I want you to turn in your Bible to the Gospel of John, the first chapter, as we continue
looking at this theme of the coming of the Word.
Our text today is verses 14 and 15.
Twenty years ago today, I had the privilege of visiting the village of Bethlehem.
The dark streets of the village led eventually to Manger Square, which was brightly illuminated
with lights and brimming with thousands of visitors from all over the world.
Music of choirs filled the air, the full moon shone, giving a lovely view to the landscape
around the city of Bethlehem.
The hillsides were lit up in the moonlight, as well as the shepherd's field, the place
where tradition says the shepherds were when the angels appeared to them.
One could almost imagine a similar situation 2,000 years ago as Joseph and Mary sought
room in the inn.
But because Bethlehem was crowded at that season, everyone coming to be taxed due to
the census ordered by Caesar, because of the crowd, they were unable to find accommodations
and therefore were directed to the stable where Mary gave birth to her son.
No story is as wonderful as that of the birth of Jesus Christ.
And yet John does not tell us about that.
For his purposes, the Apostle John dispenses with the narrative and gives us an inside
look at what took place at Bethlehem 2,000 years ago.
Matthew and Luke are like news reporters giving us the details of what happened.
John on the other hand is like a news commentator whose desire is to fill us in on the meaning
of the events taking place.
John chooses for us the title, Logos, as he gives his commentary on the birth of Jesus.
The word Logos is translated into English, word.
The word Logos was a universal word in that day, familiar to both Jews and Gentiles.
John takes it out of the meaning that both of them had given to it and gives it a brand
new substance as he tells us that the word, the Logos, was present at creation and in
fact participated in it.
He tells us that the Logos, or the word, was with God and so distinct and yet equal with
God.
But he also says that the word was God himself.
He says that the word came into the world and proved to be light in this world's darkness.
He says that the life that was lived by the word has affected every person who ever lived,
including you and me.
He further states that although the word had a forerunner who announced his coming, when
the word came he was neither acknowledged by the world at large nor received by those
who were his own.
However, a few did receive him and believed him and thus were born of God.
All of the information that he's given us in the first 13 verses of this prologue to
his gospel is like a roadmap directing us to the final destination.
Our text today is that destination.
It leads us all to the text of John 1, 14 and 15, which is the heart of the Christmas
story.
And the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, glory as of the
only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John bore witness of him and cried out saying, This was he of whom I said, he who comes after
me has a higher rank than I, for he existed before me.
John tells us in our text that the word took action to deliver his message.
You may remember that logos means a thought and also the expression of one's thought.
And so as we think of this title of Jesus, the Word or the logos, we think of him as
the one who came to reveal God's thoughts to us.
Now as he came to give us his message, it was a message of love, God's love for sinners.
And he took action to deliver that message.
Notice in the first place it says that the word became flesh.
When John writes this, it is undoubtedly a direct attack on the false teaching that was
prominent toward the end of the first century when he wrote the Gospel.
That teaching was called Gnosticism.
Among other things, the Gnostics taught that God could never become flesh because to them
anything material was sinful.
Therefore God could never become flesh and unite himself to sin.
Thus they denied that Jesus Christ came in the flesh.
When John writes his first epistle, in the fourth chapter of that epistle, he says that
those who teach such things are antichrists.
He said that even in his day, toward the end of the first century, the spirit of antichrist
was active in the world.
You say, what is the spirit of antichrist?
It is the denial that God has entered the world as a man in the person of Jesus Christ.
It's that denial.
Are there many who deny that today?
Yes, there are many.
Even some who call themselves Christians.
But John says anyone who denies that God came into the world in human flesh in the person
of Jesus Christ is antichrist.
I want you to notice the difference between what is said in verse 14 and what is said
in verse 1.
In verse 1 the verb is was.
Imperfect tense.
It means in the beginning the word was and always had been.
In other words, when God spoke everything into existence, the word already was and always
had been.
But now John says something beyond that.
He says in verse 14, and the word became.
Now that's significant because he is saying that now the word has done something that
had never happened before.
The word who always was became, in a moment of time and space, he became flesh.
Dr. Pink says regarding this, quote, he became what he was not previously, never ceasing
to be all that he was before, close quote.
He became what he was not previously.
He was not flesh, though he was, he existed as spirit, as God.
But now he became something that he was not before, flesh.
But as he became flesh he never ceased to be all that he was before, God.
Someone else has said he became that which first became through him.
The point is that he created everything, including humanity, human nature, human flesh and blood.
And now he himself becomes that which became through him.
In contrast to this we might point to what are called the pre-incarnate appearances of
Christ.
In the Old Testament the Son of God appeared in human form on various occasions.
Among them was the time when the three Hebrew men were thrown into the furnace by Nebuchadnezzar.
Do you remember that?
Adrach, Nishak, Abednego, because they refused to fall down and worship the image of Nebuchadnezzar,
were thrown into a furnace as execution.
And when Nebuchadnezzar looked into the furnace he saw not three men walking around, but how
many?
Four.
And he said the fourth looks like a Son of God.
In other words that fourth figure in there looked more than just mere human.
It was the angel of the Lord.
It was an appearance of Jesus Christ before he came in Bethlehem.
A pre-incarnate appearance.
When he came those times he was genuinely here, but he was not genuinely human.
He was in the form of a man.
But now he comes as man himself.
In the incarnation the Word entered into the fullness of humanity.
Thus were joined in one person, undefiled humanity and undiminished deity.
The two were combined in one person, united.
This was not a superficial act as though Jesus, the Son of God, simply put on a robe of human
flesh.
But it says he became flesh.
Theologians call this the hypostatic union.
That describes the mystery, indeed the miracle, of the two natures, the human and the divine,
being united in one person without any mixing of them, and without any diminishing of either.
In other words, when the Word became flesh, Jesus Christ was born and was all that God
is and all that man is in one person.
You see that blows my mind.
I don't understand that.
It is a mystery.
Even the apostle Paul admitted that.
He said great is the mystery of godliness.
God was revealed in the flesh.
Now it may or may not surprise you to know that it took the church, capital C, several
hundred years to be able to state this in a way that was satisfactory.
People kept coming up with new ideas as to what this means that the Word became flesh.
There were some like the Gnostics who said, well, he was God but he couldn't have been
man.
Then there were others who said, no, he was man but he was not truly God.
God just came upon him.
There were others who said, yes, he was God and man but he was two persons.
As these ideas kept arising, leaders of the church would discuss together and meet together
to try to determine how those ideas fit with what the Bible taught.
They met in councils in various places.
One of them met in Chalcedon in 451 AD.
This is 400 years and more after Christ's birth.
We're still talking about but now coming to a firm decision on what orthodoxy is regarding
Jesus Christ and his nature.
Chalcedon is an Asia Minor and church leaders from various parts of the world at that time
came together to talk about this issue.
They came up with what is called the definition of Chalcedon.
I want to read a part of that to you.
Admittedly, it's a little heavy but I urge you to listen carefully and to pick up some
phrases out of it because it defines for us what we're talking about when it says the
word became flesh.
Quote, we then following the Holy Fathers all with one consent teach men to confess
one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect
in manhood.
To be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably.
The distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union but rather the property
of each nature being preserved and concurring in one person and one subsistence not parted
or divided into two persons but one and the same Son and only begotten, God the Word,
the Lord Jesus Christ.
You and I today are the descendants of some great men and women who have struggled with
doctrines like this in centuries past and they have handed down to us statements of
their understanding of what it means when the word became flesh.
Now it was essential that this action be taken on the part of the word.
He had to become flesh.
You see he had to fully partake of our humanity to qualify as our Savior.
Nothing less than a man could offer the sacrifice for mankind.
He could not be a phantom.
He could not be an angel.
It had to be a man who would save.
On the other hand he had to be fully God in order to make a sufficient offering for sin.
A man, even a perfect man, might die for someone else.
But because he was God as well as man when he offered himself on the cross, that atonement
was sufficient for all mankind.
So you see it had to be that he was God and man in one person.
The word became flesh.
That act on his part was a permanent act.
For the Savior will be forever united to humanity.
Not humanity in its weakness as when he came at Bethlehem and was born as a helpless babe.
I want to talk about that a little bit this afternoon in the meditation in our communion
service.
He will forever be united to humanity but not in its weakness but in its glory.
For he is in a glorified body and forever the Son of God will dwell in that body to
identify with you and with me as our Redeemer.
He will always be what he was before.
But he will be more than that.
For he will not only always be eternal God but because of his great humility and grace
and love for you and for me, he will also now always be man.
You think about that and let that rest a little bit on your mind and on your soul.
What it means for him to come as he did and to become flesh.
It was not for 33 years that he became flesh.
It was not even for time, however long time will be, but it's for all of the rest of
eternity that he became flesh.
Now glorified flesh.
He possesses a body like every believer one day will have by the grace of God.
The word became flesh, we notice secondly that the word dwelt among us.
That verb dwelt is probably not one that you've used recently in your vocabulary, but it's
a good word.
The word dwelt, literally it means the word tabernacled or the word lived in a tent.
Some of you are campers.
I'm a camper too.
We call our tent Holiday Inn.
That's my idea of camping.
But some of you are the genuine authentic campers and you get a tent out.
I have done that on an occasion or two and one or two of you were there on that occasion.
It was not a glorious occasion.
The air mattress went down.
I was resting on the ground most of the night.
The heavens opened and it rained and it rained and it rained and thunder and lightning.
It was a wonderful experience.
And it was a temporary experience, very temporary.
You see that's what camping is all about.
It's temporary.
You do it, then you go home.
And that's the idea here that he dwelt temporarily in a tent among us.
He will always be in that tent, if you please, of humanity.
But it was a temporary dwelling among us.
I like the word tabernacled instead of the word dwelt actually because it brings to mind
a beautiful picture.
In the Old Testament, God localized his presence on the earth at the tabernacle that he instructed
Moses to build.
Do you remember that, Exodus?
God told him how to build this tent within a tent, the structure that had protective
covering over it.
That's where God said, I will dwell among my people.
And when it was dedicated, he appeared there in his glory.
Now to look at that tabernacle in the Old Testament was to look from the outside as
something that was very plain.
It was just covered with skins of rams and of porpoises, maybe to give it some durability,
weatherproof it, that outward tent.
So as you looked at it, it was plain and unattractive, maybe even dull, but not so on the inside.
For if you were a priest and privileged to go on the inside, you would see the beautiful
colors and the intricate work in the gold and the silver fasteners and knobs and tables,
et cetera.
And you would see the colors in the linen.
You would see the scarlet and the purple and the blues that were there.
And the angels that were woven into the fabric.
It was gorgeous on the inside.
It would dazzle you.
It was exquisite.
What a beautiful picture the tabernacle is of Jesus.
For when the Word became flesh outwardly, He was very plain.
There was nothing in Him that would naturally attract you to Him.
He was flesh and bone and blood and hair.
He looked like you and like me on the outside.
Oh, but friend, on the inside.
On the inside, He was God.
And He was sinless man.
And He was exquisite.
The beauty of holiness was inside of that tent of flesh.
And only once in all of His earthly life, as far as we know, did that inner beauty get
to be seen at the transfiguration.
When that glory that was on the inside of Him burst through the skin of His body, and
for a few brief seconds, He was transfigured before Peter, James, and John.
And when they looked at Him, they had to hide their eyes because He shone like the sun.
And the glory was visible.
The Word dwelt among us.
He tabernacled here.
Where?
Among us.
I like that.
Not in some isolated palace.
He did not need a bodyguard.
He did not lead a life of luxury like our governor is reputed to do.
He was not in a protected environment.
He was not sealed off in some sin-free bubble.
But He dwelt among us sinners.
Without any taint of personal sin, He lived freely among sinners.
They talked with Him.
They touched Him.
They ate and drank with Him.
They laughed with Him and cried with Him.
He allowed sinners access.
He was fully exposed to sinners.
Just as the Old Testament tabernacle was the meeting place between God and man, now Jesus
becomes the meeting place between God and man as He tabernacles among us.
And just as in the Old Testament a sacrifice was required at that tabernacle, so at this
tabernacle that there might be reconciliation between holy God and sinful man, a sacrifice
is offered.
It is the sacrifice of the Lamb of God who is Himself the tabernacle to and the mercy
seat.
He is all of it in one person.
The Word became flesh.
The Word tabernacled among us.
And we see thirdly that the Word manifested His glory.
We see a description of that glory here in a few phrases.
Glory is that visible radiance that gives evidence of God's presence.
It's that glory that was probably visible in the bush that burned with fire but was
not consumed.
It certainly is that glory that filled the tabernacle and then years and years later
the temple when it was dedicated.
We call it the Shekinah.
There's a wonderful contemporary song called Shekinah.
Hebrew word means residence.
Where God resides there is radiance.
When the Word came He manifested His glory.
As we have said, He did it at the transfiguration.
But do you know John doesn't record that in his gospel?
He's more concerned about the moral and spiritual radiance and light.
And that's what he emphasizes.
And he says that that glory was something that He saw.
He says it was the glory as of the only begotten from the Father.
That's an important phrase to understand.
Only begotten.
It has nothing to do with His generation.
Everything to do with His nature.
That word only begotten means one of a kind, unique.
We are called by the Apostle Paul the sons of God.
But He is the Son of God in an absolutely unique sense.
One of a kind, only begotten.
He has no equal.
As the only begotten from the Father, that is who was sent from the Father's presence
to earth, He is the perfect revelation of all that God is.
And that revelation can never be duplicated.
It can never be repeated.
There's no parallel to it.
And His glory is described as full of grace and truth.
The idea is that there could not be any more of grace and truth than were in Him.
Meryl Tenney writes regarding this.
His incarnation was the full manifestation of grace and truth because it was the greatest
possible expression of God's compassion for people and the most perfect way of conveying
the truth to their understanding.
Full of grace and truth.
That's the way the glory is described.
But the glory was also demonstrated.
John says we beheld it.
He doesn't mean they're merely that they glanced at it.
Nor does the word really mean we comprehended it.
But what he does say, we studied it.
It's just like some of you in your math work or school.
You don't comprehend it, but you study it.
That's the kind of an idea that John has here.
He says, I'm not saying that we understood all of it, but he says we contemplated it.
We gazed upon it long and hard, the glory of the word.
John was there, of course, when the glory was visibly revealed.
But he was also there when Jesus performed his first miracle.
Can you tell me where that was?
It was a wedding, wasn't it?
John talks about it in chapter 2.
At that wedding, Jesus performed the miracle of changing the water into wine.
Then in verse 11, John says, this beginning of his signs, Jesus did in Cana of Galilee,
and manifested his glory.
His disciples believed in him.
So John is saying we beheld his glory whenever he did his signs, his miracles.
John records specific ones of those in his Gospel.
They beheld his glory when he died at the cross.
Even the centurion who was in charge of the crucifixion after Jesus had given up his spirit
said truly, this man was the son of God.
And then in his resurrection, John and the other disciples saw him in his glory.
He says we beheld his glory as it was manifested.
Folks, I hope we have time to talk about this more this afternoon.
But in the book of Revelation, John says not only did he behold his glory when the word
became flesh, but he says that forever and forever and forever in the New Jerusalem,
we are going to behold his glory, the glory of the Lamb, the Word of God.
He describes this immense city, the New Jerusalem, 1200 miles by 1200 miles by 1200 miles.
However you want to picture that in your mind geometrically, those are the dimensions of
the place.
Whether it be a globe or whether it be a triangular shape like a mountain range and there's a
peak where the throne is, or whether you see it as a world inside of a crystal ball like
a Christmas tree ornament, as some see it, however you may see it, John describes that
city as built expressly to reflect the glory of God.
And he says there will be no longer in that day any more need of the Son, for he says
the glory of God will illuminate it.
And he says the lamp of the city is the Lamb.
So wherever Jesus goes, the glory of God will radiate from him.
The Shekinah will be evidenced through him.
And it will be so tremendous that all of that New Jerusalem will be illuminated by his presence.
And forever and ever we will see the glory of God in Jesus Christ.
The Word manifested his glory.
Dr. Hendrickson is one of my favorite commentators, writes, the incarnation and the realization
of its purpose, the crucifixion, is the climax of God's condescending grace.
From the infinite sweep of eternal delight in the very presence of the Father, the Word
was willing to descend into this realm of misery, to pitch his tent for a while among
sinful men.
Well that says John is my commentary on Bethlehem.
He says I'll leave it to Matthew and to Luke to tell you the narrative, to report the details,
but here's the commentary.
The Word became flesh and he dwelt among us and we beheld his glory.
John the Baptist gave witness to this.
If you were to take verse 15 and put that into our modern day vernacular, it would go
something like this, this is the one that I told you about and he has seniority over
me because he existed before I did.
It seems like a strange statement for John to make.
John says he who comes after me, the idea is he who comes down the path after me.
You remember we said before John was conceived six months before Jesus was.
He was six months older than his earthly cousin.
He who comes down the path after me says John has a higher rank than I do.
If you work for a place that has a union, you know seniority is important.
It may be only seniority of a day, but if you've got that kind of seniority it may
save your job.
Well somebody else has to be laid off.
John says he came after me, but he has seniority over me because he existed before I did.
A statement about Jesus' pre-existence you see.
I like what John says here.
Just those last two words, before me, before me.
That was his whole witness about Jesus.
He's before me.
He existed before me.
He's before me in priority.
He has preeminence.
I want to ask you what your witness of Jesus is today.
Does he have priority in your life?
Does he have seniority?
Does he have a higher rank?
Does you face the decisions that you do about business?
Does he have a higher rank?
Does he have preeminence?
Priority over what you would like to do?
As you think about that promotion, when you think about the possible expansion, do you
commit the decision to him?
Does he have priority in your family?
Being you together as husband and wife because he's first.
Therefore the two of you don't have to battle over who's first or who's more important.
He's first.
Is he more important to you than your school work?
Is he more important to you than the job that you have?
John said, here's my witness.
He is before me.
On this Christmas Eve, there could be no greater decision that any of us can make than say
he is before me.
I trust in him as my Savior, for he came to save me.
But more than that, I walk with him as my Lord because he has more priority than I.
He is before me.
Let's pray.
Lord, our minds are left in wonderment as we think of this mystery of your incarnation.
That you, the Word, became flesh and pitched your tent for a while amongst us and manifested
your glory.
That we might be saved.
That we might know you.
We might live with you in your glory forever.
Oh Lord, forgive us when other priorities come into our lives.
When we are so sinful as to think of ourselves first before you.
Oh, the grossness of that sin.
Lord, may nothing be before you in our lives on this Christmas Eve Sunday.
Let that be the attitude and the decision of our hearts.
We thank you that you became man.
You came into this world that one day we might come and dwell with you and be with our God
forever.
We praise you.
Amen.