ordinary human family, a human name, no place for them in the hotel… But this wondrous Child blooms and shines, and no one can touch Him because the heaven is above Him.
He was totally human, had tears, felt hunger and was tired under the sun, He had compassion and expressed His wrath – the Word dwelt with us. They didn’t recognize God in Him, He wasn’t very much like God. People crucified Him because He didn’t look like God. What is then His glory among other young men, among other trees of the forest? Think about this – what was in Him that made Him the Messiah? We often don’t even go into these spheres, but they are calling us. This is called breaking the Messiah. Preach and break the Messiah in your sermons. Don’t be afraid, go behind the curtain, because this are the desired things. Think what our feelings are compared to this Word? – dust…
He is Christ, He is God, I can’t comprehend Him. I can only admire and call you there. He is an absolute prophet, the King of prophets, and He is mercy itself, praying from the cross for His murderers with tears and sincere heart and full love.
The miracles He made, this knowledge of God, when He knew everything about God and revealed the Father. His radiant cross, covered with His blood, you could touch and taste it – what kind of blood was it, which works in us today and speaks. He is the Intercessor of the New Covenant, He prays for us. How does He pray for me?
His resurrection. He teaches them about the Kingdom. He invites Thomas to put his fingers in His wounds – Look, this is Me… Then He ascended on the Mount of olives and tells them to wait for the Holy Spirit, “I will be with you till the end of the world”. And you shall receive the power when the Holy Spirit falls on you.
How often do we forget about the Holy Spirit?
And today Christ Himself is with us in the Holy Spirit. There’s no other way He can be with us. Let us get filled with the Holy Spirit, remove all the waste from the center of our lives and invite Christ to reign. And we will fix our eyes on Him like Mary – this is all we need. All other things shall be added.