Land and Bible

To listen to the podcast, click here : In a previous podcast, episode #7 , we saw that the phrase “in the beginning” of the Gospel of John 1:1 relates to the new beginning that God began with Jesus the Messiah. “In the beginning” of John 1:1, while being an intentional allusion to the Genesis creation, introduces a new beginning or new creation that begins with Jesus the Messiah. In this podcast we will examine further the New Creation theme in the Gospel of John, keeping in mind that biblical New Creation is not a demolition of the current heavens and earth followed by a total new re-creation of matter. Rather, biblical new creation is the rejuvenation or restoration of the current heavens and earth to the righteousness and goodness that God intends. More New Creation in the Gospel of John Biblical scholars have recognized the New Creation theme in the Gospel of John. I will read three quotes as examples from scholars who recognize that the Gospel of John is proclaiming God’s work of ...

The Gospel of John and the New Creation: Jesus is the Beginning of God’s New Creation   To hear the podcast of this text, click here . “What about John 1:1?” Ever since I came to understand from the Bible that God (Yehovah, YHVH) is one, and that Jesus is God’s human Messiah (Christ) whom God raised from the dead, people say to me: “What about John 1:1?”. For my friends who believe in the “deity of Christ”, John 1:1 is biblical evidence that Jesus is God. I think they are missing a main point of what John 1:1 and the entire Gospel of John are declaring. That main point is that through the life and ministry of the human person Jesus the Messiah, God is beginning His promised New Creation. Jesus is the Beginning of God’s New Creation. As the words and deeds of Jesus recorded by John are evidence, the ultimate evidence that Jesus is the beginning of God’s New Creation is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead (John 20). As John records in another place, Jesus is “the...