John 1:18

John 1:18 PODCAST

No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. ~ John 1:18

According to John 1:18, we learn that the truth is defined by God and only God.

"No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son." Ultimate reality, the truth behind all things is only known by God. The contrast between the Lord Jesus and Moses is furthered in this one verse. Moses only saw the back of God and could not know, to the full, intimacy with the God. The Lord Jesus, on the other hand, is the only one has seen God face to face and because of that He can offer us that intimacy with God. It is this intimacy which Jesus has with the Father that is the basis for the last phrase of v.18: "... is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known."

Man is constantly pursuing truth. One would think that after thousands of years, man would have gotten to the core of reality. Ultimate truth can not be discovered except in a personal relationship with Jesus! "The one and only Son who is Himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made Him known."  The verb translated "made Him known"  brings with it the idea of exegeted. The Lord Jesus has explained or exegete the Father to us. 

That's a key idea: God is Father. When we come to him through Jesus Christ we discover a loving Father. A Father provides, protects and guides our steps, this is what we learn when we come to Jesus. The point that is being made here is the Lord Jesus embodies the fullness of God’s presence and person.

The phrase “and is in closest relationship with the Father” is translated in other versions of the Bible as “in the bosom of the Father.” This is a term of endearment, and it illustrates intimacy with God. The Apostle John later wrote “there was reclining on Jesus' bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.” 

In that day, the Jews wouldn’t sit at a table for the Passover dinner– they would recline on their left side, propping themselves up with their left hand and eating with their right. Imagine 13 guys lying in this way in a circle. To Jesus’ right was John, and if Jesus wanted to tell John something John could simply lean back and Jesus could whisper it into His ear. 

For Jesus to be “in the bosom of the Father” means that Jesus has occupied this place of love, intimacy, and communion with God from all eternity. And it’s that unique place at the Father’s table that gives Jesus the knowledge of the Father which He shares with humanity. 

God has perfectly revealed Himself through Jesus and only Jesus. He is the only way to a personal relationship with God and eternal life, the Father. There is no other way to know the true God and to be right with Him. 

In order to know God better, we must dwell at the cross of the Lord Jesus. Jesus said to the Bible experts in John 5:39, “Here you are scouring through the Scriptures, hoping that you will find eternal life among a pile of scrolls. What you don’t seem to understand is that the Scriptures always point to Me.” We can be faithful to a Bible reading schedule, read complicated commentaries, or take Bible study classes, and still remain relatively shallow in our knowledge and experience of God. We must remember to meditate long and hard on what happened at that cross and seek to view life through the lens of the gospel. 

Finally, in every passage of Scripture that we read, we must be careful to look for an encounter with the living Lord Jesus. The only one who will ever bring people to saving faith is the Lord Jesus. There is no better person than the Lord Jesus through whom we best discover our identity and our purpose in this world. Brent Curtis and John Eldredge said it well when they penned, "If we try to gain transcendence through indulgence, soon enough familiarity breeds contempt and we are driven to search for mystery elsewhere." 

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John 1:16-17

John 1:16-17 PODCAST

16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (John 1:16-17)

In our text today, the Apostle John indirectly underlines the deity of Jesus Christ in the first four words of v.16. "Out of his fullness" makes the claim that Christ is not lacking anything. It is out of His fullness that He came to rescue mankind from the clutches of sin and death.

The fall of man was best expressed through our lack. It is our lack and the subsequent covetousness that gave way to sin. Perhaps this is why God made the tenth command, "you shall not covet." 

Further, in our text, John is drawing a contrast between grace and truth with the Law and Moses. The Law is truth. It makes demands. It is hard, cold, unyielding, without mercy. But, "grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." Take away Jesus and you take away grace and truth; He is the deliverer of them. The law demands perfection. 

This is why the Lord Jesus came to the earth to live a perfect life and offer Himself as a perfect sacrifice. Through His perfect life and death, He fulfilled the law on our behalf. His grace and truth makes it possible for us to receive the application of His perfection to our otherwise ruined existence.

The law makes its demands, rightfully and justly. If there were no truth, we'd all lack reality and substance and the need for grace. And, no man can meet the demands of the law. But, through His grace the Lord Jesus met the demands of the law, and upheld its substance.  This is why John writes in v.16, "Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given."

Through God's grace, we have received the generosity of the love of God in Christ. Grace is the star of hope that lights the dark sky of iniquity. The Lord Jesus came full of grace and truth, reaching out toward mankind, giving Himself for and to us. Because He has loved us and we have accessed His love for us, we can sincerely and authentically love others.

Truth is what makes grace work, and, now that sin has entered into the fray, grace is what makes truth work: “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). And, Before the creation of the world, He accepted us. Before we ever did anything wrong and before we ever did anything right, He loved us and gave us His grace. Religion says we have to earn God’s acceptance, but grace says it is already ours.

The word “fullness” in v.16 is “pleroma,” in the Greek. This word describes that which has been filled, completeness, abundance. The Lord Jesus is fully God and fully man and full of grace and full of truth. There’s nothing of God lacking in Him, and nothing of grace or truth lacking in Him. And out of His fullness, “we have all received” which means we have all been taken hold of, taken in, been given from His fullness.

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John 1:14-15

John 1:14-15

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. 15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) (John 1:14-15)

In v.14 we learn that God "made his dwelling among us." Notice it was His glory that caught John's attention. The Word, Jesus Christ, the God-man, made His dwelling among mankind as a man. He did this in order to reunite man with God.

In the beginning, God designed man to bear His (God's) image. Man has always had a hunger and a capacity for God, he just hasn't known it. We long throughout life for that something that will meet our deepest need. That capacity was designed of God. God intended man to be the dwelling place of God. So, the Lord Jesus came to this earth to make that a possibility.

The glory that John saw in the Lord Jesus was the "the glory of the one and only Son." And, He was full of grace and truth. Grace and truth, that is the glory of God. Someone has defined grace as "that which God does within you and without you." Grace is love giving itself. The word “grace” does not occur again in John's Gospel beyond v.16 of our text. 

Truth, in addition, is the manifestation of reality, the unveiling of what is actually there, the stripping off of all the illusions, the veils, the facades, and getting down to what is actually there. Jesus was full of both grace and truth. He was the ultimate revelation of what is really real in life; and He is the fullest expression of love giving itself. This is the glory that John saw in Jesus Christ.

Aletheia is the Greek word used here for “truth” is found twenty-five times in John's Gospel. It is one of the key words in this Gospel. It is the combination of two Greek words "a" alpha  and "letho, “to conceal.” It means the unconcealed, or the opened. 


Although John uses the word “true” (alethinos) in 1:9, he first uses aletheia in 1:14 and repeats it in 1:17. The “Word” made flesh was “full of grace and truth.” He was the full revelation or unconcealing of God and the complete expression of his grace. Aletheia or the “truth” is the full unconcealing of the Father through the Son.

Grace and truth are really life and light. Life at any level is a revelation of the love of the Creator, the giving of the Creator to his creatures, the sharing of his life with us. We have come to understand that love is an absolute necessity for us. We cannot function without it. Those who are deprived of love, either by circumstances or by their own poor choices, lose the capacity to perform, to live, to do anything; they huddle in a corner, or they assume a fetal position, unable to do anything, because love is life. Grace, therefore, is the source of life.


Truth is used by biblical writers to illustrate light which is the comprehension of reality. We have all said, "I wish I had more light on this subject"? By that we mean, "I wish I understood it better; I wish I saw more clearly what was there." Truth is light. The glory of the Lord Jesus was grace and truth, life and light; and in Him it was/is full; he was/is "full of grace and truth."

The fullness of Christ is a theme carried through this Gospel account. It is juxtapositioned by the emptiness of man. It was Charles Spurgeon who once said, "We will never know the fullness of Christ until we know the emptiness of everything else."

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John 1:9-13

John 1:9-13 PODCAST

9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a man’s will, but born of God. (John 1:9-13)

In v.9, we are told The true light who is the Lord Jesus Christ gives light to everyone coming into the world. He uses three primary means to draw all men unto Himself: creation, man's conscience and His cross. There is no one on the face of this earth who hasn't received some form of communication from the Lord. Therefore, no one has any excuse for not believing and receiving His free gift of salvation.

According to v.10, He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. The Lord Jesus came to the land that had been promised to Abraham, to the ones who had been instructed for centuries of the coming One who would be the suffering Servant, but His people did not receive Him. 

So Jesus Christ came into this world of darkness as the light of the world. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not understood it. And the darkness did not grasp the light, it could not understand it. Christ’s light-giving life is offered to all as the only remedy to our darkness problem.

In v.13, we are given the mistaken ways people think they are made right before God. 

The first, not of natural descent. This means we are not made right in God's sight by inheritance, and not by human ancestry. We can grow up in a Christian home, attend a Christian school, spend all our life involved in Christian activities, but until we are born again we are not Christian. 

The second, not of human decision. We cannot talk ourselves into becoming Christian. We cannot will ourselves into becoming Christian. It is only by being born again do we become Christian. It is the nature of faith to be our response to God's divine persuasion. Without His allurement, we would never come to the light.

The third, not of the will of man. It is not by any human's efforts that we become followers of Jesus Christ. No Pope, no preacher, no archbishop, no priest, no human, not even ourselves, can make us Christian. We cannot become Christian by a ceremony or by baptism. 

The only way that anyone becomes Christian is discovered in v.12: he gave the right to become children of God.  This is what happens when we turn to God and receive Him into our hearts. This is the new birth. This is done by being born of God. It is all by God, so it is beyond any human effort. To all who did receive him. Not all who merely believe in Him, but we must receive Him into our lives. Many people say, "I believe in Christ. I believe that he lived, that he died and rose again. I believe he was who he said he was." But that does not make us Christian. It is when we receive Him that we become Christian. It is by receiving Him, by inviting Him to make our spirit alive to Him; that is the only way into the kingdom of God.

Once we have been made alive to God, the Bible becomes a different book to us. Once we receive His life and read the Bible we will have new light. It will make sense where it never made sense before. Where once it was dull and uninviting, now it seems to come alive with revelation from God that we never had seen before. This is the mark of a new birth.

Once we have been justified and born again, we enter into a process called sanctification. It does not happen overnight. It takes place gradually. This process involves the changing of our souls which is made up of our minds, wills and emotions. Our souls begin to be influenced by Him to the point that He begins to define our thinking, our choices and our emotions.

Once born again, we begin to see Christianity differently than we did before. We recognize it as a relationship with the Lord Jesus Himself. When we read about Him in the Bible, we find ourselves relating to Him, accordingly. Where once we thought of Christianity as adhering to certain rules and rituals, we now recognize it as the interchange of our heart with His. I like how the late Mike Yaconelli put it, “Christianity is not about learning how to live within the lines; Christianity is about the joy of coloring.”

John 1:6-8

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6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. ~ John 1:6-8

John the Baptist, the one predicted in Isaiah 40:3 as coming to "prepare the way of the Lord" now comes into the picture. His ministry was to set the stage for the coming of the truth, the Lord Jesus Himself. God chose to send Jesus' slightly older cousin, by six months, to bear witness to His arrival on the earth. 

God knew exactly when John needed to be born, though it didn’t make sense to his aging parents at the time, Elizabeth and Zechariah. Elizabeth had been barren for many years; she was old when she became pregnant with John. Yet, God’s timing was not late or early; it was right on time. 

According to Luke 1:5,36, Elizabeth was a descendant of Israel's first high priest, Aaron and a cousin of Jesus' mother, Mary. Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, was a priest who served in the temple in Jerusalem. This made John the Baptist of priestly descent. 

John the Baptist's arrival was a fulfillment of prophecies which spoke of a voice in the wilderness (Isaiah 40:3, Malachi 3:1) who would come in the spiritual power of Elijah (Malachi 4:5).

John was sent to testify to the light. As soon as Jesus came, God prepared and sent a human being right alongside the light to bear witness to the light. God did not need John the Baptist to make Him known. Neither does He need you and me. I believe that He wants us, therefore He includes us. The implications of this are deep. He doesn't need us, He wants us.

John the Baptist identified the light; he told men who it was, because the Lord Jesus did not look like light. This is why people did not recognize Him as Messiah. He needed a witness. And, John downplayed his own importance. He denied himself and preached Christ. As a result, people came out to the hot desert to hear the one who was there to prepare the way of the Lord.

In v.7 we read that John came as a witness. The word used here for witness is martyreō. We get our word martyr from this Greek word. It is fitting that this word was chosen by God to describe the one who would later say, "less of me and more of Him (the Lord Jesus). This is what happens before we enter into the world of effective witnessing, we lose sight of ourselves in the One identified as the light. It is translated “testimony” in some translations. It isn’t just our words that introduce people to the Lord Jesus. It’s our whole life. God uses our yielded lives to point others to His Son.

Someone once said, "people do not care what you know until they know that you care." This is such an instructive quote when it comes to being a witness of the Lord Jesus. Our lives are a testimony to who God is and how He works in our lives. We do not have to try to “be  witnesses” because we already are. If we have faith in the Lord Jesus, we are witnesses to His life. 

John the Baptist came as a witness to the light which is something that reveals something else. John the Baptist didn’t even introduce people to God. He simply introduced them to the light who revealed who God was. Perhaps being a witness is simpler than we think.

Finally, according to v.7, "He (John) came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him (the Lord Jesus) all might believe."  Notice: "through him," not on him. The aim of his testimony was that we all believe on the Lord Jesus. John's whole life pointed to the truth and worth of the One who was to come after him, the Lord Jesus Christ . This gospel was written so that we would believe on Jesus and on Jesus alone. 

John 1:4-5

John 1:4-5 PODCAST

4 In him was life,and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. ~ John 1:4-5


Jesus is the originator of life and light. John tells us "In him was light." We do not naturally and automatically access this life that is in Jesus ... it is in a static relationship with Him that we access this life. The Greek word that John uses here for "life" is Zoe which is the type of life that brings with it God's transcendent views of this life.

Jesus Christ, Himself, is life! Plants and trees have life because He gave it to them. Animals have life because He gave it to them. Mankind has life, and Jesus Christ is the source of it. Jesus Christ is life and the giver of life.
He is also the light and the giver of light. The light that John is identifying here is understanding and wisdom. His point is: Jesus Christ is the source of understanding of reality. He is the basis of the knowledge of truth. He is the answer for those seeking what is really real. The Gospel of John is about the Lord Jesus Christ. How to know Him. How to find life through faith in Him.

We live in a dark world that has little understanding of reality. It is only in the light of the Lord Jesus that we see life as it really is. Yet, the world is shackled in darkness. And, this darkness allows pride, the idea that we do not need God, to fester. The farther we progress in time, mankind regresses to anarchy and violence. This is darkness.

In v.5 we read: "the darkness has not overcome it (the light)." Overcome means that it cannot get hold of the light, it cannot control it, it cannot possess it, it cannot comprehend it. Darkness and light cannot exist together. In this sense darkness is the opposite of the truth, it is the lie which will always be contrary to God's definition of things.

I'm sure you notice that in John 1:1-4, John uses exclusively past tense verbs. In the beginning was the Word. In him was life. The life was the light of man. But now, in v.5, John says "the light shines in the darkness." All of a sudden he switches to the present tense. The emphasis of the verb tense is really something like “the light is shining in the darkness.”

The Word, the Logos is here, now. He is involved right now in our lives. The Word is not just something in the past. The Word is now. But He is not just now. He is revealing Himself to us and the darkness is trying to hide Him from us.

As a result of His involvement in our lives, we have been given and are being given a story with Him. This is the essence of the Christian life, our interaction with the Word, the One who defines life for us as we allow Him.

This pre-existent Logos is a case in theology. Speculating on the origin of life is philosophy. Now, we have light versus darkness, this is conflict. Conflict gives us a story. And, like the four parts in any good story, we are receiving His story. Included in this story is the plot, the conflict, the climax and the resolution. Every day, due to the fact that the darkness and the light factors in, we are receiving this unfolding story that God has chosen to include us in.

So John tells us that this Logos is in opposition to the darkness in our world. John lets us know that this is a story worth listening to because it is a story where the hero wins out in the end. The darkness may try to overpower it. The darkness may try to overtake it. But the darkness will not win. The light will prevail.

History, as we know it, isn’t just happening neutrally. We live in the midst of a conflict. On one side is this Logos who is the light and the life of man. On the other side is the darkness that pervades the world.

Life is not the only a thing out there. There is death as well. Jesus is the light, but there is darkness. Life comes from Jesus, but death is powerful as well. And so at the end of these verses, we find out that the Logos isn’t just a philosophy. 

There is darkness and there is light. And, there are no bystanders in this conflict. This is a battle between light and darkness and it is happening today. The light shines today because the darkness surrounds us today.

This battle happens as we face temptations to turn our backs on the truth and give in to the selfish desires of darkness. This battle happens as our world struggles with a changing world that is trying to figure out how to make sense of life.

It is into this conflict that the One who was before anything else was, wades in. He is the light that shines in the darkness. He is the source of life and existence. He is engaged in a conflict with death and darkness. And He is the one that will eventually emerge as the victor.

The other gospel writers start their gospels with the birth of a man. Over time, their stories make it clear that Jesus is the God-man. John, on the other hand, begins his gospel with the truth about the Logos who is literally the all-in-all. He is God himself. He created everything. He is the source of life. And finally, He is here now, ready for the daily conflict that we all face and He is poised to win every battle. Herein is zoe experienced.

John 1:2-3

John 1:2-3 PODCAST

2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ~ John 1:2-3

In John 1:1 we learned that Jesus is God. In v.2 we learn that He as with the other two persons of the Godhead at the beginning of time. 

Note those two words in v.2 "with God." "With" is a relational word. Relationship is a huge word with God. Right in the middle of making the point that Jesus is the God who created through His word, in the most subtle way, God accentuates relationship. God has always been relational. 

In fact, there are relationships to be observed in the stars. When God designed and created the universe, He determined that clocks and calendars would be based on the motion of the moon, the earth, the planets and other objects in the heavens. Time is to this day measured in terms of the rotational period of the earth on its axis, the month is basically a lunar cycle and the year an orbital period of the earth's motion around the sun.

As noted in Galatians 3:8 God preached the Gospel to Abraham. He did this through the stars. In Genesis 15 and in Genesis 22. Note these are two separate incidents. Galatians 3:6 reads, "Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness." This quote comes directly from Genesis 15:6. Abraham was childless and had no heir. Then God said to him, "Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”"

"So shall your offspring be." Does this mean that Abraham was to have many children? In Galatians 3:16, Paul says: "The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ."

Abraham lists the star names in sequence from constellation to constellation telling the story of the stars from their names, and God says to him "So will your offspring, the Messiah, be."

On the second occasion in Genesis 22:17, Abraham was promised seed like "the stars of heaven and the sand of the sea shore for multitude." According to Paul in Galatians 3, it was specifically on the first occasion in Genesis 15 that Messiah was promised from Abraham's lineage and Abraham believed God. Finally note that God preached the Gospel of Christ to Abraham by this method, and by faith Abraham accepted the message. 

Back to John 1:2 which reads, "He was with God in the beginning." The Word became flesh and lived here, for a while, on earth. God, the Son, decided to limit Himself to living as a human in order to connect with all humans. There is nothing I will not do for my children. I will go without so that they may have. Why? Because I love them so. It is no different with our Savior. He will deny Himself so that we, those whom He loves, will be blessed. He took on a human body in order to reach humans.

“Through Him all things were made.” Jesus Christ, God the Son, was the Father’s agent, or Word, in the creation of all things. But in doing it, he was God. God, the Word, created the world. Our Savior, Lord, and Friend is our Maker.

Now, these first three verses in John's Gospel makes it impossible. for someone to declare that Jesus had a beginning or was Himself made by God. But, someone might object by saying "through Him all things were made." Christ was not made. This is what it means to be God. By definition God means supreme being. He is not a creature; he created creatures. And, "all things" does not include Him, because He is the Supreme Being. Creation includes everything but Him. 

But John did not leave it at that. He said, at the end of v.3, “without him nothing was made that was made.” Anything in the category of made, Christ made it. Therefore, Christ was not made. Because before He exists, He can’t bring Himself into being.

John 1:1

Click here for the John 1:1 Podcast

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ~ John 1:1

The Gospel of John is a running movie of the life and saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It focuses on the last three years of His life, emphasizing His death, burial, and resurrection. According to John 20:30–31, the gospel of John is written to help us believe on Christ and experience the kind of life that has the touch of eternity on it, the life He died to give us, a personal relationship with God.

This description of Jesus Christ was written by the Apostle John who was an eyewitness to all that is recorded. Five times in this Gospel we read of “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2, 7; 21:20). At the end it says in John 21:20, “Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them.”  Then four verses later (John 21:24), it says, “This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things and who has written these things.” 

So the one called “the disciple whom Jesus loved” who was there leaning on his chest at the Last Supper (John 13:23) wrote this account of Jesus' life here on earth. He was there at the foot of the cross while the other ten disciples ran away because he was more defined by Jesus' love for him than he was by his love for Jesus.

John begins his gospel with an eighteen verse introduction, wherein he is attempting to answer such questions as: "Who is Jesus? Where did he come from? Why did He come to earth?" The first eighteen verses focuses on the fact that Christianity is not a philosophy; it is about a personal relationship with a Person. And, that person is the God-man, Jesus Christ.

Jesus is easily the most shattering, the most radical character that has ever appeared in history. More books have been written about Him than any other, ever. More music has been composed, more pictures have been painted, more drama has been written about Jesus than any other person, ever.

Have you ever wondered why? Why is it that we have never been able to forget Jesus of Nazareth? Why does he not fade into the dim past as others have? 

We do not spend that much time on other great leaders. We still know who they are but we do not spend all that focus of interest and attention on them. Why is Jesus Christ the most powerful personality ever to appear on this planet? This is what John is answering for us in this prologue to his gospel: Who is Jesus? 

I like the rendering of John 1:1 in the Voice which reads ... "Before time itself was measured, the Voice was speaking. The Voice was and is God."

There are those who say Jesus had a beginning according to this verse. This is a wrong reading of this verse. It is not that He had a beginning, no, He was there in the beginning. Time had a beginning because He gave it its beginning.

The voice is Jesus Christ. And, in these twenty one chapters of John's gospel, he tells us the story of what Jesus Christ did and what he taught. It took John more than three years to figure out the fullness of who Jesus was. John wants us to know and believe in this incredible God-man who is mankind's Savior. 

“In the beginning was the Word.” 

The "Word" here is the Greek word, logos, which means the same as our word, WORD. A word is an audible or a visual expression of a thought. Thoughts are incommunicable until they are put into words. Nobody knows what God thinks until He tells us. This is part of the reason the Lord Jesus came to this earth, to tell us the mind of God. The Lord Jesus is the Word because His words are the truth of God. 

To the Greeks, the logos was the ordering principle, the first cause. To them, the logos is the reason there is design in the world. Design, this is what God brings into the life of not only the world but also of the believer. And, with this design comes purpose. Even in the greatest of chaos, God has been known to bring forth the greatest purpose. We will never see this design and purpose if we do not come to the place where we trust Him and His design because there are times that the design appears to be a jumbled mess, kind of like the jumbled mess behind an incredible pattern found in crochet. Look, listen and learn as He performs His wonders in your life today through His patterns and designs and purposes.

Ephesians 6:21-24

Ephesians 6:21-24 PODCAST

21 I am sending to you Tychicus, our brother whom we love and a faithful servant of the Lord’s work. He will tell you everything that is happening with me. Then you will know how I am and what I am doing. 22 I am sending him to you for this reason—so that you will know how we are, and he can encourage you. 23 Peace and love with faith to you brothers and sisters from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace to all of you who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love that never ends. Ephesians 6:21-24

In Ephesians 1 we heard that we are "blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places." In Ephesians 2, we discovered "we were dead in our trespasses and sins." We couldn’t save ourselves. God had to make us alive to Him. In Ephesians 3 we learned about "the mystery of our salvation." We discovered in Ephesians 4-6 we were instructed regarding our responsibilities as those who are in the battle.

In 6:21 we read the name of Tychicus. Paul wrote, "Tychicus, our brother whom we love and a faithful servant of the Lord’s work." The use of the word "brother" immediately communicates that he is part of God's family. The word "love" means he is one who is being defined by God's love for him rather than his love for God. 

Not only was Tychicus a loved brother, he was a faithful servant. The word for "faithful" is the Greek word "pistos." This word is used of God as the one who is our divine persuader. And because Tychicus was convinced by the gospel, he was somebody who could be depended upon. 

The Greek word "servant" used here is diakonos. The word literally means "a person who was willing to wait tables." Tychicus was a person who has the heart of serving, and it didn’t matter how much credit he got for it.

The unsung heroes of the faith are the people who say, "I believe in what you are doing. I believe it is for the same God I love. I believe it is His work in you, and I believe God has led me with my gift to come along beside you. I am going to do everything I can possibly do. If I am never known, that is okay. I will do whatever it costs me so that Christ’s work might be done."

The Apostle Paul ends his letter to the Ephesians on the same high note that he started the letter. In 6:23-24 Paul highlights peace, love, faith and grace. These are powerful concepts which God uses to change hearts one at a time. And, they are incorruptible. These qualities will endure throughout eternity. The more we are defined by these, the more we will realize the type of life that has the touch of eternity on it, even while in this sin-filled world.

Nobody can take away these qualities that we have in Jesus Christ. The blessings and the Blesser are incorruptible. Nobody can lay their hands on that which God has given us through His life ,death and resurrection. And, we will experience these blessings of God when we learn to habitually accommodate the presence of God. That is the message of Ephesians. And, once we begin to know His presence, we will know His power. 

God has a plan for each and every one of us. He’s had one for us since we were born, since we were conceived, and even since we were just a thought. God, our Father has the power to know every little detail that makes us who we are! 

Communicating with God as one who is perfect in Christ is so relieving because He is willing and able to include us in on what He is doing in this world. God has made us perfect through Christ, He has equipped us to be involved in whatever He is doing around us. Will we be so defined by Him that we factor in in a mighty way for His glory and the good of those who we work with?

Ephesians 6:19-20

Ephesians 6:19-20 PODCAST

19 Also pray for me that when I speak, God will give me words so that I can tell the secret of the Good News without fear. 20 I have been sent to preach this Good News, and I am doing that now, here in prison. Pray that when I preach the Good News I will speak without fear, as I should. ~ Ephesians 6:19-20

Prayer is evidence of our relationship with the Lord. It is also the pathway toward intimacy with Him. This intimacy is the fuel of our familiarity with God. Perhaps, this familiarity will translate in heaven into our ability to worship Christ. Perhaps the quality of our ability to recognize the Lord Jesus more deeply will be impacted. There is no question, intimacy with God, in our current state here on earth, impacts the quality and depth of our worship.

Whereas prayer is conversing with God, supplication, on the other hand, is asking for something specific. In James 4:2, we read, "You have not because you ask not." God answers prayer on the basis of His promises, and He answers every prayer which is based upon a biblical promise. 

We cannot put on the armor of God for others, but we can put it on for ourselves and we can pray for them. We can call on our Heavenly Father to intervene in such a way that those who we pray for are helped. In order to do so, we must be aware of their problems, asking the Father to open their eyes to their need to embrace His culture by obeying His word.

Notice how Paul asks this for himself in v.20: "Pray that when I preach the Good News I will speak without fear, as I should." Sharing the Gospel not only is something we do for the unbeliever, it is also something we do for believers. We must never tire of preaching the gospel and if the Apostle Paul saw the need for such, how much more do we need it? The sharing of the Good News is of utmost importance, everything else is secondary.

In addition, the Apostle prays in other epistles that the believer's spiritual understanding might be enlightened. He asks that the eyes of our mind, our intelligence, might be opened to the rule of God in our souls. He prays that we might recognize the importance of understanding intelligently what life is truly about, what is true and what is false, what is real and what is phony. This is important because it impacts how we receive it and how we share the Gospel with others. 

Paul's prayers also illustrate the power of the devil to blind and confuse and to make things look one way when they are quite another. So the repeated prayer of the apostle is, "Lord, open their eyes that their understanding may be enlightened, that their intelligence may be clarified, that they may see things as they are."

Our prayers are powerful. In fact, they can change everything on the behalf of those for whom we pray. Paul consistently calls us to this ministry of prayer. In fact, as indicated in our last devotional, prayer is the outflow of our good theology. Yet, we can have the best theology, but not be filled with the Holy Spirit. When we learn to pray as God teaches us, we release in our own lives and in the lives of others the resources of God to provide inner stability to all involved.

Note that the Apostle is in prison as he writes the words of this letter to the Ephesians. In v.20, Paul writes, "I have been sent to preach this Good News, and I am doing that now, here in prison." Even though we may be imprisoned ourselves by faulty theology, our prayers are not shackled.  It is the Gospel, the Good News through Jesus Christ, that brings freedom to the soul of any willing person. In tandem with the hearing of the Gospel, prayer involves God in the process of opening the eyes of those held in bondage, even our own.

We have all experienced a power outage when a storm hits. Everything in the home is left powerless. Refrigerators, air conditioners, televisions and whatever else that relies on power to operate do not function at all, because they have no power. Isn’t it good to know that God’s power never goes out? There is nothing that can happen in our lives that will cause God’s power from being available to us. When we pray, we can rest assured that we pray to a powerful God who does powerful things according to His will and for His glory. We don’t have to worry about an all powerful God being powerless. 

Now, there are times when we are guilty of not plugging into the power that God provides. When we go through our day without prayer, we are like an appliance that has been unplugged from the available power it needs to function. We must be in the habit to exercising God's presence and of appropriating His resources. This will result in our ability access His resources and as a result, experiencing the transcendent life the Lord Jesus died to make possible. This is true in all areas of our lives, especially in our efforts to share the Gospel with people who do not know Christ for themselves.