Window To God Series

INTRODUCTION

Windows are an important part of a building. They allow the occupant to see what is going on in the world around them and it allows the world to peek in on and see what the occupant is doing.

Before we got our drapes, the neighbors used to tell us that they enjoyed watching us eat.

Businesses understand the importance of windows because it allows them to entice potential shoppers to come into their store and shop. A storeowner will spend a lot of time making sure that their main window looks appealing to people passing by. A window allows the chance to stop and look in and see what is there.

Throughout time man has sought ways to see God or to make a connection with Him. Throughout time man tried all sorts of ways to do it.

During man’s history, God has reached out to man because He loved man. God created Adam and Eve, and communicated with them, then they sinned and God caste them out of the garden.

God revealed a bit of Himself through Moses and the 10 Commandments.

During Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’s time God communicated with man through these men. Hebrews 1:1-3, the passage that Shirley opened our service with tells us that God has spoken to us through Jesus.

Mankind has longed to see God and connect with Him. This explains the reason that throughout history mankind has been religious. The emptiness that we experience and the inner desire to see God and connect with Him has driven mankind to be religious.

Today we are going to see that Jesus is the window to God. Though Jesus we can see the glory of God, through the window of Jesus we can see grace and truth in full and we can see the very essence of God through Jesus.

As you get to know Jesus, you will get to know the Father. Thought Jesus you will be able to see God and connect with Him.

SERMON

I. THROUGH THE WINDOW OF JESUS GOD REVEALS HIS GLORY. Verses 14-15

A. The world was able to see the glory of God through Jesus.

 The reason that the world was able to see the glory of God through the window of Jesus is because Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us.

 He literally pitched His tent to live among temporarily.

 This passage tells us that Jesus became flesh.

 S.D. Gordon (summarizing John 1:14) noted: "Jesus is God spelling Himself out in language that men can understand." Bruce Demarest, Jesus Christ, The God-Man, p. 41

 How many religions of the past and present try to cloak God in some way that you cannot understand Him? In the New Age movement, God is just a force, in Hinduism, God is something that cannot be seen.

 God made Himself easy to understand be sending Jesus to represent Him. People could not relate to the gods of Greece or Rome.

B. We beheld His glory.

 Beheld His glory.

 To behold does not mean to blindly stare at, but to contemplate, to learn by looking and observing. John writes to following in:

 1JO 1:1-2 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

 Moses saw the Glory of God; Isaiah saw the glory of God. Isaiah was so in awe of God that it changed his life.

 The Israelites who wandered in the wilderness saw a representation of the glory of God through the Shekinah cloud that lead them through the wilderness.

 When we see the glory of God, it should do something to us, it should change us, this is why reading God’s word is so important, we see the glory of God through Jesus, and Jesus is revealed to us in the Bible by eye witnesses such as John.

C. Glory

 Glory means splendor, majesty, that which brings honor and praise to someone.

 In the Old Testament God revealed Himself though the Shekinah cloud that lead the Israelites through the wilderness.

 God’s glory was so great that when Moses was with God on the mountain in Exodus 34:29 his face shone with God’s glory. The people were afraid to come near him. Moses had to cover his face when he spoke to the people.

 JOHN 2:11 This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him. The miracles that Jesus did brought glory to Him from the disciples.