Immanuel - God With Us (John 1:1-14)
INTRODUCTION:
Over the past four weeks we have done a chronological journey through the events before, leading up to, and finally the birth of Jesus Christ. For this journey we were in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew. This morning as we celebrate the birth of Christ, I want to look more specifically at the Incarnation and of all the Gospels I believe that John’s Gospel covers this topic the best explaining in the first chapter Who Jesus was before the incarnation, who was the witness of His incarnation, what each person does when confronted with the incarnation and finally how the incarnation came about. Please turn with me to John 1:1-14 as we look at the incarnation of Jesus Christ this morning. Before reading the passage let’s pray.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Please stand, if you are able, in honor of the reading of God’s Word and follow along as I read.
John 1:1-14,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1–14, NASB95)[1]
BEFORE THE INCARNATION (John 1:1-5)
John opens up his Gospel in much the same way that the Bible opens in Genesis 1:1, John takes us back to the beginning of time. He then introduces us to the Word and tells us that the Word was there in the beginning, inferring that the Word was there before the beginning. Then John makes two amazing statements about the Word that tell us Who this Word is. First, John writes that the Word was with God, in other words, the Word is someone who was with God in the beginning. Second, John says that the Word was God, in other words, the Word is a person in the Godhead. We understand that the Godhead is one God existing in three persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Biblical doctrine of the Trinity is that God is one in essence, yet three identified Persons. Here we see God the Father, who the Word was with, and God the Son who is the Word. Hebrews 1:1-3 describes God the Son in this way, “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” (Hebrews 1:1–3, NASB95)[2] John uses the title “Word” to describe God the Son to us because in these last days God has spoken to us in His Son, Who is the exact representation of His nature, in other words, He is God. John goes onto tells us that God the Son is eternal because He was with God in the beginning.
John goes on and tells us something else about God the Son, he informs us that He is the Creator. Everything that exists does so because it was created by God the Son. The verses that we just read in Hebrews say the same thing. The apostle Paul speaking of God the Son said in Colossians 1:16, “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.” (Colossians 1:16, NASB95)[3] Because He is God, and because He is the Creator of all, John concludes that in God the Son is life, only the Creator can give life to the creature, and that life, John states, is the Light of men. God the Son not only imparts physical life to man, but because He is the Light, He imparts spiritual life to man as well. The Light who is God the Son shines in the darkness, the moral and spiritual darkness of our world and gives life the spiritually dead. The Light invades the dark and the darkness cannot overcome it. This is God the Son before the incarnation.
WITNESS TO THE INCARNATION (John 1:6-9)
Into this world of darkness God sends a man named John. This is not the same John that wrote this Gospel, this is John the Baptist. God sent him into this world of darkness as a witness. He was a witness or a herald of the Light that was coming in the incarnation. God the Son, the Light that shines in darkness was coming into the world to give light to those who were spiritually dead. Does Light need a witness? Man was in such moral and spiritual darkness, that God had to send a witness of the Light. John was to call the people’s attention to the Light that they might believe in the Light through John’s witness. John was not the Light; he only came to testify about the Light and what a change that the Light could make in your life. John testified that the true Light was coming into the world, and everyman touched by that Light is confronted with a decision, the Light enlightens, and each person must decide what they are going to do about the Light. They can choose to ignore the Light like it isn’t there or embrace the Light and be made spiritually alive.
REJECTING OR ACCEPTING THE INCARNATION (John 1:10-13)
The apostle John, the author of this book, speaking of the incarnation of God the Son, he writes that God the Son was in the world, the world that was His creation, among the people that He had created and given life, and the world did not know Him. The Light shone into the darkness of this world and the world chose to ignore it like it wasn’t there. Then John said that God the Son came to His own, to those who were His people, those with whom He had a covenant, He came as an Israelite into Israel, among His own people, and even His own people did not receive Him. They ignored and rejected the Light shining in the darkness. This is the first choice that can be made when you are confronted with the one who gives life and is the Light of men offering spiritual life. The world rejected Him, and the nation of Israel rejected Him.
There is another choice, and that is the choice of each individual when confronted with the Light and that is to receive Him, believe that He is who He says He is. Believe that He is God the Son, believe that He is the Creator and giver of life, and believe that He is the true Light that give spiritual life to spiritually dead people. John writes, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,” (John 1:12, NASB95)[4] This morning we celebrate the first advent of Jesus Christ, who came as the Light shining in the darkness, and to receive Him, to believe in His name means that He has given you the right to become a child of God the Father. This is a choice you must make, what will you do with this information about Jesus? This choice cannot be made for you as John makes clear in verse 13, becoming a child of God is not because you were born to parents who are children of God, this choice is not because you were born into the blood of the Jewish race, it is not because you were born of the flesh and given physical life, and it is not because someone decided for you that you would be God’s child. This is a choice that must be made between you and God. He chooses you and then you choose Him by believing in His Son. The result is that you are born of God into His family. John wrote concerning this in a letter, in 1 John 3:1-2 he wrote, “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.” (1 John 3:1–2, NASB95)[5] Whose child are you?
THE FACT OF THE INCARNATION (John 1:14)
John ends this passage by giving us the how of the incarnation. He tells us how the Light of men invaded this dark world to give each individual a choice. John writes, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14, NASB95)[6] The Word, God the Son, the Creator became flesh, He became like His creation. He became one of us, but because He was born of a virgin and God was His Father, He was born without sin. Just because He took on flesh and became like us does not mean that He stopped being God. He was truly God and truly man and that is what the incarnation is, God taking on human flesh. Paul described it this way in Philippians 2:5-8, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5–8, NASB95).[7] Jesus Christ became the God-man so that He could be our substitute. Man’s sin had to be judged, and Jesus Christ went to the cross and suffered the judgment of God against sin on our behalf. This is why the incarnation was necessary because sinful man could do nothing in himself to solve the sin problem, only the sinless God-man could pay the price required for our sins to be forgiven, only by His death, burial, and resurrection can we be forgiven and given the right to become children of God. Paul wrote in Romans 8:3-4, “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:3–4, NASB95)[8]
Going back to John 1:14, John said a few more things about the Word becoming flesh. First, he writes that the God-man dwelt among us. This word translated “dwelt” is literally “tabernacled” or “tented” among us. John was certainly thinking of the tabernacle constructed in the wilderness under the direction of Moses, this is where God dwelt among the people of Israel, and His glory was there, the shekinah glory that was a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. They could see God’s glory dwelling among them. In the same way, John says that they saw the God-man’s glory as He dwelt among them. His glory was seen in everything He said and did. It was seen in His teaching that was superior to that of the teachers of the day, it was seen in His miracles and His authority over the wind and the waves, it was seen by John and two other disciples in His transfiguration, and it was seen in His resurrection from the dead. John describes this glory which they saw in Him as the glory of the only begotten from the Father, again a reference to His deity, John is saying that only God has glory like that declaring again that Jesus is God. He ends by saying that Jesus was full of grace and truth. Jesus was God’s living Word to mankind, and He was the embodiment of the truth. He spoke truthfully of man’s sinfulness and man’s need of forgiveness if man wanted to be in a right relationship with God, then in grace He offered the solution, belief in Him for the forgiveness of sin and restoration of man’s relationship to God through the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
CONCLUSION:
Is the incarnation necessary? Yes, because without it there is no forgiveness of sin, without it we must still face God’s judgment against sin. The incarnation of Jesus Christ makes forgiveness possible because He is the only one who was sinless, the only one who could be the substitute for our sin. Paul speaking of Jesus Christ wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “He [God the Father] made Him [Jesus Christ] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NASB95)[9] Where are you this morning? Are you a child of God? If not, you can become one by agreeing with God that you are a sinner and believing that Jesus Christ died for you as your substitute, was buried and rose from the dead and you will be given the right to become a child of God. For those of us who are already children of God, what are we to do with the incarnation, we are to rejoice in it and share it with others just like the shepherds on that first Christmas morning.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995. (Brackets mine)