John 1:10 “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.” The Greek word for “world” here is “kosmos”, meaning the arrangement of the stars, (1) the heavenly hosts', as the ornament. (2) the universe, the Cosmos. (3) the circle of the earth, the earth, (4) the inhabitants of the earth, the human family.
A Word Study – “Carnival” is a time to eat, drink and be merry before the rigorous fasting and sacrifice during Lent," The feast or season of rejoicing, before Lent, observed, in Catholic countries, with great solemnity [a religious ceremony; a ritual performance attended with religious reverence]. The Lenten season is intended as a time of abstinence to purify the adherent for the coming Holy Week of Easter, commemorating Jesus’ forty-day retreat of fasting and prayer in the desert wilderness where he himself was subject to temptations of the flesh. The original intent of Carnival is in the Latin definition of the word. “Carne” meaning “flesh” & “vale” meaning “away with”, so carnival really means “farewell to the sinful desires of the human flesh”. They rejoiced in the coming of Jesus Christ – the Savior of the fallen in Sin world.
In explaining John 1:10, Bible Commentator Matthew Henry states: Christ was in the world. He was in the world, as the essential Word, before his incarnation, [the act of assuming flesh, or of taking a human body and the nature of man; God in the flesh] upholding all things; but this speaks of his being in the world when He took our nature upon him, and dwelt among us; John 16:28 “I came forth from the Father and have come into the world.” The Son of God was here in this world; He came from Heaven to Earth. Jesus was that light in this dark world; that holy thing in this sinful fallen world. He undertook to redeem and reconcile the world to God, and therefore was in the world to settle that affair; to satisfy God’s justice for the world [the propitiation of mankind as the acceptable sacrifice for sin], and prove God’s favor to the world. He was in the world, but not of it.
John 3:14-18, 36 confirms, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
Henry continues: The greatest honor that ever was put upon this world was that the Son of God was once in the world; and, as it should engage our affections to things above that there Christ is, because God was not obligated to save sinful mankind at all. Justice is to get what you deserve. Mercy is to not get what you deserve. But, Grace is to get what you do not deserve. God’s grace of salvation through Jesus is not bought, earned or deserved by us. Ephesians 2:8-9 explains, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” So it should reconcile us to our present abode in this world that once Christ was here. Do we take God's grace for granted?
Jesus Christ was in the world for awhile, but it is spoken of as a thing past; and so it will be said of us shortly, we were in the world. O that when Christians are here no more, we may be where Christ is! Each is a temporary assignment, but Heaven and Hell are eternal. God created the world; Sin corrupted the world. Genesis 1:31 “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” Think about this: God created and gifted you to be in this specific time and place of His over-arching plan of restoration. What is your purpose on earth before passing into eternity?
Henry concludes: Now observe here, (1) The world was made by Him. Therefore, He came to save a lost world; a world of His own making. Colossians 1:15-16 tells us, “ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”
Why should the Godhead (Father. Son and Holy Ghost) not concern Himself to revive the light that was of His own kindling, to restore a life of His own infusing, and to renew the image that was originally of His own impressing? The world was made by Him, and therefore ought to do Him homage. (2) The world knew him not. The great Maker, Ruler, and Redeemer of the world was in it, and few or none of the inhabitants of the world were aware of it. They did not bid Him welcome, because they did not know Him; and they did not know Him because He did not make Himself known in the way that they expected—a conquering King in external glory and majesty. The Lord Jesus Christ’s first visitation is as a “suffering servant” and “blessed Redeemer, who seeks and saves the lost Sinner – the Savior of the world. When he shall come as a Judge the world shall know Him and every knee shall bow.
In Christ, Brian
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