Subject: "An Awesome Journey"
Text: John 1:1-14
The gospel of John is considered by many to be the deepest and most spiritual book in the Bible. John had one goal in mind, to inspire faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. In the Gospel of John, the writer gives us a more complete revelation of Jesus the Son of God, His purpose and ministry than that given in the synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The synoptic Gospels view the coming of the promised Messiah from earth’s viewpoint. John helps us see the picture from God’s viewpoint. John’s Gospel reveals several insights not found in the other Gospels. In the Gospel of John, the "I Am’s” of God are revealed, and the divinity of Christ is proven. Fifteen hundred years earlier, God said to Moses, “Tell them I Am that I Am.” The Gospel of John listed those “I Am’s” of God. We are introduced to the Holy Spirit, His work and ministry in the New Testament. In John Chapter 5, Jesus declares of Himself for six consecutive times that He was sent from God. More than 100 times, Jesus refers to God as His Father in the Gospel of John. This Gospel devotes more than half of its writing to the last days of Jesus’ earthly ministry. There are several conversations and discourses found only in the Gospel of John such as the Nicodemus story, the Samaritan woman story, the discourse at the Feast of Tabernacles, the Good Shepherd story, and the intercessory of prayer of Jesus found in Chapters 14-17. John gives us only six miracles, or signs, as convincing evidence that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. The recurring phrase in the book of John is "that you might believe that Jesus is the Son of God." John does not retrace the genealogy of Jesus. There are no shepherd stories or manger scenes included. There are no angelic choruses or wise men visits mentioned because this Gospel is written from heaven’s perspective. John gives us God’s view of salvation coming into the world. Jesus, the Son of God, undertook an awesome journey for the redemption of humankind.
The journey that John describes in our text is the most amazing mission ever undertaken. It is almost an unbelievable one! The journey stretches our imagination and gives us a glimpse of the great love the Father God has for us. Many peoples and cultures of the world reject the message of Christianity because they refused to believe that God would undertake such a journey for the salvation of man. It seems too good to be true. Nevertheless, the word of God says in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”* The God of the Universe, motivated by pure love, undertook this journey, as an act of His own will to save man from his sin. Listen to the key verse of our text before we begin our journey.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)
“And the word 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." (John 1: 14)
Let us begin our journey. Jesus journeyed from heaven into earth…
1. Jesus Journeyed From Heaven to Earth. Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God, began his journey as the Word, the Logos, and the Son of God who had existed forever. He, the Son of God, built and designed the heavens and the earth, for without Him was not anything made that was made. Jesus was with God and was God in the presence of the heavenly host. He loved humanity so much that He left heaven, a perfect place, with perfect provision, perfect praise, and a place of perfect satisfaction, to enter into a world full of sin, trouble and turmoil. More than that, He chose to be born of a woman, in a lowly stable, in a poor village called Bethlehem, right here on earth. It is hard to imagine a kind of love that spares no expense and has no limitation. Probably, any good businessman might have wondered about God’s investment in the human race. Bringing salvation into the world would be extremely costly. However, God so loved the world, that He sent Jesus on a journey. Jesus journeyed from heaven to earth on a mission to save the human race. The earth and humanity had gone terribly wrong. Sin had polluted the world and the heart of man had been turned against God. I think if God had asked the advice of any good executive, the advice probably would have been, "Cut your losses, forget about the human race on earth and start over somewhere else, maybe Jupiter or Mars. Nonetheless, the Bible says, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life." I believe Jesus was willing leave a place of perfect peace and step into Bethlehem, a place of turbulence and turmoil to prove to each of us that He is not afraid to get involved in the chaos of our lives. In the midst of our chaos, we must remember that He is the Prince of Peace. Jesus can bring peace in the middle of our turbulence. Jesus journeyed from heaven to earth. Secondly, He journeyed from eternity into time.
2. Jesus Journeyed From Eternity to Time. It was an awesome journey, not only because of a journey from heaven to earth, but also, because of a journey from eternity to time. In this text, John speaks of the beginning. Let your mind go back as far as your imagination can carry you, and think about this. Long before that time and place, Jesus was. He was already living and existing before the beginning. Then, He journeyed from the expanses of eternity into limited time. He stepped into our calendar system, into our schedules, into our way of thinking. He stepped from eternity into the human rat race of schedules, birthdays, anniversaries, bedtimes, get-up times, work times and vacations. Jesus must have felt caged by the clock for the first time of his existence. He had lived in the expanses of untimed eternity, where a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day. He not only stepped into time, but His coming reset the calendars and clocks for all time. Before the coming of Christ, our calendars were set and time was measured by the reign of kings. Throughout the Scriptures, you hear echoes of this truth, "In the tenth year of the reign of king so and so." However, today, the calendars of the whole world are set in terms of the coming of the Son of God into the world. Time before the coming of Christ is known B.C., and after the Advent of Christ is known as A.D., or anno Domini meaning “In the year of the Lord”. Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and heathens alike use the same reference to time. Most peoples of the world were affected by the Son of God stepping from eternity into time. Furthermore, even heaven’s time is synchronized with earth’s time clock to fulfill the purpose of God the Father. I believe Jesus stepped from eternity into time because He realized that one of our most valuable gifts from God is the gift of time. When a person gets lost, normally, they waste a lot of time trying to find their way. Humanity was lost in sin, wasting one of our most precious gifts, time. Satan is master of robbing us of time. However, Jesus Christ is a master restorer. The Bible says in Joel 2:25, “And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.” I believe Jesus came to restore the years we have lost. We see glimpses of this truth throughout the Bible as the sun standing still for Joshua; the sundial moving backward for Hezekiah, God adding fifteen years to Hezekiah’s life; and in Joel 2, where God promises to restore the years. Jesus journeyed from Heaven to earth, then from eternity into time to restore us. Next, Jesus journeyed from Spirit into a physical body.
3. Jesus journeyed from Spirit into a physical body. Probably, the least understood part of the awesome journey is what John refers to in Verse 14, "The word became flesh..." Jesus, the Son of God, Who was as much spirit as God the Father and God the Holy Ghost, took on a physical body. Previously, the Son of God was not limited by a physical body and did not even have a human name. He was called the Word of God, who was totally Spirit, unlimited in power and ability. He was unlimited by time and space.
When King David wanted to build a physical house for God, David reminds himself of the awesomeness of God by saying in 1 Kings 8:27, “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee; how much less this house that I have builded?”
Then in Isaiah 66:1, God says about Himself, “Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?”
Nonetheless, the eternal Son of God, the powerful Creator of everything, journeyed from heaven into earth, stepped from eternity into time, moved from spirit into a microscopic human embryo implanted in the womb of a virgin named Mary. He, Who would become the perfect teacher, perfect example, and perfect sacrifice, was planted in the womb of a virgin. He had not yet formed eyes, or hands, or feet, or a brain. God was contained as an act of his own will, in the womb of a virgin. He, Who was and is perfect light, placed himself in total darkness for nine long months. When he was born, he looked like any other baby, a six or seven pound bouncing baby boy, unable to walk and talk, unable to feed himself, completely dependent on Mary and Joseph for his every need. What an awesome journey! It was not a temporary change for 33 years and then back to spirit. It was permanent. The Son of God became a man forever. The body conceived in Mary is the same body that was born in the Bethlehem stable. It is the same body that grew up in Egypt and returned to Nazareth. It was the same body that was crucified, died and was buried in Joseph’s tomb and the third day arose from the dead. It is the same body that is coming again. We shall see him as the Lamb slain from the foundation of world. I believe Jesus journeyed from Spirit to a body because Jesus knows how Satan fights against us in our physical bodies. It is good to know that He has made provisions for our physical bodies. Look at these powerful verses of Scripture:
Psalm 107:20, “He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.”
Isaiah 53:5, “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.”
Luke 4:18, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.”
Jesus came to bring peace where there is confusion; to restore the years lost to sin; and to provide healing for the hurting. Jesus journeyed from Heaven to earth, stepped from eternity into time, moved from spirit into a physical body, and then from deity into humanity.
4. Jesus Journeyed From Deity To Humanity. Jesus journeyed from being very God to become very man. He was God, fully God, 100% God. Jesus was everything that God the Father was and is, all-powerful, all knowing, and everywhere present. Nevertheless, He became human, "and dwelt among us". Jesus fully and completely identified with humanity. He became a man, with human organs, with a human appearance, with human emotions, with human thoughts and experiencing human pain and grief.
This miracle is called the incarnation. He was the perfect gift of God. He was the perfect solution for the human need. Jesus was god enough to touch God the Father and human enough to touch mankind. He became the perfect mediator between God and man. He was holy enough to meet God’s righteous standard, yet understanding the weakness of our humanity. His humanity allows Himself to be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He understands our weaknesses, fears and doubts. He understands our pain and grief. He is one of us. He knows the burden of flesh. Personally, my struggles are not in my spirit, for I am complete in Christ Jesus. My greatest struggles are in my flesh, my will, emotions and intellect. Even the great Apostle Paul admitted struggles in his flesh.
Romans 7:18, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” I believe Jesus took on flesh so that he could empathize with us. One songwriter said recently, “God knows how to hold you together until you can get it together.”
The Son of God journeyed from heaven to earth, from eternity to time, from spirit to body, and from deity to humanity to deliver us from our chaos, to help us redeem time, to provide healing for our bodies and to identify with our fleshly weaknesses. He came on our behalf. He came to save us from sin, Satan and self. He is God’s gift to us, but a gift is not a gift until it is received.
Here is an illustration:
During the month of March this year, I was on business in a city near my hometown. A church member living in that city called me and asked me to come by her house. She was excited because now she could present a Christmas gift she had purchased for me. I said, “Christmas gift?” She said, “O yes, I purchased for you last November, but I haven’t had an opportunity to give it to you.” As my wife and I drove up to her house, she was standing in the yard with the gift in her hands. When I opened the gift, I saw it was one of the things I had needed for months. We expressed our appreciation and left, but this incident reminded me of the wonderful gift God the Father has given us. Like me, many people spend months, years and even decades wanting and needing something that has already been purchased for them.
This journey was taken on our behalf to reconcile mankind back to God. The journey was not over until Jesus completed his work and returned to His Father. He suffered, bled, died and paid the total cost of our sin debt at Calvary, but he did not stay on the cross of Calvary. He was buried Him in Joseph’s new tomb, but He did not stay in the cold, dark tomb. He did not stay in the regions of the damned, but He got up from the grave with all power in His hands. He ascended into heaven, and now sits on the right hand of God, the Father Almighty; from there He shall come again to judge the living and the dead. He went to (1) Prepare a heavenly place for us, (2) Send the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit as our comforter and (3) Sit as a mediator between God and man.
Philippians 2:9-11, “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
He has opened the way of righteousness, given gifts unto men, and established the Kingdom of God in this present world. He is seated at the right hand of God making intercession for His people. He hears every cry, gives hope to the troubled, rescues his servants from persecution, and gives life to every dead situation. This awesome journey began because humankind sank so low, but God…so loved the world that he sent Jesus on an awesome journey, he came for you and me, each one of us. Jesus journeyed from heaven to earth, eternity to time, from spirit to flesh and from deity to humanity. Right now, Christ is exalted above every name that is named, above principality and powers to the highest position of universe. He is there to hear and to help. He is there to bring us into his likeness. He is there to be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. We can touch Him today! He is waiting for us to take the next step!
*All scripture references are from the King James Version of the Bible.
