If you will find the gospel of John with me. The New Testament has four gospels that begin the best-selling book of all time. Each of the four shares a unique perspective on Jesus, while many of the stories overlap. So, if you were reading the gospels, you would read many of the same miracles and parables more than once.
John was likely written after Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Positioned as the last of four gospels in our Bibles, there is nothing about John that is inferior to the other four gospels in any way. We have a great gift in the Gospel of John.
The gospel of John has brought life-changing inspiration and comfort to countless generations of Christian believers. John tells us the reason he writes the gospel near the very end of the 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 20:31).
John is so good that children often memorize entire chapters of John’s gospel.1 Elderly Christians on their deathbed ask that parts of this Gospel be read to them. Students on college campuses hand out free copies of the Gospel of John to their friends in the hope of introducing them to Jesus. For years, the Billy Graham organization encouraged all new believers to start reading the Bible by reading the gospel of John first. And of course, for decades, the best-known verse in the Bible is found in John’s gospel: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
The gospel of John offers what many consider the most comprehensive and penetrating answer to the central question of all time – who is Jesus Christ?
Again, we have a great gift in the Gospel of John.
Today’s Scripture
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was 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 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.’) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ.’ And they asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the Prophet?’ And he answered, ‘No.’ So they said to him, ‘Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’ He said, ‘I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.’
(Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) They asked him, ‘Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?’ John answered them, ‘I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.’ These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.” (John 1:1, 14-28).
If you were to say to me, “How could God become human?” this is the classic passage on the Incarnation. Let me show you Four Great Truths to God becoming human.
1. The Word Became Flesh
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was 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 1:1, 14).
1.1 Jesus is the Word
We know Jesus is “the Word” because, in verse 17, John identifies Jesus by name. John calls Jesus “the Word” or the Greek Word Logos from which we get our word logic from. When John writes this gospel, people are into philosophy. In Greek philosophy, the word Logos is a big deal. The logos was a mysterious organizing principle of the universe, the thing that held it together and allowed it to make sense to many Greek minds.2
Now we shouldn’t take John to mean that Jesus’ mother called her Son, “Word.” No, John gives Jesus this title because He is attempting to connect to the people of his day. He’s trying to show them Jesus is the One they are looking for. John says, “I’ve found the meaning of life. God punched a hole in the roof of the world, and His Son is the Logos. He’s the essence of life. He fulfills the meaning of life. I want to get up in the morning because of the Word.”3
1.2 The Incarnation
Again, verse 14 is the classic passage on the incarnation: “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).
Incarnation means that the Son of God took on human flesh. The One who was the eternally God became eternally man by taking on human flesh. This means all the world to you because it means Jesus could become your substitute for your sin on the cross. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
1.2 Are We Astonished?
When the ancient people first understood that Christians were telling everyone that God became flesh, they could have not been more shocked. If ranchers at the King Ranch and the Four 6’s ranches here in Texas, sold all their monster trucks and set out to haul cattle with a fleet of Toyota Prius, you would not have been more surprised than the ancient people were to hear that God’s Son is now flesh. American Christians are so used to hearing this word that the force of it has escaped us.
Don’t allow the words “And the Word became flesh” to be clinical or detached.4 God entered the world as a baby. The Destroyer of all darkness and the Author of all good has become human.5 The Bible doesn’t say, “The Word assumed a body” or “The Word hid in a body,” but “the Word became flesh.” We are so accustomed to hearing that Jesus became a human that we have lost the astonishment we should continue to have.
1.2.1 Ancient Thinking on God’s Being
God becoming human was revolutionary for those who first heard this news.
1.2.1.1 Greek Thought
When John wrote this nearly 2,000 years ago, the supreme deity of Greek philosophy was not human. Sure, the Greeks felt the lesser gods could be cranky and could even be wounded. The Stoics felt God was pure reason and intellect.6 Platonists described God as “unnamed, unseen, untouched.”7 Gnostic thought was horrified at the thought of God even touching flesh, much less becoming flesh. Again, when the ancient people first understood that Christians were telling everyone that God became flesh, they could not have been more shocked.
1.2.1.2 Jewish Thought
Jewish thought didn’t believe God was human either. People going to synagogues all over the Roman Empire knew that God didn’t have a body and that He was only Spirit. The first commandment of the Ten Commandments forbids anyone from making a carved image or anything that supposedly looks like God (Exodus 20:4-6).
As Christianity spread after the New Testament, there is evidence of Jewish rabbis denying that God took on a body. Even Jesus will later say, “God is Spirit” (John 4:24). In fact, just a few verses later, John will write, “No one has ever seen God” in verse 18. Yuri Gagarin, the first Soviet cosmonaut to enter space in 1961, reportedly said, “I don’t see any God out here.”8
So how did John and Christians everywhere conclude that the Son of God took on a body? John says in a word, “I witnessed it.”
1.2.2 We Have ‘Theatered’ Him
“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).
When your Bible says, “…we have seen his glory,” the Greek verb that we translate as “seen” is the root word that we obtain our word “theater.” You go to the theater to fully observe and give the movie or play your full attention. Going to the theatre is more than a casual glance. Jesus has been carefully scrutinized to understand His significance.9 Jesus was carefully ‘theatered’ when He walked on water. He was ‘theatered’ when He taught the masses. And He was ‘theatered’ when He rose from the grave. John says, in effect, “We didn’t glance His way and turn our heads with a nonchalance. Not at all. We beheld Him. We ‘theatered’ Him in every possible situation and in each and every circumstance.”
1.3 Jesus “Tented” Among Us
Now, the reason John says we “theatered” Jesus is because Jesus dwelt among us. Stay in verse 14 with me now: “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).
But it’s significant to see the word John uses here that is translated. When John tells us about Jesus, he says Jesus “tented” among us.10 Or He “camped” among us. Now, you may wonder what does a tent has to do with the incarnation.
1.3.1 Tabernacle
John loves to bring his readers back to the Old Testament, and here Jesus is the permanent tabernacle. The Tabernacle was a tent that traveled around with the people of God (Exodus 40:34–38). God would instruct David to replace the Tabernacle with the Temple when God’s people settled down in one place. But before the Temple, God’s people could go into the tent to meet God and to worship God (Exodus 25:8).
Years after His birth, Jesus will look at the Temple and say, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19b).
Jesus comes along and says, “I replace the Temple. I replace the Tabernacle.” God’s presence is no longer in one place; it’s now in one Person. The Shekinah glory that once filled the tabernacle has taken up residence in the person of Jesus.
“‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us)” (Matthew 1:23).
Jesus says, “All that you have seen before is incomplete. I am the presence of God on earth.” Jesus “tented” among us, and we “theatered” Him. John is saying, in effect, “I know it’s an astonishing claim to say that God is human. But we have intently observed His every action for over three years and I write to you to tell you God is human. He has tabernacled among us. I recognize the implications of what I am saying are huge and you may be prone to dismiss me out of hand. Don’t do that. Give Jesus your careful consideration.”
1.3.2 The Thrill of Jesus
“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).
When John wrote those words there was a thrill to his voice, and his pulse quickened as he thought back to his days with Jesus. His memory would flood with the miracles, the laughter, the joy, and the teachings of Jesus! Someone may say, “Well, maybe Jesus is a little less God because He’s now human. Perhaps He was 100% God before became a baby and He’s only 75% God now.” No, John says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). He is 100% God and 100% human. Eugene Peterson paraphrases this central truth of Christianity this way: “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.”11
God came as a fetus and then entered the world as a baby. God didn’t cease being God, nor did He become God minus anything. Every bit of the Son of God became human without giving up one bit of His deity.
At the heart of the Christian faith is a paradox. The Bible says, “He who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps,” yet we find Jesus asleep in the back of a boat. The One who created water would go on to say, “I thirst” while on the cross. The very One who created life would die on that cross. “I know how preposterous I must sound to both Greeks and Jews, but I’m telling you the shocking truth. Jesus is God and He is human. Yes, the very Son of God became 100% human.”
1.4 Cherish This Truth
Christian friends, cherish the truth that Jesus became human. Had He not become human, Jesus would not have been able to die for your sins.
1. The Word Became Flesh
2. Full of Grace and Truth
“For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:16-17).
The Bible tells us Jesus is full of both grace and truth. John next reaches out to one of the hallmark figures of Judaism and contrasts Moses to Jesus.
2.1 Grace Upon Grace
The three little words at the end of verse 16 need your attention. Where most English translations read “grace upon grace,” which the ESV does, the word in the middle is the preposition “anti.” Anti is a preposition in English that is against or opposed. You don’t see the word “anti” in-between “grace” and “grace” in English translations. I know not many people come to church hoping to hear about prepositions. I have already told you more about Greek philosophy than you ever wanted to know, and now you must be thinking, “Prepositions?”
2.1.1 Husband and Wife
Maybe you feel a little like the husband whose wife yelled from upstairs, “Do you ever get a shooting pain across your body like someone’s got a voodoo doll of you and they’re stabbing it?” The husband said, perplexed, “No.” His wife responded, “How about now?”
2.1.2 Preposition
Go with me on this preposition thing for a minute. What does John mean here? Why place this preposition in between grace and grace?
He could mean a couple of items:
1) The grace of Jesus replaces the grace of Moses in some way;
2) Or it could mean that grace is “on top of” grace.
Grace accumulates like snow on the ground in winter. John is telling us that the grace of Jesus is in place of the grace of Moses. John wants you to see a contrast between the way God worked in Moses’ day and with the unique Son of God.
2.3 An Overflowing Fountain
John says if you were to encounter Jesus, you would experience an overflowing fountain brimming over with grace. When the Super Bowl was recently played in Las Vegas, they frequently showed you the Fountains of Bellagio. Some of you who may have seen the Oceans 11 movies will remember the actors gathering at these fountains. Now, John is saying in essence, Jesus is an overflowing fountain of grace. When you see such a fountain, picture Jesus who is “grace upon grace.” Grace is God’s love coming to sinners.
2.4 Full of Grace and Truth
“…grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17b).
With the word “grace” one thinks of the wide horizontal beam of the Cross and of the wide-outstretched, world-embracing arms of the all-merciful, all-compassionate God, the major longing of the human heart. With the word “truth” one thinks of the vertical beam of the Cross going down deep and up high to suggest the power of straight, real, honest truth, the major longing of the human mind.12
2.5 Cherish This Truth
When I think of Jesus being filled with both grace and truth, I think of how people spit on Him, beat Him, and degraded Him right before He was crucified. Yet, while He breathed His last tortured breath, He said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they have done.” Christian friends, cherish the truth that Jesus became human. Had He not become human, Jesus would not have shown us how to suffer.
1. The Word Became Flesh
2. Full of Grace and Truth
3. No One Has Ever Seen God
“No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” (John 1:1, 14-18).
He continues to contrast Moses to Jesus.
3.1 Moses
“For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17). Moses was the most famous Old Testament figure who passionately wrestled to see the glory of God. If anybody could be said to have seen God, it would be Moses. Exodus 33:11 says, “Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” But this face-to-face conversation was not enough for Moses. He wanted to see more of God.
3.2 Jesus Compared to Moses
Now, One greater than Moses is in front of us. Remember, Moses could not see the face of God. Now, Jesus can see what Moses could not. Jesus brings the fullness of grace and truth. The contrast is that Moses points to grace, but Jesus performs grace. Moses reports the words of God. Jesus is the Word of God!
The Son of God has seen the Father as closely as He can be seen. Not only has the Son of God seen the face of God, the Father…but he and the Father are one (John 10:30).
3.3 Cherish This Truth
Christian friends, cherish the truth that Jesus became human. Had He not become human, Jesus would not have shown us God Himself.
1. The Word Became Flesh
2. Full of Grace and Truth
3. No One Has Ever Seen God
4. The Forerunner Will Tell You
“(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.’) He said, ‘I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said’” (John 1:15, 23).
4.1 Who is John the Baptist?
John the Baptist was not educated by an approved and recognized rabbi. He was not accredited by an approved religious institution. Yet he was out there preaching, and he was wildly popular. This really bothered the religious establishment. So, they send a group of their own out to ask John, “Who are you?”
4.2 I Am a Voice
In verse 23, he said, “I am the voice …” He did not say, “I am the Word.” He reached back 700 years to the words prophesied in Isaiah 40 (vv. 3–5) and said, “I am just a voice.”
4.3 Two Things About Jesus
John then says two things about Jesus, and they are astounding. He’s kind of vague about who he is, but he’s not vague about who this Messiah is who’s coming.
4.3.1 He Calls Jesus the Lord
Look again at verse 23: “‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said’” (John 1: 23b). The word Lord there in Isaiah 40 is the Hebrew word Yahweh. The first thing John says is that Jesus isn’t human; He’s Lord.
4.3.2 I’m Not Worthy to Untie His Sandals
In that dusty, hot culture, everybody wore sandals all day. At night, when you took the sandals off, it was really foul. It was considered unbelievably degrading to have to take somebody else’s sandals off. Taking your own off was probably bad enough, but after all, that’s you. To take somebody else’s off was considered absolutely degrading. If you had servants, one of the rules was you could never make a Jewish servant take your sandals off. That would be too degrading to make a fellow countryman do. Rabbis were not allowed to ask their disciples to do this. It was beneath them.13 John says, “I am unworthy to even take off His sandals.”
4.3.3 Don’t Look at Me
Do you know what I like about John the Baptist? He doesn’t ask you to look at him. Remember, a group came out looking to find out more about John. John is so unlike most modern preachers/pastors. He says, in effect, “Look at Jesus.”
Christian friends cherish the truth that Jesus became human. Had He not become human, Jesus would not have shown us the path to God. Jesus became human in order to:
1. Jesus became human to show us the path to God.
2. Jesus became human to show us God Himself.
3. Jesus became human to show us grace and truth perfectly during great suffering.
4. Jesus became human to die for our sins.
EndNotes
1 D. A. Carson, The Gospel according to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991), 21.
2 Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Second Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2020), 681.
3 Timothy J. Keller, “Reason for Life,” The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).
4 John Stott, “The Word Was Made Flesh and Dwelt Among Us,” in John Stott Sermon Archive (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife Corporation, 2023).
5 Benjamin B. Warfield, “Incarnate Truth,” in Princeton Sermons (New York; Chicago: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1893), 94.
6 Epictetus Diatr. 2.8.2
7 Maximus of Tyre Or. 27.8. See also, Craig S. Keener, The Gospel of John: A Commentary & 2. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2012), 406.
8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Gagarin; It is reported that Yuri did not say this but this was a product of Soviet propaganda.
9 Merrill C. Tenney, John: The Gospel of Belief, The New International Commentary on the Old and New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1976), 71.
10 William, Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, Walter Bauer, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, “s?????,”A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000).
11 Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language. (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005).
12 Bruner, 35.
13 Craig S. Keener, The Gospel of John: A Commentary & 2. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2012), 448.
