Unshaken: Chapter a Day

John 1 Discussion

• Pastor Plek

Share episode

Send us a text

Start with wonder: “In the beginning was the Word.” We dive into John 1 and trace how that opening line isn’t abstract theology but a doorway into a living encounter with Jesus—the eternal Logos who created the world, stepped into it, and filled it with light. We walk through the chapter’s structure from the soaring prologue to the first disciples, making the text clear, practical, and surprisingly personal.

We unpack the tabernacle theme—how “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” places God’s glory in the middle of ordinary life—and why John the Baptist’s humility sharpens our view of Christ. When John declares, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” we connect the Passover lamb, the Day of Atonement, and the global reach of grace. We follow Andrew, Simon, Philip, and Nathaniel as they move from curiosity to commitment, showing how “come and see” invites honest investigation and real experience. Nathaniel’s doubts about Nazareth become a window into integrity, openness, and the kind of faith that grows when we actually step closer.

Along the way, we address big claims head-on: Jesus is God, not merely a teacher; humans love darkness and need new birth; and becoming children of God happens through receiving and believing in Jesus’ name. We explore Jesus as the Logos—the divine reason that orders reality—and why grace and truth are not at odds but united in him. From identity and worth to mission and community, the chapter gives a simple, repeatable pattern: follow Jesus and bring someone with you. Come and see turns into go and tell, because grace upon grace doesn’t stop at our doorstep.

If this journey clarifies your faith or nudges your curiosity, share it with a friend, subscribe for more chapter-by-chapter walkthroughs, and leave a review to help others find the show. Who will you invite to “come and see” this week?

Text us at 737-231-0605 with any questions.

Pastor Plek:

And welcome back to a chapter a day. Keeps the devil away. I'm Pastor Pleck, along with Pastor Holland. We're talking John chapter one. And we are going to outline it. We are going to uh get into some observations, some interpretation, and finally land the plan, some application so that you can take the word of God and apply it to your day to day. All right. Let's get into John 1, verses 1 through 18 is the prologue, which is incredible, is how the word became flesh from the very, very, very beginning. Heading back to Genesis. Then you got verses 19 through 28, which is the testimony of John the Baptist. Then you got the verses 29 through 34, where Jesus is proclaimed as John the Baptist is Lamb of God, and all of the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world. Then verses 35 through 42, you have the first disciples, and they are pretty pumped about following Jesus. Then you've got the calling of Philip and Nathaniel, which I just appreciate, where Jesus sees Nathaniel while he was under the fig tree, and that to him is the sure sign that he is the Son of God, and he and Jesus excited to show him even more greater things than these. All right. Let's get into some observation. What are you seeing here first?

Pastor Holland:

I love that in verse 14 the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Yeah. What's the Greek word for dwelt among us there? Do you remember that? I believe it's um escheneson. Eskeneson, which means tabernacle. Tabernacle. And it's really neat because you know, in the Old Testament, um, the tabernacle was in the center of the camp, and all of the other, you know, the tribes were kind of oriented around they're oriented toward it, surrounding that. And so the the tabernacle where God's glory resided was in the midst of the camp. And now Jesus comes, the the the full um, you know, the fullness of God's glory, tabernacling among the people. Really beautiful.

Pastor Plek:

I so love that. Okay. What about uh the one thing I struggle with, and honestly, this is like, why is it John the Baptist go, yeah, I am Elijah? Like and maybe it was just like, you know, you thought of Elijah. I mean, he dressed like Elijah, uh, he looked like Elijah, he ate like Elijah, he was coming in the spirit of Elijah. Yeah. Was it that he didn't know that and only Jesus knew that? I mean, what was that? Um, he was John. Yeah, I mean, it would have been kind of cool if it if remember because he is named John specifically by God. He was told to name him John. Yeah, exactly. And so that clearly there's a reason for that. But why wouldn't why wouldn't God just name him Elijah? That would be way simpler. It would have solved a lot of problems. Uh, because then you just point back to Malachi chapter four. But here he is, pointing the you know, hearts of the children back to their fathers, hearts of the fathers back to their children. Boom. Anything else there?

Pastor Holland:

Um, you know, let's look up, let's see if the old study Bible has anything to say. Um, though the Baptist resembled Elijah in his rugged lifestyle, he denied that he himself was Elijah. Though Jesus, understanding more about this than John, so there you go, saw John as fulfilling the prophecy about Elijah. Right. So that the study, the ESV study Bible goes with um John may not have been aware that he was the fulfillment of that. That makes sense to know.

Pastor Plek:

I that's kind of where I was going. And so, and so only Jesus could understand it because he has full knowledge. Uh, the knowledge that John was given, that this was the Christ, the knowledge that John was given is that he was to be like Isaiah calling out, make straight the paths in the wilderness. Uh make straight the paths of the way of the Lord. All right. Um, what about uh there's the the the comment in verse 47 I thought was sort of weird. Uh there's no deceit in this one or something, right? Where with Nathaniel.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. Like, what is what is that? Uh well, it's funny too, because Nathaniel had just said, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Um and so it's like, you know, maybe Jesus, but you know, after he says that, Philip says, Come and see, and then he does. Yeah. And so you you can see there there's a genuine faith in Nathaniel of wanting to come and understand who Jesus is and follow him. Yeah. And, you know, in a poetic kind of way, that's what a true Israelite really is someone who recognizes the Messiah and follows him. No, that's good. And so Nathaniel, uh starting from a place of skepticism, um moving toward Jesus in faith actually embodies what it means to be an Israelite.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, okay. Um I love that also a couple times here it says come and see, come and you will see. I love the come and see aspect. Um what and I don't want to get too far into application, but like I feel like the come and see is like I mean, that's what you say. Come and check out, see if Jesus is who he says he is.

Pastor Holland:

Okay, so yeah, I I love that. I would say in John, there is there's so many statements in John that are just packed with um theological meaning um that like you could spend hours just on chapter one, I think. But so come and see. If you think about it like this, um he talks about Nathaniel being the true Israelite, um, but in in the truest sense, Jesus is the true Israel, right? And so he is the promised one, he is the you know, the one who perfectly keeps God's law, he is the light. So in the Old Testament, like in Isaiah, Israel was called, the nation of Israel was called to be a light to the nations. People would were supposed to come like they did at some time in Israel's history, like the Queen of Sheba coming to see Solomon and his wisdom, right? You had times, they it was rare, but where um Israel was functioning like it should, and the nations would come and see what the Lord is like. That was Israel's purpose in the Old Testament to be um an example to the world of a people living in covenant with God. Right. So that one day, you know, all the peoples of the world. So kind of like he's saying, like, hey, he's the light of the world. Well, come and see. Come and see. And in other words, I am what Israel was supposed to be. Yeah. I am that. Yeah, that's right. I am the true tabernacle living among you. I am the true Israel right here. But it's gonna shift as you go through John to where the end of John, it's go and tell. Right. From come and see to go and tell. So it's not just God's focus isn't this one nation anymore. God's focus is all the nations of the earth. Okay. I I love all of that.

Pastor Plek:

So it does come and see mean come and investigate as well. I mean, because it's it's not only is Jesus the light of the world, but like he's the guy that look back at his the history of the scripture to see who what it's all pointing to is Jesus, come and check it out. Yeah, come and see. Um, and then also come and like I feel like there's so much come and see here. Yeah, come and see how he comforts you, come and see how he um loves you, come and see how he you can experience him. Yeah, and then you're right, the go and tell. Um, what else do you see for observation?

Pastor Holland:

Jesus is God. You have, you know, for anyone doubting whether I I dealt with this a lot when I was first when I first became a Christian and had some friends who were kind of like not Christian, and they were saying things like the Bible never even says Jesus is God. Um, Jesus was just a man, just a prophet, just a you know, rabbi, whatever. Okay, John chapter one, very clear. Um, he's God. In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God. Right. That's wild. Like it doesn't get more clear than that. What and who is the word? Verse 14, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. We've seen his glory. Glory as the only Son from the Father. The word is the Son, Jesus.

Pastor Plek:

And John John bore witness about him. All right, he continues, you know, and this is the testament of John. And then finally he sees Jesus, this is the Lamb of God. Bam.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. So like Jesus is God. It is so clear in John chapter one, and it's essential for understanding who Jesus is, what his the claims that he made, the were the works that he did, his identity as the Son of God, as divine is essential.

Pastor Plek:

All right, let's get into some truths about the nature of man. Uh, I think first thing is that we love darkness and we are in darkness until Jesus reveals his light.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. Yeah. Um I I love uh verse 13, verse 12 and 13. All who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. Sometimes you hear people talking about like, oh, we're all God's children, like all the people of the world, all the different religions, we're all God's children. Actually, we're not. Um You are children of your father, the devil. Yeah, he you have to, if you have to become children of God, right? That means that you do not automatically start as a child of God. And how do you become a child of God? It says all who received him who believed in his name.

Pastor Plek:

That sounds a little mean, but like because wasn't the original idea that they were children of God? Like, you know, Adam is the son of God, and they follow the lineage down. So what is that about then?

Pastor Holland:

Uh yeah, there's uh Adam sinned, and in a in a sense, his sin um is uh the his sinful nature and um guilt inherited by all of so there's this separation that we alienated us from God, we are no longer children of God, exactly outside of the household of God, outside of so we're separated from God, and um what John is saying is well, there's a way to get back into God's family, um, and it's through receiving Jesus and believing in his name, and you become a child of God.

Pastor Plek:

Good. Um yeah, uh I think that's good. Anything else from Nature of Man? I feel like there's so much about character of God in this part.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, there is um verse 38, Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, What are you seeking? Yeah. So this is another like theologically loaded thing here. The word seek um in the old testament, um, over time, if you kind of this is like a really interesting little tidbit, but if you track the development of how the word seek is used in the old testament, as time goes on, it becomes a very um spiritually, religiously loaded word that really means like um like worship. Um, and so it's it's a word that is related to who you are going to worship. And so, even like what are you seeking? I think just teaches about the nature of man. We are worshipers, we all worship someone or something. There's some ultimate thing that our lives are oriented toward. And the point of John is it should be Jesus. Worship.

Pastor Plek:

And what I love about this is they may not fully have understood that because their response was, we just want to know where you're staying. Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's like, and and maybe you know how like um you get caught off guard and you're following them. Hey, hey, why are you following me? I just don't want to I want to know where you live. I mean, yeah. Or where where are you staying? I just want to find out. I want to be like, I don't know, it's it's an odd answer, even though I think that's their hearts were saying, We're drawn to you and we don't even know why. Um so I'll just go where you go.

Pastor Holland:

But Jesus was saying, you know, yeah, something theologically John is written. If you go to the end of John, which you know, it might be good to even get to like the theme verse of John of like, why is all this written? Right. So you it's written so that you may believe. You may know he's the son of God and you might believe and have life in his name.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, theme verse of John from John 20, right? Yeah. All right. So um, all right, let's get into okay, uh character of God. Character of God. Yeah, I think there's it's packed with this, like he is the light of the like the word Lagos is actually like a Greek Platonic sort of word, which means reason, divine reason, right?

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, there's some kind of um divine mind that orders all of the universe, and that's him.

Pastor Plek:

All truth is God's truth, so he is it, and so he is the divine reason. Every everything exists, everything points to him. Yeah, he launches life, he his world, his words weave worlds, like he has the ultimate power to do anything.

Pastor Holland:

Love it. Um, more about God's character, he's gracious. The law was given through Moses, verse 17. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. God is gracious, God is true.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah. How about uh he uh gives people new purpose? Yeah. Like I love that he takes these fishermen, he takes these guys from whatever walks of life that they're in, and then just takes, you know, eventually he'll take Matthew and make him from tax collector to guy working alongside the ministry. He takes these guys that were doing fishermen stuff, uh doing other trades, and then makes them spiritual leaders, uh, so they're good at earthly tasks, and he gives them to help them understand spiritual tasks, then help win souls for the kingdom.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. Um he he takes away sin. Yeah. I have that that's simple and good. The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Um, this is so cool too, because you know, you have in the beginning like um uh a lamb being sacrificed for a household with the Passover. Right. You have a lamb being sacrificed for a nation um with uh in the temple, you know, and uh the day of atonement. But here Jesus is the the lamb who um is sacrificed for the world, not just Israel, but people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. Um anyone who calls on the name of Jesus, he will take away your sin.

Pastor Plek:

I love that. Um all right, let's get into application. And so, as you know, that's sin to uh confess, promise to claim, example to follow, command to obey, knowledge to believe. Yeah, and so um how about how about the knowledge to believe? Is that Jesus is the Lagos, he is the divine reason, he is the word of God, and the word of God spoke all the world into existence, and he is he is God, yeah.

Pastor Holland:

Um command to obey, follow me. Verse 43. Jesus finds Philip, says, Follow me, follow Jesus. If you're not following Jesus yet, let today be the day where your life changes forever. Follow Jesus.

Pastor Plek:

I like example to follow. Andrew, the classic one, come you know, gets people to come and see.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, bring somebody else.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, come and see. Come on, let's go.

Pastor Holland:

Bring someone along with you.

Pastor Plek:

I I love I love the the the different pieces here of whether it's same with Philip and Nathaniel. Yeah, Philip, Nathaniel, uh uh John, or sorry, yeah, John or sorry, Andrew and his brother Simon. Like, come and see.

Pastor Holland:

And I love that they're brothers too. Like you might bring your sibling along. Maybe you're you're following Jesus, but your family is not yet following Jesus.

Pastor Plek:

And isn't and like that could have been like the person that you love the most, they might be the most skeptical, and they're afraid for you. Don't go after the crazy man of God. Don't do that. That's wild. Yeah. Um, yeah.

Pastor Holland:

What else? Um what do we have here at the end? Um yeah.

Pastor Plek:

Uh how about don't question like I love the Nazareth piece of this. Like, yeah, like there's this part of it like where we want to put God in a box because nothing good comes from Nazareth. So don't box God up when He is uh, especially when He's working through people that you think are a lower class status or whatever than you. Yeah, that's great. Avoid that sin.

Pastor Holland:

Man, I love that. Um yeah, there's a there's a lot in here. Uh I I feel like the in terms of application, I just keep thinking over and over about these ideas of follow Jesus and bring somebody along with you. Um believe in him back again to um verse uh 12 and 13, who received him, who believed in his name. Um, and maybe even knowledge to believe that if you do believe in Jesus, you are a child of God.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah.

Pastor Holland:

Um, maybe that you just need to believe that today, that your identity is not what other people think of you. Um, your worth is not, you know, how much money you make or what your title is, but like your identity, your worth, your value comes from belonging to God, being a child of God, being loved by Him, having an inheritance of eternal life, being known by the Father. Those things all are what really matter.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, that's really good. And on top of that, maybe another knowledge to believe, and from his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace. Amen. I love this. This makes me think of like, you know, going to the beach and seeing the ocean and the waves keep rolling in, roll after roll after roll. It's just an endless, you know, there's an unlimited amount of grace coming in over your soul, all the sins washed away, completely purified, completely given over to him. And he wants you to have that full access to grace upon grace. I love it. Hey, thanks so much for watching. Enjoy your days. You take the Lord along the way. We'll see you next time on a chapter a day.

Podcasts we love

Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.