Born that we may have life

John 1:14

a. The Word became Flesh

b. We saw His glory

1. INTRODUCTION

2. BODY

a. The Word became Flesh

i. The word reappears after John mentions it in verse 1. John wrote that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. John writes that the Word was God and now here in verse 14, John reintroduces the Word and says that the Word became flesh.

ii. What we understand about the Word is that He was in the beginning and that He is God. From there, John writes that the Word, became flesh. This is John telling us that the God who was in the beginning was now man. What we see from verse 1 is a simple and timeless truth that the Word, was with God and that the Word also was Himself God. He was in the beginning with God which shows us there were two different people; The Word and God.

iii. So here in verse 14, this Word now became flesh. Flesh here expresses the contemptuous state of man. What is this contemptuous state? It is the fact that man is frail and perishing. In contrast to the God who has no beginning and the one who existed from beginning, now this God had taken on flesh. He had come to a perishing nature; a nature which was limited in contrast to who He is.

iv. But the significance of this phrase, this idea that the Word became flesh tells us in short the heart of Christianity. It is the simple truth that the Word of God took on flesh for our salvation.

v. The plain meaning therefore is, that the Word begotten by God before all ages, and who always dwelt with the Father, was made man. On this article of faith there are two things chiefly to be observed. The first is, that two natures were so united in one Person in Christ, that one and the same Christ is true God and true man. The second is, that the unity of person does not hinder the two natures from remaining distinct, so that his Divinity retains all that is peculiar to itself, and his humanity holds separately whatever belongs to it.

vi. But why is this phrase so important? Because this is the controversy that has been around the church from its inception. It is on this central point that the Church has had to defend itself from all attacks. It is on the person of Christ. What we see clearly from this text is that, the Word became flesh. It is simply saying, the Word who is truly God (1:1) became flesh. This does not mean that God gave up His divinity to become flesh. It simply means, that the Word, the Speech of God, became flesh.

vii. What does this mean and what does this not mean? What it does not mean is that in His becoming of flesh, He gave up His divinity. Why? Because it is impossible for God, who is truly God, to stop ceasing to be God. What this verse is making clear is, that God who is and was always God, now took upon Himself flesh. God became man. What John is portraying to us is that God became man, and in His flesh, He did not stop being God.

viii. The next part is beautiful. Not only did He become flesh, He dwelt among us. More literally, He pitched His tent among us. The purpose of this word is to emphasize that the world was not His proper home, but a kind of second home. Verse 12 helps us to understand what John is speaking of. In verse 12, He says that those who received Him, He gave the right to become children of God. This idea of them being the children of God goes to this point that He came to them rather than to dwell and have no purpose, but His purpose was to pitch a tent for those that would join His home.

ix. This is why the phrase He dwelt among us. It’s not simply that He dwelt among the earth, but more in consistency to verse 12, He dwelt among His children those whom He gave the right to be His children. This goes parallel with verse 10-11. He came to the world and the world did not know Him. But those who had received the right, the privilege to know Him, He called them into His family. He dwelt among His children and we beheld, we saw His glory.

b. We saw His glory

i. What does this phrase we saw His glory mean? Christ was a man who was simply different than any other man on earth. This is why the phrase, glory as of the only begotten from the Father. He was not simply God inwardly, but outwardly, His actions showed that He was different than everyone else. But what John is telling us is, that we see a glory which was worth of the Son of God and proof of His divinity. He is the only begotten of God because He is the only son of God by nature.

ii. The phrase only begotten, or one and only more importantly tells us that He was the one and only one who was sent from His father, who was sent from God (1:6) and this word was the one that came and dwelt among us. The emphasis here is that Jesus would be the one and only means in which man could know God.

iii. Simply put, God would provide a way of salvation only through His Son. There is no other means to salvation because there are no one and only of the Father. Jesus is the one and only of God.

iv. Most recently, there have been certain teachings within Evangelicalism that teach that Jesus didn’t die for our sins. They teach that the cross reveals the nature of God and the cross is the supreme act of love in the face of evil. They ultimately teach us that the cross shows us that death is the only path to healing.

v. I think we have heard of this before but it’s gaining more traction within Evangelical circles today because it’s attractive. It wants to celebrate how God in Christ came to earth to teach us how to love. This teaching emphasizes how Christ came to save humanity from itself and the way to fix humanity is to follow in loving others the way Christ loved them.

vi. While this sounds nice on paper, what our text reveals to us is contrary to these teachings. John 1:11-14 shows us that there were people who did not know God because of their sinfulness and deadness. This is true of everyone because nobody was born as a believer. Everyone was dead before in the words of John, But as many as received Him, to them, to those who were dead, He gave the right to become children of God.

vii. God gave the right to us to know Him and to become His children. To these people, they now knew who He was and received Him, because He is the true Light who enlightens every man (1:9). Now we could say in a general sense, everyone beheld His glory because there were other people who saw His miracles and saw met Him. People today all can hear the Gospel so in a general sense, the Gospel is good news to everyone. But who is it specifically good news to? It is good to those who hear the Gospel and understand the greatness of the Gospel.

viii. It is beautiful for the people who see the fullness of grace and truth through the person of Jesus Christ. You see, because Jesus is the one and only one of God, because He is fully man and fully God, only He can be the perfect embodiment of the fullness of grace and the fullness of truth.

ix. How is He the perfect embodiment of grace and truth? When he speaks of the incarnate Word as full of grace and truth he is pointing us to the fact that truth and the complete reliability of God are bound up with one another. Truth as he sees it is not basically something that can be known apart from God. The Word is the revelation of truth as well as of grace. Grace taken by itself may have given people an unbalanced picture. Not only is God the God of grace. He is that, but he is also the God who demands of his people “truth in the inner parts” (Ps. 51:6). They must “do” the truth (3:21).

x. The essence of Christmas is bound in this central fact. God made a way of salvation through His one and only Son. We have come to know God through the person and work of Christ. When we were dead in our sins, God called us to Himself through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

3. CONCLUSION