Dwelling Among Us: The Wonder of God’s Arrival
Among Us: A Christmas Story • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 5 viewsAdvent celebrates the arrival of God in the flesh.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
This advent season we are going to spend our time in the first chapter of John. It behoves us as Christians to understand and reflect what did it meant for God to take on human flesh
As we grow in that understanding, our hearts should be prepared this holy season for an encounter with the reality of God and His Christ.
It is imperative that we know that it is impossible to make too much of Christ. It has been God’s purpose to elevate Christ to the highest eternal extreme. Why?
Because it is in that elevation that His creation finds redemption. It is in that elevation that what was lost is found and saved.
Jesus said if I be lifted up I will draw all men unto Me. And not just men, all of creation finds its redemption in that drawing. In drawing us to Himself, He is drawing us away from sin and destruction.
This is why the Gospel of John is so powerful for Advent. To understand who this Jesus truly is, the One who is lifted up, the One who redeems, the One who draws, we have to start where John starts.
John’s Gospel differs from the others in many ways, but perhaps the most striking is the way he opens his account of Jesus.
Like the other gospel writers, John wants us to understand that Jesus is God made flesh–the very God who became truly man. Matthew and Luke approach this through the virgin birth.
But John does not begin with a manger, he begins with a mystery. Before John ever speaks of Jesus becoming flesh, he wants us to grasp something far deeper: the eternal nature of Christ.
In his prologue, John gives us a theological lens through which to understand Christ’s arrival. He starts with what we might call an extraordinary paradox—Christ’s eternal origin.
It is a paradox because if He is eternal He has no origin. But like us, John is a creature bound by time, who can only think in terms of the linear progression of time.
Yet he is attempting to describe that which is outside the bounds of time, in fact he is describing the Creator of time within the limitations of a language that is itself bound by time and so He says, “In the beginning”.
So, with that in mind, let’s examine the first 5 verses of the first chapter of John as we reflect on the 4 essential truths that John is communicating:
I. Jesus Is Eternal God (v. 1)
II. Jesus Is the Creator of All Things (vv. 2-3)
III. Jesus Is the Life Who Becomes our Light (vv. 4-5)
I. Jesus Is Eternal God (v. 1)
I. Jesus Is Eternal God (v. 1)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
It is impossible to read these words even with a very miniscule knowledge of Scripture without seeing the striking resemblance on how all of Scripture begins. For John places Jesus where we expect God:
“In the beginning God…” (Genesis 1:1)
Without explanation or apology, John goes beyond Bethlehem, beyond Nazareth, beyond Judea, beyond Israel and goes back beyond time itself and gives us a glimpse of a glorious person who has an eternal existence.
Just like in Genesis, the phrase “In the beginning” does not mark the moment God came into being, but assumes that God precedes the beginning,
this phrase here in John does not mark the beginning of the Word but assumes and later explains that the Word just like God precedes the beginning of Creation itself.
In Genesis, the author is interested in God’s act, not necessarily in God’s being or existence which is simply presupposed. John not only presupposes the Word’s existence
But he goes beyond this by focussing on His being. And he does this with three clauses
1. “In the beginning was the Word”
2. “the Word was with God”
3. “the Word was God”
In the beginning was the word makes it clear that the Word existed before creation. In other words the Word was not created, the Word is not to included among created things.
If the Word already was in the beginning then either He must have been with God or He must have been God. John does not give you opportunity for ambiguity he teaches both simultaneously.
Nine times in Genesis 1 we read “And God said”. It was by God’s Word that He brought creation into being. John now tells us that this Word is a person who was with God. This 2nd clause sheds light on:
“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…’” (Genesis 1:26).
God was speaking to the Word who was with Him which explains Jesus’ later statement:
5 “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
By saying that “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God” John wants us to understand not only the eternity of the Word but also the personhood of the Word and that He is a companion of God himself.
But then John completes the intent of his writing by stating “and the Word was God” This becomes his centralized thesis and he explains his purpose at the very end of the gospel:
31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.
Arius was a pastor in the church of Alexandria in the early 300’s and he taught that Jesus was godlike but still a created being not equal to God.
His teachings have modern manifestations as this is the crux of Jehovah’s Witnesses’ erroneous heretical theology. However, this idea which was systematized by Arius existed long before him
the idea of denying Christ’s full deity circulated even in the early church and had forms present in John’s own day, which is why he speaks so plainly.
18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
John is emphatic when he says:
“And the Word was God”
Not “a god.” Not godlike.” Not “almost God”
The Word was God–fully, truly, eternally God.
This is the explosive claim of Christianity, this is the stumbling block both to Jews and Gentiles. The Baby in Bethlehem who would later hang on a cross was and is the Ancient of Days
The Child in the manger who would later lay dead in a tomb and rise three days later is the God who spoke the universe into existence. The apostle Paul affirms the same thing:
17 And He is before all things, And in Him all things hold together.
9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells bodily,
The writer of Hebrews concurs:
“He is the radiance of His [God’s] glory and the exact representation of His [God’s] nature” (Hebrews 1:3)
Even the OT prophets understood the nature of their Messiah as Mica writes that His
“goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity” (Micah 5:2)
This means that the Jesus we worship at Christmas of every day for that matter is not merely a good teacher, or prophet, or miracle worker. He is God Himself stepping into His creation
This is light wrapping Himself in flesh. Never ceasing to be God. But adding human nature to his Deity.
This is what makes Advent so astonishing. We are not celebrating the beginning of Jesus. We are celebrating the moment the eternal Jesus stepped into time.
This truth is essential for salvation. If Jesus is not eternal God, then He cannot save you. A created Christ cannot redeem a fallen creation. Only the Eternal can give eternal life.
John, the disciple whom Jesus loved wants you to start the Advent season here, with the reality that the One who came among us is the eternal, self-existing God the Son.
And if the Word is eternal, then it only follows that He is also the Creator. So John moves from Christ eternal existence to Christ’s creative power.
II. Jesus Is the Creator of All Things (vv. 2-3)
II. Jesus Is the Creator of All Things (vv. 2-3)
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
Having established the eternal existence and full deity of the Word, John now moves to the activity of the Word. If the Word is eternal God, then what does eternal God do? He creates.
John repeats the statement, “in the beginning with God” because he wants to be crystal clear that the Word did not suddenly appear in the beginning. He was already there.
John was tightening the argument that the One who was with God and who was God is the same One through whom God created everything.
Not some things or even most things, but absolutely everything was created by Him. Nothing has existence apart from Him which shows us that He is not created.
The idea that He was created first and then created all other things is the very essence of Arian heresy; it is foreign to Scripture and rejected by the apostolic witness.
Christ is not part of creation; he exists distinct and apart from creation. In fact he is the Agent of creation, the Mediator of creation, the Cause of creation and the Sustainer of creation.
“Then God said” (Genesis 1:3)
means that God creates by His Word
“By the word of the Lord the heavens were made” (Psalm 33:6)
“All things though Him” (1 Corinthians 8:6)
“through the Son” (Hebrews 1:2)
God made the world. Colossians explains with painstaking detail so that no one would misunderstand
16 For in Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.
17 And He is before all things, And in Him all things hold together.
He always was and He iwas already in the beginning. He was with God. And He was God. He always has been, and always will be God, just now incarnate.
The baby born in Bethlehem is the Creator who spoke Bethlehem into existence. The hands that Mary held on that first night actually fashioned the universe.
The song writer captures this beautifully: Mary did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod and when you kiss your little baby you’ve kissed the face of God?
Mary did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation? Mary did you know that your baby boy will one day rule the nations?
Did you know that your baby boy is heavens perfect Lamb? That this sleeping child you’re holding is the GREAT I AM. Emphatically
58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
The Gospels show His divine authority: He commands the storms, multiplies bread, gives sight to the blind, forgives sins, raises the dead, raises Himself from the dead.
Only the Creator can override creation. Only the One who made natural laws can actually suspend them.
Brothers and sisters you were created by Him and for Him. Regardless of the circumstances of your birth. Even if your parents call you an oopsie did not mean for you to happen, the Word did mean for you to happen.
You are not a random collection of atoms. You are not the result of chance. You were created by the Word and for the Word
III. Jesus Is the Life Who Becomes our Light (vv. 4-5)
III. Jesus Is the Life Who Becomes our Light (vv. 4-5)
4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
5 And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.
The word life is a common motif for John, he uses this word about 36 times, more times than any of the other gospel writers.
The Christ does not just merely have life the way you and I have life which can be taken away at any moment. Jesus has life in Himself. He is the source of life. This is why he had to voluntarily give it.
“…I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one takes it away from Me, but from Myself, I lay it down.” (John 10:17-18)
Not only does He possess life, but life itself is found in him and comes through him, a quality He shares with the Father, it’s a God thing:
26 “For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself;
All life—physical, biological, and spiritual—is in Christ. And while John includes the idea of physical life (echoing Genesis), his emphasis here is clearly spiritual and eternal life. This is what he means in John 3:16.
Eternal or everlasting life should not be seen merely in terms of quantity but in terms of quality. This is the meaning behind the abundant life promised in John 10:10.
People think that turning to Jesus will take all the fun out of life. But when you come to Jesus your capacity for joy increases. Sin deaden us and drains us of life, while Christ fills us with wonder and purpose.
John now makes the connection that the life in Christ becomes light in men. His life dispels ignorance, confusion, deception. All summed up in John’s single word: darkness.
This is exactly what Isaiah prophesied about the coming Messiah:
2 The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in the land of the shadow of death, The light will shine on them.
Humanity was living in spiritual darkness ignorant of God and trapped in superstition and sin. The life of Jesus became light to man. What does light do? It reveals. It exposes. It shows reality as it truly is.
John’s darkness represents sin, ignorance, spiritual blindness, bondage, oppression, death, the realm of Satan. Yet John declares that the darkness did not overtake it.
At the birth of Jesus Light stepped into a world drowned in darkness. A world of Roman oppression, corrupt religion, broken families, spiritual blindness, demonic activity and despair.
And the very fact that the gospel is being preached and people are being saved across the world shows us that darkness could not stop the Light then and darkness cannot stop the Light now.
Jesus said plainly:
“I am the Light of the world” (John 8:12)
“He who follows Me will not walk in darkness” (John 8:12)
“While you have the Light, believe in the Light” (John 12:36)
This is why Paul writes:
“God… has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” (2 Cor. 4:6)
“You were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord.” (Eph. 5:8)
For unto us a Child is born, a Son is given and His life is our light. This is why Advent matters. Life entered a world filled with death; Light broke into a world filled with darkness.
Everything the darkness in your life has tried to do: break you, blind you, bind you, bury you, Christ’s light overcomes. Because when the Light comes, the darkness loses.
John wants you to begin this Advent season knowing that the One who came among us is indeed Eternal God, Creator of all things, and the Life who becomes our Light
Shining, revealing, awakening, and conquering darkness. This is the wonder of God’s arrival.
