The Word Who Makes God Known
When John opens his Gospel with the breathtaking claim that “In the beginning was the Word… and the Word was God,” he is doing far more than offering a poetic title for Jesus. He is naming the profound mystery at the heart of Christian faith:
that God has chosen to be known, not through abstract ideas or distant messages, but through a person—Jesus Christ.
In Scripture, a “word” is never merely a sound or symbol. God’s Word creates, reveals, and acts. In Genesis, God speaks the world into being. In the prophets, God’s Word confronts, comforts, and restores His people. A word from God changes reality.
So when John calls Jesus the Word, he is telling us that Jesus is God’s own self-expression—God speaking Himself into the world. Everything hidden in the heart of God is made visible and knowable in Him. If we want to understand who God is and what God desires, we look to Jesus: His compassion for the wounded, His truth-telling to the powerful, His willingness to touch those that the world calls ‘unclean’.
His forgiveness of those who fail, His steadfastness under suffering.
The Word is not an idea to grasp but a presence to encounter.
John’s astonishing claim is that this Word became flesh—fragile, embodied, vulnerable—and “made his dwelling among us.” God did not remain at a distance. He chose closeness. He entered our dust and grief, our meals and celebrations, our ordinary days. The infinite God lowered Himself to us so that we might be able to connect with Him.
For those of us seeking to live faithfully—in ministry, in leadership, in the quiet moments of everyday life—this truth is deeply grounding. God does not ask us to find Him through spiritual performance or theological achievement. He comes toward us. He reveals Himself in Jesus with clarity and tenderness.
And He continues to speak: into our anxieties, our decision-making, our relationships, our griefs, our longing for hope.
To say Jesus is “the Word” is to trust that God is not silent.
He has spoken, and His Word is living, personal, and present.
A Word who creates, sustains, heals, and leads us into truth.
And this Word—Jesus—invites us to come to Him, to rest in Him, and to let His life shape our own.
