He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Jesus came in human flesh to the very world He created; it was through Him that God made everything. So He came into the very world He made and the world did not know it was Him. Can you imagine what that must have been like for Him, how painful that must have been, He was God but He was also in human flesh so therefore felt all the pains and hurts that we feel. Can you imagine how painful it must be to be rejected by the very world that you made, out of love with your own hands? The closest that we can come to in this is our own children and that still is not a good comparison because we did not make them, God made them we just are given the privilege of raising them, but after raising them if they reject you it causes extreme pain and as painful as that is I can’t imagine being rejected by the world. And He wasn’t just rejected by the world He was rejected by the very people He claimed as His own, the Jewish people, the sons of Abraham, the sons of Isaac, the sons of Jacob. When the Word came in human flesh He came yes to redeem all of His creation but He appeared specifically to the people of Israel. He was born of a Jewish mother, a descendant of King David, He was born in Bethlehem of Judea, and He was raised as a Jew and lived as a Jew under Jewish traditions and customs. When His ministry began He came preaching, teaching, and healing the Jewish people. The Jewish people were looking for their promised Messiah sent from God and He came to His own, and His own received Him not. Prophesy after prophesy was fulfilled in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ in their presence and yet they did not receive Him. He told them repeatedly that He was the fulfillment of those prophesies that He was in fact the One they were looking for. John a prophet sent from God testified of who He was, God the Father testified of who He was, the very works of Jesus Christ testified of who He was; works no man had ever seen before, (The man answered and said to them, “Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind” John 9: 30-32), and the law and the prophets testified of who He was.
Verses 10 and 11 make you want to say poor God, how terrible for Him, and then verse 12 there is a big but, and that but is Satan’s defeat. (But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God John 1:12-13.) Jesus did not come to redeem everyone; He came to redeem all that the Father gave Him. (“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” John 6:37. “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day” John 6:44. And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father” John 6:65.) You do not save yourself by any means, God saves you. Before time began, before creation God had your name written in The Book of Life, God knew before He even created this world He would send His son to redeem those whom He had written in His book of Life. This world is not ours, this world was created not for us, and this world was created by God and for His purpose. God has saved me! I don’t know why but I know he has! I often ask, why me? I don’t deserve it and have done nothing to deserve it and yet He has. God the Father gave me to Jesus before I was born and from the time I was born He was drawing me to His Son and He granted this to me. Why? I don’t know but He did, and I am forever grateful that He did. Verses 12-13 tell us how we are saved, we are saved by believing and receiving. By believing in the name of Jesus Christ, believing who He is, the only begotten Son of God, God in human flesh; (Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM” John 8:58.) Jesus is God in human flesh, the great I AM came into the very world he created. We are saved by believing and receiving; we are saved by receiving Jesus as Lord. Believe that Jesus is the Messiah and receive Him as Lord; now you cannot do this yourself it is God the Father who does this.
The Jewish people thought it was by birth right, because they were sons of Abraham that they were children of God. They thought it was by the efforts of man in keeping the Law that you are made right with God, yet no one has ever kept that Law but the one who came from God, Jesus Christ. We are not saved by birth right (not of blood), we are not saved because you were born into a certain race of people; it is by faith through the grace of God, Abraham was saved by faith and the true children of Abraham are spiritual children saved by faith. Some even in the Christian church say that they are Christians because their Mom or Dad where Christians but they themselves have never been born of God and never had a saving faith themselves that saved them and are therefore doomed. It is not by the will of man. There is not one thing you and I can do to save ourselves! We have each sinned against God, we have all broken His laws a multitude of times and there is nothing we can do to change that. No amount of good works going forward can make up for all the wrong we have done and all the wrong we do all the time (And all our righteousness are like filthy rags Isaiah 64:6.) The Lord has led me to give and I enjoy giving, I have set aside a certain amount to give this year, it doesn’t matter if I give $1 or if I give $1,000,000 neither will earn me favor with God. I am a sinner, I was a sinner in my mother’s womb, but God in His unfailing mercy gave me to His Son Jesus, I do not deserve salvation what I deserve is death and Hell. But God by His mercy gave me to His Son and His Son did something unimaginable, His Son who was without sin, took my punishment on the cross, He took the death and Hell that I deserved and because He was God, He came back to life when He was ready. Now all the sins I previously committed are paid for, all the sins I commit now are paid for, and all the sins I will commit in the future are paid for by the death and resurrection of my Lord Jesus Christ. On the cross all of my unrighteousness was applied to Jesus, and all of His righteousness was applied to me so that now when God looks upon me he doesn’t see an unclean sinner, He sees Jesus, He sees one of His children, and only now are my good deeds a pleasing and acceptable aroma to God because they are done in righteousness, not in my righteousness but in the righteousness of my Lord Jesus Christ, for His glory. Do you believe in Jesus Christ and have you received Him as Lord, have you been born of God?
