He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognise him.
John again uses repetition for emphasis.
The Word was continuously (not a one time act of incarnation, but a continuous action form of the verb denoting action from the beginning and continuing through the present) in the world. The Word was here from the very beginning of the world (remember the “Us” in Gen 1:26) and appeared at various times (1Cor 10:4, Dan 3:24-25) and perhaps some of the many times where the “angel of the LORD” appeared to man (Gen 16:7-13).
1 Corinthians 10:4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
Daniel 3:24-25 Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?” They replied, “Certainly, O king.” He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”
Genesis 16:7-13 The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered. Then the angel of the LORD told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.”
The angel added, “I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count.” The angel of the LORD also said to her: “You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility towards all his brothers.” She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”
“the world was made through him” (Col 1:16-17, Heb 1:2-3)
Colossians 1:16-17 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Hebrews 1:2-3 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
Man should have been able to see the existence of God just from observing the order there is in nature (Rom 1:19-20). Where there is order, there must have been a mind to create that order, and the order we see on the earth, in the stars, and within ourselves is an obvious demonstration that a mind much greater than we can ever achieve has brought all of this into existence. Another thought is where did man get his concept of right and wrong? Barclay observes that even history is proof that there is a God, since there has never been a nation which lost its morals that didn’t thereafter collapse.
Romans 1:19-20 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
He was in the world which He had made, all throughout history and, even more specifically in His incarnation, and yet, irony of ironies, the world didn’t even recognize Him and thus missed its greatest opportunity to come into an intimate relationship with Him.