The Word Became Flesh: An Advent Devotional

 

Day 5: The Living Word

By Dr. Dimas Castillo

Scripture: John 1:4a
"In Him was life..."

Additional Reading: John 5:26, John 10:10, John 11:25, John 14:6

Reflection

John doesn't say Jesus "was alive" or that He "had been given life." He says, "In Him was life." Do you see the difference? Life exists in Jesus as in its natural home, its true habitat. He is the source, the origin, the fountain of all life. He uses the same construction he used in verse 1 to tell us the Word "was" in the beginning. Now, here in verse 4, he says life "was" in Him.

We are all given life. Every breath you take, every heartbeat, is a gift. But Jesus is different. He is the living One. Life is in Him. He is, as He later describes Himself in Revelation, "the first and the last, the living one." Think about the wonder of this: The eternal Word by whom all things were made, without whom nothing was made, took on flesh and dwelt among us. The infinite joined Himself to the finite. The Creator joined with the creature. The immortal God became a mortal man. The One who fills the universe was born of a virgin and slept in a manger.

In the Middle Ages, the church celebrated something called "The Feast of Adam and Eve" on December 24, Christmas Eve. Before they celebrated the birth of Christ, they remembered Adam—as if December 24 was a last look at the old creation before December 25 declared the dawn of a new creation in the birth of the last Adam, the Lord Jesus. This is what Christmas announces: new creation, new life. The One in whom was life came to bring life to dead sinners. He came to give new life—abundant, eternal, transforming life—to everyone who trusts in Him.

Personal Application

1. In what ways do you need the life that only Jesus can give?
2. Are there areas of your life that feel spiritually dead or lifeless? How might Jesus want to bring His life there?
3. What's the difference between merely existing and truly living in the life Jesus offers?

Prayer

Living Word, in You is life—abundant, eternal, transforming life. Thank You that You didn't come just to make bad people good, but to make dead people alive. Breathe Your life into the dry and lifeless places of my soul. Help me not just to exist, but to truly live today in the fullness of the life You offer. You are the resurrection and life, help me experience that reality every day. Amen.