Jesus: Intro to the Study

With Christmas just around the corner, I thought it'd be appropriate to do a study on the Reason for this Season: Jesus Christ. This study will be in John 1, plus a few other passages of Scripture. Today, we'll be overviewing the study. The next three blog posts will be on Jesus as the light of the world, Jesus as the rejected cornerstone, and Jesus as the Savior of the world. So open up your Bible to John 1 and let's get started!

The Light of the World

John 1:4-5 says, "The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it." Jesus came to show us life, light, and hope from our hopeless situation of sin. John 1:9- "The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming to the world." Without light, how could we see? Imagine being stuck in a maze in utter darkness, with no light to find your way out. This world is just like that. We are in this dark, sinful world with no hope of any good. But- Jesus came, died for our sins, and brought hope (a synonym for light) to us. Because of Jesus, we have hope and a goal in life- to glorify God.

The Rejected Cornerstone

John 1:10-11- "He came into the very world he created, but the world didn't recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him." Jesus came to this world to save us from the righteous wrath of God and to provide us a way to Heaven, but we rejected Him. What does it mean for Him to be the rejected cornerstone? A cornerstone of a building is the foundation of a building. So for Jesus to be the cornerstone means that He is the foundation of our unity with the Lord. But we rejected Him. Acts 4:11- "For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, 'The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.' "

The Savior of the World

John 1:29- "The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward himm and said, 'Look! the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!' " When Jesus gave His life for us on the cross, He saved the world from a deserved punishment of eternity in Hell. He provided a way for us to have unity with God and for us to be saved from our punishment and have the opportunity of going to Heaven for eternity.

In the next three posts, we will examine each of these aspects of Christ more in depth.