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“If you’re able, please stand...” Reading John 1:1–18. “Thanks be to God.”
In 1938, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, released a book that would become massively popular. It was the first issue of the comic (graphic novel!), Superman.
All the key elements are right there in that first issue. We get Superman’s back story in one page. We learn that by day he’s Clark Kent, the nerdy reporter in love with Lois Lane.
Superman’s heroism and bravery is well established. But it’s hidden. So hidden that Clark Kent asks Lois Lane why she’s not interested in her. She says, "You asked me earlier in the evening why I avoid you. I'll tell you why now: Because you're a spineless, unbearable coward!"
All that power and bravery and courage—totally hidden to the naked eye.
That’s the miracle of Christmas. God is born a man. All that power and glory—hidden.
The apostle John wants us to read the story correctly. So, he gives us the backstory. In these 18 verses of John 1, we get a story that stretches back into eternity, works through the entire Old Testament, brings us to the baby born in Bethlehem, and then looks ahead to eternity in the future.
For the rest of eternity we will be unpacking the glory of what John writes. This morning we simply hope to say a few, true things about it.
John (McLeod) preached the first part of the passage last week. We’ll finish with John 1:14–18 this morning.
Written by the apostle John, likely the 4th gospel written, could have been in the AD 60s, but maybe later.
In our part of the passage we get God’s explanation of what happened when Jesus came and what it means for us.
Prayer
Last week John McLeod introduced us to the title for Jesus used in our passage: “the Word”—the Logos. He spoke of the word meaning God’s “powerful self-revelation” (D.A. Carson). Our part of the passage starts with another mention of “the Word” (Logos).
Our passage begins with four words that define Christianity as much as anything. What is really, truly distinct about Christianity against all other religions?
It’s in these four words: “The Word became flesh.”
God’s Word is not a new concept in our New Testament. The Old Testament has a huge emphasis on God’s Word.
God commands his people not to make idols or any representation of him. Why? Because he revealed himself to them by his “voice”
Then the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice. (Deut 4:12)
All of that is familiar. God speaking to us makes sense. Words we can hear makes sense. Words written, words to be obeyed, words to be remembered—that makes sense.
But these four words are beyond comprehension: “The Word became flesh.”
Words can’t do that. But this time, “The Word” did.
The Son of God who is spirit, eternal, invisible, all-powerful, everywhere-present entered into our world and “became flesh.”
When the Son of God became Jesus Christ, he didn’t do this in a Superman-Clark Kent kind of way. A lot of the humor and irony of the Superman story, is that Clark Kent is always Superman. He’s just pretending to be the humble and weak reporter. That’s why Lois Lane isn’t interested in him—readers are always thinking, “If she only knew!”
But Jesus did not pretend to be “flesh,” appearing as if he was flesh but not really being flesh. Jesus was truly a man, truly flesh, truly experiencing what we experience. His divine nature remained unchanged, but Jesus also possessed a human nature.
John Chrysostom (347–407) said this:
This day He who is, is born; and He who is becomes what He was not.
John Chrysostom, “Homily on Christmas Morning”
And John Murray:
The infinite became the finite, the eternal and supratemporal entered time and became subject to its conditions, the immutable became the mutable, the invisible became the visible, the Creator became the created, the sustainer of all became dependent, the Almighty infirm. All is summed up in the proposition, “God became man.”
John Murray, “The Person of Christ”[1]
With the statement, “the Word became flesh,” we’re deep into the mystery of the Incarnation. Jesus is One Person with Two Natures, a human nature and a divine nature.
Both of his natures are clear in his earthly ministry. We see his divine nature as he knows the secrets of men, walks on water, calms storms, feeds thousands.
We see his human nature as he gets tired, hungry, sleeps, eats, weeps at the tomb of Lazarus, and most importantly, suffers and dies for sinners.
But all these things are done by the same person, Jesus.
The application for us: Don’t forget to be amazed by Christmas!
Some of us have read or watched, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.
I love that story.
I can hardly read the ending.
But what happens is that for this little church the Christmas story becomes amazing again.
The Herdmans, the worst family in the history of the world, discover the miracle of Christ coming.
That’s, What Happened?
But what does it mean for us? What is the significance? John tells us a few things. First, The Word Dwelt Among Us.
That word “Dwelt” could be translated “pitched his tent (skēnoō) among us.” The verb related to the noun for “tent” or “tabernacle.” Not a reference to camping!
It’s a reference to the Old Testament tabernacle that Moses was told to make.
Right after Moses is given the Ten Commandments and the covenant (Exod 19–24), we read,
And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. (Exod 25:8)
The omnipresent God was promising to “dwell” among his people in a special way. Of all the people and places in the world, he was saying, “I will dwell with you in a special way.” Amazing!
As Israel’s history unfolded, we see that God dwelling among his people is not a simple thing.
In the book of Ezekiel, the great prophecy written when Jerusalem is sacked by Nebuchadnezzar and in the years afterward, one of the major moments in the book is when Ezekiel sees “the glory” of God leaving the temple (Ezek 10–11).
But then years later he gets another prophecy of a future temple in a restored city of Jerusalem. And the last sentence of his prophecy is this:
“And the name of the city from that time on shall be, ‘The LORD is There.’”
Ezekiel 48:35
When John says, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” his readers would hear echoes of Exodus and the Old Testament’s history.
But the promise is not just to build another tent or temple. The promise is that God himself would be here, tabernacling among us.
In the person of Jesus, God was fully present in our midst. That’s why he could say to his disciples, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).
This past summer Phil Sasser, my father-in-law, died. Many people sent cards and notes. This was greatly encouraging to the whole family. And I know it’s not always possible to attend funerals in person. We can’t be in two places at once, and so sometimes it’s not possible.
But some of the people who sent cards were able to come. It was as if their words became flesh. They dwelt among us, at least for a few hours or days. And for many of those people, in my heart I was saying, “Oh, you came!”
The Incarnation is like that in a much greater, deeper way. We see Jesus, God’s Word, Self-Revelation,” and then we say, “Oh, you came!” God came to us.
That’s the glory of calling Jesus, “Immanuel” (Matt 1:23). He is “God-with-us.”
What happened? The Word became flesh. The result? He dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory.
Read John 1:14.
The Book of Exodus seems to be in John’s mind with these words. Just as he opened his passage, and it seemed the creation account in Genesis 1–2 was in his mind, now it’s the book of Exodus. That’s where God tabernacled with his people.
Another aspect of the book of Exodus is the glory of God. Moses in Exodus 33:
Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” (Exod 33:18)
God will say, “Ok, I will. But ‘You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (Exod 33:20). “You shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen” (Exod 33:23).
Moses sees God’s glory. But at the end of the book, the whole nation sees the glory of God:
Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. (Exod 40:34-35)
John is saying that seeing Jesus is seeing the Glory of God, the Shekinah Glory, as it gets called sometimes.
Jesus’s glory wasn’t radiant and physical for all to see with their normal eyesight. But for those with eyes of faith, the Glory of God was right there in Jesus!
John says “we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.”
“Only Son” is the Greek word, monogenēs. A lot of work trying to unpack what John is telling us. In other places, the word gets used to describe a child in a family where the child is the only child in that family—an only son or only daughter (Luke 7:12; 8:42).
But John is speaking of God the Father. Jesus is the “One and only Son” of God the Father. Jesus is unique as the “One-and-only Son” of God.
In John’s gospel, there is a pattern that’s important. Christians are never called “sons” of God (fr. huios) but only “children of God” (John 1:12; 1 John 3:1) with a different Greek word tekna. John makes it clear Jesus is unique as the “One-and-only-Son” of God.
But it seems that John is saying more. Everytime John talks about Jesus as the “One-and-only-Son” (monogenēs), it’s in a passage that is talking about spiritual rebirth, being born again.
In our passage, John 1:14, remember what he just said in John 1:12–13. Being “children of God” means we are “born...of God.”
In John 3:16 (and 3:18), John speaks of Jesus as the “only Son” of the Father, but in John 3:3–8 he’s just said that to enter the kingdom of God, you must be “born again.”
And then in 1 John 4:9, John speaks of the love of God in sending “his only Son into the world,” but in 1 John 4:7–9 he’s talking about those who are “born of God.” You’ll know those “born of God,” because they walk in the love of God.
It seems that in our passage, when John speaks of Jesus as the monogenēs, he’s hinting at Jesus’s relationship to the Father.
That’s why older translations used the phrase “only begotten”:
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. (NASB 1977, John 1:14)
We are “children of God” because we are spiritually adopted by the Father. Jesus is the unique Son of God, because he is “the only begotten from the Father.”[2]
The Son was always the Son, and the Father was always the Father. The Son was always being “begotten from the Father.” And yet, he had no beginning.
That’s why in the final version of the Nicene Creed, we read,
We believe...in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father.
The Nicene Creed (AD 381)
APPLICATION: We beheld his glory.
What happened? The Word became flesh. What does it mean for us? There’s one more blessing to see in our passage. “We have received grace upon grace.”
Read John 1:14–18.
“Grace” keeps getting repeated in our passage. “Grace and truth” (John 1:14); “grace upon grace” (John 1:16); “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).
If you want to summarize what came to us when Jesus came to us, a great summary is GRACE! Grace came to us when Jesus came!
Grace is GOD’S FAVOR, God’s goodness, God’s kindness, God’s assistance, being poured out upon us.
But God’s favor being poured out upon us is no small thing. We deserve the exact OPPOSITE. We deserve his DISFAVOR, his punishment, his wrath.
God’s Favor being poured out upon us in Jesus required that the Word, the Only Begotten, also be “the Lamb of God.”
A little later in John 1 we read this:
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)
It’s helpful to read that, because it’s John the Baptist saying it. In the Prologue we kept reading about John’s testimony, his witness. And part of his witness was that Jesus is “the Lamb of God”!
Because Jesus “takes away the sin of the world,” GRACE CAN COME TO US!
Now and forever, today and tomorrow, covering our sins, giving strength in our weakness.
John even calls this “grace upon grace,” which communicates the idea of “grace upon grace upon grace upon grace.”
But the other aspect of this phrase is that it’s “grace in place of grace.” In Jesus the grace that was in the Old Testament is replaced by an even greater grace in the New Testament.
God was merciful to his people in the Old Testament, he was gracious. He calls himself, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Exod 34:6).
That’s part of the great doxology in the Old Testament that was given to Moses and then keeps being said by God’s people (Neh 9:17; Ps 86:15; 103:8; Joel 2:13).
But Jesus brings the grace that’s even greater!
A greater knowledge of God: John 1:18.
A greater relationship with the Father: children of God! (John 1:12–13).
A greater deliverance from the power of sin—not just a deliverance from the land of Egypt.
What happened? The Word became flesh. What does it mean for us? “The Word dwelt among us.” “We have seen his glory.” “We have receved grace—upon grace, a new grace in place of former grace.”
What should we do?
John already gave his answer in John 1:11–13. Receive him!
How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him still,
The dear Christ enters in.
Phillips Brooks, “O Little Town of Bethlehem”
I’ll close with a paragraph from another Christmas sermon, given by the man we simply call Augustine (of Hippo) around the year AD 411:
The Word of the Father, by whom all time was created, was made flesh and was born In time for us. He, without whose divine permission no day completes its course, wished to have one day [set aside] for His human birth.
In the bosom of His Father, He existed before all the cycles of ages; born of an earthly Mother, He entered upon the course of the years on this day.
The Maker of man became Man that He, Ruler of the stars, might be nourished at the breast; that He, the Bread, might be hungry; that He, the Fountain, might thirst; that He, the Light, might sleep; that He, the Way, might be wearied by the journey; that He, the Truth, might be accused by false witnesses;
that He, the Judge of the living and the dead, might be brought to trial by a mortal judge; that He, Justice, might be condemned by the unjust; that He, Discipline, might be scourged with whips; that He, the Grape-cluster, might be crowned with thorns; that He, the Foundation, might be suspended upon a cross; that Courage might be weakened; that Security might be wounded; that Life might die.
To endure these and similar indignities for us, to free us, unworthy creatures, He who existed as the Son of God before all ages, without a beginning, deigned to become the Son of Man in these recent years.
Augustine, Sermon 191[3]
Amen.
Prayer and Close
[1] John Murray, “The Person of Christ,” in Collected Writings, 2:132
[2] On the translation of monogenēs, see the commentary of Herman Ridderbos on John (Eerdmans, 1997); John Frame’s Systematic Theology; Robert Letham’s Systematic Theology; the article J.V. Dahms, “The Jonannine Use of Monogenēs Reconsidered,” NTS 29 No 2 (Apr 1983): 222–232 (available online).
[3] Delivered ca. AD 411.
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