Commentary on the Gospels

Who is Jesus?
John 1:-18

Theme

The theme of John 1 is the attributes of Jesus that are expressed or described by His principal names. Altogether we find twelve of His names within this passage. He is the Word (v. 1), God (v. 1), the Life (v. 4), the Light (v. 4), Jesus (v. 17), Christ (v. 17), the only begotten Son (v. 18), the Lamb of God (v. 29), the Son of God (v. 34), Rabbi (v. 38), the King of Israel (v. 49), and the Son of man (v. 51).

Exposition

Verses 1, 2.

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

John 1:1, 2

"In the beginning" means when time began. Time is something created. At the first moment of time the only being in existence was the Creator Himself. To say that anything existed before this first moment would be meaningless, since "before" is a relation that has meaning only within time. Thus, the Creator did not exist prior to "the beginning." Rather, He exists beyond time in eternity. Yet, for the sake of our minds imprisoned in shallow waters of understanding, we may say that He has always existed and will always exist.

John reveals that this eternal Being, the Creator, is composite, and that one distinct person within the fuller entity known as God is "the Word" (an exact translation of the Greek word Logos¹). He was "with" God in the beginning. Yet the Word was not only with God; He was God. Elsewhere in Scripture, we learn that in the Godhead there are two other persons besides the Word. One is the Father. The other is the Holy Spirit.

Thus, the Word was no secondary or created being, as many cults allege. The Jehovah’s Witnesses, for example, have arbitrarily changed the text here to say, "The Word was a god," a statement leaving the impression that He belongs to a lower class of deity. No, the translation provided by nearly all other English Bibles is correct. A literal rendering makes the true meaning obvious. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word."² Both instances of "God" point to theos in the Greek text.³ The affirmation that God Himself is the Word obviously leaves no room to imagine that the Word is only "a god." He is no less than the one supreme God. He is equivalent to the one God who rules over all.

Later, John identifies the Word as the man Jesus Christ (v. 14). He is therefore both man and God, or, more precisely, He is fully man and fully God. Other ways of describing this mysterious union of two natures is to say that He is God in the flesh, or God incarnate.

Why is Jesus called the Word? Because He reveals the Father whom no man hath seen (v. 18). The Father is the first person of the Godhead. Through what the Word declares, we learn the mind of the Father, and in the conduct and character of the Word, we see displayed many of the divine attributes of the Father including His righteousness (v. 14).

Verse 3.

3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

John 1:3

By the Word all things were made. He was the divine instrument of creation. According to Genesis 1, God brought all things into existence by speaking. Look, for example, at Genesis 1:3.

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Genesis 1:3

The meaning is that His will was implemented by the One who is called the Word.

To underscore the supreme deity of the Word Himself, John identifies Him as the Creator of all things that have been made. But the Word is God. So John is also saying that God is the Creator. He defines God in this way, as the Creator who is Himself uncreated, to distinguish the Christian meaning of the term from its pagan meaning. The pagans believed in many gods, none of whom was the actual creator of the universe. It was important especially in John's day to explain to readers that when Christians speak of God, they are referring to a Being much more exalted that any god imagined by pagans.

Verses 4, 5.

4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

John 1:4, 5

In these puzzling but profound statements, John identifies Jesus as both the Life and the Light.

Why is He the Life? Because, as John says, life is in Him (v. 4). A human word merely names something that exists already. But the divine Word can, even as He speaks a name, bring the object of His thought into existence. Thus, He is the source of being, and being is the ground of life. As the life-giver, He not only makes us alive now, but He will make us alive forever if we believe in Him.

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:16

Jesus is also the Light (v. 4). John here is not using a metaphor, such as the names "door" and "bread" that Jesus gave to Himself when He preached to His followers. Scripture reveals that light is intimately related to the very essence of God.

5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

1 John 1:5

It is so inseparable from His presence that we may consider it to be His dwelling place.

16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.

1 Timothy 6:16

Light serves as His garment and adornment, as well as His shield from anything that might venture too close and compromise His holiness. The dazzling radiance coming from the Father's heavenly seat is not confined to a single hue, but colorful like a rainbow.

3 And he that sat [on heaven's throne] was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.

Revelation 4:3

John affirms a basic connection between Jesus’ dual identities as Life and Light—indeed, a mutual dependence.

1. Because He is the Light, He is also the Life. In other words, the light proceeding from Himself is the substance that He has used to make everything out of nothing. This account of origins has become comprehensible only since the discoveries of modern science. What is now understood concerning the nature of light explains why it is indeed essential for life. First, light is pure energy. Sunlight provides the energy that is stored in foods and unleashed in our bodies by respiration. Internal energy is a basic property of anything alive. Without energy we would die. Hence, our energy-dependent life is derived from light; specifically, from sunlight. Second, all matter is convertible to light, if we define it as the whole spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, whether visible or invisible. The transformation of matter to light in this broader sense is what happens in a nuclear explosion. Also, light is convertible to matter. When passing through a heavy material such as lead, a tiny photon of gamma radiation may suddenly vanish and reappear as two particles of matter, an electron and a positron. What we are made of can therefore be viewed as light congealed or as light imprisoned in particles. Thus, all living things as well as all nonliving things are made of light.
        The source of the light which forms the universe is Christ Himself.
   

   13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

   14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

   15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

   16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

   17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

   Colossians 1:13-17

   This pervasive light does not embody Christ—the created thing is separate from its Creator. Nevertheless, He is the One who originally, on Day One of creation, sent forth light to serve as the building material for everything else (Gen. 1:3, quoted above). Light was created first, and He is the One who maintains all the light that now exists.
2. Because Jesus is the Life, He is also the Light. In other words, He who is the Life wishes to share His life with us, and the instrument that He uses to accomplish His purpose is again light proceeding from Himself. But now when referring to light, John departs from literal meaning and speaks metaphorically. He treats light as something we see not with our eyes, but with our minds. Jesus is the light because in every form of divine revelation that He has provided, including His own life and ministry, we see spiritual truth. By responding in faith, we gain life forever.
        Yet the light of knowledge proceeding from Jesus generally fails in its objective, for the darkness that envelops the hearts of men prevents them from comprehending it (v. 5). This darkness impenetrable by light is willful ignorance arising from sin.

When we search the writings of John, we find that he defines the essence of God by means of three simple equations.

1. From John 4:24, we learn that "God is a Spirit." This equation reveals the essence of His being.
2. The equation revealing the essence of His character is found in 1 John 4:8 (also, in v. 16). It affirms that "God is love."
3. Finally, according to 1 John 1:5, "God is light." Here we learn the essence of His ability. We have already shown that this equation identifies Him as the giver of all life and knowledge. His ability to give life displays His omnipotence. His ability to give knowledge displays His omniscience.

Verse 9.

9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

John 1:9

Every man that has ever lived has received the two kinds of light proceeding from Christ.

1. As we have said, His light is the source of life. Indeed, the life in every man comes from God.

   24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;

   25 Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;

   26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

   27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

   28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

   Acts 17:24-28

   In Him, and particularly in Christ, we live, and move, and have our being. We live in Christ in the sense that He keeps us alive moment-by-moment. We move in Christ in the sense that He maintains the orderly relationships in nature that make it possible for us to move, act, and function according to our desire. We have our being in Christ in the sense that He gives real existence to all the particles of matter and to all the elements of soul and spirit that we are made of.
2. Also as we have said, the light of Christ brings truth to every heart. Readily accessible to every man is the truth, for example, that God exists.

   18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

   19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

   20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

   21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

   22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

   23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

   Romans 1:18-23

   "The invisible things" of God are clearly seen in "the things that are made." In other words, the fact of creation demands a Creator; more specifically, a Creator endowed with both eternal power and divinity. A Creator with eternal power is necessary to explain the vastness of the universe. A Creator with surpassing intelligence is necessary to explain the marvelous design everywhere evident in the universe. If you spent a thousand lifetimes counting the stars, you would not come close to finishing. Yet "the darkness comprehended it not" (John 1:5). Men choose to deny God not because they lack evidence and not because they have a reasonable alternative, but because they are in bondage to sin (Rom. 1:21).

Jesus called our attention to the three kinds of light proceeding from Himself when He claimed, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). Besides "the life" and "the truth," He mentions another, described as "the way." He was likely referring to His guidance along life’s path. In our daily walk we depend on Him to lift the darkness ahead and make plain which course we should follow.

Verses 10, 11.

10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

John 1:10, 11

The blindness of men to the light of Christ became evident at His coming. He was rejected almost universally. The world as a whole knew Him not (v. 10). Even His own people, meaning God’s chosen people, the Jews, did not receive Him (v. 11). Notice the irony in John’s words. The willful stupidity of the human race was so colossal and stubborn that they did not recognize their own Maker when they came face-to-face with Him.

Verses 12, 13.

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

John 1:12, 13

Yet we can be thankful that not all men are doomed to reject Christ. By the grace of God, there have always been exceptions—including, I trust, you as well as me. The great benefit to those who turn away from the response of the world generally and choose instead to believe on the name of Christ is that they receive power to become the sons of God (v. 12). The transformation comes about through a second birth which is spiritual, not physical (v. 13). John will say considerably more about this second birth when, in chapter 3 of his Gospel, he remembers Jesus’ interview with a man named Nicodemus.

Do you appreciate how privileged we are to be sons of God? Adam and Eve were created in God's image, which set them apart as His own children.

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Genesis 1:26, 27

After the Fall, the divine image reflected in our first parents and all their descendants became tarnished, even unrecognizable. But now that Jesus, the divine Son of the Father, has died for our sins, we can, by believing in Him, be remade in the image of the Son.

29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Romans 8:29

One consequence is that we ourselves receive the privilege of entering God's family.

In verses 12 and 13 John makes it clear that salvation depends wholly on God. When accomplishing this transformation of a man's heart, He initiates it by His own will, a truth that John reaffirms elsewhere.

39 And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. . . .

44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 6:39, 44

He then completes it by His own power. As we learn later in John’s Gospel (John 3:5-6), that power is exercised through the work of the Holy Spirit, the third person in the Godhead.

5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

John 3:5, 6

It is significant that in John 1, a chapter where a prominent theme is the names of Jesus, the author stresses the need for belief on His name. Indeed, to be saved, we must believe who Jesus is—that He is not just a man, but a man who is also our God and Savior.

Verse 14.

14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

John 1:14

John beheld the glory of Jesus at the Transfiguration (Luke 9:28 ff.).

28 And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.

29 And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.

30 And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias:

31 Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.

32 But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep: and when they were awake, they saw his glory, and the two men that stood with him.

33 And it came to pass, as they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias: not knowing what he said.

34 While he thus spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they feared as they entered into the cloud.

35 And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.

36 And when the voice was past, Jesus was found alone. And they kept it close, and told no man in those days any of those things which they had seen.

Luke 9:28-36

It was a glory befitting "the only begotten of the Father." What this designation implies will be explored in our comments on verse 18. Here, John is leaving us with the impression that Jesus’ glory as seen on the mountain was, in magnificence and brightness, beyond the glory of any angel or created being. Yet it must have represented only a small portion of His true glory, or they would not have survived in its presence. The event was so impressive and staggering that Peter spoke of it years later with undiminished wonder.

16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

17 For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.

2 Peter 1:16-18

The glory that John saw was hardly the only evidence buttressing his conviction that Jesus is God. Another key evidence was Jesus’ character. As He lived among men He was full of grace and truth (v. 14). The Greek word "grace" (charis) refers to any favor or good deed that is unforced, unnecessary, and without any bad motive, but proceeding simply from a generous heart.⁴ It is commonly defined as unmerited favor.

By assigning to Jesus both grace and truth, John is continuing his earlier thought that Jesus is Life and Light. The greatest favor we receive from Him is life itself, both our existence here and our spiritual rebirth giving us life forever. So, our life is an outworking of Jesus’ grace. In opening our eyes to spiritual understanding, He serves as our light, which is the greatest outworking of His truth.

John’s picture of Jesus contrasts Him with His great enemy.

44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

John 8:44

Whereas Jesus is full of grace yielding life and of truth yielding understanding, Satan is full of murder, the opposite of grace, and of lying, the opposite of truth.

Verses 15, 16.

15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.

16 And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.

John 1:15, 16

The first human being who bore clear witness to the divine nature of Jesus was John the Baptist. Although he was Jesus' elder by three months, he said that Jesus was "before me." He meant that Jesus existed before He was conceived in the womb of Mary. Before He became a man on earth, He was God in heaven. He deserved to be preferred before John because He excelled John in every respect. He stood superior to the Baptist because John was human, whereas He was divine. Indeed, as the writer intimated in verse 12 and will make explicit in verse 18, Jesus was the Father's only begotten Son.

John was not the only one who can affirm Jesus’ excellence. "All we" (v. 16, alluding to the believers in v. 9) have discovered how wonderful He is. We have all enjoyed His fullness of grace and truth. John the Baptist said only what every believer knows firsthand, through his own experience. We have received from Jesus not just grace, but "grace for grace"—literally, "grace upon grace."

The new life that we enter at our spiritual rebirth is only the first of our rich benefits as believers in Christ. The Father grants to us as our inheritance every good thing in His creation. In every moment of our unending lives, He bestows upon us innumerable gifts. Since we enjoy the Father's blessings only because Jesus has died for us and united us with Himself, they may be credited to the grace of Jesus. Just think of His grace operative in your life today.

Verses 6-8, 17.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. . . .

17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

John 1:6-8, 17

To show the true stature of Jesus, John compares Him to two persons highly revered by the Jews: John the Baptist (v. 8) and Moses (v. 17). The Baptist came to bear witness of the Light (vv. 6-8), but Jesus was the very Light that John proclaimed to his hearers, especially by announcing the Light's arrival in the person of the Messiah. Although John preached what is true, he himself was not the One who is the source of all truth. As for Moses, perhaps his greatest contribution to advancing God's plan for the ages was to give us the law (v. 17), which shows man his deficiencies in the eyes of God. But Jesus, the fountain of grace and truth, provided a permanent solution for these deficiencies. His role in taking away sin is the basis of one name that the Baptist chose for Him: the Lamb of God (v. 29).

John and Moses appear here not only as individuals important in their own right, but also as representatives of the law and the prophets. Moses was the giver of the law, and among the prophets, John was the greatest.

11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.

Matthew 11:11-13

The expression, "the law and the prophets," was a common way among the Jews of naming the entire Old Testament. John is urging us to see the real significance of Scripture. Its primary function is to show us Jesus. He is the One that Scripture reveals. The law given through Moses was not an end in itself, but a schoolmaster designed to bring us to Jesus.

24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

Galatians 3:24

The law achieves its purpose by exposing our sin and showing us our need for a Savior. The main objective of the prophets was to show us that the Savior is Jesus.

Verse 18.

18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

John 1:18

Here John reveals Jesus’ position in relation to the Father. We are sons of God (v. 12), but Jesus is the "only begotten Son," a complex idea implying that He is the only son in whom the Father has fully invested His own nature. In keeping with the rule that like begets like, Jesus has all the divine attributes of the Father including His omniscience and omnipotence. When was Jesus begotten, or generated, by the Father? Their relationship as Father and Son transcends time and exists in eternity. Therefore, theologians speak of the Son as eternally generated. They mean that Jesus has always existed as the Son. Indeed, He would be the Son begotten by the Father even if the universe and time had never been created.

Yet there was an event in time that uniquely pictures the eternal relationship between the Father and the Son. That event was Jesus’ resurrection, when the man Jesus rose from the dead and reassumed a position of equality with the Father. Earlier, at His incarnation, He had emptied Himself of divine abilities and accepted the limitations of a man, making Himself subject even to death. He did not give up His possession of these abilities, only their use. But when He rose again, He reentered a place where He was free to exercise them again. Thus, prophecy speaks of the Son as being begotten at a definite point in time called today (Ps. 2:7); it is referring to the Resurrection (Acts 13:33). The psalmist places the event after the Son is violently rejected by human rulers (Ps. 2:1–3) and before He takes possession of the whole earth (vv. 8–9). Yet it is important to understand that the Resurrection did not bestow on Jesus a Sonship that had never previously belonged to Him. Rather, it merely restored Him to the full occupancy and performance of a Sonship that had always belonged to Him both in time and eternity.

Throughout his writings John emphasizes God’s attribute of love.

18 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

1 John 4:8

John announces this attribute in the opening verses of his Gospel by revealing that the Son resides in the bosom of the Father. John’s words must be understood as metaphorical. He is creating a human analogy that will help us understand the love that exists between the first two persons of the Trinity. Their love is close, warm, and eternally without interruption. John returns to much the same thought at the end of his Gospel when he speaks of himself leaning on Jesus’ bosom.

23 Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.

24 Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake.

25 He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it?

John 13:23-25

By this convergence of ideas in in John 1 and John 13, the author is suggesting that God wishes to be as close to us as the Father is to the Son. How can we cuddle up to our heavenly Daddy, as it were, and retain a proper fear of God? The answer is that we need not fear His person. We need only fear His displeasure.

John provides a rule that helps us interpret earlier revelations of God. "No man hath seen God at any time" (v. 18). The next words make it clear that the reference here is specifically to God the Father: "the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him" (v. 18). But was not the Father seen by both Moses and Daniel? It says in Exodus,

And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend . . . .

Exodus 33:11

The Hebrew word translated "LORD" in this verse is "Yehovah" ("Jehovah"),⁵ the same word used for God the Father in Psalm 2:7.⁶ As for Daniel, he beheld God the Father sitting on His throne and later wrote down a description of His appearance (Dan. 7:9). On the same occasion, he also saw God the Son (Dan. 7:13). How can John's declaration that God has never been seen be reconciled with the actual experiences of Moses and Daniel? The solution lies in the same passage that remembers Moses' face-to-face conversations with God. Soon after the leader of Israel had enjoyed these moments of fellowship with the God of Israel, he asked God,

. . . I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.

Exodus 33:18

God replied,

19 . . . I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.

20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.

21 And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:

22 And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:

23 And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.

Exodus 33:19-23

Moses' earlier encounters with God's immediate presence were possible only because God had muted His glory. Its full manifestation would have been fatal. Likewise, Daniel did not see the Father with His glory undimmed. Rather, he saw the Father only in a dream, where the light coming from His presence was a mental image rather than a real phenomenon (Dan. 7:1). In Old Testament times, others such as Isaiah also had the privilege to behold divine glory, although in a reduced measure that a mere man could tolerate (Isa. 6:1-4).

Application

We must always exalt the name of God.

3 O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.

Psalm 34:3

And we must always exalt the name of His Son.

9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:9-11

To exalt the Father and the Son is especially important at a time when the reverent use of God’s name is increasingly restricted, and when the blasphemous use of His name is increasingly allowed. By exemplifying the proper use of His name, we accomplish many good purposes—we please Him, we make ourselves conspicuous as separate from the world, we rebuke the world for its ungodliness, and we offer godliness as an alternative.

God has many complaints against modern media, and He has many reasons why He wants His children to stop putting themselves under its influence, but one major reason is that the media fail to show the real world. Instead, they show a fantasy world where God does not exist. The people who appear in the media—the people we are taught to revere as the smart people and the cool people—give no thought to God and scorn all like us who believe in the God of the Bible. If they mention His name, they generally use it as a swear word or in the context of ridiculing religious beliefs. They use His name respectfully only if they are promoting a childish conception of God.

Since the media hate God, is it any wonder that the real God hates the media?