John chapter 1 - Encountering the Word

You can read the entire passage here.

• The word

The book begins with a beautiful hymn to our Lord Jesus which describes him as "the word". This is basically to tell us that Jesus is the one who will tell us about God. He is "the full expression of God to us" and he reveals to us among other things that God is a God full of grace and truth. John says in no uncertain terms that Jesus, the word, was God (v1). And that Jesus was God who became flesh (v14).

• John the Baptist

John also introduces us to another John - John the Baptist. But the focus is back on Jesus as John the Baptist himself testified that Jesus is the Lamb of God (v29, 35). More importantly, John the Baptist testifies that Jesus is the Son of God (v34) and he knew this for sure as God himself revealed this fact to John the Baptist (see vv32-34).

• The disciples

Finally, John introduces how 4 other disciples and himself first came to know the Lord Jesus. Andrew and John heard John the Baptist's testimony of Jesus and they spent a whole with Jesus. Andrew then brought his brother Simon to see for himself "the Messiah".

Phillip and Nathanael recognised Jesus as the one that Moses and the prophets wrote about, although nathanael needed some persuasion to overcome his prejudices about people from Nazareth.

So this start of John's gospel - he introduces to us the Lord Jesus as the Son of God, the chosen one, the lamb of God, God who became flesh. So what does all this mean to us today, as Christians? I can think of 2 things for meself:-

1. If I want to have a relationship with God, one the ways i can get to know him better and have a closer walk is to study the life of Christ, who is the full expression of God.
   
2. As Jesus demonstrates the love and grace of God by becoming flesh and being the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (v29), my response is share this love with others.
   

p/s - the practical applications are left in a general manner. In order to make them more meaningful, specific steps will have to be taken to achieve them.