September 10, 2014
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1
I think I’ve mentioned this before, but the National Park Service turns 100 in two years. And in honor of that upcoming event, it and its partner organization, the National Park Foundation, has come up with a centennial logo.
As you can see, the design incorporates the Park Service’s familiar arrowhead in place of the zero in 2016—very clever. And green happens to be my favorite color, so I like it!
The word “logo” comes from the Greek logos, meaning “word, thought, concept and the expression thereof,” according to my Ryrie Study Bible notes. A logo is meant to represent something in a concise, dynamic way so that we can understand at a glance (consciously or unconsciously) what the company or organization’s purpose is, what it stands for, what its values are. A lot of thought, time (and money) goes into coming up with a character, figure or emblem powerful enough to grab our attention and draw us in.
And that was precisely God’s purpose in inspiring the apostle John to call Jesus “the Word,” or logos. Again, let me reference the Ryrie notes:
“To the Greek mind [logos] expressed the ideas of reason and creative control. Revelation is the keynote idea in the logos concept. Here it is applied to Jesus, who is all that God is and the expression of Him. In this verse [John 1:1] the Word (Christ) is said to be with God (i.e. in communion with and yet distinct from God) and to be God (i.e. identical in essence with God).”
John is describing the logo that God designed just for us—Himself, in the flesh, a hard concept to grasp yet more easily understandable in the actions and utterances of Someone with skin on. ”Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father,” Jesus plainly told His disciples in John 14:9. The writer of Hebrews is almost poetic in his description of Jesus: “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature…” (Hebrews 1:1-3; Ryrie notes that verses 1-4 comprised one long “majestic sentence in the Greek text and read like the opening of a formal Greek oration”).
This logos came to grab your attention—will you let Him draw you in?