The Son and His Glory (John 1:14-18)

John 1:14-18

God with Us

Sunday, December 11, 2022

Introduction

Filling out the birth certificate….A spitting image of…

Main Idea: God, the Son Incarnate, reveals to us the fullness of the glory of the Father as he dwells among us.

The Son and His Glory

The Son and His Superiority

Point #1: The Son and His Glory

As the Word Made Flesh

Verse 14 starts, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The same Word who was in the beginning and with God and was God is the very Son of God incarnate. That is, who became flesh, who became man. This word becoming flesh is referring to the birth of Jesus, the Christ.

And while the incarnation, that is his becoming flesh, of Christ is complex, it is important for us to unfold the doctrine of the incarnation. Because without grasping the incarnation, we fail to rightly understand who Jesus is. And Christian, part of the expectation of every Christian according to the Bible is to belong to the local church as a member. And in that belonging, the responsibility is then given for every member of every local church to labor to guard sound doctrine, that is right teaching. Christian, how are we to guard the doctrine of the incarnation without diving a bit deeper?

For, one of the greatest ways that the enemy works against the advance of the gospel of Jesus isn’t to stop people from using the name of Jesus. It is to confuse who Jesus is. Giving him the identity of simply being a prophet, a good teacher, a moral example, a man worthy of being imitated. And while Jesus is indeed all of these, he is much more. Jesus is the Son of God who has been born of a virgin mother, taking on human flesh and dwelling among us for the sake of rescuing us from ourselves.

It is this truth that is at stake in the doctrine of the incarnation in a few different ways. We are going to look at 2 of those dangers.

The first danger in missing the incarnation is to believe that Jesus gave up some of his divine nature in becoming flesh. This is called the Kenosis theory. This group takes the passage of Philippians 2:5-11 and attempts to make their argument. Because we want to guard sound doctrine, please turn to Philippians 2:5-11 with me. It says:

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking on the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The argument of this group is that in Philippians 2:7, as it argues Jesus emptied himself, he was emptying himself of his divine nature, at least parts of it. And at a fast read through of this passage, some of us might even dare be swayed towards that understanding. But that is both a poor reading of the passage and to miss who Jesus clearly claims he is.

It’s a poor reading of Philippians 2:7 in neglecting context. Yes, it says that Jesus emptied himself. However, the context defines what he emptied himself of. It says nothing of Jesus emptying himself of his divinity. It says that Jesus though in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. And then it adds after, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

Jesus did not empty himself of his divine nature, he emptied himself by leaving the side of the father to come and add to himself human flesh. Flesh that would lead to his suffering and death on the cross. Flesh that would be wounded and put to death, all for the purpose of the greatest rescue plan which was already under way.

Jesus becoming man was not a subtraction of who he was, it was an addition of human flesh with all its frailty. If he is to lack in being fully God, then something less than God has come to dwell with man at Christmas. Not to mention, if Jesus gave up some of his divine nature, how does it explain that he stilled the waves, healed the sick, cast out demons, even raised the dead? Jesus was fully God as he took on human flesh.

The second danger we look at is a danger in saying that Jesus had the mere appearance of man, but not fully man. Hebrews 2:17 helps us here though. It says, “Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”

Jesus having a fully human nature means that he was like us in every way, except that he did not sin. For though he was not conceived like us, he entered the world in the same way we did, coming down the birth canal of our mother. His first sound was that of a cry just like that of any healthy baby. He faced hunger, thirst, fatigue, and suffering. Jesus was like us in all of his humanity. The only difference was that he did not inherit our sinful nature.

Our sin comes from being born in Adam. But, Jesus was conceived through the Holy Spirit and therefore in remaining fully God was not given over to a sinful nature. He certainly was tempted as we are, but he resisted and remained obedient to the Father to the point of death on the cross.

Friends, I hope you see the beauty and necessity of a right understanding of the incarnation of Christ. For if we get this wrong, we will miss who it is who has come to dwell among us, one who is fully God has come to tabernacle among us as one of us. For when it says that he dwelt among us, John is aiming us to pick up the language from Exodus 40:34-35, which says, “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.”

Jesus, the Son of God who has become incarnate has come to dwell among us so that the fullness of the Father’s glory could be revealed to us.

As the one who reveals the glory of the Father

Verse 18, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”

Jesus, as he takes on humanity, comes to reveal the Father in all his glory like never before. For though Moses talked with God, Moses did not even see God’s glory. Exodus 33:18-20, it says:

Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”

Moses would see the goodness of the LORD pass by and see the back of the LORD, but he would not see the face of the LORD. But Jesus, in his coming to dwell with man as one of us, he reveals the fullness of God’s glory. He makes it known.

He makes it known through his eyewitnesses

He makes him known through his eyewitnesses. In verse 14, the beloved disciple, John, writes, “and we have seen his glory.” As John states this, it is along the same lines of what he writes in in his 1st Epistle. 1 John 1:1-2 says:

That which was from the beginning, 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—the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—

John, along with the other disciples saw Jesus in the flesh, they saw him in all his glory. They testify to all his miracles that Jesus did. They affirm that Jesus is who he says he is as the only Son of God, begotten, not made. That is he was without beginning, having always existed as God the Father’s Son, for he was at his side. John testifies this by their own seeing of these things.

Then verse 15, “John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”

John too cried out about this Jesus, this one who became flesh. He cried out loudly for all to hear, this is the one who will bring God’s kingdom about.

The glory of the Son was made visible for them to see, and they now share it with us. But the other thing that gives evidence to the glory of the only Son was that he was full of grace and truth.

He makes it known as one full of grace and truth

Jesus also makes the Father known as he reveals the fullness of his character. Turn your attention with me to Exodus once more, this time in 34:6-7:

The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “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.”

As the Father was merciful and gracious, so the Son in his coming was full of the same grace. And as the Father revealed truth, so Jesus, the Son comes to reveal truth. For he is the truth, and no one will come to the Father apart from him. Therefore, one cannot find grace apart from Jesus, nor can they find truth apart from Jesus.

John Calvin writes, “the fullness of grace in Christ is the fountain from which all of us must draw, as we shall have occasion shortly afterwards to explain more fully.” It is to this purpose why this trait of Jesus was emphasized here, as it will soon be restated as we turn to verse 17 momentarily. It is in Jesus being full of grace and truth that is the source of eternal life. It is in Jesus being full of grace and truth that we must come to drink if we are to live. For he is the one who is the Living Water.

Friend, if you are one searching for truth, see that there is no truth if it comes not first through Jesus, the Son of God who came at Christmas. If you are searching for grace, you will not find it by finding yourself, you find grace in the person and work of Jesus Christ. And it is for this reason that Jesus, the Son of God ranks before us, which is where we turn in our second point this morning.

Point #2: The Son and His Superiority

His superiority over John the Baptist

Returning to verse 15, John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’” While we have already considered part of this, we must now consider what it means that Jesus ranks before John.

John the Baptist had already come upon the scene as a public figure. He had already begun crying out in the wilderness in his public ministry. And now, as Jesus is coming onto the scene with his own public ministry, John labors to point out that Jesus was higher ranking than him. Though John was ahead of Jesus both in age with a 6 month advantage, and as a teacher.

Consider this, think about how often a new, younger worker comes on the scene. What older worker would ever consider giving a higher ranking to them? Maybe a few, but not many. They are going to hold onto their high ranking. They are going to make the younger, newer worker climb their way up. But not John the Baptist. John sees Jesus coming onto the scene and says, this one ranks before me. For he knows who Jesus is. Therefore he states that Jesus was before him. For he is the eternal Son of the Father who had always existed, who had always been.

John is not laboring for his name to be made great, but he is laboring to prepare the way for the one who ranks before him, the Son of God who will be the one to bring God’s kingdom about by his grace.

His superiority over Moses

But Jesus not only out ranks John the Baptist, but he out ranks Moses. Verses 16-17, For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

While we must deal in full with verse 16, we must first look at the anticipated objection of verse 17. For the temptation would be for us to dismiss the grace poured out in Christ in reverence of Moses. But John quickly cuts that anticipated objection down. He shows that while Moses was God’s agent that he used, it was not to bring God’s grace to the world, but his law.

The law of God was given to Moses to give to the people of Israel, the people who had been delivered out of Egypt from their slavery and were to inherit the promised land. This law in its entirety is found in the Torah, the first 5 books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

The law was given to teach the people who God is and what it meant to live in relationship to the God who created them and was to be their king. In the law, there were both blessings and cursing. There was an extent of grace even found in the law if one would rightly humble themselves in utter dependence upon the LORD.

But the law was never meant to be an end in itself. The law was to point us to two deep realities, our sinful nature and our need in a redeemer. The law was to show us that we were incapable of keeping the entirety of God’s word. That our hearts were corrupted by sin. This was to be seen in the need to regularly make animal sacrifices to atone for sin. The law was never intended to be what saved us, it was to point hearts to the truth, that God’s grace was essential for salvation.

And therefore then a redeemer was needed. A redeemer who would come to restore a broken creation back to God. As the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel hinted at, one who would bring a new heart.

And this is why Jesus ranks superior to Moses. For while Moses brought God’s law to his people of how to live with him, Jesus brings something far superior, grace and truth.

For in Jesus, this grace and truth comes, making a way not through ongoing sacrifices being made, but through his one sacrifice. Jesus, the Son of God comes to take on human flesh and dwell among us to live a life in perfect obedience to the law to then lay down his life as the once for all sacrifice to pay for the wages of sin, death. Jesus died so that we could live if we would believe in him. He became the guilty and died our death, so that we could live and be made righteous by our faith in him.

And this life is only found in him. This is where the truth part comes in. Jesus is the way, the truth, the life, and no one comes to the Father apart from him. If you are here this morning, and you have not placed your faith in Jesus and Jesus alone for salvation, you have no life found in you. If you were to die today, you would die still guilty of your sins and be judged accordingly. Your only hope is found in Jesus. You need to see that you have a desperate need in Jesus! Living a good and moral life will not save you. Being in church will not save you. Only faith in Jesus will save you from your sin and guilt. So come and believe in him! Come and see that he offers grace from the fullness of who he is to all who will come and rest in him!

His superiority over us

For this is what is meant there in verse 16 where it says from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. It is not that every person will come to faith. It is not that every person will inherit salvation. It is that grace is made available to all, but we must come to drink from the fountain of that grace by placing our faith in Jesus.

This is why we must come to believe in him and continue to come to Jesus for that grace, even if we have long believed!

Christian, we need to see that our only hope is Jesus. That we must continue to come and drink of his grace on a daily basis. Because of our faith, we believe that our sins have been forgiven. But the very act of having faith in Jesus is an ongoing faith, a continued dependence. Are you this morning continuing to draw near to Jesus and taste of his Amazing Grace that he has poured out for us in his coming to live and living to die? Are you continuing to come and drink of God’s grace to us in Jesus by drawing nearer to him? And even more, because grace and truth come through Jesus, as you come to Jesus are you seeing him as one who ranks before you?

As you consider your life Christian, if grace and truth come through Jesus, if it is from his fullness that we receive this grace upon grace, then Jesus should be taking center stage in our own hearts.

My grandfather retired from the United States Army as a LTC. Many would have been under my grandfather in rank, and he would be shown much respect by those under him. But the moment a Col or General would walk into the room, that respect and honor would be turned from my grandfather to the higher ranking officer.

Christian, as Jesus ranks before us, part of our growing as disciples of Jesus is to give further and further way to him, giving him more and more attention and honor in our minds and our hearts. Make way this Christmas for Jesus to take the center stage in your heart as you turn to drink from the fullness of the grace he has poured out for us in his incarnation, his life, and his death all for the purpose of redeeming us if we would but believe in him.

Let’s pray….