The Birth Of A King Series

The Birth of the King

March 20, 2011

The Story - 22

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. You’ll find that passage in John 1:14. Listen to those words again, The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. That phrase, ‘the Word became flesh,’ has so much power and meaning, yet we tend to gloss over it.

In the Greek, the word for the Word is “LOGOS.” About 500 years prior to Jesus, a philosopher named ‘Heraclitus’ from Ephesus, made this famous statement “You cannot step twice into the same river.” By the time you step into the river and then step out of it, and enter again, the river has changed. It’s the same way with life, it’s always moving, always changing.

He said “all things come to be in accordance with this Logos” (which literally means, word, reason, or account). This means the logos is the omnipotent wisdom by which all things are steered. Plato once said, ‘some day there will come forth from God a logos, a Word, who will reveal all mysteries and make everything plain.’

And now John says, the beginning of all creation is found in the Logos, in the Word of God, who became flesh. Notice the beginning words of John 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

The phrase, ‘in the beginning’ occurs twice in the first two verses. Do you remember where we’ve heard this phrase before? In the beginning of the Bible . . . the first words of the OT. In the beginning – God created the heavens and the earth. And so John uses the very words which were used to describe the beginning of time, the beginning of creation.

In this phrase, where is John placing Jesus? In the beginning. He’s placing Jesus in the drawing room of creation. He’s announcing that the beginning of Christ did not begin in Bethlehem. Christ has been as long as God has been. This is a major statement John is making. As long as God has been, Jesus has been.

In fact, Jesus was the genesis word. How did God create the universe, “with words.” Let there be, and there was. Let there be and there was. And John is saying, do you know who was saying “Let there be?” It was the Word. The Word, the voice of Jesus speaking. Paul would later say, Jesus was the first born over all creation, the One Lord, Jesus Christ, to whom God made everything and through whom we have been given life.

Think about it, did Jesus’ first brush with life occur in Bethlehem? And having just finished the OT, we wondered and at times saw where Jesus was present in the OT. When Abraham gave offerings to a mysterious priest named Melchizedick, scripture tells us He had neither beginning of days nor end of life. Was Abraham giving gifts to Jesus? Was it Jesus wrestling with Jacob? When Joshua fell on his face and worshiped the one who called Himself the commander of the armies of the Lord, was it Jesus? And in that fiery furnace, who was that 4th guy with Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego? The one who was called the Son of God, was it Jesus? Was Jesus in the fiery furnace?

Jesus with Abraham, Jesus with Joshua, Jesus with Jacob, Jesus with Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego. And now Jesus with us. Jesus, the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. God wrapping Himself in flesh, complete with teeth and toe nails, with hair and 2 kidneys. He became flesh, yet He remained God. For in Christ the fullness of God lives in a human body.

He isn’t part man and part God, not ½ man and ½ God, He’s 100 % man and 100% God. He is at once fully man and fully God. This is one of the mysteries of the incarnation. Divinity and humanity in one person. One God, untainted, unblemished. So pure, that He could be born of a virgin; that He needed no assistance in entering the womb.

Remember the conversation between the angel Gabriel and Mary? In Luke 1:34-35, Mary asked the angel, 34 “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

We have a small problem. How can Mary have a baby in her womb? . . .

35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”

What a befitting beginning to the earthly ministry of Jesus. He needed no help to exist in heaven and do you really think He needed help in His journey to the earth? He was divine enough to enter a womb entirely on His own, yet He was human enough to have no room in the inn.