THE WORD BECOME FLESH

Introduction

-Back in the middle 90s, singer Joan Osbourne released a song called ONE OF US, and it asked the question WHAT IF GOD WAS ONE OF US? The song asked questions like IF GOD HAD A NAME, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Or IF GOD HAD A FACE, WHAT WOULD IT LOOK LIKE? Always ending up in the chorus asking WHAT IF GOD WAS ONE OF US?

-Not many years after its release I was saved, after which, whenever I heard the song, I just wanted to scream back at the radio: GUESS WHAT! GOD DID BECOME ONE OF US! HIS NAME IS JESUS! That is the wonder of what we theologically call the Incarnation, which means IN THE FLESH.

-In the realm of history and reality, the eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God became a full human being without losing His divinity----This is what is so amazing: the Creator of all things became part of His creation so that He could deliver it from the effects of sin.

-This is central to the true Christian religion, and over the centuries it has been twisted and turned into all sorts of heresies:

~Docetism taught that Jesus merely took on an appearance of humanity, but in actuality did not take on a true human body or nature.

~Monophysitism taught that the divine Logos found this human Jesus who it decided to meld with, but the two natures were separate.

~Arianism taught that Jesus was a created being, and therefore was less than divine.

-There are so many more, and they are all wrong. What we find in the Prologue of John’s gospel is that the Word has the complete nature and character of God (although He is a separate person from the Father and the Holy Spirit), and in the passage we are reading today, this Word took on the fullness of humanity without losing any of the fullness of His divinity. He is completely human, with a human body and human soul, just without the sinful nature. And He is completely divine.

-To hold anything less than this completely undermines the redemptive purposes of God. We find that God the Son, who is the Word, by taking on flesh demonstrates that God has reached out to humanity to save them and to fully reveal His plans and purposes for the good of mankind.

-My intention today is to lead you to know the full extent as to why God the Son would have condescended Himself to take on human weakness.

John 1:14–18 ESV

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

-Today, let’s answer the question: Why would the Word have taken on flesh? Why would divinity take on humanity?

I) The Word directs humanity through close relationship

-v. 14 states that THE WORD BECAME FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US. The word that is translated “dwelt” literally means to pitch a tent, or to tabernacle.

-If you remember, in the Old Testament, after God freed the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, He led them to Sinai, and there, not only did God give them the law, He also gave them the schematics for a tabernacle wherein would be the dwelling of God amongst His people. There at the tabernacle, the people would make the required sacrifices, and there in the tent of meeting Moses would meet with God for instructions and directions—this is where God would relate to His people.

-After the tabernacle was built and consecrated, the glory of the Lord came upon the place in the form of a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. When God decided, according to His purposes, to move the people to a new location, that glory would lift from the tabernacle and lead them in the direction He wanted them to go.

-Now, in the person of Jesus Christ, God took up a different dwelling place among His people. Instead of a tent, He took on humanity. In Jesus Christ God is again dwelling among His people, and makes the way of having close, personal relationship with God.

-Instead of meeting with a chosen leader like Moses in a tent, the Word came in a way that was accessible to all of God’s people, and it is through Jesus Christ that we are instructed and directed in the ways of God, and it is through Jesus Christ that God directs our steps.

-And now, after His resurrection and ascension, Jesus sent His Spirit that then indwells the believers, such that we as individuals are now the tabernacle where God resides, relating with His people and giving instruction and direction.

-God does not move and direct people in a cold, mechanical way like through a GPS that tells you in a monotone voice TURN LEFT or TURN RIGHT. But through relationship that was made possible through the incarnation, God takes us personally on the journey He has laid out for us.

-A second reason the Word became flesh is that:

II) The Word demonstrates evidences of God’s existence and character

-v. 14 says WE HAVE SEEN HIS GLORY, GLORY AS OF THE ONLY SON OF THE FATHER, FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH

-John the apostles was attesting to the fact that everything that he reports has been based on what he himself witnessed as a follower of Christ. What is reported about Jesus’ actions and teachings happened in a historical setting with eyewitnesses to testify.

-That the Word became flesh is not some sort of myth like that which the Greeks give about their gods, but it is a truth that happened in reality that Jesus is God, attested to by many witnesses, including supernatural testimony from God and the Holy Spirit, the testimony of Christ Himself, and the testimony of the miraculous works that He performed as witnessed by His disciples and others.

-This is an apologetic / defense given by John the apostle that the Word who is God exists, and that through this incarnation the Word demonstrated the very character of the eternal God.

-So, for example, the Word demonstrated God’s glory—that is, Jesus in His person demonstrated the holy perfection of God—that God is pure and majestic and worthy of praise and worship.

-John also says that He is full of grace and truth. These hearken back to Old Testament teachings about God’s faithfulness to His covenant. God by grace created a covenant with man to be their God and they would be His people, and God would never break His word or His promise.

-Thus, Jesus Himself is the best apologetic for the existence and character of the Biblical God. If anyone has doubts about God and Christianity, we can point them to the historical realities and claims of Jesus—that the facts attest to God being real, and Jesus being the Word who is God the Son.

-A third reason the Word became flesh is that:

III) The Word defends God’s preeminent essence

-Giving a short parenthesis in v. 15, the apostle gives a short testimony as given by John the Baptist. The Baptist said that THE ONE WHO COMES AFTER HIM RANKS BEFORE HIM BECAUSE HE WAS BEFORE HIM.

-The Baptist told people who came to hear him and be baptized that there would be One whose ministry would start after the Baptist’s ministry, but that this One would have the preeminence—that is, He would have the supremacy and superiority over John—because in the realm of existence, this One actually existed before John and anybody else. The Word already existed before the beginning of everything.

-This Word has more excellence and prestige and prominence than John the Baptist, who even Jesus says is the greatest among those born of women. If the Word outranks John the Baptist, that means He outranks you and me by far.

-The Baptist recognized that there is a great separation between himself and the One for whom he was preparing the world—as he says later, he’s not even worthy to do the most menial task of untying his sandals.

-Jesus, being very God, is preeminent above all—He is not merely the greatest; He is qualitatively on a separate level of existence that is superior and primary over creation. That means that this God-man has complete and utter authority and lordship over all of us and over every situation.

Paul describes Jesus like this:

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-- all things were created through him and for him.

17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

(Col. 1:15-18 ESV)

-Jesus came to demonstrate His Lordship and preeminence over everything—whatever you are experiencing in life, Jesus is preeminent and Lord over it. Nothing is beyond His reach and nothing is out of His control.

-By submitting yourself and your life situation to Him, you recognize His greatness and His control and His mastery over it all.

-A fourth reason the Word became flesh is that:

VI) The Word desires to give abundant grace

-in v. 16 we are told that FROM HIS FULLNESS WE HAVE ALL RECEIVED, AND GRACE UPON GRACE----Jesus did not come to put some heavy religious burdens on us, but instead to free us to return to Him in a new covenant that He gives freely through grace.

-That is why John makes the contrast in v. 17. The law was given through Moses. When the Israelites were at Sinai after having been freed, God gave His legal, civil, religious, and moral code to His people, a reflection of His holiness and righteousness.

-But as Paul in his epistles points out, there is no one who did, would, or could keep the law to perfection. The law was able to point out that you were a sinner, and it was able to point out what sin you had in your life, but the law could do nothing about it. You were still in your sins.

-What man couldn't do through the law, God freely gave to man through Jesus Christ. Grace is the favor of God given freely for those who believe upon Jesus.

-It is by grace that you are saved. You live the Christian life through grace. You are able to endure hardships through grace. And God has more than enough to give. It says we receive grace upon grace==grace constantly being given without there being any lack.

-We all have had times in our lives when we had more month left over at the end of the money, and so you might write a check and it bounces, or you go to the ATM and have no money to withdraw. But imagine that somebody set up an account for you where you didn’t have to deposit anything, and you could withdraw all that you want. You go and get $1000 out. Then later in the day you withdraw $1M. No matter when you went, or how much you withdrew, the account never went dry. Money just kept piling up even after all the withdrawals.

-The Word gives us grace upon grace, and that account never dries up. God never runs out of grace. You need grace to be saved, and He has it for you. You need grace to fulfill your gifting, and He has it for you. You need grace to endure family hardships, and He has it for you. You need grace to deal with financial difficulties, and He has it for you. You need grace to deal with health issues, and He has it for you. You need grace to deal with loss, and He has it for you.

-Through Jesus Christ you never run out of grace. God has favor to show you at all times, but it is only through the Word, it never comes through the law of religious rituals or traditions.

-A fifth reason the Word became flesh is that:

V) The Word divulges the fullness of the Father

-v. 18 tells us that even though nobody has seen God, the Word who is God, who is closest to the heart of the Father, has revealed the Father in all His fullness.

-Although God had revealed Himself through the prophets and through the law, it is through the Word that became flesh that we come to know God the Father the best.

-God’s nature and character shine forth brightly through the person of Jesus Christ. If we ever ponder, wondering what God is like, we have to look no further than Jesus Christ.

-This is hard to understand, but Jesus Himself declared this on several occasions. For example, after having told the disciples that He will go to prepare a place for His people, and that He is the way and the truth and the life, the following conversation takes place in John 14; Jesus said:

7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."

8 Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us."

9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?

10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.

(Jn. 14:7-10 ESV)

-And in His great prayer of John 17, Jesus said:

20 "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,

21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, (Jn. 17:20-22 ESV)

-If you want to know exactly what God the Father is like as best as humans can comprehend Him, you need to look no further than the life and teachings of Jesus. When you know Jesus, you know the Father in His fullness. God does not need to be a mystery to us, because He has been revealed fully in the Word.

-A final reason the Word became flesh is that:

VI) The Word declares the salvation of the Lord

-In the passage we read today, the apostle for the first time identifies the eternal Word with Jesus. The name Jesus means YAHWEH SAVES. When it was declared to Mary that she would bear a child, she was told to name Him Jesus because He would save His people from their sins.

-The eternal Word took on humanity so that He could die as a man to pay the penalty for mankind’s sin. It took a human to be the sacrifice for humans. But it took God to satisfy the wrath of God.

-And we find that by His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, He satisfied God’s justice and delivered man from God’s wrath. The Bible throughout says that you need to believe in the Lord Jesus to be saved. Believing in the Lord Jesus means to receive Him as He revealed Himself==the eternal Word who died for you and rose for you.

-If the Word did not become flesh, then there would be no hope for mankind. We would eternally be in our sins. But the Word offers that hope.

Conclusion

-It may be a mystery exactly how Jesus could be the eternal Word and be fully human, but we do not need to fully understand it to believe it by faith.

-As Paul describes the incarnation in Philippians:

though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,

7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,

10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil. 2:6-11 ESV)

-You can only have a close relationship with God through Jesus Christ. You can only be directed by God through Jesus Christ. You can only know God’s character and fullness through Jesus Christ. You can only experience never-ending grace through Jesus Christ.

-If you need some grace, I invite you to come to the altar, ask for grace, and find the never-ending fountain.

-If you need salvation, come forward today and believe on the only one who can set you free.