THE PROLOGUE
OUTLINE
47
IN
referring to the incarnation, the coming into the world of `the Word
made flesh'.
We now reach the central member of the prologue, the great
dividing of the ways.
Revelation, its Reception or Rejection (1:10-13)
We have descended by a series of six steps, from the `beginning',
down through the fact of creation, and the vital function of light, to the
witness of John the Baptist in connection with the true light that `came
into the world'. The seventh step (see page 25) leads us to the great
issue of `reception' or `rejection'.
If `revelation' is to prove effective it must be `received'; otherwise
it is stultified. The very object for which the Lord came into the world
would be rendered void by unbelief. If it were true that not one
believer had ever existed or would exist, then the whole scheme of
revelation and redemption would have come to an abrupt end. Blessed
be God this has never been the case and His purpose therefore goes on.
It is good for us, however, to visualize the negative side for a moment,
if only that we may appreciate more fully the place that faith occupies
in the Divine plan. Just as there can be no selling if there be no buyer,
no music if there be no listener, no colour if there be no retina, so there
can be no revelation if there be no reception. God could have spoken,
of course, but the only result would have been a series of echoes down
the corridors of time.
Turning back to the structure of the passage, we find that the verses
before us occupy the central position and are concerned with the
question of receiving and rejecting.
G 1:10,11.
Received not (parelabon).
G 1:12,13.
Received (elabon).
The reader should note carefully the difference between verses 10
and 11. In the earlier verse we read: `He was in the world, and the
world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not'. This does not
refer to the birth at Bethlehem, but to the fact that the Creator, though
`in the world' in His providence and made manifest by the works of
His hands to every seeing eye, was nevertheless unknown - `the world
knew Him not'. A similar thought is expressed by the apostle: