3
John
Introduction:
In
our previous text John told us about Jesus coming into the
world. He calls Him the Light. He said the Light came into the
world.
In our text today John goes into greater detail about that
coming
and reveals to us that Jesus was made flesh at His coming.
Only in this text he does not call Jesus
"The Light." Rather he
calls
Him. "The Word," as he did back in verse one.
I.
The Word made flesh
V. 14, "And the Word was made flesh..." This is that same
Word of God who was in the beginning with
God the Father. He
was
not only with God, but He was
God. That is He was in the Godhead
along
with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.
He was the
member
of the Godhead who actually did the creating of the
universe. All things were made by Him and without Him
was not
anything
made that was made.
John
said that this Word of God, this member of the Godhead,
this Creator of all things, this
Light of the world was made
flesh. He became a man.
He was not just someone who was like a man. He became a man.
He was a man. He had human flesh. He had every human
characteristic
that other men have. He even had human
weaknesses,
but not sin! Jesus never had sin! He never
committed
sin! But He did have other human
weaknesses. For
instance,
He required sleep. He got sleepy just
like any other
man would. He got hungry and required food, just like
other men
do. He got thirsty and required water just like
other men do.
Jesus was not some sort of
super-human. As far as His fleshly
nature
was concerned, he was an ordinary man.
As far as His Spirit nature was concerned, He was no ordinary
man. Even though He lived in human flesh, He was
still Deity
God. He was still The Word of God. He was still the Son of God.
He was still the Creator God. He was still a member of the Holy
Trinity.
John
said that Jesus became flesh, but does not go into
detail
as to how He was made flesh. John just
said, "And the
Word was made flesh..." We know from
the account of other gospel
writers
that He was born into human flesh. Being
Creator God, He
could
have created for Himself a fully grown human body. He
could
have started out in human flesh as a grown man.
But if He
had done that, He would not
have had the connection to other men
that God wanted Him to
have. God wanted not to merely be like
the human race. God wanted Him to Him to be our Kinsman in
the
flesh. He wanted Him to fulfill the Bible prophecies
concerning
The Kinsman Redeemer. God wanted Him to be tempted in every way
that we are tempted.
So
what did He do? How did He come into the
world? The Holy
Spirit overshadowed the virgin
Mary and the Holy Spirit conceived
a man-child in her womb. Mary carried this child just as any
other
prospective mother carries a child. Then
when her time was
fulfilled,
she gave birth just as other mothers give birth. He
was fully human! He
was fully God! One of the Holy Godhead,
All Knowing, All Wise, Almighty God was
dwelling in the fleshly
body of that little babe! The Word -- the Word of God -- was
made flesh.
II. The Word dwelling among men
(V. 14), "...and dwelt among us..." That is, He dwelt among
men. He was born in
carried
by Joseph and Mary into
the Herod who sought His
life. When that particular Herod died,
Joseph and Mary brought Him to Nazareth,
where He lived until He
was thirty years old. He grew up in
school
at
He worked as a carpenter at
to the home of Joseph and Mary
and He grew up as the older
brother
to them.
He
was living in a sinful world. He was
living in a sinful
town. Nazareth was such a wicked town that men had
a saying,
"Can any good thing come out of
living
in a human body, living among sinful human beings and yet
without
sin!
The
word, dwelt, as found in our text was translated from a
l
Greek word, which literally means, "tabernacled." So literally,
what John said here is that
Jesus "tabernacled" among men. John
here makes a comparison between
the presence of God dwelling in
the tabernacle in the
wilderness and Jesus dwelling in human
flesh
among men. After the building of the
tabernacle was
completed,
a visible manifestation of the presence of God entered
that tabernacle and dwelt there
in that tabernacle among men.
Even so it was with Jesus. The Second Person of the Godhead,
entered
into human flesh and dwelt among men. He
"tabernacled"
among
men.
III. Men beholding His glory
(V. 14), "...(and we beheld his
glory..." John said, "...we
beheld
his glory..." For one thing, John
was talking about the
glory
of the miracles He performed. Those who
saw His miracles
saw a limited form of His
glory. As far as His human body was
concerned,
they saw no glory at all. They saw a
human body that
appeared
to be little different from the bodies of other men.
But the miracles which they saw displayed
His glory. Those who
saw Him make the lame to walk
and give sight to the blind saw
evidence
of His glory. They saw evidence that He
is no ordinary
man. Those who saw Him instantly heal people who
were on their
death
bed saw His glory. They saw evidence
that Jesus is no
ordinary
man. Those who saw Him feed the
multitude with five
loaves
of bread and two fishes saw His glory.
They saw evidence
that He is no ordinary man. Those who saw Him raise the dead saw
His glory. They saw evidence that He is no ordinary
man. Those
who saw Him walk on stormy
waters of the sea saw His glory. They
saw evidence that He is no
ordinary man. The human flesh that He
lived
in was ordinary human flesh, but the Spirit which dwelt
within
was Spirit God.
The three disciples who saw Jesus on the Mt. of
Transfiguration saw His glory in a far
greater way than others
did. They saw His glory even far beyond
what the other disciples
did. Even they did not see the fullness of
His glory, but what
they did see was very
spectacular. This was Peter, James and
John.
Peter, James and John saw the face of Jesus shining as
bright
as the sun. They saw real evidence that
Jesus is no
ordinary
man!
After
Jesus was crucified and after He arose from the dead,
He made numerous appearances among His
disciples. They had seen
Him nailed to the cross. They had seen His dead body hanging on
the cross. Then after His resurrection they personally
saw Him
alive,
risen from the dead. They saw Him eat
fish and bread.
They were invited to handle Him and touch
His hands and His feet.
By seeing the resurrected Christ, they saw
His glory. They had
reason
to believe beyond any shadow of doubt that Jesus is no
ordinary
man.
Now not everybody saw Jesus perform miracles. Not everybody
saw Him on the
resurrected
body. Not everybody saw His glory,
because they were
seeing
only with the natural eye. But those who
looked at the
facts
of His ministry with an eye of faith would see the evidence
that He is more than an ordinary
man. He is the God-man. He is
Deity God dwelling in human flesh.
This was much like the tabernacle of old. Anybody standing
outside
the tabernacle looking at it would not see the glory
within. But His glory was there whether they saw it
with their
natural
eyes or not. But high priests who went
into the Holy of
Holies once per year. So it is with Jesus. Only three disciples
saw the glory of Jesus on the
disciples
saw the resurrected Jesus. But through
the miracles,
through
the testimony of God's people and through the Holy
Scriptures anybody ought to be able to see
it with the eye of
faith. Anybody who reads and studies the Scripture
ought to be
able to see that Jesus Christ is
Deity God dwelling in human
flesh.
IV. The only begotten of the Father
(V. 14), "...the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father,)..." John here speaks of Jesus as being
"...the only
begotten
of the Father..." I think it is
five times in this book
that John refers to Jesus as the
only begotten One. In John 3:16
Jesus is called, "...the only
begotten Son of God..."
This
terminology in no way conflicts with the Bible teaching
that all who are saved are
born-again children of God. Jesus is
the Only Begotten Son of God
and yet everyone who believes in
Jesus Christ is a child of God. frequently in
Scripture the
saved
are called "sons of God" or "children of God." But while
God has many who are sons of God in the
sense that their inward
spirits
have been born again by the Spirit of God, yet there one
and only one whose physical
birth was produced by the Spirit of
God. Jesus is still the "Only Begotten of the
Father" in that
sense.
V.
Full of grace and truth
(V. 14), "...full of grace and truth." All of the grace of
God that man ever gets is through Jesus
Christ. Nobody ever gets
such except through faith in
Jesus Christ. All of the truth of
God that man ever gets comes one way or
another through Jesus
Christ.
God may send that truth by means of the Holy prophets or
Holy apostles or Holy Scriptures -- and He
does -- , but all
grace
and all truth comes through Jesus.
VI. The reason He was born in human flesh
I
am sure that you are aware by now that this text places
great
stress on the fact that Jesus is Deity God and that He came
to this world and lived among
men as a human being. I want to
ask you a question. Why?
Why was He born into human flesh?
John
said that He dwelt among men and that men beheld His
glory. Was that the reason He was born in human
flesh? Was it
just in order that men might see
His glory? No, not at
all.
Or
could it have been in order to establish a New Testament
church? He did establish His church during His
ministry here on
earth,
but was that the reason He was born in human flesh? No,
not at all.
The
reason Jesus was born in human flesh was that this was
the only way -- this was the
only way -- that at He could save
sinful
man! He had to be born in human flesh in
order for Him to
die on the cross. He came to the earth and lived thirty-three
years
among men and then He went to the cross to accomplish the
main purpose in being born. He went to the cross and gave His
life's
blood so that lost sinners could be saved.
Conclusion:
Have you ever been saved? Have
you ever put your trust in
Jesus to save your soul? If not, will you come now and place
your faith in Jesus as your
Savior?