This morning I am starting a series entitled, “The Journey to Bethlehem.”  We might call it as well “John’s Christmas story.” 

                    As we look at John’s Christmas story, we find that he starts in a much different place than Matthew or Luke.  Both of them start with the manger scene.  They take their genealogies back to Abraham or Adam.  But John starts “in the beginning.” 

                    When a Jewish writer heard these words “in the beginning” he would immediately go back to the book of Genesis.  In the Jewish world, some of them called a book by the first words of that book.  Genesis 1:1 starts in the Greek translation of the Hebrew with these exact words, “In the beginning...”

                    We make a clear statement at this point.  We know in verse 14 that Jesus is the Word that is mentioned here for there it says that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us...”  What this verse starts off by telling us is that Jesus was alive before his birth.

                    Jesus, himself, alludes to this in John. “3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” John 1:3, NIV.  Jesus was before Genesis 1:1, therefore he was at creation.  In fact, John will tell us that Jesus, though he did not have that name until he was born, was the creator.

                    “57 “You are not yet fifty years old,” the Jews said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!” 58 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”” John 8:57, 58, NIV.

                    Jesus was before Abraham.  Notice he says that before Abraham was born, I am.  He does not say, “I was.” 

                    It’s like hollering upstairs to your child, “Pick up your room.”  Your child answers, “I am!”  She does not say, “I will.”  Why?  Because she was doing it before you hollered up the stairs.  So Jesus was before Abraham.

                    Why does John tell us this?  The purpose of the book of John is to bring people to faith in Jesus Christ.  So here, in the very first phrase, he tells you that Jesus is older than anyone you have ever met.  He was there before the beginning.  If experience counts for anything, Jesus has seen it all.  He is older than your parents, older than your professors in college, older than the people in history that they refer to. 

                    Who are you most apt to believe when it comes to understanding the purpose of the earth and of life?  A newcomer?  Or one who has been there since before the beginning?

                    But what was he before he was called Jesus?  John says, “He was the Word.”

                    The Greek word used her is “Logos.  To understand this concept of a logos, think of the English word, “Logo.”  What is a logo?  It is a symbol that is used to identify a company.  Often a logo just includes the name of the company.  But sometimes the logo tells you something about the company or product. 

                    For example, Nike was the Greek goddess of victory.  Is it any wonder that Nike uses this name for its sports line?  Even the symbol associated with Nike gives an impression of movement or of speed.

                    The Greek word “logos” according to the Greek scholar, Kenneth Wuest, “comes from the verb which means literally ‘to pick out or select,’ thus ‘to pick words in order to express one’s thoughts,’ thus ‘to speak.’ 

                    There is a different Greek word that describes just words.  The word “logos” gives us a picture of an idea or a concept, something thought out or arranged.  Some Greeks saw the logos as another word for reason.  The things we reason out are things that are thought out.  Some also saw Logos is the laws of nature.  Nature has such order to it that the laws of nature are concepts that communicate God to us.

                    And that is the core idea in this passage.  The word gives us an idea or concept of God.  But this idea or concept will go far beyond mere words.  We get this idea or concept of God by looking at Jesus Christ.

                    Some Greeks saw a mediator between men and God.   He would communicate with man about God and with God about man.  They didn’t know who this person was, so they called him the Logos, the Word.

                    This is the second part of this phrase.  Where “in the beginning” tells us that Jesus has been around forever, identifying Him as “The Word” tells us that the unidentified person who tells us about God is Jesus Christ.

                    I will go as far as to say to you, “You cannot fully know God until you get the Word about Him from Jesus Christ.”  We believe as Christians that Jesus is the one who by his life and teachings, is the living idea or concept of God. 

                    The journey to Bethlehem begins at the beginning.  The starting point is in understanding that an invisible God is making visible to us Who he is through Jesus Christ.  The concept or idea or picture or logos of God is Jesus Christ.

                    So we close the beginning part of this journey knowing the end.  We will end up in Bethlehem at the birth of a baby, Jesus Christ.  Jesus, John and I want you to know that this baby lived long before it was born.  This baby will be the word about God. 

                    This is why you should trust Jesus. He has been around longer than anyone here and he is the word about God.