2.JOHN 1 v 6-13: John has begun his Gospel with the extraordinary claim that Jesus existed before His human birth. He is the eternal Word, present with God from the beginning and Himself divine. But now John brings us down from eternity into the very ordinary world of human beings. And something surprising happens. God comes into the world He created — and much of the world fails to recognise Him. There is something almost tragic about that sentence. Imagine an artist visiting an exhibition of his own paintings and nobody recognising him. John says something infinitely greater happened when Jesus came among us. The Creator entered His creation, yet His creation largely failed to recognise Him. Jesus came first among His own Jewish people, the people whose Scriptures had prepared the way for the Messiah. Yet many rejected Him. Throughout John's Gospel we shall see this division growing. Some are fascinated by Jesus, some are threatened by Him, some misunderstand Him, some oppose Him, and some believe.
Christian faith is not simply agreeing with certain ideas about God. Nor is it merely following a moral code. John describes something far more personal: receiving Christ and becoming part of God's family. Our relationship with God is not something we inherit from our parents. We may have been brought up in church, know the Bible well and be familiar with Christian worship, but John still asks each of us the same question: Have you received Him? Before developing this further, John introduces the first of a succession of witnesses who will testify about Jesus: John the Baptist, who was a remarkable and unconventional figure. He lived simply, preached urgently and attracted crowds into the wilderness. Yet John's Gospel is determined that we should not become too fascinated with the messenger. John the Baptist's importance lies in the person to whom he points. John is going to build his case almost as though he were presenting evidence in court.
God bless you, David