[size=30pt]When the Water Blushed[/size]

ByTim Gustafson

John 1:1-14
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.
John 1:3 All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made.
John 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
John 1:5 And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness apprehended it not.
John 1:6 There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John.
John 1:7 The same came for witness, that he might bear witness of the light, that all might believe through him.
John 1:8 He was not the light, but came that he might bear witness of the light.
John 1:9 There was the true light, even the light which lighteth every man, coming into the world.
John 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world knew him not.
John 1:11 He came unto his own, and they that were his own received him not.
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name:
John 1:13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth.



*****In the beginning was the Word . . . . Through him all things were made.
John 1:1, 3

[size=30pt]W[/size][size=17pt]hy did Jesus come to Earth before the invention of photography and video? Couldn’t He have reached more people if everyone could see Him? After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.

“No,” says Ravi Zacharias, who asserts that a word can be worth “a thousand pictures.” As evidence, he quotes poet Richard Crashaw’s magnificent line, “The conscious water saw its Master and blushed.” In one simple line, Crashaw captures the essence of Jesus’ first miracle (John 2:1-11). Creation itself recognizes Jesus as the Creator. No mere carpenter could turn water to wine.

Another time, when Christ calmed a storm with the words, “Quiet! Be still,” His stunned disciples asked, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” (Mark 4:39, 41). Later, Jesus told the Pharisees that if the crowd did not praise Him, “the stones will cry out” (Luke 19:40). Even the rocks know who He is.

John tells us, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen His glory” (John 1:14). Out of that eyewitness experience John also wrote, “We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. . . . He is the Word of life” (1 John 1:1 nlt). Like John, we can use our words to introduce others to Jesus whom wind and water obey.
Jesus, we acknowledge You as the Creator who knows and loves His creation. Yet You wait for us to invite You into every aspect of our lives. Forgive us for those times we keep You at a safe distance. Today we choose to risk knowing You more completely.
The written Word reveals the Living Word.

***** Andrew (Simon Peter’s brother) and an unnamed disciple—who most scholars believe to be John, the son of Zebedee and the author of the fourth gospel—were already followers of John the Baptist when Jesus arrived in Bethany (John 1:28, 35). After John the Baptist declared Christ to be “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (v. 29), he nudged his two young followers to instead take their place as followers of Jesus (v. 37). A consistent feature in John’s gospel record is that he doesn’t name himself. This is one of the reasons many believe he was the disciple who joined Andrew in following Christ.[/size]