In the Beginning Was the Word

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men (John 1: 1-4).

When I consider the person of Jesus, Jeshua, Emanuel, God With Us, I am moved to wonder and admiration. This man, this brother, this Savior, this final example whose life I seek to emulate, my small ways following his great ways. When I ponder my best friend, where he has been, what he has accomplished, what he continues to do for the family of his Father, my heart swells with gratitude that I ever knew him.

I do not marvel nor fall back in disbelief. I am humbled to know this truth for he is the light of men, my light, my life. He is a Man of Holiness walking a road that I am also meant to walk. "Come, follow me" he says.

He was in the beginning with God and indeed at the beginning of God's plans, there was Jesus, Jehovah, the great I Am. He was also a God -- the second member of the Godhead, which is the great presidency of the universe. He was (and is) the "Word of my power" as referred to by Elohim, the Eternal Father of us all.

As the Word of God's power Jesus created all things under the direction of his and our Father.

We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell.  And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them (Abraham 3: 24-25).

How is he the life and light of men (of all persons)? In the beginning, as God the Father made his plans, this Eldest Brother offered himself as the foreordained Savior of mankind.

And the Lord said: Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I, send me (Abraham 3: 27)

He was thus anointed the Christ (in Greek) the Messiah (in Hebrew) the Anointed One (in English). It was the anticipation of his mortal life and atonement that even in those pre-mortal realms caused the morning stars and all the sons and daughters of God to shout for joy. We were among those sons and daughters.  We are the very same sons and daughters.

With his pre-mortal promise to offer himself as a sacrifice for sin and a balm for suffering, we took courage and by the word of our testimony (our faith in him) we overcame Lucifer, that once promising Son of the Morning, who sought to bring down the throne of God.

Jesus gave us life and light from the beginning because his atonement (though yet future), even then (before we were born) gave us the promise of the resurrection and of eternal life.  Moreover, his words and his example show us the path to attain every promise.

The light and life he gives is also evident in mortality.  It's not only something otherwordly.  The principles of the atonement, of his gospel, and of the lifestyle his teachings require combine to form the only sure foundation for freedom and prosperity in this world.