Jesus, the Word Made Flesh
Notes
Transcript
Had to ask an electrician once to fix something at my house… he refused
Doctor told me I was losing my hearing… man that was hard to hear
Saw a microbiologist the other day… he was much bigger than I expected
In this text there are 4 proofs of the incarnation of Jesus Christ… the first is seen in verse 14
Christ became flesh. (v. 14)
And the word became flesh… and what we see here is not that John is talking about our sinful nature when he is talking about Jesus becoming flesh, but he is saying the word had a HUMAN body… that God, became human and this is an incredibly important thing.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
So what’s so important about that. He’s different than every other religions God. First he had a body, which means he was able to sacrifice his life for you…which is insanely important, But It means he had a human heart with the ability He can sympathize, he had the ability to feel joy, he had the ability to feel temptation, weariness. This means he has the ability to feel everything you do...
Joy…
Weariness… I imagine he grew weary with his disciples in the garden when he had to remind them to stay awake three times… when you job is wearing you down/// kids..
Temptation… Mathew walks through the temptation of Jesus… and he knows what it is like when the enemy tempts you
Sadness. Jesus Wept...
ANd because he knows our feelings, we know that he can understand what we are going through… but what does that mean, remember John is telling us he is the light, and in all of these things he is supposed to illuminate what we are supposed to be doing. So we are supposed to use him as the example in all of these things… in temptation, what did he do.... recalled scripture of Gods promises… sadness… etc…
And because our flesh is corruptible… Jesus had to come and become flesh in order to counteract that.
4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
Because the flesh is weak, he had to come as flesh to correct and counteract that weakness.
8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The word there is the Greek word eskenosen. which is the greek word for tabernacle… so the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us… and this is really deep. We wouldn’t understand it completely, but these hearers would have and let me walk that out a little bit...
What is the tabernacle… It was about 45 feet long and fifteen foot wide, divided into two equal parts, the inner section was a square fifteen feet by fifteen feet, It was made of boards and covered with curtains. The inner chamber contained the ark of the covenant Where God dwelled. The outer chamber contained the golden altar of incense, the table of shewbread, and the Golden candlestick.
This entire structure stood in a court yard surrounded by curtains of pure linen rising about 8 feet. THe courtyard was 175 feet long and bout 87 feet wide and there was a altar for sacrifices… and all of this parellels and gives us some information and they would have seen what John was trying to say about Jesus.
a. Tabernacle was the center of the camp.
According to the laws, the tabernacle was the center of where things were distributed to the tribes of Israel, and John here is trying to show them that the Word was supposed to be the center of their life.
b. This is the place the law was stored.
This is where second set stored here… and we can see John trying to show us the Word is where we are to take our mark… and what we are supposed to learn from
c. The tabernacle was the dwelling place of God.
“This was no doubt largely symbolic during the Old Testament period, although it was symbolized in a very striking way. Within the Holy of Holies, between the wings of the cherubim that stretched out over the covering of the ark of the covenant, there was the shekinah glory that symbolized God’s presence. The shekinah was what we would call “light.” At times it was hidden by the cloud that spread out over the tabernacle. At other times it flashed out in judgement against some evil in the camp of Israel. The glory within the Holy of Holies symbolized the presence of God. Thus, John, who knew that God had revealed in the flesh in Jesus Could write, “we have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father”
d. Because it is where God dwelt it was also the place of reveltion.
It was the place where God met with men and spoke to them.
Jesus Same
e. The tabernacle was the place where sacrifices where made....
22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
f. the tabernacle was the place where people of Israel worshipped.
We worship in the presence of the Lord today…
Some made his dwelling, some tabernacled… and this is something that would have really stood out. Lets talk about this for a second
Lets finish this verse...
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Full of grace.... Undeserved Favor of God,
Jesus was FULL of Grace… he was all Grace… and we are all a recipient of that grace… I love how JMB puts it…he talks about two different types of grace, the common grace, and the saving grace of God...
“Let me put this as clearly as I am able to before we move on. If you are not a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are a recipient of God’s common grace whether you acknowledge it or not. If you enjoy good health, that is common grace. If you are not on the poverty rolls but instead enjoy the comfort of a home and plenty to eat, that is common grace...
The list could be endless. There is no person living who has not been the recipient of God’s common grace in some way. If you think that it is not grace that you receive your blessings but that you deserve them, you are merely showing your ignorance of spiritual things. And although this grace is wonderful....
The grace that is show in [believing in] Jesus Christ is even more wonderful. This is saving grace.” James Montgomery Boice
The second proof of the incarnation is John the Baptist bore witness of the superiority of Christ (v.15)
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.’ ”)
3 possible meanings…1 He who is my junior in age has been advanced before me
2 or I was doing all this before he was, but he is coming to do more and I just laid the way but both of these are highly unlikely and out of context…
3 instead he is speaking of how Jesus is preexistent… he had no beginning… he was before me… he is in essence here declaring Jesus to be God....
Some people see Jesus as a great teacher… some separate him as only man… but none of those views see him clearly… instead what we need is to see him as we did a few weeks ago… the preexistent one… HE. IS. GOD.
This is no doubt also an attempt at John trying to prove his statements as true… he is qualifying himself as a witness to the events trying to help people understand he seent it with his own eyes.
The third proof of the incarnation Men have received the fullness and grace of Christ (vv. 16-17)
16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Word fullness is the word pleroma means that which fills, the sum total.We receive it all from Christ… Hosea is a great picture of this… Preacher… married a woman proved to be unfaithful.... It would be an illustration of the relationship between God and Israel… he was to remain faithful to her and love her even after she left him… she leaves him and falls into poverty.. God tells him to go buy what she needs because thats how he does it.. his people run and he still pays the bills....
5 For their mother has played the whore; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
8 And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.
SO we do the same thing with God, he gives us every blessing… grace upon grace and we run.... we dont give him any credit… and God gives us so much… and he is wanting us to see here that the grace he gives us is not like the Chinese food that we eat and a few hours later we are hungry again.... it is complete and fills us
Grace upon grace comes from Jesus… he is Hosea in the story, and we are Gomer… we are the ones that are running and thinking it is the world that is giving us so many different things… but John wants us to be sure that we see it is Jesus that is giving us Grace upon Grace, all of our blessings come from him
The fourth and last proof of the incarnation: God has revealed Himself through Christ (v.18)
18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
No one in the ancient world would have disagreed with the first half of this verse. This is some great source of frustration with God… no one could truly know him he was too far away and disconnected.. Apuleius said that you could catch a glimpse of God as lightning would light the dark sky… a flash and then only darkness...
Even the Jews Ex 33:20
20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”
But John didn’t stop there… he continued...
18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
He said that in Jesus, we were able to see God.... and this changed so much it made him so different now we have a glimpse of who God is...
Take heart… He understands your struggles, he has shown you who God is… and your blessings come through him