D. Scott Meadows
A message in season, always seasonable. We always need this Savior Jesus Christ, and faith comes by hearing (Rom 10.17).
Pure gospel: Jesus Christ has gloriously restored the union of God and man.
Much confusion about His 1) identity, 2) mission, 3) purpose. All three have a partial answer in our text. 1) Who is Jesus? 2) What did He accomplish? 3) What is His ultimate purpose? Many claim Him as champion of their views—even atheists (Dawkins: “Somebody as intelligent as Jesus would have been an atheist if he had known what we know today”). Errors abound on the political left (liberal) and right (conservative) about these questions, as if His kingdom were “of this world” even though He explicitly denied it (John 18.36).
Jesus points to God’s Word, “Truth,” to know Him and receive eternal life (John 17.7; 5.39-40). This is the stated purpose of John’s Gospel (20.30-31). It doesn’t matter what I or Baptists or Christians think, but what God Himself testifies about Jesus Christ. Today, let’s focus especially on one verse:
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth (John 1.14).
HIS INCARNATION AS ONE OF US. “Who is Jesus?” God, and one of us!
This, “The Word was made flesh,” goes a long way to answer the question if considered in its immediate and larger biblical/theological context.
1) “The Word,” His Full Deity and Distinction from God the Father. Greek: “ὁ λόγος” (ho logos), an exalted title for One who was already in existence at the moment of creation (John 1.1; cf. Gen 1.1), was in fellowship with God, and was God—suggests Trinitarian doctrine (1 John 5.7 AV). The Word is no creature; He made absolutely all created things (1.2-3), is the source of all life and light (1.4). The Word came into His world, was preached by John the Baptist, and was unrecognized (1.5-11). The Word is the object of saving faith and the author of spiritual life (1.12-13). This is “the Word” of v. 14. “The Word” is God Himself and also “God’s very Self-expression” (Carson).
2) “Was Made Flesh,” His Full Humanity and Identification with Us. This does not mean He lost His identity as God but that He took human nature, body and soul, just like us except without sin. He was conceived by the HS in the womb of Mary, a virgin espoused to Joseph (Matt 1.18-23). “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see! Hail the Incarnate Deity!” Bonhoeffer’s meditations on this are rich:
God sends his Son–here lies the only remedy. It is not enough to give man a new philosophy or better religion. A Man comes to men. . . . A man is not a bare word, a thought or a will. He is above all and always a man, a form, an image, a brother. And thus he does not create around him just a new way of thought, will and action but he gives us the new image, the new form. Now in Jesus Christ this is just what has happened. The image of God has entered our midst, in the form of our fallen life, in the likeness of sinful flesh. In the teaching and acts of Christ, in His life and death, the image of God is revealed. In Him the divine image has been re-created here on earth. The Incarnation, the words and acts of Jesus, His death on the cross, all are indispensable parts of that image. . . . It is the image of one who enters a world of sin and death, who takes upon Himself all the sorrows of humanity, who meekly bears God’s wrath and judgment against sinners, and obeys His will with unswerving devotion in suffering and death, the Man born to poverty, the friend of tax collectors and sinners, the Man of sorrows, rejected by man and forsaken by God. Here is God made man, here is man in the new image of God (The Cost of Discipleship).
3) His Hypostatic Union: One Person, Fully God and Fully Man. Many heresies abound but Chalcedon (451 A.D.) is the orthodox consensus:
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; truly God and truly man, of a rational soul and body; [of the same essence] with us according to the manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin; begotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter days, for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary . . . ; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten.
This is not the Jesus of Islam, Mormonism, JW’s, political activism, or even pop Christendom, but as He is revealed to us in Holy Scripture. Now consider John 1.14’s testimony to what Jesus did.
HIS FELLOWSHIP WITH US. “What did Jesus accomplish?”
This, “He dwelt among us,” is extraordinarily profound. “Cur Deus Homo” (Anselm, Why Did God Become Man?) the great question. “To dwell among us” is a great part of the answer. The verb imports “a residence of some continuance,” not just a day or a night (Webster 1828). Lit., “He tabernacled [or, pitched his tent] among us.” Yes, He lived on earth as a man among men for three decades, but His dwelling in John 1.14 conveys:
1) More than Earth-dwelling. His “dwelling among us” includes His Incarnation as permanent reality—His eternal identity as a human being, always the God-man (1 Tim 2.5). His resurrection, ascension were both bodily the whole man. Also, He promised continuance by His Spirit (Matt 18.20; John 14.16, “another Comforter,” i.e., “another of like kind” [Gk.]), and His return never again in any sense to leave us (John 14.3).
2) The Accomplishment of Reconciliation and Fellowship. His “dwelling among us” is not just physical closeness but relational; it is knowledge, intimacy, friendship, mutual enjoyment, LOVE. This state of reconciliation and fellowship with God is “eternal life,” the point (w.r.t. His chosen people) of Jesus’ coming (10.10; 17.3). For believers, His righteous heart/conduct is our justifying righteousness. His atoning death is the satisfaction to God’s justice for our sins. His renewing work in us by the Spirit is for our affinity with God. His completion of our sanctification will be the perfection of communion forever.
3) The Inauguration and Guarantee of God’s Greatest Promise. One of the oldest, simplest, and greatest of divine promises spans the whole Bible.
And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them (Exod 25.8). And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God (Exod 29.45). And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people (Lev 26.11-12). Solomon prayed, “I have surely built thee an house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in for ever” (1 Kgs 8.13). In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion (Psa 76.2). For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it (Psa 132.13-14). Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people (Ezek 37.26-27). In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit (Eph 2.22). And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God (Rev 21.1-3).
In His first coming Christ inaugurated the eternal kingdom of God, a kingdom of grace and glory that shall have no end! So Jesus, God Incarnate, has begun to restore the union of God and man.
HIS GLORY PERCEIVED BY US. “What is Jesus’ purpose?” To what ultimate end did God become man in Jesus and dwell among us? To glorify God. “And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
1) In His Own Manifest Glory. John speaks about “His glory,” the glory of the Word. A. W. Pink elaborates reverently (An Exposition of John):
What is meant by [“we beheld His glory]? Ah! who is competent to answer. Eternity itself will be too short to exhaustively explore this theme. The glories of our Lord are infinite, for in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. No subject ought to be dearer to the heart of a believer. Briefly defined, “We beheld his glory” signifies His supreme excellency, His personal perfections. For the purpose of general classification we may say the “glories” of our Savior are fourfold, each of which is capable of being subdivided indefinitely. First, there are His essential “glories,” as the Son of God; these are His Divine perfections, as for example, His Omnipotence. Second, there are His moral “glories,” and these are His human perfections, as for example, His meekness. Third, there are His official “glories,” and these are His mediatorial perfections, as for example, His priesthood. Fourth, there are His acquired “glories,” and these are the reward for what He has done. Probably the first three of these are spoken of in our text.
2) In His Revelation of the Father’s Glory. “The glory that he has from the Father as only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth” (NJB). Christ’s glory is inherent as God and derived as the only begotten Son of God. Read John 1:18. “The Greek term [for ‘declared’] in this context is related to the English derivative term exegesis, and the focus of meaning here is upon ‘clear revelation’ or ‘clear explanation’” (UBS Hdbk). Cf. Heb 1.1-3.
3) In His Restoration of Our Spiritual Perception and Consequent Praise. “We beheld His glory . . . full of grace and truth.” God Incarnate/dwelling among us is the revelation of this glory, necessary for our perception and appreciation of it. Our ignorance of and blindness to the glory of God were permanent except for Christ’s coming into the world. Now perceiving it, John fulfills his eternal calling and proclaims it, to the praise of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is the effect of God’s “grace and truth” upon the hearts of sinners. The glory of Christ and of the Father is “a glory that none but believers behold!” (Pink). This is the distinguishing mark of true believers (2 Cor 4.3-6). Do you perceive it? Do you appreciate and proclaim that Jesus Christ has gloriously restored the union of God and man? As I preach God’s Word on this, may the Holy Spirit give you eyes to see the glorious Christ by faith, and ears to hear what He says to the churches.