The Wonder of the Incarnation

Introduction

Good morning.

Turn with me to John 1:14

Well if you haven’t noticed by now we have officially entered the Christmas season.

Pastor Darrell is going to lead us through the real Christmas series beginning next week. You can consider this a pre-Christmas sermon, sort of an appetizer to that series.

This morning I wanted to draw your attention to something that I hope you can meditate on through these next few weeks, as we get ready to celebrate the birth of our saviour.

As I’ve said already, it is clear we have entered the Christmas season. The Santa Clause Parade has rolled through town. There are more coniferous trees in people’s living rooms than there would normally be. At the same time there are a lot more cookies around. And we are once again forced to endure the song “All I want for Christmas is You” everywhere we go.

We can get used to all of the fanfare. And it’s easy to dismiss it. To see it merely as marketing, or hype; and a lot of it is.

But this morning I want to encourage you to let the beginning of the Christmas season act as a prompt, a reminder, to meditate on the most amazing historical event in history. That 2000 years ago God came to earth in the flesh.

My hope is that for you this would be a season, where you can focus your thoughts on the wonder of the incarnation.

Passage

John 1:14 ESV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Importance of the Passage

This passage is one of the clearest descriptions of what we call the incarnation, the “in-fleshment” of the Son of God.

While the word “incarnation” is not a word that you might hear often, it is one of those important theological words that every Christian should know.

It is a word that describes for us a key doctrine of the Christian faith. That God the Son, the second person of the trinity really became human. He took on human flesh.

This is such a key doctrine that we read in...

1 John 4:2–3 ESV

By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

If a person or spirit claims to belong to Christ, yet does not confess that Jesus has come in the flesh, he is an antichrist.

This is then no doubt a very important doctrine for Christians to understand. But it is more than that.

Not only is this an important doctrine, but the historical event of the incarnation of the Son of God has fundamentally changed the world. The more we grow in our understanding of this reality, the more we can be drawn into greater knowledge and love for the one who was incarnate. Jesus.

Exposition

1. The Word

Our passage this morning begins strangely enough with, “The Word”.

This is the greek word Logos. Though this word had many uses, it was famously used by the pagan Greeks to describe the divine reason, the order behind the creation.

But this phrase was also used in the Bible.

The Old testament writers used “the Word” to describe God’s powerful self-expression in creation, revelation and salvation. As Don Carson says, “the personification of that ‘Word’ makes it suitable for John to apply it as a title to God’s ultimate self-disclosure, the person of his own Son.”

Now thankfully, we don’t have to rely on out of context uses of “Logos” to understand what John means.

John helpfully gives us a very clear description of who “the Word” is, and his relationship to God at the beginning of John 1. He begins the entire gospel like this.

A. Definition

John 1:1–3 ESV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Now as an aside before we break this passage down, I realize that this passage is difficult. There are some who almost naturally understand what John is saying here, but there are many more for whom this is very hard to grasp.

Because it is difficult we might be tempted to just accept our ignorance of it and move on. Unfortunately there’s this tendency among many modern Christians to sort of wave off difficult passages or difficult teaching: “I don’t care about all that, I just love Jesus.”

May I humbly say, “This IS Jesus.”

This is Jesus. He has disclosed this information about himself to us in his word. It was put in here for you to know him, that you might love him all the more.

Let me encourage you, to not ever shy away difficult passages. Be brave enough to deal with them, struggle with them, try to grasp them.

And you do not need to struggle alone. We have godly brother’s and sisters in our own church who know their Bibles well, who have struggled through these difficult things. Get together with them, ask them. Bring your challenge up at your small group, work together.

And please reach out to your pastors! We love to talk about these things with people who are eager to open the scriptures to understand. Set a meeting with one of us. Lets grab coffee and talk about it.

Take the time, struggle with it, you don’t need to struggle alone. And often times these difficult passages are a lot more simple than they seem.

Let me break this down so we know who John is talking about.

“In the beginning.” This is the same way the creation story in Genesis 1 begins. In the beginning, before there was anything.

“In the beginning was the Word.” Before there was anything, this person “The word” (the Logos) existed.

“And the Word was with God,” This person, “the Word” was with God.

“and the Word was God.” The word was both with God, and was himself God.

“He was in the beginning with God”

The Apostle John is laying out for us, as clearly as possible, the nature of this person “the Word” and his relationship to God.

The Word is both with God and is himself God. Eternally existing with God from even before the creation.

He goes on to say,

John 1:3 ESV

All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

John makes absolutely sure we know, using both positive and negative senses, that all created things were made through this person, The Word. He was not merely present before and at the creation, he was actively involved in the creation of all things.

Paul in Colossians 1:16 likewise tells us that all things were created through and for the Son.

Colossians 1:16 ESV

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

This person, The Logos, The Word, eternally existed with God and is Himself God. And through him all things were created.

This is what John tells us about this person, “the Word”.

What John says about the Word in our passage John 1:14 is probably the most astounding declaration in all of history.

2. The Word Became Flesh

John 1:14 (ESV)

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us

A. Became Flesh

That person, the Word (the Logos). Through whom all things were created, entered into his creation.

God became human. The Word, God the Son, was incarnate.

I want you to think about what a stunning declaration this is.

In John’s own time, this statement was scandalous, for both the Jews and the pagan Gentiles. The claim that God, or the Logos (the divine reason) would live a human life, in a human body was absurd.

Even in our own time, many people don’t have a problem believing that there is a God. But ask them if that God ever entered history as a real human being, in a real human body; they’re not likely to agree with that.

But this is what John declares: God, the Word, became flesh.

This is the very foundation of the Christmas story.

Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus begins with these words:

Matthew 1:18 ESV

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

The Christmas story is not merely about a special baby being born in a stable. But rather, it is about the miracle of miracles, the eternal Son of God being conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of a virgin, and being born to be the saviour of the world.

The Second person of the trinity, the Word, the Son of God, who existed from eternity past, at this specific point in history became a human being.

B. Human and Divine

Jesus was both human and divine, from the moment he was conceived in his mother’s womb.

As the angel said to Joseph in Matthew 1:20-21

Matthew 1:20–21 (ESV)

“Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Matthew goes on to say in Matthew 1:22-23

Matthew 1:22–23 ESV

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

Though the Word, the Son of God existed from eternity past, at the precise moment that Jesus was conceived in the womb of Mary, He was both divine and human.

Jesus was both God and Man.

There was never a point where Jesus as a human was not God.

Before Jesus was even born, he was recognized as conceived by the Holy Spirit

As a newborn baby the shepherd’s, the wisemen, and the angels of heaven worshipped and adored him.

As a child, the Rabbi’s were amazed at his knowledge as he conversed with them in his father’s house

As a man...

He was worshipped by the disciples

he was feared by the demons

he controlled the wind and the waves

and he healed sick, blind and lame

There was never a point in the life of Jesus when he was not God incarnate.

He at no point attained or earned godhood, or had it bestowed on him. He was from the beginning, until now, and forever, God. But at the moment of the incarnation the eternal Son of God had taken on human flesh.

C. Dwelt among us

And as John says in our passage John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

The word that is translated “dwelt” here in the ESV literally means tented. The same word that is used for the Tabernacle.

During the Exodus out of Egypt, God instructed the Israelites to build the Tabernacle so that He might be present with his covenant people.

God’s presence rested in that Tabernacle. Separated from the people by two curtains.

In those days no one could see God’s glory. Though God was among his people, not even Moses could behold his face.

But in taking on human flesh God dwelt bodily with his people. And John here in our passage says, “We have seen his glory!”

3. We have seen his glory,

A. We have seen his glory

Not only did John and the disciples see Jesus face and behold his glory, they lived with him for around three and a half years.

John writes in,

1 John 1:1 (ESV)

That which was from the beginning (that’s Jesus), which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—

I can’t even begin to imagine what it was like to be daily in the presence of God in the flesh.

I wonder how often John looked at Jesus and thought:

He was with God in eternity past

He created the heavens and the earth

He looked upon the unformed cosmos

He spoke all that exists into being

And yet he is really here with us.

He likely didn’t truly grasp it until Jesus had left them and sent the Holy Spirit. To fully realize it after it was all over, that you had lived in the presence of God in the flesh, that must have been painful.

John was acutely aware of the physical presence of the Word made flesh.

John saw him eat and drink, cry and laugh. With his eyes he witnessed Jesus perform both the mundane and the miraculous.

With his ears, John heard the authority in his voice when he taught the crowds, the love in it when he forgave sins, and the anger in it when he pronounced judgment on the scribes and pharisees and temple rulers.

On his skin John felt rough carpenter’s hands as Jesus washed the dirt from the road from off of his feet. And he felt subdued strength grabbing his shoulder when Jesus shook him awake to pray in the garden of gethsemane.

With his nose John experienced the fragrance of the costly perfume as Jesus was anointed by the woman in Bethany; and smelled the iron sting of blood as Jesus hung on the cross.

John had seen him, heard him, felt him, smelt him. The disciples, the crowds, even those who had crucified him had been in his physical presence.

B. Glory as of the Only Son from the Father

They had seen him, but few recognized him for who he was. John says in John 1:10-11

John 1:10–11 ESV

He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

Few recognized the Son of God, because they didn’t know how to recognize God. God’s glory was fully embodied in Jesus. But few knew their God enough to recognize him.

Jesus was full of the glory of God, John says in our passage “glory as of the only Son from the Father.”

And what is the Father’s glory like?

Its full of grace and truth.

When God passed before Moses, to show him his glory in Exodus 34 God proclaimed this about himself.

Exodus 34:6–7 (ESV)

“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Merciful, gracious

Slow to anger

Abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness

Forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin

But who will by no means clear the guilty

Like Father, Like Son: Full of Grace and Truth.

Jesus is the Word, God the Son, in the flesh. John, and the disciples had lived with him, and they had seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Gospel

1. Why

This leaves us with the question, “why?” Why would the Word become flesh? Why would the eternal Son of God become human?

God became a man, so that he might taste death on our behalf.

Hebrews tells us that since we share in flesh and blood, he partook of the same things, so that through his own death he might deliver us.

We read in...

1 Corinthians 15:3 (ESV)

Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, he was buried, and he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.

The Son of God died for our sins. He had to be made flesh in order to die, and so he took on flesh.

It was through his death on the cross that the penalty for our sins was paid for. You and I deserved death for our sins, but the Word became flesh, so that he could die that death for us.

2. The Resurrection

But Jesus did not stay dead, he rose three days later, defeating Satan, Sin and Death forever.

Jesus physically rose from the dead. This was not a spiritual resurrection, or a figurative resurrection, it was a resurrection of the very physical human body of Jesus.

Jesus invited his disciples to witness his physical resurrection in… He said...

Luke 24:39 ESV

See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”

Paul makes it clear that Jesus, the Son of God, Rose physically from the dead. And that the entirety of our faith rests on this fact.

He says in 1 Corinthians 15:19-21

1 Corinthians 15:19–21 ESV

If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.

Jesus physically rose from the dead, and because of that we have the sure hope of our own resurrection when he returns. We have this blessed hope, if we belong to Christ through faith in him.

(Pause)

So where is Jesus now?

This often blows people’s minds more than it should, but Jesus is right now sitting at the right hand of God the father with a human body. A resurrected, glorified, but still human body.

The Son did not borrow a body to use while he was on earth, and then leave it behind when he went to heaven. The Word is still flesh, ruling in a glorified, imperishable body. And he is ruling over all of heaven and earth until the day when we put on the imperishable too.

Application

The entirety of the Christian faith rests on these two historical wonders.

That the Eternal Son of God became a man, the word became flesh.

That he died for our sins, and then rose from the dead.

This is the wonder of the incarnation.

The miracle of miracles!

This is what we celebrate at Christmas.

So as we enter this Christmas season, here is what I hope for you.

1. Unbelievers

If you have not yet believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you have not yet truly repented of your sin, and surrendered your life to him. My hope is that over the next few weeks as we go through this season of celebration.

Every twinkling light that you see,

every Christmas tree that you smell,

every cookie that you taste,

and every cheesy song that you hear.

Would remind you that 2000 years ago God walked on this earth as a man. That he was born in a real body. He saw lights, smelled trees, ate food, and heard music. With his body he endured death on a cross so that your sins would be payed for. That through his death, you could have eternal life.

My hope for you is that your experience of the Christmas season would remind you of the truth gospel until you find yourself believing it. The Wonder of the incarnation is for you, to receive through faith.

2. Believers

For those of us who belong to Jesus. Who have believed the Gospel. My hope for you is that you would take time this Christmas season to intentionally meditate on the wonder of the incarnation.

That the Eternal Son of God became a man, the word became flesh.

That he died for our sins, and then rose from the dead.

This is the wonder of the incarnation.

The miracle of miracles!

This is what we celebrate at Christmas.

Were giving out the family devotional today. Make sure you pick one up on your way out. Read it with your household as we approach Christmas, this is one way you can meditate on the wonder of the incarnation.

But let me challenge some of you beyond that. Use this season as an opportunity to read through at least one of the gospels.

29 days from today takes us to Christmas Eve. That is enough time to read the longest gospel Matthew at a chapter a day and have a day to spare. You don’t have to read the longest one, just read one of the four. Many of you could read Mark this afternoon.

The wonder of the incarnation is for you. To think on its reality, gravity and beauty and to draw you into greater love and worship of Christ.

Conclusion

Christmas is not merely about the celebration of Jesus’ birth as a baby, but of the incarnation of the very Son of God.

John 1:14 ESV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Let this be a season to better know and understand the wonder of the incarnation. To draw nearer to the incarnate Son of God.