When God Became A Man

When God Became a Man

John 1:1-14

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The Son of God became the Son of Man, that the sons of men might become sons of God.

It's not the Gospel of John, it's the gospel of Jesus!

King Solomon stood in the lavish temple he had built and said,

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?

If God did dwell on the earth, what would He be like? What would He say? What would He do? This is the astounding theme of our text in John. God did indeed dwell on the earth...as a man...a human being!

The four gospels are not biographies. A biography has the idea of entirety, but the last verse of this book makes it clear that this is only a portion.

John 21:25

And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.

The gospels are not the full picture...they are snapshots from the life of Christ.

ill.--Pictures. Each is worth a thousand words, but pictures pale by comparison to the real thing. As amazing as the gospels are, someday we will see the real thing, and walk with Him and talk with Him and touch Him, and we will know everything which that unwritten, earth sized library of books could have imparted to us!

John stresses the prophecies of Christ in the OT, as well as types and symbols. These were old pictures John pulled out of the big book, which pointed to something which was to come later in the NT.

The entire Bible is about Jesus Christ...all of history is HIS story. He's on every page in types, symbols, and shadows. And the gospel of John explains the fulfillment of all of those in the person of Jesus.

Example: It is in John that we learn that Jesus IS the lamb from OT sacrifices. v. 29

Here is the theme of the entire Bible: It is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!

All the other lambs were leading up to this, they were just pictures of the perfect Lamb to come. Now there's no need to sacrifice literal lambs...they were only pictures of Christ, and once you have the fulfillment, you no longer need the 'type.'

It is John who tells us that Jesus is the ladder of the OT. v. 51

Jacob dreamed of a ladder stretched from earth to heaven, and angels went up and down...and now John clarifies that Jesus is that ladder, the only connection which exists between heaven and earth! Jesus is the only one who can take God by one hand and mankind by the other and bring them together in reconciliation!

It is John that tells us that Jesus is the temple of the OT. 2:19-22

Solomon's temple was made of gold, marble, and brass...magnificent... breathtakingly beautiful. And everything in that temple was a picture of Jesus, who was yet to come. Even the color schemes pictures aspects of His character and nature.

As you walk into the courtyard you pass by the brazen altar where the lamb would be slain -- a picture of the cross. You would come to the brazen laver, the water of the Word, and Jesus IS the Word! Inside the temple is the table of shewbread...Jesus, the bread of life. The golden lampstand...Jesus, the light of the world. The altar of incense...our High Priest, making intercession for us.

How can some read the OT and not see Jesus?

John tells us that Jesus is the brass serpent of the OT.

3:14-15

The people of God were being judged, and bitten by snakes, and God told Moses to put a brass snake on a pole and lift it up, and anyone who looks at it would be instantly healed. [This is why the AMA has the snake logo] Israel didn't have to clean up their act or do good works...just look and live! Same for us!

John says, Jesus is going to be lifted up, and you who have been bitten by the sins of the serpent Satan must look to Jesus on that cross, become the very image of sin for us and we will have eternal life!

John tells us that Jesus is the manna of the OT.

6:31-35

Everything about that manna, right down to its shape, size, and color, and consistency, was a picture of Jesus!

1. Jesus' Revelation

v. 1 Jesus is the Word.

Notice the last phrase: the Word WAS God. That verb is in a tense which means eternal existence. He always WAS God. He never BECAME God. He is the eternally existent one. Here He is merely revealed to us...that's why #1 is His Revelation.