THE WORD BECAME FLESH

 

John 1:1-3

 

The Word became flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. Think about this as we take this long journey into the Book of John.

He is the Great One

He is the Second Person of the Trinity

He is the Messiah

He is the Son of God

He is the Christ our Creator

He is the Great Teacher

He is the Great Shepherd

He is the very Word of God made flesh

He is the Great I’AM

He is the King of kings and Lord of lords

He is the power of God

He is the Holy One, the hope of glory

He is the First and the Last

He is our Deliverer and Everlasting Father

He is Majestic and Mighty

He is the Bread of Life

He is the Final Amen

He is the Great High Priest

He is the Image of the Invisible God

He is the Judge of the living and the dead

He is the only One who has a Name above all names

He is the Alpha and Omega

He is the Beginning and the End

He is the Resurrection and the Life

He is the Supreme Sacrifice

He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life

 

He is God

 

No one can compare to Him for He is infinitely worthy of all our praise and adoration. In this gospel letter, John answers one of the main questions that we often ask others when we meet them for the first time. What is your name? and What do you do? And if we get those answers we always ask, Where are you from? The New Testament uses many titles for Jesus….. The one that occurs the most is “Christ” which in the New Testament is the word for “Messiah” And here is where the confusion sometimes set in, because many think that’s His name is Jesus Christ. Actually, His name is Jesus, but His title is the Christ. When we see Jesus Christ together, what this is revealing is an affirmation that Jesus is the Messiah. The most used title in the New Testament outside of Christ and Lord is the “Son of Man” 

Son of Man is used roughly 80 times in the New Testament. When Jesus is asked who are you? His usual answers with, “I am the Son of Man” When we hear this name “Son of Man”  this is an expression of His humility, for we understand Him to be identifying with humanity. This is true, but this title involves Jesus affirming Himself from the prophets of the Old Testament. “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” Daniel 7:13-14. When Jesus called Himself the “Son of Man”, He was describing Himself not only in terms of His activity but of His origin. He was telling His listeners where He had come from.

 

Was Jesus just a man like you and me? 

YES,  with a but!

 

HE HAD A HUMAN BIRTH….. “And the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” Luke 1:35

 

HE HAD A HUMAN MIND….. “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” Luke 2:52

 

HE HAD HUMAN EMOTIONS…. "Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.” John 12:27

BUT! Here is where I put “But” 

to the previous question!

  

Yes, He Was A Man Like You And Me! But Completely Sinless. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Cor 5:21

 

Yes, He Was A Man But God Incarnate Deity. “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.” John 1:14

 

Yes, He Was A Man But He Has Always Been God. “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” John 8:58

 

The opening prologue reveals that truth “In the beginning was the word.” (v1) Sadly, the world doesn’t look at Jesus in this light. The Bible says they only saw Him as a man, a miracle worker who met there humanistic and worldly needs. (v10-v11) To the world, He was and is nothing more than a children’s tale to tell at bedtime…… like “Jack and the Beanstalk.”

 

Some would say “Jesus is no more than angel created by God.”

Some would say “Jesus is a small puny deity created by God”

Some would say “Jesus is folklore, made up tale to help the weak”

Some would say “Jesus is a god like the rest of us”

 

 

Major Religious groups declare Jesus isn’t God at all…..

 

Islam declares that Christ is one of many prophets and is a wise teacher but not God who took on human flesh and walked among us.

 

Hinduism sees Jesus as a guru who experienced oneness with God, but they wouldn’t worship Him as the one true God.

 

Buddhism sees Jesus’s teachings and spiritual practice something to be admired, but Jesus Himself isn’t seen as the only Source of salvation.

 

Humanist, Secularist sees Jesus as, just a man who lived and died and said some intriguing, but mostly not true things.

 

Judaism sees Jesus being the most damaging of all false messiahs. They condemned Jesus on the charges of blasphemy. Jesus was a false messiah and a troublemaker according to Judaism.

Jehovah witness reject the idea of the Trinity seeing it as polytheistic (more than one god). JWs’ teach that Jesus pre-existent form in Heaven was as Michael, the Archangel. Only a select few are really saved by being JW and doing certain good works. Jesus has no real power to save in that he is not divine.

 

Mormons teach that all people are saved by the blood of Christ regardless of whether or not they put their trust in him. Mormons believe Jesus was the spirit child of Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother.

 

Scientology teaches that man is basically good at his core and he alone can free himself from the trappings of his mind. The idea that Jesus was God is considered fiction.

 

But as C. S. Lewis who wrote “Mere Christianity” wrote this in his book, “Jesus was either a lunatic, a fiend, or He was, and is, who He said He was—the Son of God.”

 

The ignorance of the culture shouldn’t shock us; but it should grieve us, because of their blindness to the beauty and truth found in His name. He wasn’t just some man who could build solid furniture and tables, He was much more than this. Scripture is very clear about how Jesus is; as Paul confirms this to the church. “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,” Col 1:16-19

 

This is what makes Jesus unique above or separate from His creation.

 

He is the one who took part in creation by creating us in His image.

He is the One who is keeping your beating heart pumping out blood throughout your body.

He is truly God and truly man who came to earth [which He created] on rescue mission to die for His sinful rebellious creation [You and me] to please the Father.

He came to save us from ourselves and our destructive and rebellious hearts.

 

We come to one of the most well written gospels about who Jesus was and is in my opinion “The Gospel of John”

John’s letter begins much differently than the other three gospels. Matthew starts with genealogies of Christ. Both, Luke and Matthew talk about the circumstances of the conception of Jesus. And His birth to a peasant girl. The only Gospel that is similar to John’s opening prologue is Mark’s. Both, Mark and John begin their letters with Jesus already as an adult. And this is where we see John begins by making the case for the identity of Christ. This has been John’s goal all along when writing this letter as we see later in his letter. “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John 20:30-31. A letter written to display the glory of the Son in His humanity to tell the world that He is the God incarnate.

 

What I love about John’s gospel is that he doesn’t

waste time getting to who Jesus is.

 

Not that the other gospel didn’t revere or display the glory of Christ. But the focus on John’s gospel is the man who Jesus was and is: God incarnate deity. Throughout the next many weeks….. We are going to see for ourselves this underlining theme that displays Jesus not only as a man, but as the Son of God, who is God in the flesh. One of the first precious truths about Jesus we see in John letter is a key truth to understanding this gospel as a whole.

 

THE WORD WAS GOD, WHO IS THE ETERNAL SON

 [V1-V3]

 

What does that mean? John begins by declaring that the Word was in the beginning. He is declaring Jesus to be God. John opening is enterally different in the opening verses then the other three writers of the gospels. John opens by immediately presenting the Christ not as the Son of David, nor as the Son of Man, but as the Son of God. John takes us back to the book of beginnings, as he echo’s truth found in the opening words of the Book of Genesis. “In the beginning God.” Gen 1:1 This opening statement has kept theologians busy over the past and present centuries. Its like John is saying, “The One I’m going to tell you about, the One whom there is life, the One whom I want you to believe, is the One who created you in the first place.” 

The Word enjoyed, was equality with God the Father and the Spirit, literally saying “Face to face.” Which indicate equality among the Godhead. The term “Word” also indicates something of Jesus’ earthly mission, He came to reveal God and His ways to mankind. Jesus being the Word is the very thought of God expressed in verbal/non-verbal form. As He part in creating everything, He also came in the form of man, to reveal God to His creation. The purpose of His coming was indicative, which is a statement of fact as we see in (v18). R C Sproul wrote, “This opening sentence on the one hand, the Word (Jesus) is distinguished from God, but from a different perspective, the Word identified with God. This sentence, more than any other passage in Scripture, is the foundational for the church’s confession of the doctrine of the Trinity, the belief that God is One in Three Persons.” 

John MacArthur wrote about the dangers of ignoring the openings of this verse, “Naturalism is now the dominant religion of modern society. Less than a century and a half ago, Charles Darwin popularized the credo for this secular religion. Naturalism has now replaced Christianity as the main religion of the Western world, and evolution has become its principal dogma." Many Christians who claim to believe that the Bible is God's revealed truth seem willing to allow modern scientific theories to replace the Genesis account of creation. Such compromises present a visible danger. Genesis 1-3 we find the foundation of every doctrine that is essential to the Christian faith? The vital underpinnings for everything we believe. Everything in Scripture that teaches about sin and redemption assumes the literal truth of the first three chapters of Genesis. (which bleeds over into the New) If we wobble to any degree on the truth of this passage, we undermine the very foundations of our faith."

 

In other words, if you struggle here in John 1:1 to believe what is before us; you will struggle with Genesis 1:1 and everything else that is said about Jesus, throughout the Scriptures. Either God was before all things or He is a liar, or a god among many gods, who cannot save anyone from eternal destruction. This is a foundational and powerful statement….“In the beginning God” which means God has always existed, He was and is…. Before light, water, the moon, and stars were put into their rightful places……He was there. Before plant life, flowers and trees were put into their rightful place…..He was there. Before animals, insects, fish, and birds were put into their rightful place….He was there Before angels were created……He was there Before Adam breathed in his first breath …….He was there Before you were created……He was there

 

John brings us back to a place of transcendence,

the infinite mind of God.

 

To transcend means “to exist above and independent from; to rise above, surpass, succeed.” God is the only truly transcendent Being. “He upholds the universe by the word of His power.” Heb 1:3 John takes us to a place “Were speculation is profane (blasphemous).” As A W Pink wrote in his commentary. Psalm 90:2 affirms this truth, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” When we approach the I’AM statements in the future keep in mind you could possibly translate them as “I will be what I will be.” This is gives us clear indication that Jesus is part of the Godhead who is completely independent of His creation. Wayne Grudem in his Systematic Theology book defines it this way “God is independence is defined as follows: God does not need us or the rest of creation for anything, yet we and the rest of creation can glorify Him and bring Him joy. This attribute of God is sometimes called His self-existence or His aseity [from the Latin words “a se”, which means “from himself”]

 

Scripture is very clear in several places that God does not need any part of creation in order to exist or for any other reason. He is completely self-sufficient, and absolutely independent of everything though He intimately created us for His glory and His worship. For example: Acts 17:24-25 “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” In Job 41:11 God says “Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.” Psalm 50:10-12 declares “For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. "If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.”

 

This is what John’s opening statement is directing us too (v1-v3) The fact that Jesus was there when the earth was without “form and void”. (Gen 1:1-2) Which means “not finished in its shape and as yet uninhabited by creatures” And what’s amazing about that is, God would decorate His creation in 6 days! That’s how amazing our God is……that’s how amazing Jesus is! He was in the beginning; Jesus lived outside of time and has no beginning because He always existed. (v1) “was”, is an important word here. The “verb” highlights the eternal pre-existence of Jesus. Meaning He has no end or beginning because Jesus is God incarnate an has always existed. When Jesus came to this earth, He never ceased to be God, but took on a genuine human nature/body, and voluntarily refrained from His independent exercise of the attributes of deity.

 

That’s amazing! As a reminder Paul penned these beautiful words. “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” 

Phil 2:6-11

 

That in eternity past… Jesus would come and lay down His life for your sin, so that you could live with Him and to praise His name for all eternity. That in eternity past…. Jesus would leave His glory, to give us a living hope through His death and resurrection. That in eternity past…. Jesus would reveal Himself to you through the gospel that saves to uttermost….because He’s God. See, the gospels are much more than a man dying for our sin! (which is everything for us) The Gospel’s are the recorded writings of the Person and Work of Jesus, the Christ. And this poses an unavoidable question: What will you do with Jesus?

 

We cannot simply dismiss Him.

We cannot simply ignore Him.

 

He is the central figure in all of human history, and if He died for the sins of the whole world, then He died for yours as well. And this is something you should not simply dismiss, or ignore, as so many do. What John reveals is that the Word is divine in quality and nature, this means the quality of the Word is divine and the nature of the Word is deity. The Word, makes up is all those things in His nature and make up. “And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; Heb 1:10. Jesus isn’t some kind of word among many…. But that He is THE WORD, and that’s what John points us to through his letter. As he records Jesus’s high priestly prayer, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” John 17:1-5 

 

The same person of the Godhead who spoke to Moses, “God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” Exodus 3:14. The God who has come from heaven to dwell among men to declare the glory of God in the person of Jesus, The Christ.

 

He is WORD and the WORD was with God

and the WORD is God.

The Self existent One who loved you despite your ugliness of sin and rebellion. Church family! Embrace this truth this morning and fall to your knees to the Eternal Son of God who is our God incarnate deity.