“The Unique Christ”
We cannot celebrate the coming of the Lord Jesus, without proclaiming John 1:14 NAS: {We looked at the first part of the verse last week.} “And the Word (the Lord Jesus) became flesh ( took on human nature without leaving His Divine Essence), and dwelt (tabernacled, lived temporarily) among us”; The Eternal Self-Existent Son of God, who was Creator-God, took on a human nature while maintaining His Godly character, and He dwelt (tented) among His Created Ones in order to DIE for those who would believe in His Name.
Today we examine the second part of verse 14: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us and WE BEHELD HIS GLORY, GLORY AS OF THE ONLY BEGOTTEN FROM THE FATHER (the unique one of His kind), FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH.”
The Glory of Jesus intently watched
In a very real and literal sense, when the Word of God entered this world as a fragile baby boy, He was witnessed by creatures whom He had created. With human eyes, Mary and Joseph, the earthly guardians of the Lord of Glory and first-time parents, would gaze intently upon the one who had come from Heaven to be their Savior. He was viewed by common shepherds, wealthy wise men, pious priests and publicans, schooled Pharisees, the sick and saintly, the rich and poor. Here was the miracle in the Flesh, promised by God from ages past, now God among flesh, WITH flesh.
In the context of the book of gospel of John, the author would soon describe the first week of the ministry of this Word who became flesh, and the humanity which was created by Him would watch Him carefully. The Glory of God was seen in the tabernacle in so many ways in the Old Testament, and now the Glory of God is seen in Jesus during the days of his “IN-FLESH-MENT”. Wherever He went, the Word was intently watched, in the way that theater attendees are fixated upon the stage or screen, not wanting to miss a single moment. The eyes of earth scrutinized the One of the Miracle Birth come down from Heaven.
1 John 1:1-3 puts it this way: “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life--
and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us--
what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”
The Glory of the Only Begotten
It’s not shocking that Jesus drew the undivided attention of the masses, after all, He displayed the very Glory of the Father because He is God in the Flesh. His “glory” was that “of the only begotten one from the Father”. If you are going to understand the glory of the only begotten, you must erase all ideas concerning “begetting”. The word “begotten” {monogenes}, has nothing to do with the word for procreation or birth.
The understanding of “begotten” appears in the New as well as the Old Testaments. In Luke 7:12: “Now as He approached the gate of the city, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a sizeable crowd from the city was with her.” The same is said about Jairus’ 12 year old daughter in Luke 8:42, and about Isaac in Heb. 11:17: “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son.”
Isaac wasn’t Abraham’s ONLY son but the son who was the beloved son, the best-loved, the chosen-by-God-son, the son of promise, the son from whom the Messiah would come. Ishmael was the son by the will of man and the will of the flesh because of man’s impatience and disobedience to God’s promise. Isaac was the son of promise, the “miracle baby” when all hope seemed to be gone.
The description of Jesus as “the only begotten” does not mean that He was born, although He arrived on this earth through the virgin womb of Mary. He always existed as the “only begotten Son” but arrived in the flesh through human means ordained by God. He did not human nature except by the will of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit, He took on flesh and tented among His creation for a time, until He paid the payment for sin on the Cross. Even though Israelites were called God’s Children, and Christians are called God’s children, we do not have the same status as Jesus.
As the “only begotten”, Jesus alone was eternally of the Father’s kind; He was "one of a kind", “The One of the Father’s Kind” "THE one and only": He was perfectly "unique" because there is no one like Him in the universe: incomparable. God coming to earth in human nature. The compound Greek word, “monogenes” means that Christ alone is unique and inCOMParable to any other in the universe! He is NOT a creature but Creator who comes in the flesh to die and make reconciliation for sinners. He comes to take upon Himself, to totally absorb the wrath of God for the sins of those who will believe, obey and follow Jesus.
What makes Jesus unique? Jesus Himself tells us in John 14:6: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." As Ann Voskamp wrote in “The Greatest Gift” (p. 180): He is the “One whose home was the original palace, One who is the apex of beauty, One who put Himself in the place of you outside the gate, you in the muck and the mire and the stench of sin.” Here is the “One who came to a barn and made Himself the bridge back to the King by laying down His back on the bark of that Tree. He looked at you, desperate on the outside of the gate, and His love was instant. He didn’t ponder, If I perish, I perish. He promised, “SO I perish, I perish.” Jesus came to die for sinners, and no one else can: This is part of the uniqueness of the incomparable Christ.
I
The Glory of being full of Grace and Truth was revealed
The “shekinah” glory which was revealed to God’s chosen people in the Old Testament was unmistakably the brilliance of God. In the same way, the Glory of the ONLY Son of God was unmistakably that which was God’s very own Glory. God’s Glory is God’s essential nature which belongs to Him alone. His Glory is His “weightiness” (Heb. kabed); It is the glory and power which is expressed ONLY in God’s essence and character. The Glory revealed in the person of Christ is the very glorious revelation of God Himself. In Isaiah 42:8, God declares: "I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images.” If God does not share His glory with another, and the Word in the Flesh is FULL of the Glory of God the Father, it is God who is appearing in the flesh.
To be FULL of God’s Glory means to be fully abounding in and entirely occupied with something: There is no room for anything else. This is our Jesus, full of God’s Grace and Truth. The Glory of God was not merely observed in Jesus’ miracles or healings; those events certainly stood to PROVE that Jesus had come from the Eternal side of the Father, that He was deity, but more emphatically that He indeed was “THE ONE AND ONLY”; but The Glory that WOULD be revealed was far greater still when Jesus says immediately preceding His crucifixion: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” (John 12:23) (Also in John 13:31: “Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him.”)
At the Cross, the wrath of God would be exacted upon the Son instead of upon sinners who would believe in Him. What love for Christ to bear the penalty! 1 John 4:10: “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation (the complete and satisfactory payment) for our sins.” Jesus took God’s wrath and anger toward my sin upon Himself, thereby completely satisfying the payment for me. Jesus pulls the wrath of God away from me, placing it on Himself, causing me to be reconciled to God. ( In so doing, Jesus changes God’s mind toward me, exchanging forgiveness for deserved judgment. I become God’s friend instead of His sinful enemy.) That is the ultimate love of God displayed in Christ.
The fullness of Grace and Truth which are revealed in Christ are coupled together, not only here in John 1:14, but also in the Old Testament, first of all in Exodus 33:17-19: The LORD said to Moses, "I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name." Then Moses said, "I pray You, show me Your glory!" And He said, "I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion."
Then in Exodus 34:6, listen to this: “Then the LORD passed by in front of him (Moses) and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth.”
God’s lovingkindness, mercy, compassion and faithfulness in the Old Testament is fulfilled in God’s undeserved and unmerited favor in the New Testament, HIS AMAZING GRACE in Christ. “Truth” in the Old Testament is seen as God’s reliability, stability, steadiness, fidelity and His faithfulness; in the New Testament TRUTH is something that cannot be fully known apart from God as manifested in the WORD who became flesh. John 14:7, Jesus says: “If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." What an awesome God, to demonstrate His Forgiveness, His faithfulness, God’s Glory filled up in the Grace and Truth which is in the LORD Jesus Christ, characterized most vividly on the Cross.
I love John's testimony just a few words later in John 1:16: "For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace". That is not only a wonderful personal testimony from John himself, but it is a blessed promise and reality that we have experienced from Him Alone! We have touched Him and received His grace in our lives and He is EVEN NOW working in our lives to make us like Him so that we might represent Him to this world as people of God who have been transformed by the power of His grace and truth.
Romans 3:21-25 expresses the Glory and Power of God in Christ: “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed.”
And to think that The Glory of God in Christ is that you and I deserve none of it is beyond our human comprehension. For us to be anything but grateful and obedient to our God and to love and forgive each other as He FIRST forgave us would be an affront and a disgrace to the Glory of God’s Grace and Truth revealed to us the Unique and Incomparable Lord Jesus. We have seen His Glory… we have met our Immanuel, sent from God. To God alone be the Glory. Amen
I. The Glory of Jesus was intently watched. 1 John 1:1-3: The eyes of earth scrutinized the One of the Miracle Birth come down from Heaven.
II. The Glory of the Only Begotten was witnessed: "One of a kind", “The One of the Father’s Kind”, "THE one and only", perfectly "unique: There is no one like Him in the universe: incomparable. John 14:6
III. The Glory of God, full of Grace and Truth was revealed from Heaven.
A. Full of Glory: God’s “weightiness” which belongs only to Him; no room for anything else. John 12:23, 13:31, Isa 42:8
B. Grace and Truth are coupled in Christ: Exodus 33:17-19, 34:6, John 14:7
C. The Glory of God in Christ is that you and I deserve none of it. John 1:16 Romans 3:21
