John 1:14-18
INTRO: Good morning church. Today I would like to continue our look at what John is telling us in chapter 1. John has introduced the Word and shown us Jesus is God. He is the eternal God. He created everything. Jesus is life, not only the Giver of life, but He is life. He also is the light and by receiving this light we can now know the way to God.
Then he talks about John the Witness and how he was sent by God to point out the light to a world blinded by Satan’s dark rule.
Finally John explains that when we receive Jesus, God will change our condition from being lost in sin to being authorized to be children of God.
Now lets read John 1:14-18 – “14 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. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.” [ESV]
I. The Word Become Flesh: The Word became flesh. Notice that the Word did not cease being God. He did not cease to be what He was from the very beginning and now the Word has come to the realm of the flesh as flesh.
A. What is important about that is John does not give any indication that the Word has changed in any way from being God. It is still God with us, God has come.
B. Everything that has been attributed to the Word, as the eternal God and in whom is light and life is now applied to the man, Jesus. When the Word became flesh, the Word did not cease to be God. We now know with certainty that John is writing about Jesus.
II. Tabernacled: “the Word”, the Eternal God who created all things and in whom is light and life, “…became flesh and dwelt among us…”. The Greek word for “dwelt”, skēnoō (skay-no'-o), means to abide, to occupy, or to reside. Historically to tent. Some translators, following the Greek more exactly, render it "tabernacled among us." The idea is that Christ's earthly sojourn was not a fleeting, or illusory appearance, but a sustained and continued existence as a man among human beings, giving His contemporaries every opportunity to observe and evaluate His life and mission.
A. Recall as we began this study we observed that John is writing so that all believe that Jesus is the Son of God (John 20:31). We noted that the way John went about proving Jesus is God is by showing Jesus does what God did in the Old Testament. We saw this with the very first words of this gospel which did not read, “In the beginning God,”… but read, “In the beginning was the Word.” The Word is God because the Word created all things.
B. Let’s consider this, the Word is God because He tabernacled with us. Exodus 33-34 are our primary reference point. In these chapters God gives the law from Mount Sinai a second time and reveals His character, and glory - to Moses.
1. This is our first point of parallel. Just as the “Law” came from God which revealed the character and glory of God, now the “Word” has come from God which reveals the character and glory of God.
2. Our second point of parallel is that just as God “tabernacled” with His people in the wilderness, the “Word” tabernacled with His people, and they were witnesses of the new exodus accomplished in Jesus. In the wilderness we see God in His glory dwelling with His people as a pillar of cloud and fire above the tabernacle. (Exodus 40:38)
3. Note when the tabernacle was constructed what occurred: Exodus 40:34-35 - “34 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.”
4. The same thing happens when the temple is constructed. We read in 2nd Chronicles 7:1-3 – “1 As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 2 And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord's house. 3 When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”” Israel understood the glory of the Lord filling the temple as God’s grace, steadfast love, and goodness. The glory of the Lord was dwelling with His people.
C. What happens later in Israel’s history is sad. The people are full of sin and violate the covenant with God. The prophet Ezekiel comes on the scene and sees in his visions the glory of the Lord leaving the temple (Ezekiel 10:4, 10:18, 11:22-23). Then Ezekiel prophesies of a hopeful time when the glory of the Lord will return to His temple. Ezekiel 43:4-5 – “4 As the glory of the Lord entered the temple by the gate facing east, 5 the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple.”
D. Further, Haggai commanded the people by the word of the Lord to rebuild the temple with these encouraging words in Haggai 2:6-9 – “6 For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. 7 And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. 9 The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.” These prophecies looking forward to the day when the glory of the Lord would return to the temple.
E. When the people returned from Babylonian exile and built the temple in the days of Zerubbabel, we do not read of the glory of the Lord filling this temple.
1. The word “glory” does not appear in the books of Ezra or Nehemiah which chronicle the return from exile. Yet Haggai had promised the return of God’s glory to the temple. However, the people built the temple and nothing happened… No return of God’s glory. No filling of the temple.
2. Listen again to the words of John: “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.” Ezekiel saw the glory of the Lord return to the people as the image of His glory. Recall Haggai said “The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former”.
3. The former glory of the temple Solomon built was immense; full of gold and precious stones. In addition, God filled that temple with His glory. But the future glory of the temple would be greater. Jesus, the Word, was that future glory. Jesus is where God and humanity meet. Jesus is the revealing of the glory of God.
4. The Word has come and tabernacled with His people and has led this great new Exodus, breaking free of slavery, and has brought them to new Sinai and has given the New Law and New Covenant. We see that all in the fact, that the Word became flesh and lived among us. John is driving that thought home giving us the picture that just as we saw God in His glory dwelling with His people, now we see the Word dwelling with them.
III. We Have Seen His Glory: Therefore, the apostles have an astounding observation. The glory of the Lord that left His people because of their sins has returned. The glory of the Lord, that did not return when Zerubbabel led the rebuilding of the temple and did not return when Herod beautified and expanded the temple, has now been seen.
A. The glory of the Lord that had not been observed for hundreds of years has been shown to the world once more. “We have seen his glory!”
B. Turn back to Exodus 33:18 and notice what Moses asked to see. He did not ask to see God, but asked to see God’s glory. “Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”” I found that interesting. He didn't say, I want to see you.
1. What did God say would pass before Moses? “19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” You want to see My glory? Here's what's going to happen. You're going to see My goodness. You're going to see My graciousness. You're going to see My mercy.
2. When God revealed His glory to Moses, He revealed that His character was abounding in love and faithfulness. What does John say that we see when we see the glory of the Word? We see the Word “full of grace and truth.”
3. In Jesus we see God abounding in love and faithfulness. This is the idea of “truth” that John is driving at. The Jewish concept of truth was not merely knowledge, but stressed of a person being true to his word. Truth speaks to integrity. God is faithful to His word and that faithfulness and truth is seen in the Word. In Jesus we have seen the glory of the Father, full of grace and truth.
IV. The Glory of the One and Only Son: There is another phrase we need to consider. Not only have we seen the glory of the Father through the Son, but we have also seen “…glory as of the only Son from the Father..” Some translations use the phrase “only begotten” which can be somewhat misleading.
A. It does not mean that the “Word” was physically a descendant of God. This has been misused by some groups to say; He was the created Son or descendant of God or a demigod. That's not what that word means. The Greek word is monogenēs (mon-og-en-ace') which means “being the only one of its kind within a specific relationship, one and only; being the only one of its kind or class, unique (in kind)” (BDAG Greek Lexicon).
B. This is why most translations read “the only Son” or “the one and only Son” to communicate the uniqueness of the person of the Word, and the uniqueness of the relationship the Word has with the Father. The Word has no equal. He is able to fully reveal the Father, like no one else. God’s personal revelation of Himself has no parallel elsewhere, nor has it ever been repeated.
C. This is the same word used in Hebrews 11:17 when it speaks of Abraham's one and only son. Did Abraham have only one son? No, he did not. But he had only one unique son. Isaac was a child of miraculous birth that seemed impossible.
V. The Sad Reality: The full glory of God is seen in Jesus! All other revelations of God’s glory had been partial, but now God has revealed Himself through the Son in an unparalleled manner. How amazing! How precious that is!
A. What did the people see when they saw Jesus though? Turn to Isaiah 53 and listen to what Isaiah prophesied would occur. Isaiah 53:3-4 – “3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.”
B. The Apostle John is not saying that when Jesus came, we looked at that physical body and we beheld His glory, and there we saw God. No. In the physical body of Jesus was not anything glorious to see. The glory was seen in His teachings, in His miracles, in His love, in His actions, and in all that He said and did.
1. Real greatness and real glory doesn't assert itself and doesn't parade itself. That's one of the amazing things. Here is God in the flesh revealing God’s glory. Real glory is seen in the Word leaving His exalted place and doing the lowly thing, becoming a servant.
2. In fact, in John’s gospel we will see Jesus describe His coming execution on the cross as the time when He would be glorified (John 7:39; 12:16; 12:23; 17:1). Unfortunately the people did not “see” His glory. They only saw shame. They considered Him stricken and smitten by God. Jesus saw the shame as the means to be glorified.
3. Jesus lived a life of humility, of lowliness, of rejection; then He accepted the most shameful of deaths. In that way He performed the ultimate service: He took away the sins of the world. John is saying that this is what real glory means. Jesus had no need to come to earth. He might have retained all the joy and splendor of heaven, but He left it. When He came to earth there was no need for Him to live in poverty and rejection—but He did. Then when He came to the end of His life He was not compelled to die the painful and shameful death of the cross—but He did.
C. We see that for us, as for Him, real glory is in lowly service. The Christian way is not a way in which we look for people to praise us.
1. Real glory rather is finding some useful piece of service, no matter how lowly, and doing it as well as we can. Unless we see that, we do not understand what Christian service is.
2. The call to Christian service is not a call to occupy some comfortable and eminent place. It is not the suggestion that if we go along in the right way, everyone will speak well of us. The call of Christian service is a call to take up our cross daily and to walk in the steps of Him who for our sake, took up His cross.”
VI. Grace Upon Grace: John continues in verses 16-17 with something that might change our view of how God dealt with people in the days of the Old Testament. In Jesus, God unveiled the full measure of grace and truth. John does not picture the time before Jesus as a time lacking grace and blessing. Rather, grace has been added to grace.
A. I wondered: what does it mean that we have all received grace upon grace? What does it mean that grace was added to grace? Verse 17 is the explanation of this message. Verse 17 begins with the word “for”. John explains what he means here. “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” John does not paint the law in a negative light. This verse does not mean that grace and truth were not evidenced by the Law of Moses, but that the grace and truth through the Lord Jesus Christ far exceeded anything in the old dispensation.
B. The Law of Moses revealed grace in a number of ways. We must never forget the occasion of God giving His law to Israel. He had just delivered them from Egyptian slavery. God had just shown His power against their oppressors and had set them free. Grace was already flowing toward Israel.
C. First, the law revealed the character, nature, and will of God. The law was a detailed explanation of God’s commands. God did not leave His people in the dark about who He was and what He desired. It was gracious for God to reveal Himself through the law.
1. This is one of the misconceptions we continue to have about the scriptures and about God’s laws. We often look at God’s laws as a bunch of rules given by a cosmic dictator telling us what to do. Instead, we need to see the scriptures and the laws of God—as grace. God is revealing Himself to us. God is telling us about Himself.
2. God is telling us what we must become, if we are going to have a relationship with our Creator. Law is not in opposition to grace. Law is the extension of grace, the revealing of grace. Israel’s deliverance under the first redeemer, Moses, issued the gift of the Law. The Law was given to the people. It was not a burden. The Law was the revelation of God’s will for His people.
D. Second, the Law revealed the truth about us. The Law was gracious because it showed where the people stood before God. The Law revealed their shortcomings. The Law declared the character of God so that their hearts would be illumined and they could see that they fell short of His character. In this we truly see grace.
1. The Law revealed sins and revealed that the people were law breakers. As we see though, God did not judge the people immediately for their sins. God did not destroy people for every sin they committed. Grace was extended to the people. Grace was being offered, allowing the people to repent and offer sacrifices so that the people would see the gravity of their sins. Fire did not come down from heaven and consume every person for every sin. We see that happen on a few occasions toward those who were standing in rebellion to God. That was not the stance God had toward the world, nor toward His people.
2. Grace was being offered through the Law of Moses because even though the people did not obey the law, God continued to have a relationship with His people. God continued to bless His people though they were violators of the law.
3. I think this is the point Paul was making about God in Romans 3:25. In speaking about Jesus being the propitiation for sins, Paul says, “…This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” Carefully read those words: “… in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” Passing over sins is grace. God was being gracious to the people throughout their history.
4. Now we are receiving the fullness of grace through Jesus Christ. Through Jesus, God has revealed the full measure of grace. God’s faithfulness has its ultimate fruition in Jesus. God’s character of grace and truth (faithfulness) was revealed with the giving of the law but was fully revealed and made available to all people through Christ.
E. To parallel the exodus, the redemption brought by the second Redeemer (Jesus Christ) was a deeper revelation of God and the fullest experience of salvation, grace, and covenant faithfulness. God had been giving grace but now the ultimate reality of grace has been bestowed through Jesus. God’s grace and faithfulness are seen in Jesus. This thought leads us to the uniqueness of Jesus, John 1:18. “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.”[para]
VII. Seeing God: John reminds us of an important truth: no one has ever seen God. Think of Exodus 33 and 34. Remember what God told Moses when Moses requested to see the glory of the Lord. Exodus 33:18-23 “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” 21 And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”[ESV]
A. Moses could not see all God’s glory because God declared that no one could see His face and live. What we understand from this passage is that all other appearances of God to His servants, no matter how vividly stated, did NOT include seeing God's face. The Lord proclaimed here that this was impossible for any man to do and live. No exception to this truth would ever be made, not even for Moses!
1. What happened when the apostle John saw the glorious vision of Jesus? Revelation 1:17 – “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead…” Even the visions of the Lord’s glory are too much to handle for flesh. God tells Moses that he does not understand what he is asking. No flesh can see God and live.
2. Feel then the gravity of the words of John 1:18 which tells us that now we have seen God in the one and only Son. Jesus will say later in this gospel, “…Whoever has seen me has seen the Father…” (John 14:9)
B. John is giving us the reasoning how seeing Jesus is to fully see the Father.
1. First, Jesus is the one and only Son. We saw this phrase back in verse 14. We noted that the Greek word is monogenēs (mon-og-en-ace') which means, “to be the only one of its kind within a specific relationship, one and only, to be the only one of its kind or class, unique”.
2. This communicates the uniqueness of the Word and the uniqueness of the relationship the Word has with the Father. Jesus is unique, He is like no other.
3. Second, Jesus is Himself God. When you see Jesus you see God because He is God. This has been the point of the first verse of this gospel. The Word was in the beginning. The Word was with God and the Word was God. He is God.
4. Third, Jesus is in the closest relationship with the Father. Literally, it is that He is “in the bosom of the Father,” as some translations have. This is an image to drive home the absolute intimacy the Son has with the Father. Holding an object to one’s bosom declared the specialness of that object. Being in the bosom was a picture of intimacy, closeness, and fellowship.
5. Consider when Jesus tells the story about the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16 that Lazarus is described as being in the bosom of Abraham.
6. Jesus is the one and only Son, He is in the closest relationship with the Father. Moses could only see the backside of the glory of the Lord. Jesus is face to face with the Father, side by side with the Father, and in a relationship with the Father that no one else can have. God the Son is the one and only to have this relationship. He is the eternal God.
“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 ESV) May we be forever altered by this picture when we consider the words, “God with us.”
CONCLUSION:
Jesus is the full expression of God’s faithfulness.
Jesus is the full expression of God’s grace.
Jesus is the full expression of God the Father.
To not know Jesus is to not know God, His faithfulness, or His grace
John 2:19 – “Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.''” The old temple in Jerusalem is superseded by Jesus’ body, and the church as the body of Christ, becoming the new temple. Jesus’ body is seen as the place where God's Spirit dwells, and through His sacrifice, He opened a way for God to dwell not only with His people but also in them. The Word is that place where we meet God. In Revelation 21:22, John described the New Jerusalem as having no temple, because Jesus Himself is its temple.
We're going to sing an invitation song. Those folks who have not yet become Christians need to know that God's grace has provided in the gospel message the means and the instruction to deal with sin.
Scripture tells us we need to hear the word; believe in Jesus; repent of our sins; confess our belief that Jesus is the Son of God; and be baptized for the remission of sins. The wonderful news is that all of those sins we've committed to that point in time, God remembers them no more.
Christians who have sinned presumptuously, not caring that their life is not as it should be, I urge you to do something about that. Confess your sins and ask God's forgiveness. God is faithful to forgive those with a repentant heart.
If you need the prayers of brothers and sisters on your behalf, all you have to do is come to the front here and say, I'd like you to pray with me and for me. There’s no time like the present because the present is the only time we are assured of.
Won't you come while we stand and while we sing?
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Reference Sermon: Brent Kercherville
