Jesus Is What God Has To Say

What is the meaning of life?

Big question, I know. But it’s one we’ve all asked in some form.

What’s the point of all this?

Why am I here?

What does it all mean?

And maybe deeper still—what does God think about me?

In this episode of The Wilderness Devotional, we sit with the opening line of John’s Gospel, a passage that shaped how the early church saw Jesus… and how we’re meant to see Him too.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

— John 1:1

But for many of us, this verse doesn’t feel clear—it feels cryptic. What is “the Word”? Is it the Bible? A concept? A Greek term lost to time?

I share how, as a kid, I pictured a giant flying Bible flapping its leather wings across space. That was my understanding of “the Word.”

But over time, I came to see something far deeper, far more beautiful. Something that changed my whole view of what God is actually saying.

This episode is for anyone confused by the chaos of Scripture, or the silence of God.

It’s for the one who’s asking: If God could just say one thing to me… what would it be?

Get full access to GoodLion Theology - Aaron Salvato at aaronsalvato.substack.com/subscribe

00:00:02 --> 00:00:05 As we all are on this journey to follow Jesus,

00:00:06 --> 00:00:09 we want to discover who He is.

00:00:13 --> 00:00:15 The Gospel of John opens up with this sentence.

00:00:16 --> 00:00:17 John 1, verse 1.

00:00:18 --> 00:00:20 In the beginning was the Word.

00:00:21 --> 00:00:24 The Word was with God, and the Word was God.

00:00:26 --> 00:00:28 He was in the beginning with God.

00:00:30 --> 00:00:32 This is a beautiful opening to the Gospel of John.

00:00:32 --> 00:00:34 I love this opening.

00:00:34 --> 00:00:35 But when I was younger,

00:00:35 --> 00:00:37 it confused me because,

00:00:37 --> 00:00:37 you know,

00:00:37 --> 00:00:39 a lot of times when we talk about the Word,

00:00:40 --> 00:00:40 you know,

00:00:40 --> 00:00:41 the Word of God,

00:00:42 --> 00:00:44 what do we mean when we say the Word?

00:00:45 --> 00:00:47 Well, what's a word?

00:00:48 --> 00:00:50 It's something that someone says.

00:00:50 --> 00:00:52 It's their spoken word or their written word.

00:00:53 --> 00:00:57 So when we think about the word, we think about the Bible.

00:00:58 --> 00:00:58 And for me,

00:01:00 --> 00:01:05 what that translated to when I was younger is when I read John 1 verse 1,

00:01:05 --> 00:01:09 in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the

00:01:09 --> 00:01:09 word was God.

00:01:11 --> 00:01:13 Well, I mean, naturally I thought of the Bible.

00:01:14 --> 00:01:17 And it got pretty ridiculous with me because when I was a kid

00:01:17 --> 00:01:18 and I read this verse,

00:01:18 --> 00:01:22 in the beginning was the word and the word was with God.

00:01:22 --> 00:01:28 I just imagined the total vastness of space with stars and

00:01:28 --> 00:01:30 moons and galaxies.

00:01:31 --> 00:01:35 And then out of nowhere appears this giant leather bound onion

00:01:35 --> 00:01:37 skin Bible and it's

00:01:37 --> 00:01:39 flapping its wings through space.

00:01:40 --> 00:01:43 That's what I thought of when I thought of in the beginning was the word.

00:01:49 --> 00:01:52 Another thing I thought when I was a kid was maybe it was an actual word,

00:01:52 --> 00:01:55 like an English word or a Greek word.

00:01:56 --> 00:01:56 You know,

00:01:56 --> 00:02:00 maybe in the beginning was the word love or in the beginning

00:02:00 --> 00:02:02 was the word God or

00:02:03 --> 00:02:05 father or something along those lines.

00:02:06 --> 00:02:06 Now,

00:02:06 --> 00:02:07 most of you listening to this,

00:02:07 --> 00:02:09 you know that that's not what the Bible is getting at.

00:02:09 --> 00:02:12 But the question is, what is it getting at?

00:02:12 --> 00:02:15 Well, we see clues in the beginning.

00:02:16 --> 00:02:17 In the beginning was the Word.

00:02:18 --> 00:02:18 The Word was with God.

00:02:19 --> 00:02:20 And the Word was God.

00:02:21 --> 00:02:21 So who was God?

00:02:22 --> 00:02:26 Well, for those of us who believe, we know God is three in one.

00:02:27 --> 00:02:30 God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

00:02:31 --> 00:02:33 But it still reads confusing.

00:02:33 --> 00:02:35 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God.

00:02:35 --> 00:02:37 How can a Word be God?

00:02:40 --> 00:02:45 This brings us to the original language that this passage was written in.

00:02:46 --> 00:02:47 John wrote it in Greek.

00:02:48 --> 00:02:50 And so the way it reads is,

00:02:50 --> 00:02:55 in the beginning was the Logos and the Logos was with God and

00:02:55 --> 00:02:57 the Logos was God.

00:02:57 --> 00:03:02 We translate it as English, but in reality, the real word was Logos.

00:03:03 --> 00:03:08 And the meaning of Logos is speech, word, message.

00:03:09 --> 00:03:16 In the beginning was God's word, God's speech and God's message.

00:03:18 --> 00:03:22 The word word or logos here isn't actually referring to the Bible,

00:03:23 --> 00:03:27 but it's referring to the one who the Bible reveals,

00:03:27 --> 00:03:28 and that's Jesus.

00:03:29 --> 00:03:33 In the beginning was God's message, Jesus.

00:03:34 --> 00:03:38 In the beginning was God's ultimate revelation of who he is, Jesus.

00:03:39 --> 00:03:39 Jesus.

00:03:41 --> 00:03:45 In the beginning was the ultimate message and statement of God.

00:03:46 --> 00:03:46 Think of that,

00:03:46 --> 00:03:48 God's ultimate message,

00:03:48 --> 00:03:51 what God wanted to say from the beginning of time.

00:03:52 --> 00:03:55 Everything that represents God and who he is and his heart and

00:03:55 --> 00:03:56 his character is

00:03:56 --> 00:03:58 wrapped up in this word logos.

00:03:59 --> 00:04:02 Jesus is what God has to say.

00:04:03 --> 00:04:06 Have you ever had a hard time figuring out what someone is

00:04:06 --> 00:04:07 trying to say to you?

00:04:08 --> 00:04:13 A lot of times human dialogue can be so confusing and we can miscommunicate.

00:04:13 --> 00:04:15 We can speak cryptically.

00:04:16 --> 00:04:17 We can confuse one another.

00:04:17 --> 00:04:20 And I think this translates over to a lot of times our

00:04:20 --> 00:04:21 relationship with God,

00:04:21 --> 00:04:23 because as we search the scriptures,

00:04:23 --> 00:04:27 a lot of times we can find ourselves being confused about the

00:04:27 --> 00:04:28 meaning of life and

00:04:28 --> 00:04:29 the meaning of the Bible.

00:04:29 --> 00:04:30 What is this about?

00:04:30 --> 00:04:32 What does it mean for me?

00:04:32 --> 00:04:35 Is this just something written thousands of years ago for an

00:04:36 --> 00:04:37 ancient civilization

00:04:37 --> 00:04:38 in an ancient time?

00:04:39 --> 00:04:43 What do these words say about me and my purpose and my place in life?

00:04:44 --> 00:04:45 What does it say about God?

00:04:45 --> 00:04:47 What does it say about who he is?

00:04:48 --> 00:04:51 There's so many stories and it can be at times confusing.

00:04:53 --> 00:04:55 And if you're just jumping around to random verses in the Bible,

00:04:55 --> 00:04:57 it can be really confusing.

00:04:57 --> 00:04:59 Like Genesis 15,

00:04:59 --> 00:05:00 nine says,

00:05:00 --> 00:05:01 the Lord said to him,

00:05:01 --> 00:05:02 bring me a heifer,

00:05:02 --> 00:05:03 a goat and a ram,

00:05:04 --> 00:05:05 each three years old,

00:05:05 --> 00:05:07 along with a dove and a young pigeon.

00:05:09 --> 00:05:11 What is God trying to say in this passage?

00:05:11 --> 00:05:14 If you just open up to this passage alone,

00:05:15 --> 00:05:17 and that's your devotion for the morning,

00:05:17 --> 00:05:18 you read that verse and you walk away,

00:05:19 --> 00:05:22 really all you know is that God apparently doesn't like old pigeons.

00:05:22 --> 00:05:25 He's all about young pigeons for sacrifices.

00:05:26 --> 00:05:30 It's a big book with a lot of mysterious and strange passages.

00:05:31 --> 00:05:33 But here's my encouragement for any of you listening to this

00:05:33 --> 00:05:34 who are wondering,

00:05:35 --> 00:05:36 how does God feel about me?

00:05:37 --> 00:05:39 Or I don't understand God's heart for me.

00:05:39 --> 00:05:41 I don't understand if God even cares about me.

00:05:42 --> 00:05:42 If that's you,

00:05:42 --> 00:05:44 I want to take you back to John,

00:05:44 --> 00:05:47 a book that's all about Jesus and John chapter one,

00:05:47 --> 00:05:47 verse one.

00:05:48 --> 00:05:52 in the beginning was God's message, Jesus.

00:05:53 --> 00:05:56 Jesus is what God has to say.

00:05:57 --> 00:06:02 The entire story of the Bible from Adam and Eve to Abraham,

00:06:02 --> 00:06:02 Isaac,

00:06:02 --> 00:06:03 Jacob,

00:06:03 --> 00:06:04 and Joseph,

00:06:04 --> 00:06:05 the 12 brothers,

00:06:05 --> 00:06:05 David,

00:06:06 --> 00:06:06 the kings,

00:06:06 --> 00:06:07 the prophets,

00:06:07 --> 00:06:09 it's not just a bunch of random stories.

00:06:10 --> 00:06:15 It was all a part of one big story leading to Jesus coming so

00:06:15 --> 00:06:16 that he could save us

00:06:17 --> 00:06:19 and love us and have a relationship with us.

00:06:20 --> 00:06:23 If you're ever wondering, what is God thinking about me?

00:06:24 --> 00:06:25 What would God say to me?

00:06:25 --> 00:06:28 If God could sit down and say something to me, what would he say?

00:06:28 --> 00:06:32 I think he would say, Jesus.

00:06:33 --> 00:06:35 He would say, Jesus loves you.

00:06:35 --> 00:06:37 Jesus cares for you.

00:06:37 --> 00:06:38 Jesus died for you.

00:06:39 --> 00:06:40 Jesus hurts for you.

00:06:41 --> 00:06:43 And Jesus died for you.

00:06:44 --> 00:06:47 And why would you die for someone if you didn't desperately

00:06:47 --> 00:06:48 care about them?

00:06:49 --> 00:06:49 I mean, think about it.

00:06:50 --> 00:06:53 Would you lay down your life for someone that you couldn't stand,

00:06:53 --> 00:06:54 for someone that disgusted you,

00:06:55 --> 00:06:56 for someone that you hated?

00:06:57 --> 00:06:58 No, none of us would.

00:06:59 --> 00:07:01 Many of us wouldn't even lay down our lives for those that we

00:07:01 --> 00:07:02 love out of fear.

00:07:03 --> 00:07:07 And yet Jesus saw us in all of our flaws, all of our failures.

00:07:08 --> 00:07:12 And he loved us so much that he was willing to die for us

00:07:13 --> 00:07:14 because he was absolutely

00:07:15 --> 00:07:18 sure before we were even born that he loved us.

00:07:19 --> 00:07:20 That's amazing.

00:07:22 --> 00:07:24 As you listen to this,

00:07:25 --> 00:07:30 take some time to pray and reflect on the God who loved you so

00:07:30 --> 00:07:31 much he was willing

00:07:31 --> 00:07:33 to lay down everything for you.

00:07:34 --> 00:07:38 Take some time to reflect that in all the confusion of life,

00:07:39 --> 00:07:43 And this world and our cares and our anxieties and our fears.

00:07:44 --> 00:07:48 And even in some of the confusion sometimes we can have trying

00:07:48 --> 00:07:49 to navigate the

00:07:49 --> 00:07:52 Christian life or understand what this particular verse means

00:07:52 --> 00:07:53 or that particular

00:07:53 --> 00:07:54 verse means.

00:07:54 --> 00:08:00 Just take a moment to reflect and pray to the God who would say

00:08:00 --> 00:08:02 to you that his

00:08:03 --> 00:08:06 ultimate message for you is Jesus.

00:08:06 --> 00:08:07 Amen.

00:08:07 --> 00:08:09 Jesus is what God has to say.

00:08:40 --> 00:08:40 Thank you.

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