Let us go to John 15:16 where Jesus says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.” We will never understand the full meaning of what our Lord meant from the literal statement. We must ask the Holy Spirit to help us go beyond the letter of the word into the Spirit of what He said. The context in which this statement was made is very important. In John 15:1, Jesus is telling his disciples that He is the true vine. He is revealing to the disciples their new position and their new source of existence. The Lord led me to specifically focus on the words “I Chose You.” Let us give the Holy Spirit our undivided attention and allow Him to take us one word at a time into the magnitude of what is implied here. We must realize how much our heavenly Father wants us to know Him.
Who is the “I” spoken of in John 15:16? Most Christians today will answer, “That’s easy it’s Jesus”. True, however “I” is much more and we will soon discover a very fulfilling explanation as we continue. You might ask why is it important to know who chose me? Let me give you three reasons out of many.
First: It is important to know the fullness of who chose us because knowing will enlarge our intellect and purify our soul of all that limits and slows down our progression into the fullness of Christ.
Second: If we disregard the study of who God is, we place ourselves in a state of meaningless confusion, stumbling around like a blind man not understanding what is happening around us and why it is happening.
Third: It is God’s will as He says in John 17:3, “Now this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
I am fully aware that my thirty three years of walking with my Lord does not make me a scholar on the subject of God, but a little knowledge of God is worth a lot more than having a great deal of knowledge about God.
The Book of John and some of Paul’s letters have one thing in common; they take us to the time before Genesis. Read carefully how John opens his letter in verse (1), “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. (2) He was with God in the beginning.” John was inspired of the Holy Spirit to precisely reveal to us the nature and meaning of Jesus’ sonship; a revelation you will not find in any other place in the New Testament. At least not the way John so carefully made it clear to those who all their lives read the Old Testament, but also to us who would receive the Holy Spirit after making Christ Jesus our Savior and Lord. John does not begin with the title Son; He starts with the title Word. He makes sure there is no misunderstanding or mistake as to whom he was writing about.
In the Old Testament God’s word was His creative utterance. You have probably read Genesis 1:1-3, “God said let there be light and there was light.” Psalms 33:6, 9 reads, “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made . . . he spoke and it came to be.” This is the word of God at work or God working. Let’s take these facts from the book of John one at a time and experience the transforming power of God’s word.
(1) John 1:1, “In the beginning was the word. . .” The word is eternal; He (the Word) has no beginning. He - Is. Pay close attention to Proverbs 8:27-31, “I was there when He set the heavens in place, when He marked out the horizon the face of the deep, when He established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep, when He gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep His command, and when He marked out the foundations of the earth. Then, I was the craftsman at His side. I was filled with delight day after day rejoicing always in His presence, rejoicing in His whole world and delighting in mankind.”
(2) John 1:1, “…And the word was with God.” Here we have a distinct personality in an eternal relation in God, an active fellowship which has no beginning and has no end. John 10:30 says, “I and my Father are one.” John 17:21 reads, “That all of them may be one Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.
(3) John 1:1, “…And the word was God.” Here the word is deity. Although we see two distinct personalities in the Word and the Father, He was never created. The Word is divine just as the Father is divine. John 6:46 reads, “No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God.” John 17:5 says, “And now Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”
(4) John 1:3, “Through Him all things were made.” The Word is creating. Colossians 1:16, “For by him all things were created things in Heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities all things were created by Him and for Him.”
(5) John 1:4, “In Him was life...” The word is giving life; energizing, giving motion, animating. There is nothing that has been created that has life in itself. All things created exist because of the life giving Word. John 5:21 reads, “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the son gives life to who he is pleased to give it. 5:26 reads, “For as the Father has life in Himself, so he has granted the Son to have Life in Himself.” Here is the answer to the origin and the continuance of life. These verses blow up the big bang theory or any other creation theory.
(6) John 1:4, “. . . and that life was the light of men.” By receiving the life we also receive illumination of what ‘light’ means. We are brought into an intimate relationship through the life of the Word with God and His Kingdom. John 8:12 reads, “I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 12:36 says, “Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light.”
(7) John 1:14, “The Word became flesh...” When did the word become flesh? Go back to the Gospel of Luke chapter 1 when the angel sent by God spoke to a virgin named Mary. Starting with verse 26 to verse 38, we have the glorious encounter of the Word of God with a chosen vessel. What an honor and privilege to hear the words in Luke 1:28, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” I pray right now that you are hearing the words in verse 38 where we find the answer of the Word becoming flesh. “And Mary said behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it unto me according to thy word.” In the name of our Lord Jesus take your time and meditate on what I am sharing with you.
Remember, the Holy Spirit is helping us to grasp the magnitude of the three words Jesus spoke in John 15:16, I CHOSE YOU. We have scratched the surface by focusing on ‘I’. Only eternity will display the enormity of what God the Father receives by Jesus Christ’s actions. John 6:63 reads, “The spirit gives life: the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.” To God be the glory forever and ever. Amen!!
John Casarez
