The Word Became Flesh

John 1:1-18

As we move into the Christmas season, there is no greater explanation of the incarnation of Jesus Christ, than John 1.

We will be reading different accounts of His birth as we get closer to Christmas, but John begins his Gospel account be declaring what the coming of Christ (Messiah) is, Who the Messiah is, and the response of the people.

John was writing this somewhere between 80-90 AD. Some 50 years after he had witnessed the earthly ministry of Jesus.

I love what John says about his experience with Christ in his first letter: 1 John 1:1–3 “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

They had seen and handled the Word of life! This is what he conveys in at the beginning of his Gospel account.

I have read/preached from John 1 many times, I believe i have preached a Christmas sermon from here, although I cannot find it.........either way, we are going to revisit this passage of Scripture, because of one reason and that is Jesus Christ!

I get a touch irritated when I hear things like..... “just wait on the Lord your breakthrough is coming” or “come expecting a blessing”.......it seems like we are advertising a movie or show.........but it also seems like this becomes more about us and what we are expecting to get out of our life of faith than the actual Giver of all things!

That is the point today, is that the blessing for us is the Gift, Jesus the Christ the Son of the Living God!

In the Gift of the Person and Work of Jesus Christ, we have fellowship with Him and the Father!

The true nature of this life is that fellowship, because that is what is truly missing in our lives!’

Ok, let’s look at this passage.......

John starts off speaking of the Word......He is referring to Jesus, He does the same in other places, like 1 John 5:7 “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.”

The Father, The Word, and the Holy Spirit........The Word being Jesus Christ Himself!

The Word........the Greek word is “logos” which has a powerful meaning from the mind and heart of John, which was given him by the Holy Spirit!

In the world of philosophy back in John’s day the word “logos” had a powerful meaning....

To the Stoics it meant this: “the rational principle by which everything exists, and which is of the essence of the rational human soul.”

If applied to Christ, He is the principle of life......all I could think of when I read their view of “logos” was what Jesus continually told everyone “Follow Me!”

Philo, a Jewish historian defined “logos” as the ideal man from which all human beings derive.

The apostle John, however, made the term “logos” entirely with OT and Christian meaning, where God’s Word brought the world into being, where God’s Word is His powerful expression of Himself in creation, wisdom, revelation, and salvation and made it refer to a Person, Jesus Christ!

Colossians 2:8–9 “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”

Everything that Christ is and was (human) reveals to us the essence of God and the power thereof!

This is where I would like to stay today, in the mindset of John and the fulness of Christ, everything He is and was!

Jesus is not a created being, He has always been, therefore He is God!

He was from the beginning and everything was made by Him.....apart from Jesus nothing came into being!

Colossians 1:16–18 “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.”

Understanding this component of God and Jesus, should be the essence of our belief!

The Godhead created us and in understanding that truth we find that we were created to glorify God!

Glorifying God is for our good!

In Jesus was/is life.....

Jesus was involved in the creation of physical life, but He is especially the agent of the creation of our Spiritual and eternal life!

Jesus said in: John 6:63 “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”

Jesus is the Light of men......

Intellectually, Light in Scripture refers to Biblical truth while darkness refers to error or falsehood

Morally, Light refers to holiness and purity and darkness refers to sin or wrongdoing.

Satan is promoting spiritual darkness around the world, everyday, in complete rebellion against God.

Jesus is our Light, intellectually and morally!

Through that Light we find life.....a life that is greater than just a determination of time, but it is of quality, life with the Godhead, in the presence of the Father and the Son!

Jesus is the light, the revelation of the essence of God to the world!

Darkness comprehended it not.....which is better translated “darkness could not overpower the light!”

John speaks of John the Baptist here, as the forerunner for Christ, bearing witness of the Messiah to come!

Jesus has declared Himself to the world, to all mankind! Because He was in the world, the world in which He made, and the world refused and rejected Him!

However, to those that believed/received Him, Jesus gave them the power to become the sons of God.....

Being born again, not of flesh but of the Spirit of God!

Through Christ do we have this spiritual birth......Jesus becoming flesh and living amongst us, as human flesh, while also being fully God!

Jesus came for this reason, only....to bring us to God!

He gave His life, He died to redeem mankind from their sins....paying their penalty!

Being raised by the Spirit of the Father from the dead, He has given us a newness of life that will bring us unto God clean, therefore allowed to be in the presence of God, forevermore!

Jesus full of Grace and Truth! Undeserved favor! Nothing earned by us, but given by the Father through His Son!

John says that of the fullness of Jesus Christ have ALL we recieved Grace upon Grace!

I have nothing without Christ, I am nothing without Christ!

Christ is our source of being.........

Jesus is the principle in which we live unto God the Father

Jesus is the ideal human in which we live unto God the Father

Jesus is Life and Light! Without Christ, we are living out darkness!

Anything without Christ is darkness!

So, He is our gift! He is the blessing! I pray for so many things to happen in your lives and mine, but the greatest thing that can ever happen in our lives is Jesus Christ! Just Himself, the Light that He is morally and the Light the He is as far as revealing the Godhead to us!

The Law came by Moses, it just revealed our sin and God’s holiness and purity, but it could not save!

It condemned more than anything!

Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ!

What did God reveal to Moses when asked to see His Glory?

Exodus 34:6–7 “And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.”

Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ, the Glory of God revealed in God the Son!