By Way of Introduction...

As we read our first chapter this week, It will be useful to consider the back story leading up to the events that we will be studying in John's Gospel. You might call it the "prequel".

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The Golden Age

Israel was once a great nation with mighty kings like David and Solomon. David was a great warrior who secured peace for Israel. And his heir to the throne was Solomon, a man of great wisdom who secured prosperity for the nation. These were the golden days of Israel when they were a powerful, prosperous, and independent nation. The Jews lived in the land that God had promised them -- a land flowing with milk and honey. Furthermore, God had given Israel strong and wise kings to govern them. But this time of prosperity would not last.

Eventually, sin and immorality would become rampant in the land. From the king to the commoner, Israel would turn its back on God. After the death of Solomon (roughly 931 BC), Israel fell into a civil war that split the nation in two. Increasingly the land became polluted with idolatry, violence, gross sexual immorality, and even child sacrifice. An unrepentant Israel was being judged by God, and things would go from bad to worse.

Having become two nations, Israel and Judah, they continued to rebel against God until they were finally destroyed by the surrounding nations. Those who survived the devastating wars were sent into exile, and the once glorious kingdom of Israel was no more. Judged by God, the Jews became a displaced people without a homeland. Even the temple, where God once manifested His presence to Israel in a special way, was burned to the grown.

Eventually, by God's providential hand, the Jews returned to Judah and rebuilt the temple, but they would remain a diminished nation. They were just a shadow of their former glory and lived under the thumb of more powerful nations.

Against this backdrop of devastation, there was hope. The Jewish Scriptures prophesied about a future King who would come to save and restore His people one day. He would be mightier than David and wiser than Solomon and, unlike previous kings, this promised Messiah would be the perfect Prophet, Priest, and King. He would be unlike anything the world had ever known. But there was a problem, Israel did not truly understand their deepest need, nor did they understand their greatest problem. (This is still true today, not just for Israel, but for all of mankind.)

One night, more than 900 years after the death of Solomon, a star suddenly appeared in the sky over Bethlehem, and those who were watching and praying knew that the promised King had finally come. And that brings us to the opening chapter of John and the Word made flesh.

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"Anyone who is honestly trying to be a Christian will soon find his intelligence being sharpened: one of the reasons why it needs no special education to be a Christian is that Christianity is an education itself. That is why an uneducated believer like Bunyan was able to write a book [Pilgrim's Progress] that has astonished the whole world."

-- C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity