I like this summation in John 1
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%201&version=31
All text in red is mine.
John 1
The Word Became Flesh
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
There is a a figurative term/name for someone called "the Word" . The Word is God.
2 He was with God in the beginning.
The Word was with God during creation. Don't consider it odd that John's Gospel starts with "In the beginning", as does the book of Genesis. In fact, Genesis takes its name from the the Hebrew word for "In the beginning."
3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
This person, called "the word", who also happened to be Go, made every single thing.
4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
From Genesis we read, "and the Lord said, let there be light" on the first day. That was surely a true light, but not the sun or moon, as they were created on the 4th day. My personal opinion is that the Lord created time at that point, and the light also served as a symbolic gesture that the Lord had a plan to atone man's sin.
5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood[a] it.
That seems to have been a parable of sorts, about how light (salvation) and darkness (sin) are at opposite ends of the spectrum.
Compare this to another biblical verse:
1 Corinthians 2:14 (New International Version)
14The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
6 There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John.
7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.
John was sent to preach about the light of this Word.
8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
John the Baptist came to bring revelation about someone called "the Light".
9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.[b]
There is true light, and artificial light.
10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
This person, called "the Light", made the world, but the world didn't recognize the "true light".
11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
He came to those He made, but they rejected Him.
12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God
13 children born not of natural descent,[c] nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
This is what it means to be born again.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only,[d] who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
This person, called the Word, and "the Light", was the creator, and appeared on earth, only to be rejected by His creation.
15 John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' "
Even John the Baptist realized that Christ was present at the creation, because biblical record shows that John's mother (Elizabeth) advanced in her pregnancy before Mary came to visit her. John was not measuring in pure human terms, because he was older by that standaed. He knew that Jesus was with God in the beginning, as did the Apostle John.
16 From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.
17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only,[e][f]who is at the Father's side, has made him known.
We know that Christ has seen God, so He has to certainly be "the Word" and "the Light".
Jesus was the Word and Light that created everything. I'll take it straight from the Apostle's pen.
Sounds good to me!