I've been studying John 1 the last week or so. John is wild. I love his phrasing and the points he goes far out of his way to make.
This morning, I'm reading John 1:29, where John declares Jesus to be "...the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. World there is translated from the Greek word KOSMOS. John loves the word KOSMOS. Matthew uses it nine times. Mark and Luke, three each. John finds a use for the word fifty seven times. A few samples...
John 1:9 There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.
John 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
John 3:17 "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him.
We read those verses and take them personally...and I think it's okay to do so, so long as you realize there's a truth within them bigger than you can contain. You'd think John had a theological axe to grind or something.
Maybe he did. This may blow your mind, especially if - like me - you've spent most of your life contemplating a personal walk with Jesus. Maybe this use of the word Kosmos proves that there's more to redemption than your personal pile of junk. John was talking about the removal of sin from the world...not only individuals, but the planet. He knew that God envisioned a situation where the people and place where wholly His. Understand, I'm not just talking about environmental issues, although I imagine that He'd want to restore the earth to it's original condition before really adopting it as His home. I'm talking about the wholesale redemption of a planet - the healing of a land like we read about in the Old Testament, but on a global scale.
Take a look around. It's easy to see what an unredeemed planet looks like. But oh the possibilities in the kosmos.
John 3:19 "And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil.
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