The Incarnation

INTRODUCTION

Today, we focus the message on a thought that sets Jesus above all others: the Word BECAME FLESH!

The word INCARNATION means the embodiment of God the Son in human flesh as Jesus Christ.

Throughout time, humans have looked for ways to see God or connect with Him.

Throughout time, people have tried all sorts of ways to do it.

Throughout history, God has reached out to people because He loves them.

God created Adam and Eve and communicated with them, then they sinned, and God cast them out of the garden.

God revealed a bit of Himself through Moses and the 10 Commandments.

During Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’s time, God communicated with man through these men.

In these last days Hebrews 1:1-3 reminds us that God communicated with us through Jesus!

Humans have longed to see God and connect with Him.

This explains the reason that throughout history, people have had a tendency to be religious.

The emptiness that we experience and the inner desire to see God and connect with Him has driven mankind to be religious.

God took a step in making the ultimate connection with mankind when Jesus became flesh!

Today, we begin a new mini-series within Core 52 entitled “Eagle’s Eye”.

In Classical Christian Art, the Gospel of John is depicted with the symbol of an Eagle.

Why? Because His theology is lofty.

He flies closer to the Son.

We will examine a handful of those “lofty thoughts” that can lift you out of the mundane to new heights.

Let’s begin our five-week journey through the Gospel of John with John 1:14 as we examine the the blessings of the incarnation!

John 1:14 (NET 2nd ed.)

14 Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory—the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.

Through Jesus…

I. God became like us.

NOW THE WORD BECAME FLESH!

Can you imagine someone approaching you and telling you that they are the Son of God, that they are God in the flesh?

John 1:14 is one of the most extraordinary claims ever made.

Throughout history, humanity has looked up to “gods" that were not approachable, “gods" that were said to live in places such as Mount Olympus, and “gods" who were not approachable.

Humans have sought to please the unreachable “gods" not too long after the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden.

Let’s consider the concept of God in the flesh.

Why would God do that?

We will delve into that thought a little later.

Suffice it to say that the concept of God becoming a human is beyond comprehension.

This concept is so incredible that some honest, truth-seeking theologians throughout history have tried to explain it away because the idea seems too incredible to grasp.

Imagine the disciples who walked with Jesus.

They saw what He did through the miracles, heard the life-changing teaching, they saw compassion and aheart for people, and I know they wanted to believe Jesus was who He said He was.

Their eyes, ears, and hearts wanted them to believe what He said about Himself, yet when He was being carried off to be crucified; their minds told them their eyes, ears, and hearts deceived them into believing what their minds told them was possible.

Yet the resurrection proved to them, as evidenced by how these men changed after the resurrection, that Jesus was God in the flesh!

Jesus was fully human.

Jesus wasn’t just appearing to be human; He truly became one of us.

He was born into the world and experienced life with all its physical limitations—hunger, fatigue, emotions, and even pain.

This was an act of divine humility, that the Creator of the universe would step down into the creation as one of us.

Philippians 2:5–7 (NET 2nd ed.)

5 You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had,

6 who, though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped,

7 but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature.

Galatians 4:4 (NET 2nd ed.)

4 But when the appropriate time had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

By becoming us, Jesus can identify with our weaknesses and struggles.

Hebrews 4:15 (NET 2nd ed.)

15 For we do not have a high priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin.

The significance of this is that God understands us intimately, not just as an all-knowing Creator but as one who has experienced life firsthand.

Jesus knows what it means to face pain, suffering, joy, and temptation, and yet without sin.

Jesus' incarnation was not just about solidarity; it was purposeful.

He became like us so that He could redeem us.

He needed to be fully human to take our place as a perfect sacrifice (Hebrews 2:14-17).

Hebrews 2:14–17 (NET 2nd ed.)

14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he likewise shared in their humanity, so that through death he could destroy the one who holds the power of death (that is, the devil),

15 and set free those who were held in slavery all their lives by their fear of death.

16 For surely his concern is not for angels, but he is concerned for Abraham’s descendants.

17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in things relating to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people.

By living a perfect life, He became the Lamb of God, taking away the sins of the world.

Let’s look at verse 14 again.

John 1:14 (NET 2nd ed.)

14 Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory—the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.

Through Jesus…

II. God lived with us.

"And took up residence among us.”

God came down from heaven through Jesus to dwell with us!

"The word … took us residence among us.”

The Greek verb translated "took up residence” (σκηνόω, skēnoō) means "to live in a tent” or “to take up one's" residence.”

Some take the verb to be an echo of the Hebrew, “shakan" meaning “to dwell," and a noun derived from this Hebrew root (shekinah) (SHEKINAH CLOUD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT) meaning “presence," which sounds a bit like the Greek “tent” (skēnē), and so in John 1:14 the verb points to the Word's" incarnation.

The word “residence" in this verse is often connected to the idea of “tabernacling," which evokes the imagery of the Old Testament tabernacle, where God’s presence was among His people in a tangible way.

Jesus coming to reside among us represents the fulfillment of God's desire to be with His people, not in a temporary structure but in the person of Christ Himself.

Jesus taking up residence with us can be linked to the overarching biblical narrative, showing how God’s presence, once confined to the Holy of Holies, is now manifest in Christ, who walks, talks, and lives among ordinary people.

Jesus didn’t just appear for moments of divine intervention—He lived life with people.

He interacted with the broken, healed the sick, ate with sinners, and embraced the outcasts.

His dwelling with us was relational, showing the depth of His love and desire to know and be known by humanity.

Jesus is a personal, everyday presence in the lives of those He encountered, from His disciples to ordinary individuals like Zacchaeus and the woman at the well.

Jesus' presence transformed the spaces He occupied.

Though Jesus is no longer physically dwelling with us as He did 2,000 years ago, His presence is still very much alive through the Holy Spirit.

God continues to dwell with us, guiding, comforting, and living in the hearts of believers.

John 14:1–7 (NET 2nd ed.)

1 “Do not let your hearts be distressed. You believe in God; believe also in me.

2 There are many dwelling places in my Father’s house. Otherwise, I would have told you, because I am going away to make ready a place for you.

3 And if I go and make ready a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you may be too.

4 And you know the way where I am going.”

5 Thomas said, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

6 Jesus replied, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

7 If you have known me, you will know my Father too. And from now on you do know him and have seen him.”

God lived among us!

We can always be in His presence!

Let’s take a final run at verse 14.

John 1:14 (NET 2nd ed.)

14 Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory—the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.

Through Jesus…

III. God showed Himself to us.

We saw his glory—the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.

How many religions of the past and present try to cloak God in some way that you cannot understand Him?

In the New Age movement, God is just a force; in Hinduism, God is something that cannot be seen.

God made Himself easy to understand by sending Jesus to represent Him.

People could not relate to the gods of Greece or Rome.

The passage says we have SEEN His GLORY.

The word “SEEN" does not mean to blindly stare at but to contemplate, to learn by looking and observing.

1 John 1:1–2 (NET 2nd ed.)

1 This is what we proclaim to you: what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and our hands have touched (concerning the word of life—

2 and the life was revealed, and we have seen and testify and announce to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us).

Glory means splendor, and majesty, which brings honor and praise to someone.

In the Old Testament, God revealed Himself through the Shekinah cloud that led the Israelites through the wilderness.

God’s glory was so great that when Moses was with God on the mountain in Exodus 34:29 his face shone with God's glory.

The people were afraid to come near him.

Moses had to cover his face when he spoke to the people.

Moses saw the Glory of God; Isaiah saw the glory of God.

Isaiah was so in awe of God that it changed his life.

When we see the glory of God, it should do something to us, it should change us, this is why reading God’s word is so important, we see the glory of God through Jesus, and Jesus is revealed to us in the Bible by eye witnesses such as John.

Through Jesus's incarnation, we see God's love for us, the love that led Jesus to die on the cross for our sins!

Jesus loved us so much that He suffered for us.

God speaks to us through Jesus!

Hebrews 1:1–2 (NET 2nd ed.)

1 After God spoke long ago in various portions and in various ways to our ancestors through the prophets,

2 in these last days he has spoken to us in a son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the world.

Verse 14 of our passage reminds us that Jesus is the ONE AND ONLY one from God.

CONCLUSION

Jesus became like us to show that He is not distant or removed from our pain.

He knows our weaknesses because He has lived in our shoes.

This act of becoming human is at the very heart of God’s love—He chose to be near us in our brokenness to redeem us from it.

God did not choose to remain distant from His creation; instead, He made His home with us.

Jesus wasn't a far-off deity but a God who lived, breathed, and walked among His people.

He engaged with our lives in a real way, teaching us, healing us, and loving us.

And even today, through the Holy Spirit, God is still living with us—right here, right now.

Before Jesus, God’s presence was largely unseen and mysterious.

Through the Incarnation, God took on a form that people could touch, hear, and see.

Jesus became the tangible manifestation of God's love and presence, making the divine accessible to us in previously unimaginable ways.

Jesus’ miracles, teachings, and compassion were all ways in which God revealed Himself to us.

When Jesus healed the sick, showed kindness to the outcast, and confronted sin, He was revealing God's very nature.