The Beloved John Presents “the Word”

OF THE four Gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, only John presents Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as “the Word.” With reference to God’s Son, John wrote: “In the beginning the Word was.” “So the Word became flesh.” “The name he is called is The Word of God.” (John 1:1, 14; Rev. 19:13) Why could John under inspiration ascribe that title to Jesus? It was because Jesus, in his prehuman existence before he came to earth as a man, served as the “Word,” Spokesman or Mouthpiece, for his heavenly Father, Jehovah God. He no doubt was the angel that God sent ahead of the Israelites ‘to bring them into the place that I have prepared,’ and by means of whom God spoke to Moses.​—Ex. 23:20; 3:2-5.

Moreover, John is the only Gospel writer who acquaints us with the fact that Jesus had a prehuman existence. It is with this most important truth that he begins his Gospel: “In the beginning the Word existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was divine.