A Journey Through John's Gospel: The Word Made Flesh

There's something extraordinary that happens when you open the Gospel of John. You're not just reading a biography or a historical account. You're being invited on a journey into the heart of divine revelation itself. And the destination, for those willing to make the trip, is nothing less than an encounter with the living Alohim.

I was fourteen when someone first handed me John 1:1-14 and told me to read it. I'd just received the Holy Spirit at a revival meeting my cousins and I had wandered into out of sheer curiosity, and I had no theological grid for what I was reading. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." What did that mean? Who was this Word? Over the years that followed, through my Pentecostal journey and beyond, I kept hearing debates about these verses, theological explanations, Greek philosophical categories imported to make sense of them. And I noticed something curious: we kept bringing in frameworks that didn't seem to fit the text. Anything except the Hebrew categories that would have shaped John's own thinking.

What if we've been asking the wrong questions? What if the journey John invites us on requires us to think like first-century Jews, not fourth-century Greek theologians? What if the answer is simpler, more profound, and more consistent with the foundational confession of Israel: "Hear, O Israel, YHWH our Alohim, YHWH is one"?

The Gateway to Understanding: "In the Beginning Was the Word"

John's Gospel opens with an echo. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Alohim, and the Word was Alohim." These words deliberately mirror the opening of Genesis: "In the beginning, Alohim created the heavens and the earth." This is not accidental. John is building on bedrock, announcing that what follows will reveal the same Alohim who spoke creation into existence.

But notice what John does not say. He does not introduce a second divine being. He does not split Alohim into separate persons. Instead, he declares something both familiar and shocking to Jewish ears: the Word is Alohim's self-expression. Not a separate entity conversing with Alohim, but Alohim's own activity, Alohim's own presence, Alohim's own revelation.

This would have made perfect sense to John's original readers. They were steeped in a tradition that spoke exactly this way.

The Aramaic Influence on John's Gospel

By the time of Jesus (YHWShA), Hebrew and Aramaic were the living languages of Jewish worship and daily life. In the synagogues, the Hebrew Scriptures were often accompanied by Aramaic paraphrases called Targums. And in these Targums, you find a fascinating word that appears again and again: Memra.

Memra means "Word." And it's used to describe Alohim's active presence in ways that avoid crude anthropomorphism while affirming that Alohim genuinely engages with His creation. When Genesis describes Alohim walking in the garden, Targum Neofiti renders it as "the sound of the Word of YHWH Alohim walking in the garden." Not a second being strolling alongside Alohim. The Word is simply how Jewish interpreters spoke of Alohim Himself in action.

This pattern continues throughout the Targums. When Alohim speaks to Abraham, when He appears to Moses at the burning bush, when He leads Israel through the wilderness, the Targums speak of the Memra. This is Alohim's self-revelation, Alohim's presence taking form in ways humans can perceive and engage with.

John draws directly from this tradition. When he writes that "the Word became flesh," he's making a claim that would have electrified his Jewish audience: this Memra, always and only Alohim Himself, has now entered creation in human form. The Word through whom all things were made has become flesh. Jesus is not a second divine person but the physical revelation of YHWH, the Alohim who walked with Adam, who spoke to the patriarchs, who revealed Himself throughout Israel's history.

The Driveway of Revelation

Think of approaching John's Gospel like traveling up a long driveway toward a grand house. You don't arrive at the entrance immediately. The scenery reveals itself gradually. First the gates: "In the beginning was the Word." Then the path opens before you: the Word was with Alohim and was Alohim, present at creation, the source of all life and light. Each turn brings new vistas, new glimpses of what awaits.

The Gospel's opening verses function exactly this way. They prepare us, orient us, give us the categories we'll need for what's coming. John is not writing a philosophical treatise about divine persons or metaphysical substances. He's introducing us to the Alohim who has chosen to reveal Himself most completely, most tangibly, most personally.

And halfway up that driveway, we reach the destination.

The Word Become Flesh: The Central Revelation

"The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."

This is the pivotal declaration, the point toward which everything else has been moving. For those who affirm the Oneness of Alohim (YHWH), who confess with the Shema that YHWH is one and indivisible, this statement carries profound clarity: Jesus is not a distinct person within some divided Godhead. He is the visible expression of the invisible Alohim. The fullness of deity dwelling in bodily form.

This aligns perfectly with the pattern we see throughout the Old Testament, where Scripture itself identifies "the word of the LORD" with the LORD's own presence and action. Consider the witness of the Hebrew Scriptures. In Genesis 15:1, "the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision," and what follows is not a message about God but an encounter with God (YHWH) Himself, speaking directly, making covenant promises. The Psalmist declares, "By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host" (Psalm 33:6). Creation itself testifies that the Word is not separate from YHWH but is YHWH acting, YHWH creating, YHWH speaking reality into existence.

Perhaps most remarkably, 1 Samuel 3:21 tells us, "The LORD appeared at Shiloh, for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the LORD." Notice what's happening here. The text equates "the LORD appeared" with revelation "by the word of the LORD." These are not two different events or two different beings. The appearing of YHWH and the coming of His Word are one and the same reality.

This pattern saturates the Old Testament. Alohim has always engaged with His creation in ways that humans can perceive. He walked with Adam. He appeared to Abraham. He wrestled with Jacob. He revealed Himself to Moses. These were not manifestations of a second divine being but of Alohim Himself, making His presence known in forms His creatures could encounter. And consistently, Scripture describes these encounters as the Word of YHWH coming, appearing, speaking.

In Jesus, this pattern reaches its culmination. The Word that spoke worlds into existence has entered creation. The Alohim who is spirit has taken on flesh. The transcendent has become immanent. Not by dividing or multiplying, but by revealing. This is the same Alohim, the only Alohim, now present among us in a way that completes and surpasses all previous revelations.

Exploring the Depths: The Light in the Darkness

John's Gospel portrays Jesus as "the light of the world," shining into darkness that cannot overcome it. This light is not separate from Alohim or derivative of Alohim. When Jesus declares, "I am the light of the world," He is revealing His identity as YHWH made manifest.

The image is powerful. Light exposes, illuminates, makes visible what was hidden. And this is precisely what Jesus does. He reveals the character of Alohim, the purposes of Alohim, the heart of Alohim. Not as a messenger bringing news about Alohim, but as Alohim Himself present and speaking.

Yet throughout John's Gospel, we see a troubling reality: the darkness does not comprehend the light. Humanity resists what should be obvious, rejects what should be embraced. This resistance mirrors a pattern as old as creation itself.

The Challenge of Recognition

One of the recurring themes in John's Gospel is misrecognition. People fail to see Jesus for who He truly is. His own people, those who should have recognized Him most readily, reject Him. Even those closest to Him struggle to grasp the magnitude of His identity.

"He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him."

This echoes Israel's history. Time and again, Alohim appeared, spoke, acted, and His people missed it. They looked for something else, expected something different. They wanted signs and wonders when Alohim was offering Himself. They wanted political deliverance when Alohim was providing spiritual transformation.

The failure to recognize Jesus is not because He is obscure or distant. John emphasizes that the light shines brightly, clearly, persistently. The problem is not with the revelation but with those who prefer darkness to light, who have grown so accustomed to shadows that they cannot bear the brightness of truth.

Grace Upon Grace: The Fulfillment of the Law

John carefully contrasts the law given through Moses with the grace and truth that come through Jesus. This is not a dismissal of the law. The law was genuine, necessary, purposeful. It revealed Alohim's holiness and showed Israel, and through Israel the nations, the depth of their need for redemption.

But the law could never be the final word. How could it be? Written on tablets of stone, external to the human heart, it could command but not transform. It could reveal sin but not remove it. It pointed toward grace without being able to deliver it.

That's the point. The law was always meant to lead somewhere, to prepare the way for something greater. And John's Gospel announces that the destination has arrived. In Jesus, we encounter not merely another prophet bearing messages from Alohim, but the lawgiver Himself, now present to write His law on human hearts, to transform from within, to offer grace upon grace.

This grace is not something new, as if Alohim only learned to be gracious after centuries of law. It's the revelation of what Alohim has always been. Throughout Israel's story, we see flashes of this grace: in the Exodus deliverance, in the return from exile, in the patience shown to rebellious generations. But in Jesus, the grace becomes embodied, personal, fully available. The fullness of Alohim's character on display for all who have eyes to see.

Becoming Children of Alohim

Here is one of John's most extraordinary declarations: "To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of Alohim, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of Alohim."

Let that settle for a moment. Not children of Abraham, though that lineage had its purpose. Not children of Israel, though that covenant was genuine and true. Children of Alohim. Born not through human ancestry or human effort, but through divine action.

This marks a reversal of something fundamental. At Babel, human pride and idolatry led to the division of nations, to the scattering of peoples, to the confusion of languages. In response, Alohim chose one people from among the nations to be His special possession, to serve as a light drawing all peoples back to Himself.

But now, through Jesus, who was given all power and authority after His resurrection, the path opens wide. All people, regardless of heritage or bloodline, can become children of Alohim. Those once distant from the promises given to Jacob's lineage are now invited into the family of YHWH, united under His name and His authority.

To believe in Jesus's name is to recognize Him as the manifestation of YHWH. It is to see that the Alohim who spoke the world into existence is the same Alohim who walked the dusty roads of Galilee, who wept at Lazarus's tomb, who died on a Roman cross and rose victorious on the third day. It is to acknowledge that there is one Alohim, and He has made Himself known in Jesus.

Finding Your Place in the Story

I think back to that fourteen-year-old kid walking into a revival meeting, not knowing what to expect, just curious and perhaps a bit reckless. I had no theological framework, no denominational loyalty, no carefully constructed understanding of divine persons or metaphysical categories. I just knew that when someone asked if I wanted God's spirit, the answer was obvious. Of course I did.

And when they handed me John's Gospel afterward and told me to read it, I encountered something that would shape the rest of my life. Not a theological puzzle to solve but a Person to know. Not a philosophical system but a revelation of the one true Alohim making Himself known in the most complete way possible: by becoming one of us.

The story John tells is about revelation. It's about the one true Alohim entering creation as Creator, dwelling among us as the Word made flesh, offering light to those who sit in darkness and grace to those who have known only law.

This is an invitation, not a theological puzzle to solve. John doesn't end his prologue with a quiz about persons and natures. He ends with a testimony: we have seen His glory. We have encountered grace upon grace. The invisible Alohim has made Himself visible. The unknowable has made Himself known. And nothing will ever be the same.

John's Gospel is more than a historical account, though it records real events in real time. It's an invitation to step into the story yourself. To recognize the light that still shines. To receive the grace that still flows. To accept your place as a child of Alohim, adopted into the family of the one who spoke worlds into being and loved His creation enough to enter it, to walk among us, to offer redemption to all who would receive it.

The Light Still Shines

John's Gospel invites us on a journey into the heart of YHWH's purpose for creation. It reveals that the Word, active from the very beginning, present at creation, speaking through prophets and appearing to patriarchs, became flesh to bring light, grace, and truth to humanity in its fullness. For those who affirm the Oneness of Alohim, this Gospel stands as a powerful testament to His singularity and His unwavering love for His creation.

The journey begins at the gateway: "In the beginning was the Word." It moves along the driveway of revelation, past the Aramaic understanding of Memra, through the declaration that the Word was Alohim. And it culminates in the stunning realization that this Word became flesh, that the one true Alohim has made Himself known in Jesus, offering grace upon grace to all who would receive Him.

The light still shines in the darkness. The invitation still stands. The Word made flesh still speaks, still illuminates, still offers redemption. The question is not whether Alohim has revealed Himself clearly. The question is whether we're willing to step into the light, to recognize the Word for who He is, to find our place in this grand story of grace overcoming law, light overcoming darkness, the one true Alohim drawing all nations back to Himself.

Will you step into the light? Will you recognize Jesus as the manifestation of YHWH? Will you find your place in this story that began before creation and continues into eternity?

The journey awaits. The driveway stretches before you. The house stands ready. And the Word made flesh extends His hand, inviting you to become a child of Alohim, to step out of darkness into His marvelous light, to receive grace upon grace from the one who is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and Omega, the one true Alohim revealed in human form.