God Made Known • 12.18.22
God Made Known
John 1:14-18
Seeing God like never before
- Jesus is God in human form
- Jesus’ incarnation reveals God’s grace anew
- Jesus is the ultimate disclosure of God
Good morning church family! What a powerful set of lyrics in that last song. I am thankful the worship team introduced it to us. I am certain that, if we’re being honest with ourselves, each one of us finds ourselves in those lyrics. What a beautiful truth that Christ is born for you… for me… Let us come to him with our burdens and brokenness and receive life and light!
If you’re new with us, welcome! My name is Nick Lees and I have the privilege of serving as the senior pastor here and of studying God’s Word with you this morning. Before we do that, why don’t I…
Dismiss 4th + 5th graders
Ushers + Bibles (John 1; page 1053)
Throughout the beginning of John’s Gospel, we’ve seen him masterfully building his argument as he presents the identity of the Word as the eternal God, agent of creation, light of the world, who has been testified about for centuries and most recently in John the Baptist, who himself was the fulfillment of prophecies from hundreds of years before.
We have seen the Apostle John move from the Word being outside of space, time, and matter to entering into it. The Creator entering his creation. Yet the world rejected and rebelled against him. His own people, the Jews, did not receive him. However, in the face of this rejection, there was the promise that some, through God’s grace and mercy, would be given the right to become children of God, as they received and believed in the Word.
In 13 short verses, John has covered tremendous ground. This introduction to his Gospel is setting the stage for what he will spend the next 20.5 chapters unpacking – that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God – and that you should believe this so that you may have life in his name. While we’re not going to cover those chapters in this series, our goal today is to finish up the introduction to the gospel in our study of verses 14-18.
In our passage today, John will reveal the identity of “the Word” as Jesus of Nazareth. The eternal God who has come down and walked among us is Jesus. Let’s turn our attention to our text for today.
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.
Can you imagine John sitting down to put pen to paper when he wrote this? In this passage he has recorded some of the most incredible words in all of history. He has written about God in the most shocking way – that he took on flesh and dwelt among us! Who had ever heard of such a thing? No one! This was unprecedented. Surely John had tremendous excitement as he penned these words at the direction of the Holy Spirit. Does reading them put you on the edge of your seat this morning? I pray that our time together would be a tremendous blessing to you as we unpack these glorious truths. Today we’re learning about…
Seeing God like never before
John is revealing that Jesus is not only the long-awaited Messiah, but he is also…
- Jesus is God in human form
Verse 14 tells us that the Word became flesh. “Became” is the same word that has come up many times already in John’s introduction and has been translated as “was/were made” when referring to the rest of creation or “become” when referring to those who were given the right to become children of God. John uses a Greek word – ginomai – to tie the whole introduction together in some amazing ways. Now he uses it to tell us that the Word became flesh. The eternal God has put on a human body. As we mentioned last week this is known as the incarnation.
Incarnation – God the Son taking on human form as Jesus Christ
The incarnation of Jesus is one of the greatest miracles to ever occur. It literally changes everything about human history and has incredible implications for all of us. We’ll continue to unpack these as we go, but before we do, I want to make sure I clarify something.
By taking on human form, God the Son did not cease to be God. He is not changing from God to man. This is not telling us that he somehow became lesser. John clearly tells his readers that Jesus has the fullness of God within him in verses 14 and 16. So if Jesus is still fully God, what does the incarnation mean?
In the incarnation, God the Son took on a new condition that was not previously his before – human form. This is an act of incredible humility, choosing to become flesh and bear with the weaknesses and shortcomings of humanity as he dwelt among us.
Notice that he “became” flesh as John tells it. John is looking backward at something that has already happened and is complete. He had the privilege of seeing and beholding the Son of God in human form in Jesus. Consider this… by “becoming” flesh the Son of God is permanently and eternally taking on flesh. The choice to humble himself and come down to us would forever impact him. How incredibly loving is that!?
He could have written on another set of stone tablets like he did with Moses. He could have sent more prophets to declare his plans and purposes. Yet he didn’t. Instead, he personally came down. The Word, God’s greatest self-expression, is now in human form. As one author put it, “This is the supreme revelation!”
We see this statement affirmed in Hebrews 1:
Hebrews 1:1–3 (ESV)
1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power…
God chose to make himself known in a real, historical man. A man with a human nature just like ours, yet without sin. A man who could walk among us, teaching us and showing us what true life is meant to be like. The true light came to the darkness – revealing sin for what it is (evil and death) and illuminating the way of life for those who had ears to hear. How incredible that God would care to go to such lengths to rescue and redeem his people!
The reality of Jesus being God in human form is what allows the author of Hebrews to later conclude:
Hebrews 4:14–16 (ESV)
14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Jesus understands what it means to be human. He has personally experienced the limitations of our flesh. He has overcome temptation without sin and is therefore able to help us in our weaknesses and failures. He is not only a great high priest, he is the perfect high priest who is able to represent us before God. He can intercede on our behalf and, as God, he is able to help us in our time of need. All of this because he came down and took on human form!
I don’t know about you, but hearing these two snippets of Hebrews get me excited to study the book next year! We’ll be kicking off a new series on Sunday, January 8th in the book of Hebrews.
Are you thankful for a God who intimately understands the challenges you face? I don’t know what you’ve been taught about God growing up, but the Bible reveals a God who is involved in this world and in his people’s lives. A God who cares about your situation. Who is actively at work for your good and his glory.
This truth was sweet to me this week as I was faced with the frailty of my body in sickness. I spent Tues-Saturday battling the flu along with the accompanying miseries that comes with it. When I was tempted to be frustrated with my weakness, I got to recall these truths I had been studying to help me turn to Christ instead. To ask him for help in responding well to my sickness. I had to do this repeatedly.
What challenges did you face this week? I know there are some among us who have been through a lot in the past week or two. Illness. Loss of a loved one. Standing before a judge in pursuit of justice. How does knowing that your Creator came down and took on flesh so that he could help you in your time of need impact you? He understands your frailty and provides his abundant strength. He sees the temptations you face and offers you a way out from them – the path of victory and holiness. He sees your broken-heartedness and pours out comfort and mercy to you. How worthy of praise is our God!
You don’t have to wonder this morning if God cares about you. He has proven it by sending his Son to this world in human form. In fact, Jesus’ incarnation reveals…
- Jesus’ incarnation reveals God’s grace anew
This stems from the momentous statement by John in verses 16-17:
16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
A clearer translation of “upon” is “in place of” – this is the most common translation of the Greek word. “Grace in place of grace” is explained further in verse 17. John is telling us that Jesus’ coming reveals God’s grace anew as it ushers in the New Covenant.
Something you need to understand about the Bible and human history is that God has made covenants or contracts with humanity. In the Old Testament, God made multiple covenants with specific people, but the one in view here is known interchangeably as the Mosaic/Sinaitic/or Old Covenant. It was a covenant with the nation of Israel that laid out the conditions whereby they would be God’s people and he would be their God. Tied into this covenant was the giving of the Mosaic Law, which detailed the many ways that Israel had to live to be holy. It also made provisions for them in the inevitable situation that they would sin, which we know happens regularly!
In fact, if you’re familiar with the Old Testament, you know that Israel failed to keep their side of the covenant. In many parts of their nation’s history, they don’t even try to do so! Instead, they pursue idolatry and pagan religions from their neighbors and assume God will look the other way. How do you think that went?
If you’re doing the annual Bible reading plan with our church this year, then you know firsthand how God responds to their rebellion. He consistently holds them accountable for it, sending prophets to call them to repentance and disciplining them via conquering nations to help them see the folly of their ways.
The reality was, no matter how perfectly God held up his side of the Old Covenant, the people of Israel could never hold up theirs. Which is why it is such good news that, as John says, “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” John is speaking of the New Covenant that had been foretold of by the prophet Jeremiah roughly 600 years earlier. This New Covenant would drastically change the way God related to his people. All covenants have two parties to them, usually each party is held to a particular set of responsibilities, listen to the stipulations of this covenant as I read it now.
Jeremiah 31:31–34 (ESV)
31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Do you hear what God is doing in this covenant? Repeatedly you heard him say, “I will, I will, I will.” God is taking responsibility for both sides of it! He is not only the holy God who chooses to forgive and be their God. He is also the God who writes the law on their hearts which enables them to obey and follow him. This is tied into the act of new creation that we heard about last week in verses 12-13 – when God makes us his children, he writes his law on our heart and forgives all our sin. And he does this not only for the Israelites who believe, but also for non-Jews (Gentiles) like us!
How does this happen? Do we earn it by being good people? No! This is why Jesus had to come. He is the one who inaugurates the New Covenant and makes it take effect in people’s lives. Listen again to the author of Hebrews as he now compares the Old and New Covenants.
Hebrews 9:9–15 (ESV)
9 … According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, 10 but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation. (Old Covenant)
11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (New Covenant)
15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. (Old was insufficient, New is sufficient!)
Some of this language may be foreign to you. That’s ok. We’ll unpack this passage in great detail in our study next year. What you need to understand for today is that Jesus’ incarnation was the means for God’s grace to be revealed anew. Under the Old Covenant there was no permanent solution for sin. And since humans cannot perfectly obey God, they were consistently under the penalty of their sin. However, in the New Covenant, God has provided a permanent solution for sin through Jesus.
Jesus came and lived a perfect life, a life that you and I could never live. Then he went to the Cross in our place, dying for us, taking the penalty of God’s wrath for our sins. This is what brings us peace with God as he forgives our sin and purifies our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. This transformation takes place in everyone who is called by God to be his children. This is the incredible grace that God has shown us in the incarnation of Jesus!
Throughout this series, I’ve tried to bring us back to the necessity of a response to Jesus. Today is no different. The baby in the manger is not just some cute little pudgy boy who happens to make for a good story once a year. He is the Son of God who has come to save those who believe in him and condemn those who do not believe. We heard that in detail last week.
What is your response to King Jesus? This is of the utmost importance to figure out. Do you believe that he has made a way for you as your Lord and Savior? Or are you trying to do life in your own strength, depending on your own ability to make it? The things we are learning about this Christmas season are no laughing matter. They are of eternal importance. A choice to reject Christ is a choice for eternal judgment. Please do not miss that.
Likewise, a choice to receive and believe in Christ is a choice for eternal life! Through faith in Jesus, you are made new and able to live for him. Your sins have been forgiven and God has good works prepared for you to do. And Jesus is the one who has made this possible. Thank you, Lord, for coming down and revealing God’s grace anew. Are you thankful for the New Covenant? *pause*
As you consider your response to Jesus, take into consideration this final way that we see God like never before…
- Jesus is the ultimate disclosure of God
It doesn’t get any realer this side of heaven than Jesus coming down. The Son of God taking on flesh and dwelling among us. As John points out in verse 18, Jesus has broken the barrier that made it impossible for human beings to see God.
18No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
No one has ever seen God, but, through his incarnation, Jesus has made God known. He is the perfect, visible representation of the invisible God. Do you recall Hebrews 1:3?
Hebrews 1:3 (ESV)
3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power…
Or Colossians 1:15?
Colossians 1:15 (ESV)
15 He is the image of the invisible God…
As the radiance of God’s glory and exact imprint of his nature, the image of the invisible God, Jesus is the ultimate disclosure of God. One of the immediate benefits of God taking on human form is that we get to see God’s glory in a very tangible way. Do you want to know what God’s majesty and goodness is like? Look to Jesus! *pause*
Let’s go back to verse 14 for a moment. I want to address the word “dwelt” where it says, “dwelt among us”. This is an important word. Translated more literally it would be “tabernacled” or “took up residence” among us. It is an allusion to the Old Testament when God would reveal aspects of his glory to the Israelites through the tent of meeting, and later in the temple. God’s presence with Israel was shown in his glory dwelling atop the ark of the covenant for much of Israel’s history. However, due to their sin and the exile, combined with the destruction of their temple, they had not experienced God’s presence and glory in a tangible way for many centuries. Now the Apostle John is telling them that God has once again revealed his glory in their midst by coming to dwell amongst them as a human! This is another statement from John that would have absolutely shocked his original audience.
This language about experiencing God’s glory so closely and intimately would have also called to mind the experience their ancestor Moses had on Mount Sinai in Exodus 33-34.
Exodus 33:17–23 (ESV)
17 And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” 18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” 19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.
20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” 21 And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”
God’s glory had never been fully revealed to any man. As he told Moses, to see God’s glory in its fullness would result in his death! But now, in Jesus Christ, we have God’s glory manifested among us like never before. And it isn’t restricted to just one man to experience. Many were able to see the glory of God in Jesus. And we get to read and experience it vicariously through their written accounts in the Word. This experience of God’s glory is a foretaste of what we’ll experience in the new heaven and new earth.
Revelation 21:1–4 (ESV)
21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
A day is coming when God will dwell with us again. When we’re not just reading about him in his Word, but our faith will become sight. We will have firsthand, experiential knowledge of God’s glory in the best way! And, when that day comes, we too will be glorified (perfected in glory) and have no fear of standing in the presence of God’s full, undiminished glory. On top of that, there will be no more pain or death or sin or the brokenness of our world. What a glorious (pun intended) reality that will be! And it will continue for all eternity! And this is all possible because of the incarnation of Jesus Christ! *pause*
Jesus is the ultimate disclosure of God. Emmanuel – God with us! He is the ultimate revelation of God’s glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father – there is no one else like him. He alone has come from God the Father’s presence to us. And his glory is full of grace and truth. Which is right in line with what God the Father revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai of being full of goodness, grace, and mercy. Our God is known for these incredible attributes. He is the very definition of good and the source of everything that is good. He is the source of grace and mercy in our life. Our God is not aloof and far off, he is a God who is near and desires to be in relationship with his people. How will you seek to know more of Him this Christmas? What plans have you made, or goals have you set for the new year to grow in your knowledge of him and obedience to him? Jesus didn’t come down so that you would stay the same. He came down to transform you! Cooperate with his work by believing in him and actively pursuing godliness.