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I want you to turn in your Bible to the Gospel of John, the first chapter, as we continue

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looking at this theme of the coming of the Word.

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Our text today is verses 14 and 15.

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Twenty years ago today, I had the privilege of visiting the village of Bethlehem.

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The dark streets of the village led eventually to Manger Square, which was brightly illuminated

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with lights and brimming with thousands of visitors from all over the world.

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Music of choirs filled the air, the full moon shone, giving a lovely view to the landscape

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around the city of Bethlehem.

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The hillsides were lit up in the moonlight, as well as the shepherd's field, the place

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where tradition says the shepherds were when the angels appeared to them.

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One could almost imagine a similar situation 2,000 years ago as Joseph and Mary sought

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room in the inn.

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But because Bethlehem was crowded at that season, everyone coming to be taxed due to

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the census ordered by Caesar, because of the crowd, they were unable to find accommodations

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and therefore were directed to the stable where Mary gave birth to her son.

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No story is as wonderful as that of the birth of Jesus Christ.

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And yet John does not tell us about that.

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For his purposes, the Apostle John dispenses with the narrative and gives us an inside

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look at what took place at Bethlehem 2,000 years ago.

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Matthew and Luke are like news reporters giving us the details of what happened.

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John on the other hand is like a news commentator whose desire is to fill us in on the meaning

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of the events taking place.

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John chooses for us the title, Logos, as he gives his commentary on the birth of Jesus.

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The word Logos is translated into English, word.

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The word Logos was a universal word in that day, familiar to both Jews and Gentiles.

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John takes it out of the meaning that both of them had given to it and gives it a brand

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new substance as he tells us that the word, the Logos, was present at creation and in

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fact participated in it.

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He tells us that the Logos, or the word, was with God and so distinct and yet equal with

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God.

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But he also says that the word was God himself.

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He says that the word came into the world and proved to be light in this world's darkness.

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He says that the life that was lived by the word has affected every person who ever lived,

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including you and me.

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He further states that although the word had a forerunner who announced his coming, when

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the word came he was neither acknowledged by the world at large nor received by those

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who were his own.

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However, a few did receive him and believed him and thus were born of God.

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All of the information that he's given us in the first 13 verses of this prologue to

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his gospel is like a roadmap directing us to the final destination.

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Our text today is that destination.

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It leads us all to the text of John 1, 14 and 15, which is the heart of the Christmas

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story.

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And the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, glory as of the

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only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

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John bore witness of him and cried out saying, This was he of whom I said, he who comes after

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me has a higher rank than I, for he existed before me.

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John tells us in our text that the word took action to deliver his message.

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You may remember that logos means a thought and also the expression of one's thought.

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And so as we think of this title of Jesus, the Word or the logos, we think of him as

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the one who came to reveal God's thoughts to us.

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Now as he came to give us his message, it was a message of love, God's love for sinners.

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And he took action to deliver that message.

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Notice in the first place it says that the word became flesh.

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When John writes this, it is undoubtedly a direct attack on the false teaching that was

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prominent toward the end of the first century when he wrote the Gospel.

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That teaching was called Gnosticism.

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Among other things, the Gnostics taught that God could never become flesh because to them

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anything material was sinful.

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Therefore God could never become flesh and unite himself to sin.

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Thus they denied that Jesus Christ came in the flesh.

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When John writes his first epistle, in the fourth chapter of that epistle, he says that

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those who teach such things are antichrists.

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He said that even in his day, toward the end of the first century, the spirit of antichrist

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was active in the world.

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You say, what is the spirit of antichrist?

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It is the denial that God has entered the world as a man in the person of Jesus Christ.

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It's that denial.

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Are there many who deny that today?

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Yes, there are many.

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Even some who call themselves Christians.

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But John says anyone who denies that God came into the world in human flesh in the person

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of Jesus Christ is antichrist.

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I want you to notice the difference between what is said in verse 14 and what is said

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in verse 1.

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In verse 1 the verb is was.

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Imperfect tense.

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It means in the beginning the word was and always had been.

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In other words, when God spoke everything into existence, the word already was and always

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had been.

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But now John says something beyond that.

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He says in verse 14, and the word became.

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Now that's significant because he is saying that now the word has done something that

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had never happened before.

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The word who always was became, in a moment of time and space, he became flesh.

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Dr. Pink says regarding this, quote, he became what he was not previously, never ceasing

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to be all that he was before, close quote.

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He became what he was not previously.

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He was not flesh, though he was, he existed as spirit, as God.

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But now he became something that he was not before, flesh.

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But as he became flesh he never ceased to be all that he was before, God.

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Someone else has said he became that which first became through him.

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The point is that he created everything, including humanity, human nature, human flesh and blood.

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And now he himself becomes that which became through him.

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In contrast to this we might point to what are called the pre-incarnate appearances of

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Christ.

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In the Old Testament the Son of God appeared in human form on various occasions.

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Among them was the time when the three Hebrew men were thrown into the furnace by Nebuchadnezzar.

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Do you remember that?

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Adrach, Nishak, Abednego, because they refused to fall down and worship the image of Nebuchadnezzar,

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were thrown into a furnace as execution.

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And when Nebuchadnezzar looked into the furnace he saw not three men walking around, but how

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many?

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Four.

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And he said the fourth looks like a Son of God.

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In other words that fourth figure in there looked more than just mere human.

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It was the angel of the Lord.

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It was an appearance of Jesus Christ before he came in Bethlehem.

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A pre-incarnate appearance.

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When he came those times he was genuinely here, but he was not genuinely human.

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He was in the form of a man.

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But now he comes as man himself.

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In the incarnation the Word entered into the fullness of humanity.

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Thus were joined in one person, undefiled humanity and undiminished deity.

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The two were combined in one person, united.

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This was not a superficial act as though Jesus, the Son of God, simply put on a robe of human

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flesh.

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But it says he became flesh.

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Theologians call this the hypostatic union.

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That describes the mystery, indeed the miracle, of the two natures, the human and the divine,

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being united in one person without any mixing of them, and without any diminishing of either.

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In other words, when the Word became flesh, Jesus Christ was born and was all that God

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is and all that man is in one person.

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You see that blows my mind.

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I don't understand that.

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It is a mystery.

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Even the apostle Paul admitted that.

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He said great is the mystery of godliness.

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God was revealed in the flesh.

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Now it may or may not surprise you to know that it took the church, capital C, several

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hundred years to be able to state this in a way that was satisfactory.

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People kept coming up with new ideas as to what this means that the Word became flesh.

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There were some like the Gnostics who said, well, he was God but he couldn't have been

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man.

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Then there were others who said, no, he was man but he was not truly God.

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God just came upon him.

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There were others who said, yes, he was God and man but he was two persons.

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As these ideas kept arising, leaders of the church would discuss together and meet together

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to try to determine how those ideas fit with what the Bible taught.

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They met in councils in various places.

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One of them met in Chalcedon in 451 AD.

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This is 400 years and more after Christ's birth.

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We're still talking about but now coming to a firm decision on what orthodoxy is regarding

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Jesus Christ and his nature.

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Chalcedon is an Asia Minor and church leaders from various parts of the world at that time

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came together to talk about this issue.

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They came up with what is called the definition of Chalcedon.

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I want to read a part of that to you.

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Admittedly, it's a little heavy but I urge you to listen carefully and to pick up some

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phrases out of it because it defines for us what we're talking about when it says the

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word became flesh.

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Quote, we then following the Holy Fathers all with one consent teach men to confess

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one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect

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in manhood.

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To be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably.

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The distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union but rather the property

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of each nature being preserved and concurring in one person and one subsistence not parted

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or divided into two persons but one and the same Son and only begotten, God the Word,

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the Lord Jesus Christ.

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You and I today are the descendants of some great men and women who have struggled with

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doctrines like this in centuries past and they have handed down to us statements of

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their understanding of what it means when the word became flesh.

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Now it was essential that this action be taken on the part of the word.

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He had to become flesh.

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You see he had to fully partake of our humanity to qualify as our Savior.

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Nothing less than a man could offer the sacrifice for mankind.

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He could not be a phantom.

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He could not be an angel.

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It had to be a man who would save.

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On the other hand he had to be fully God in order to make a sufficient offering for sin.

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A man, even a perfect man, might die for someone else.

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But because he was God as well as man when he offered himself on the cross, that atonement

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was sufficient for all mankind.

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So you see it had to be that he was God and man in one person.

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The word became flesh.

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That act on his part was a permanent act.

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For the Savior will be forever united to humanity.

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Not humanity in its weakness as when he came at Bethlehem and was born as a helpless babe.

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I want to talk about that a little bit this afternoon in the meditation in our communion

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service.

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He will forever be united to humanity but not in its weakness but in its glory.

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For he is in a glorified body and forever the Son of God will dwell in that body to

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identify with you and with me as our Redeemer.

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He will always be what he was before.

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But he will be more than that.

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For he will not only always be eternal God but because of his great humility and grace

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and love for you and for me, he will also now always be man.

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You think about that and let that rest a little bit on your mind and on your soul.

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What it means for him to come as he did and to become flesh.

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It was not for 33 years that he became flesh.

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It was not even for time, however long time will be, but it's for all of the rest of

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eternity that he became flesh.

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Now glorified flesh.

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He possesses a body like every believer one day will have by the grace of God.

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The word became flesh, we notice secondly that the word dwelt among us.

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That verb dwelt is probably not one that you've used recently in your vocabulary, but it's

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a good word.

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The word dwelt, literally it means the word tabernacled or the word lived in a tent.

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Some of you are campers.

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I'm a camper too.

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We call our tent Holiday Inn.

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That's my idea of camping.

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But some of you are the genuine authentic campers and you get a tent out.

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I have done that on an occasion or two and one or two of you were there on that occasion.

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It was not a glorious occasion.

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The air mattress went down.

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I was resting on the ground most of the night.

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The heavens opened and it rained and it rained and it rained and thunder and lightning.

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It was a wonderful experience.

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And it was a temporary experience, very temporary.

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You see that's what camping is all about.

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It's temporary.

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You do it, then you go home.

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And that's the idea here that he dwelt temporarily in a tent among us.

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He will always be in that tent, if you please, of humanity.

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But it was a temporary dwelling among us.

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I like the word tabernacled instead of the word dwelt actually because it brings to mind

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a beautiful picture.

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In the Old Testament, God localized his presence on the earth at the tabernacle that he instructed

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Moses to build.

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Do you remember that, Exodus?

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God told him how to build this tent within a tent, the structure that had protective

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covering over it.

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That's where God said, I will dwell among my people.

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And when it was dedicated, he appeared there in his glory.

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Now to look at that tabernacle in the Old Testament was to look from the outside as

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something that was very plain.

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It was just covered with skins of rams and of porpoises, maybe to give it some durability,

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weatherproof it, that outward tent.

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So as you looked at it, it was plain and unattractive, maybe even dull, but not so on the inside.

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For if you were a priest and privileged to go on the inside, you would see the beautiful

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colors and the intricate work in the gold and the silver fasteners and knobs and tables,

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et cetera.

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And you would see the colors in the linen.

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You would see the scarlet and the purple and the blues that were there.

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And the angels that were woven into the fabric.

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It was gorgeous on the inside.

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It would dazzle you.

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It was exquisite.

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What a beautiful picture the tabernacle is of Jesus.

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For when the Word became flesh outwardly, He was very plain.

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There was nothing in Him that would naturally attract you to Him.

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He was flesh and bone and blood and hair.

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He looked like you and like me on the outside.

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Oh, but friend, on the inside.

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On the inside, He was God.

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And He was sinless man.

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And He was exquisite.

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The beauty of holiness was inside of that tent of flesh.

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And only once in all of His earthly life, as far as we know, did that inner beauty get

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to be seen at the transfiguration.

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When that glory that was on the inside of Him burst through the skin of His body, and

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for a few brief seconds, He was transfigured before Peter, James, and John.

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And when they looked at Him, they had to hide their eyes because He shone like the sun.

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And the glory was visible.

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The Word dwelt among us.

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He tabernacled here.

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Where?

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Among us.

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I like that.

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Not in some isolated palace.

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He did not need a bodyguard.

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He did not lead a life of luxury like our governor is reputed to do.

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He was not in a protected environment.

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He was not sealed off in some sin-free bubble.

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But He dwelt among us sinners.

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Without any taint of personal sin, He lived freely among sinners.

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They talked with Him.

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They touched Him.

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They ate and drank with Him.

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They laughed with Him and cried with Him.

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He allowed sinners access.

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He was fully exposed to sinners.

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Just as the Old Testament tabernacle was the meeting place between God and man, now Jesus

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becomes the meeting place between God and man as He tabernacles among us.

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And just as in the Old Testament a sacrifice was required at that tabernacle, so at this

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tabernacle that there might be reconciliation between holy God and sinful man, a sacrifice

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is offered.

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It is the sacrifice of the Lamb of God who is Himself the tabernacle to and the mercy

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seat.

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He is all of it in one person.

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The Word became flesh.

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The Word tabernacled among us.

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And we see thirdly that the Word manifested His glory.

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We see a description of that glory here in a few phrases.

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Glory is that visible radiance that gives evidence of God's presence.

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It's that glory that was probably visible in the bush that burned with fire but was

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not consumed.

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It certainly is that glory that filled the tabernacle and then years and years later

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the temple when it was dedicated.

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We call it the Shekinah.

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There's a wonderful contemporary song called Shekinah.

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Hebrew word means residence.

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Where God resides there is radiance.

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When the Word came He manifested His glory.

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As we have said, He did it at the transfiguration.

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But do you know John doesn't record that in his gospel?

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He's more concerned about the moral and spiritual radiance and light.

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And that's what he emphasizes.

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And he says that that glory was something that He saw.

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He says it was the glory as of the only begotten from the Father.

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That's an important phrase to understand.

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Only begotten.

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It has nothing to do with His generation.

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Everything to do with His nature.

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That word only begotten means one of a kind, unique.

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We are called by the Apostle Paul the sons of God.

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But He is the Son of God in an absolutely unique sense.

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One of a kind, only begotten.

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He has no equal.

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As the only begotten from the Father, that is who was sent from the Father's presence

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to earth, He is the perfect revelation of all that God is.

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And that revelation can never be duplicated.

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It can never be repeated.

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There's no parallel to it.

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And His glory is described as full of grace and truth.

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The idea is that there could not be any more of grace and truth than were in Him.

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Meryl Tenney writes regarding this.

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His incarnation was the full manifestation of grace and truth because it was the greatest

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possible expression of God's compassion for people and the most perfect way of conveying

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the truth to their understanding.

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Full of grace and truth.

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That's the way the glory is described.

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But the glory was also demonstrated.

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John says we beheld it.

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He doesn't mean they're merely that they glanced at it.

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Nor does the word really mean we comprehended it.

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But what he does say, we studied it.

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It's just like some of you in your math work or school.

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You don't comprehend it, but you study it.

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That's the kind of an idea that John has here.

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He says, I'm not saying that we understood all of it, but he says we contemplated it.

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We gazed upon it long and hard, the glory of the word.

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John was there, of course, when the glory was visibly revealed.

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But he was also there when Jesus performed his first miracle.

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Can you tell me where that was?

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It was a wedding, wasn't it?

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John talks about it in chapter 2.

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At that wedding, Jesus performed the miracle of changing the water into wine.

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Then in verse 11, John says, this beginning of his signs, Jesus did in Cana of Galilee,

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and manifested his glory.

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His disciples believed in him.

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So John is saying we beheld his glory whenever he did his signs, his miracles.

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John records specific ones of those in his Gospel.

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They beheld his glory when he died at the cross.

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Even the centurion who was in charge of the crucifixion after Jesus had given up his spirit

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said truly, this man was the son of God.

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And then in his resurrection, John and the other disciples saw him in his glory.

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He says we beheld his glory as it was manifested.

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Folks, I hope we have time to talk about this more this afternoon.

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But in the book of Revelation, John says not only did he behold his glory when the word

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became flesh, but he says that forever and forever and forever in the New Jerusalem,

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we are going to behold his glory, the glory of the Lamb, the Word of God.

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He describes this immense city, the New Jerusalem, 1200 miles by 1200 miles by 1200 miles.

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However you want to picture that in your mind geometrically, those are the dimensions of

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the place.

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Whether it be a globe or whether it be a triangular shape like a mountain range and there's a

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peak where the throne is, or whether you see it as a world inside of a crystal ball like

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a Christmas tree ornament, as some see it, however you may see it, John describes that

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city as built expressly to reflect the glory of God.

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And he says there will be no longer in that day any more need of the Son, for he says

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the glory of God will illuminate it.

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And he says the lamp of the city is the Lamb.

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So wherever Jesus goes, the glory of God will radiate from him.

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The Shekinah will be evidenced through him.

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And it will be so tremendous that all of that New Jerusalem will be illuminated by his presence.

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And forever and ever we will see the glory of God in Jesus Christ.

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The Word manifested his glory.

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00:34:08,080 --> 00:34:16,000
Dr. Hendrickson is one of my favorite commentators, writes, the incarnation and the realization

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of its purpose, the crucifixion, is the climax of God's condescending grace.

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From the infinite sweep of eternal delight in the very presence of the Father, the Word

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was willing to descend into this realm of misery, to pitch his tent for a while among

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sinful men.

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Well that says John is my commentary on Bethlehem.

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He says I'll leave it to Matthew and to Luke to tell you the narrative, to report the details,

376
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but here's the commentary.

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The Word became flesh and he dwelt among us and we beheld his glory.

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John the Baptist gave witness to this.

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If you were to take verse 15 and put that into our modern day vernacular, it would go

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something like this, this is the one that I told you about and he has seniority over

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me because he existed before I did.

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00:35:36,160 --> 00:35:42,320
It seems like a strange statement for John to make.

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John says he who comes after me, the idea is he who comes down the path after me.

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You remember we said before John was conceived six months before Jesus was.

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He was six months older than his earthly cousin.

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He who comes down the path after me says John has a higher rank than I do.

387
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If you work for a place that has a union, you know seniority is important.

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00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:15,280
It may be only seniority of a day, but if you've got that kind of seniority it may

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save your job.

390
00:36:18,080 --> 00:36:23,480
Well somebody else has to be laid off.

391
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John says he came after me, but he has seniority over me because he existed before I did.

392
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A statement about Jesus' pre-existence you see.

393
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I like what John says here.

394
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Just those last two words, before me, before me.

395
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That was his whole witness about Jesus.

396
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He's before me.

397
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He existed before me.

398
00:36:56,920 --> 00:36:58,840
He's before me in priority.

399
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He has preeminence.

400
00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:07,260
I want to ask you what your witness of Jesus is today.

401
00:37:07,260 --> 00:37:10,720
Does he have priority in your life?

402
00:37:10,720 --> 00:37:12,000
Does he have seniority?

403
00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:16,680
Does he have a higher rank?

404
00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:23,440
Does you face the decisions that you do about business?

405
00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:26,200
Does he have a higher rank?

406
00:37:26,200 --> 00:37:29,400
Does he have preeminence?

407
00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:31,920
Priority over what you would like to do?

408
00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:37,000
As you think about that promotion, when you think about the possible expansion, do you

409
00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:41,920
commit the decision to him?

410
00:37:41,920 --> 00:37:45,640
Does he have priority in your family?

411
00:37:45,640 --> 00:37:51,040
Being you together as husband and wife because he's first.

412
00:37:51,040 --> 00:37:54,800
Therefore the two of you don't have to battle over who's first or who's more important.

413
00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:58,640
He's first.

414
00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:03,800
Is he more important to you than your school work?

415
00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:08,000
Is he more important to you than the job that you have?

416
00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:09,960
John said, here's my witness.

417
00:38:09,960 --> 00:38:14,560
He is before me.

418
00:38:14,560 --> 00:38:21,040
On this Christmas Eve, there could be no greater decision that any of us can make than say

419
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he is before me.

420
00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:31,160
I trust in him as my Savior, for he came to save me.

421
00:38:31,160 --> 00:38:42,740
But more than that, I walk with him as my Lord because he has more priority than I.

422
00:38:42,740 --> 00:38:45,160
He is before me.

423
00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:47,160
Let's pray.

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Lord, our minds are left in wonderment as we think of this mystery of your incarnation.

425
00:39:03,960 --> 00:39:12,880
That you, the Word, became flesh and pitched your tent for a while amongst us and manifested

426
00:39:12,880 --> 00:39:15,040
your glory.

427
00:39:15,040 --> 00:39:17,040
That we might be saved.

428
00:39:17,040 --> 00:39:18,880
That we might know you.

429
00:39:18,880 --> 00:39:21,840
We might live with you in your glory forever.

430
00:39:21,840 --> 00:39:31,360
Oh Lord, forgive us when other priorities come into our lives.

431
00:39:31,360 --> 00:39:40,440
When we are so sinful as to think of ourselves first before you.

432
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Oh, the grossness of that sin.

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00:39:44,640 --> 00:39:54,640
Lord, may nothing be before you in our lives on this Christmas Eve Sunday.

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Let that be the attitude and the decision of our hearts.

435
00:39:59,820 --> 00:40:04,800
We thank you that you became man.

436
00:40:04,800 --> 00:40:11,400
You came into this world that one day we might come and dwell with you and be with our God

437
00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:14,120
forever.

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00:40:14,120 --> 00:40:15,120
We praise you.

439
00:40:15,120 --> 00:40:30,120
Amen.