Reflection Questions – Advent 3
Read John chapter 1.9-14.
1. Consider v10. Is the true light a personal being or an impersonal principle? What clues are there in this verse that suggest the true light is a person?
2. In V10, what achievement or great work has this personal being done?
3. Observe v9-10 together. Here the Apostle John states that by virtue of creating the world, the true light reveals something of God. What can we see about God from creation? What attributes of God may be discerned from his creation and preservation of the world?
4. Read Psalm 19. How does God reveal himself in v1-6? How does God reveal himself even more accurately and reliably, according to v7-14? What written words of God do we have today, that should also be considered perfect, right, and life giving v7-8 (in addition to the Old Testament law)?
5. Now we consider the very full revelation of God in the historical figure, Jesus of Nazareth. Read John chapter 1.1-5, v14 and v18.
How do these verses affirm the equality of the Son and the Father? What do the Father and the Son share equally?
How do these verses reveal the distinct persons of God the Son and God the Father? How are these persons described as distinct from one another (yet still united and sharing the same divine attributes)?
6. a) Reflection. In the prologue to his Gospel the Apostle John shows us:
The Son is full of grace and truth just like the Father. He shares in the mighty work of creation and new creation, with the Father. So, the Son shares the Father’s exact nature, his beautiful character and life giving powers.
And miraculously, the Son added a human nature to himself- that of Jesus of Nazareth. He did this in order to be the Word, the revelation of the true God and the revelation of the life God offers us.
Jn 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
6. b) Ponder- if God the Son could dwell in a perfect, yet still human, nature, what does that say about the value of we human beings? If God the Son could dwell in a perfect, yet still human, nature and be the word that reveals God, what does that say about the potential of we human beings?
7. Some religions suggest that physical, bodily life is evil, when compared to spiritual life which is good. But God the Son took on a physical life, in a human body, like us. What does that say about our lives in a human body?
8. Prayer & Praise. Spend some time praising the Son that he added a complete but sinless human nature to himself, in order to die in our place, and be raised, and give us renewed bodies in God’s renewed world. Here all the weaknesses of our bodies, brought about by the fall, will be healed. Here our bodies will reach their full potential. So much to praise Jesus for!
9. During the week, in your own time, repent of any ways you have devalued your own human body or created nature. Ask Jesus to help you value your body in the same way he values it.