The Word Was Made Flesh

John 1:1-14 THE RESULT OF THE INCARNATION (14) 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.” in the Old Testament God was concealed, now in the New Testament God has been revealed. “God with us.” Vocal to our ears, visible to our eyes, and tangible to our touch. I. God came near to us in the PERSON of His SON. (v. 14). “And the Word was made flesh” The term “Word” is used as a designation of Christ. Rev 19:13"And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God" What Christ Was John 1 v 1 - 13 In verse 1 He declares: “In the beginning was the Word” (a) Here we have the CHRIST of ETERNITY. The words “In the beginning” are equal to the words in Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created.” At that point when things first began to be, Christ was. He never came into being because He always was. He had neither birthday nor birthplace for He was the unbegun One. He preceded all time. He had no beginning. This is better known as “His eternal preexistence.” Jesus said: “Before Abraham was, I am” John 8:58 I existed before Abraham was even born.” Paul spoke of this “He is before all things” Col 1:17 John spoke of this when he described Christ as the “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end” Revelation 1:8 Before this earth was created, Christ's life was filled with infinite glory and delight in the presence of the Father. (b) Then we have the CHRIST of the TRINITY. John writes: “and the Word was with God” (v. 1). Here we have Christ existing in the closest possible relationship with God, coequal with Him, A. He Is Eternally God – “In the beginning was the Word.” – B. He Is Equally God – The word translated “word” “logos”. It refers to “speech, reasoning, explanation, a word about something.” Jesus is the perfect expression of Who God is! The word “with” means “face to face, or toward”. This tells us that Jesus was “face to face” with God. In other words, that He is God’s equal. a little girl who said of the Holy Trinity: “Three in One, and One in three, and the One in the middle died for me.” C. He Is Essentially God – The statement “and the Word was God”, is the clearest statement of the deity of Jesus in the Bible. Not only is the Word co-eternal and co-equal with God; the Word is God! (c) we have the CHRIST of DEITY: “and the Word was God” (v. 1). Mind you, the Word did not become God for He always was God. John 14:9 “He that has seen me has seen the Father” John 10:30 “I and my Father are one” There you have Jesus' unmistakable claim that He is God. What Christ Became: “And the Word was made flesh” (John 1:14). Here we have the incarnation or “the enfleshment of God.” Now three times in the Bible we have mention of what Jesus became. John 1:14 He became MAN There you have the Incarnation. 2 Cor 5:21 He became SIN "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." There you have the Atonement. He became ALIVE (Col 2:13). And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;" There you have the Resurrection. He Who was God, the uncreated One, the unending One, the unbegun One, the Eternal Word, comes down to enwrap Himself in our sinful humanity. Here the Eternal has invaded the temporal. The Infinite has become finite. The Invisible has become visible. The Creator has become the creature. The One who was far off has now come near.

“made” in verse 14 must not be understood to believe that the Word ceased to be what He was before. God united His own divine nature with a true human nature, but there was absolutely no break in the essential oneness of His personality. He became not God and man, but the God-Man. There you have it - two natures in One personality. 2 Cor 5:19. “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself” I Tim 3:16. “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifest in the flesh” Philippians 2:6, 7 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: II. God came near to us in the PASSION of His SUFFERINGS. : “and dwelt among us” (v. 14). Christ “pitched His tent among us,” “He camped among us” or “He tabernacled among us.” Hebrews 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Here, was one who felt the pinch of poverty, the pang of hunger, the distress of pain, the sense of loneliness, the grief of disappointment, the agony of thirst, and the sting of death. As a man He got tired, He got hungry, He got thirsty, He got lonely, He was tempted, He was misunderstood, He was forsaken, and eventually, He was put to death on a cruel cross. Jesus experienced everything we will ever face. God's Love is like the Horizon 2 little girls who were standing on the deck of an ocean liner in mid-ocean looking out to sea. “Look at the horizon.” “What is the horizon? Where is it?” “See where the sea seems to meet the sky and the sky seems to meet the sea, that is the horizon, and when you get there, there is another one, III. God came near to us in the PURPOSE of His SALVATION. verse 14: “And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” “we beheld his glory” does not mean just a casual glance of the eyes. It has the idea of careful and deliberate scrutiny of what is before us. After careful observation, the Apostle John finally declares what is God's eternal purpose in sending His Son to this earth. Jesus Christ, the God-Man, came personally to reveal the grace of God to sinful man. John 1 v.17: “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” F. B. Meyer called grace the “key word of the incarnation.” 2 Cor 8:9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.