So far in this exposition of John’s Gospel we have seen the relationship between the apostle John’s gospel, his letters, and the Revelation. John, the last of the apostles, wrote late in the first century. John’s Gospel is a record of the person of Jesus of Nazareth who is the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, the Messiah, and the Savior of sinners!
This person that John calls the “Word” or the logos is the Creator of everything that is not God. He is the Life and the Light. But when He came to His own people, the Jews, the religious leaders did not receive Him as the Messiah, not only did they reject Him, they hung Him on a cross in order to humiliate Him as much as possible.
They had no idea that what they did was according to the eternal purpose of God but in their blind hatred of Jesus, and being fully responsible for their sin, the Jews and the Romans carried out the determined purpose of God.
But the rejection of the Messiah by the people was not total. Some people did receive Him and they are among the children of God. And it continues in our time that people are still receiving Jesus as Lord of their life. The gospel does not change, grace is always grace, and God still saves sinners.
Those who received Him did not become children of God because they received Him but rather were given the ability to become children of God.
That is what John tells us in verses 12 and 13. All those who become the children of God are given the power to receive Him by God Himself. John is careful to eliminate any basis for human pride that may attach to becoming a child of God by ruling out heritage and emotional response and the will of man as a first cause of coming to God.
God actually did something that man in his endless invention of religions, all of which give glory to man in his striving to earn his way to God, could never have imagined. The Son of God became a Man with the purpose of glorifying God the Father in the salvation of guilty and condemned sinners.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.
14 And the Word became {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.
The Holy Spirit is precise in the words He gives to the apostle.
Notice that the word translated “was” in verse 1 has no sense of origin.
“In the beginning was the Word…”
The Word, the Son of God had no beginning because He was with God and because He is God. Simply, the Son of God, the Word, “was”!
No beginning!
But the word in verse 14 translated “was made” or “became” indicates a beginning point. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,
The Word, the eternal Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity began to be a Man. The Word became a true Man and dwelt {tabernacled or lived} among us.
This is the doctrine of the incarnation.
Let me make several points about the incarnation that I got from, whom else, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
The doctrine of the incarnation is that the second Person of the Holy Trinity took unto Himself a true human nature, was born as any other human babe, and lived His life on earth as a man.
One of the most important things to understand about the incarnation is that a new personality did not come into being.
The One who was in the beginning became flesh!
1 Timothy 3:16
16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:
God was manifested in the flesh,
Justified in the Spirit,
Seen by angels,
Preached among the Gentiles,
Believed on in the world,
Received up in glory.
Romans 8:3
3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,
Philippians 2:5-8
5Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
Listen very carefully. The Triune God did not become flesh but the second Person of the Trinity became flesh. It is not correct to say, “God became man, as some of our hymns say, but the Scriptures says the Word became flesh. This may not seem to be a great distinction but it really is.
Heresy derives from the idea that God in His pure essence has changed or could change.
The second Person of the Trinity took on actual human flesh. Among other things, John is refuting the Gnostics that taught that Jesus only “seemed” to be human, that He was a phantom that only appeared to be a real man. Thus:
1 John 1:1-4
1That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life —
2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us —
3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
4 And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.
1 John 4:1-3
1Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,
3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.
There was no change in the essence of second Person of the Trinity at His incarnation. When Jesus of Nazareth dwelt among us He was still the Son of God, the Word, in every aspect. Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” That means Jesus and the Father are one in essence.
That “holy thing” that formed in the womb of the Virgin Mary, the babe in the manger, was still the second Person of the Trinity. So we must not think that God “changed” into a man.
The Son of God did not just “appear” to be a man. Angels sometimes appeared as men but they were not incarnations. They were not true men.
The incarnation was a complete man with body and soul and spirit.
We have dealt with the dichotomy – trichotomy issue in other messages. For what it is worth I believe man is a dichotomy where soul and spirit are used to describe different aspects and are sometimes interchanged in usage.
By a complete man we mean that a new human nature was not created for Him. He did not bring His human nature with Him with the idea that His human nature simply passed through Mary. Jesus took His human nature from Mary. A single human cell in Mary became that “Holy Thing”.
Jesus is truly the “seed of Abraham”.
Matthew 1:1, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” That could not be true if a special human nature had been created for Him separate from His lineage from David, and Abraham, and Adam.
This leads us to the doctrine of the virgin birth. To see that Jesus is true Man should raise the question about man’s sinful nature. How can Jesus be truly man and yet without the sinful nature that all men are born with?
Through Mary Jesus is the son of Adam, True Man!
Through Joseph His legal father, Jesus is the son of David, the Messiah!
The Virgin birth of Christ:
Luke 1:26-38, the announcement to Mary. His humanity.
26Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,
27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary.
28 And having come in, the angel said to her," Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!"
29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was.
30 Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS.
32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.
33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end."
34 Then Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I do not know a man?"
35 And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren.
37 For with God nothing will be impossible."
38 Then Mary said, "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.
Matthew 1:18-25, the announcement to Joseph. His deity as Messiah.
18Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.
19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.
20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins."
22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying:
23 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us."
24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife,
25 and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name JESUS.
The doctrine of the virgin birth is essential to the sinless nature of Christ.
Mary was not sinless as the Roman Catholics teach. Mary, in Luke 1:47, calls God her Savior. Only sinners need a Savior! How many Redeemers are there? According to the Scripture there is only Jesus. Mary, blessed among women, is not divine or Co-redemptrix as taught by the Romans Catholic Church.
To declare that Mary must be sinless in order that Jesus be sinless does not solve the mystery. As Lorraine Boettner puts it that only moves the problem back one generation. How was Mary sinless?
The virgin birth does not require Mary to be without sin but only that she is a virgin and that Jesus had no human father.
The incarnation is truly wonderful and defies explanation apart from the sovereign work of God. Do we believe that God created everything that is not God? Then we must grasp the incarnation, that the second Person of the Holy Trinity becomes a Man. He is born of a virgin.
He is sinless and lives under the law with perfect obedience in all points. He is made to be sin for us and is crucified, actually dies, and is buried. After three days and three nights He comes forth from the grave in His own power. He ascended back to the Father and now He intercedes for His people until He returns in His glory at the end of the age.
He is Jesus Christ, the Lord!
The eternal Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
John says, “We saw His glory”. What is there about Jesus that is glorious?
2 Corinthians 4:6
For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Some of you will remember that the root of the word “glory” is “opinion”.
What is your opinion of Jesus? Is it “glorious”?
Who is Jesus?
He was called Jesus of Nazareth because, although He was born in Bethlehem, a small town in Judea, He grew up in Nazareth, a town in Galilee, as the Son of a carpenter.
His enemies called Him a glutton and a winebibber and said that He was insane.
Now if what Jesus said about Himself is not the absolute truth and if He did not completely fulfill all of the OT Scriptures about the promised Messiah, then His enemies were right; He was a liar and a lunatic.
Ah, but if He is who He claimed to be and if the Scriptures are correct that He is the promised One sent from God then you would be insane to ignore His claims of authority.
Jesus claimed to have authority over all flesh!
John 17:1-5
1Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You,
2 as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.
3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
4 I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.
5 And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
One day this same Jesus, when Jesus was 30 years old, the age when men born to the priesthood began their priestly duties, this plain looking [He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. Isaiah 53:2], this physically unattractive Man walked out of Joseph’s carpenter shop and said,
“I AM GOD!”
Now of course Jesus did not say “I AM GOD!” in those exact words but He immediately set about to demonstrate to the world that He is, in fact, very God.
Some people say that He was a good Man, a great teacher, even a prophet of God.
Some others will almost get to the truth and say, "He is the Son of God."
But then ask them the next question, "Is He Very God?"
The correct answer from the Bible is, “Yes, Jesus is very God!”
It is important that we know the truth about the person of Christ. It is also important that we get a glimpse of what was involved when the Son of God became flesh and tabernacled among us.
This is the message of John. The very Son of God lived and walked on this earth as a Man and the vast majority of the people did not know Him as the Messiah.
I want to review for you something that I have preached before:
The Humiliation of the Christ!
Only once in the history of the world was our Savior to suffer humiliation.
{Extremely destructive to one's dignity}
Hebrews 12:3 tells us,
"He suffered the contradiction of sinners against Himself." HUMILIATION!
The Pharisees said that He was the child of fornication; they said He was a glutton and a winebibber; they said that He was a liar. They said that He was insane. He endured contradiction of wicked men accusing the Holy Son of the Most High God of being even more sinful than they were.
HUMILIATION!
HUMILIATION in His BIRTH:
No room at the inn and He is born in a cow stable and placed in a feed trough.
HUMILIATION at the time of MARY’S PURIFICATION:
Simeon holds the Creator in his arms.
HUMILIATION as Joseph flees with Mary and the child into Egypt.
King Herod tries to kill Him.
HUMILIATION in His YOUTH:
A carpenter's son from Nazareth; can any good thing come out of Nazareth?
HUMILIATION in His first 30 YEARS:
He made Himself of no reputation.
HUMILIATION in His BAPTISM:
He identified with sinners:
Suffer it to be so now John, for thus it is fitting to fulfill all righteousness.
HUMILIATION in His TEMPTATION in the wilderness:
Satan: "If you are the son of God..."
Here is Evil personified tempting his humility.
HUMILIATION in His RIDICULE:
They said He performed His miracles by the power of Beelzebub.
HUMILIATION in His BEING MADE SIN:
The worst humiliation of all... Father, if it is possible...
To be counted in the rank and order of sinners!
HUMILIATION in His TRIAL:
He was mocked, hit repeatedly, pulled out His beard, spat upon,
Crowned with thorns.
HUMILIATION in His DEATH ON A CROSS:
Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree...
He died as a common criminal between two thieves.
HUMILIATION in His BURIAL:
Buried in a borrowed tomb.
No crib for the baby and no tomb for the body!
All according to the Scripture!
HUMILIATION!!!
Perhaps the greatest example of His humiliation comes when He washes the feet of the disciples. Peter understood the humiliation of the Master taking the place of a slave to wash His disciples feet.
John 13:2-8
2 And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him,
3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God,
4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself.
5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.
6 Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him,” Lord, are You washing my feet?"
7 Jesus answered and said to him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this."
8 Peter said to Him, "You shall never wash my feet!"
Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me."
HUMILIATION!
"He rose from the throne, laid aside His garments of light, took up the poor towel of humility, and wrapped it about His glorious person; poured out His own blood into the basin of the cross; and set Himself to wash away the foul stains of human depravity and guilt." F.B.Meyer
Why must the Christ suffer humiliation?
Since pride is the source of sin humility must be the antidote.
Can we begin to grasp what God had to do to save a single sinner?
The Eternal Word, the Logos, was made in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin and He tabernacled among us!
Can you by the grace of God receive this One who would willingly suffer such humiliation in the place of sinners?
Jesus who is the Christ is truly one of us! True Man!
Hebrews 2:14-18
14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
16 For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.
17 Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
18 For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.
When John uses the word “tabernacled” the mind should go back to the time when the Hebrews wandered in the wilderness. There was a tent or tabernacle that they carried with them and set up at every place they stopped.
What was the purpose of the tabernacle in the wilderness? It was where God met with men. God tabernacled or dwelt among them!
John also was given the Revelation and we should remember that the Gospel and the Revelation go together. In the gospel His glory is concealed in human flesh. In the Revelation no one in heaven or in hell will have any doubt about who Jesus is! His glory is revealed!
Revelation 21:1-4
1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.
2 Then I, John, 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 heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.
4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."
John has given us the Incarnation of the Son of God, the glory of the Son of God concealed in human flesh, born without sin to the Virgin Mary, and the humiliation of the only begotten of the Father dwelling among sinners.
14 And the Word became 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.
Do you see any glory in Jesus? He is full of grace and truth.
Are you calling Him a liar?
Amen
