THE GLORY OF JESUS, GOD INCARNATE

John 1:1-5,14

Key Verse: 1:14

THE GLORY OF JESUS_John1_DavidGates

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

This week’s Bible passage is some of the most amazing, but difficult verses to consider. If we read them very simply, with an open mind and fresh conscience, they are full of awe and wonder. Scholars who write about them share mountains of testimony and theological discussions about intricate meaning for the original words to encourage us, no matter how much we learn we end up awe-struck by the scope of the concepts every time. It is understandable considering the subjects described in just a few sentences. There is the origin of everything, overshadowed by the mysterious revelation of the creator interacting with and purposefully entering the creation to provide for and intervene for his creatures. Summing up the vast and unthinkable scope of it all, John testified, “We have seen his glory…” describing what he saw as full of grace and truth. I pray we may experience God’s amazing grace while considering the truth of his glory revealed in Christ according to the passage.

Look at verse 1. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” It starts with the same words as the Hebrew Bible, so it instantly connects the reader to the creation of the universe, and opens our mind to infinite wonder. There are so many assumptions about the beginning of the universe and competing theories. But God only provided a few sentences in the Bible to help us wonder about it. While Genesis was written first, to explain the physical creation of the heavens and the earth, and God’s spirit mingling with them, what John wrote actually came first. John brings up “the word” which is not described as being created in Genesis. He says the word already existed in the most surprising way. It was with God and was God. That is philosophically hard to process. We are here together with each other, but we are not each other. It is quite difficult to find an example to help understand this phenomenon, since it reveals an interdimensional being whose word is not just a thought or idea being communicated.

We use words to express ideas and our communication, but we don’t think of our words being with us or being us. We just share our thoughts, or maybe write a text message or even a book, an enduring poem or movie script or hit song. Such words can move our hearts and shape our culture and define our generation. But we don’t see much beyond the things our words eventually create. John’s saying, “… the word was with God and was God” conveys that everything God was in essence, the Word was too. This points to unity of essence between the two things mentioned, God and the word. They are one and the same, even though they seem to exist side-by-side. I wish it described the word as a sort of spiritual ntity, because it may seem tangible, like God’s spirit hovering over the waters in Genesis. But a word is hard to imagine with or physically affecting things, and yet “the word” that was God does seem to have the ability to physically affect things in the beginning and come to some people in a few places in the Bible.

One Bible study question asked about the glory revealed in verse 1. After thinking about it for a while, it must mean God’s eternal glory, ever existing and always there. Most likely Jesus had the same glory in mind when he prayed, asking God to glorify him again just before he died. Seeing Jesus’ hope to have his glory restored, provides us with a unique hope, that we may experience eternity, sharing the glory Jesus has when we move on from our seedy bodies.

Look at Verse 2. It says, “He was with God in the beginning.” This refers to “the word” with a humanlike reference, “he.” It makes one

wonder if “he” in verse two had any special connection to humans at that time or just the mysterious unity with God, having all essence in common, yet existing separately and together at the same time. I think John is leading up to something. Writing like that, John seems unable to avoid implying that he is writing this gospel about a person, even though the word was an entity that existed without a human body.

Let’s read verse 3. “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” This reveals a very glorious

secret about the word. He was the agent by which everything that exists came about.  The word was very powerful. We humans can do many things and seem to break world records over and over throughout history. We celebrate and glorify the humans who thrill and entertain us with amazing accomplishments. But the word is infinitely glorious, in creativity an ability so John says nothing was made without him. In Genesis chapter one the work is described by various expressions like “God said … and it was so.” That glimpse of the word at work shows that he was the mechanism, as well as the main actor in the creation of all things. This is profound and beyond any explanation by physics or philosophy. Those require a medium for words to work like sound going through the air or ideas expressed by some readable format. But the word that was god created everything when there was nothing. We may try to imagine the glorious authority, power and creative planning the word implemented in the beginning. But we can’t really trust our imagination to correctly describe the word at work. At the end of the day the Bible says well about this phenomenon in Hebrews 11. It says “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” Understanding how the word created things according to God’s plan may not be as important as we think, but accepting the fact by faith is humbling and yet empowering. It is right for created things to acknowledge their creator’s ability and respect their creator’s authority and subject themselves to the creator’s will. If we worship and adore mere people who wowed us with a pop song or amazed us with some invention or incredible talent, how much more worthy of our praise is the one who created everything and made us in his image? Ignoring or denying the creator’s work is a bad sin and living that way risks cutting us off from God in eternity. But returning adoration where it is due transforms sinners into worshippers and makes them ready for eternal life. Consider this description of the process that Paul shared in 2 Corinthians 3:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Let’s read verse 4 together. “4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men.” This verse ascribes the source of life to the word along with his creation power and responsibility. In regard to understanding the glory revealed in the passage, the first phrase about having life elevates “the Word’s” glory to the highest level. Without life, the universe as we know it is just a lot of dust and some reactions in various branches of chemistry and physics. The world and other created things look pretty but get boring very fast without living things to inhabit the world and make it interactive. Modern people can compare the universe without life to the smart phone with a dead battery. It looks very nice but so boring without electricity. Like that, all things that were made are boring and meaningless if there is no life and living things to appreciate what God has made. Like the phone needs a charge to be useful, so the creation needs the Word to come alive so the creatures might enjoy all things our creator brought into being. This is just the simplest view of the glory expressed in the first part. The translator’s notes share another dimension, implying by gospel context that the life in the word might mean more than making things alive. The notes say John uses the word “life” ζωή (zōē) 36 times: 17 times it occurs with a word for everlasting or eternal, αἰώνιος

(aiōnios), and in the remaining occurrences outside the prologue it is clear from context that “eternal” life is meant. The two uses in 1:4, if they do not refer to “eternal” life, would be the only exceptions. (Also 1 John uses ζωή 13 times, always of “eternal” life.) There are two examples below the translators notes. Theologically speaking, there is a high probability that the life in the word is not just the temporary existence of living things, especially as it relates to mankind. This is further emphasized by the description of that life interacting with mankind in the second part. It says, “that life was the light of men.” We know light is important to almost all living things on our planet. I thought some creatures living in the ground or at the bottom of the ocean seem to survive without light. But every article I could find indicates everything on earth is dependent on light from the sun. Without it everything alive would die by lack of nutrition or eventually freeze solid. Even the atmosphere would evaporate into space leaving earth a freeze-dried dust ball. In a similar way, John seems to imply that without light from the word, mankind has no hope of something that

lasts, specifically a more amazing, eternal life. If this assumption is true, the light that gives us such life is very unique. Knowing it was God and was with God, we can believe that “light of life” should never go out like our phone battery dying or even the sun burning out. Simply based on the illustrative expression in verse 4 about light of men, in theory, it should not be hard for anyone to take hold of eternal life, since light is so abundant. But there is a disappointing reality described in the next verse.

Let’s read verse 5. “The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” What a sad situation it paints of the world. God has been shining a light in the darkness ever since the beginning, but the darkness could not understand. It is a very boiled down description of a lost world that idolized the things of the world when they had to worship God who created the world. But most disappointing was their attitude toward his word. It was the source of eternal life for them, but they disregarded it every time, beginning in the garden of eden.  They did not listen when Noah warned them of a flood. They ignored God’s plan when they stayed in one place to build a tower to heaven. Later on, Israelites whom God gave many promising words, were constantly going their own way and spiritually up and down for many, many generations when they did not listen to God’s word. The darkest might be the ones who killed the son of God, thinking ridiculously, like the tenant farmers who sought to take over the vineyard by murdering the owner’s son. In this kind of darkness analogy, everyone found disregarding the word that can provide them eternal life, might compare well to the worms and bacteria and sea creatures living without light, never realizing the the light of the sun is ultimately keeping them alive. 

Paul had a similar view, expressed in Romans 1:20-21. “20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. We might see around us many darkened hearts thanklessly existing and ignoring God in favor of their humanistic and sinful desires, and following all manner of blind guides along the wide road that leads to destruction. Paul has advice for God’s people in Ephesians that speaks to the society context in verse 5.

5:11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14 for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Thank God for the global leader forum servants, shining like the stars as they turn away from darkness, praying for their friends and classmates and encouraging one another with spiritual fellowship. Pray for over 2000 souls planning to attend His glory conference to realize his glory and experience his kingdom coming. May they all find a pearl of great price and treasures in the field of Illinois.

The Bible study oddly skipped over several verses to end with verse 14. It mentions “his glory” so I think the idea was to stay focused on that, since it is the theme of the upcoming International Bible conference. Let’s read verse 14 together. “14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” The first part reveals the most difficult concept of the word becoming flesh. It is referring to Jesus, the son of God metamorphosing from “the word” that was with God in the beginning into a human being. In considering such transformations, most humans preferred to think of fleshy people changing to something better when their spirits move on to another realm. There were also some legends of spiritual beings that interacted with mortal beings, sometimes even bearing children. But overall, I think the idea of a superior creator transforming the other way is very rare. The word did not just bounce in from the heavenly realms in a disguise and go back to its metaphysical existence after a visit. When the word became a human being, he was born into the world like the rest of us. It does not seem glorious, but rather humiliating. He was not treated very well either by the world as we know. John said his own did not receive him. Even though he did many, many good things among them, they executed him. It is the greatest tragedy, and yet John saw his glory. His understanding of Jesus was very different from the lost world point of view.

According to the translator notes, the important thing to know is the son of God was a very special, one of a kind, being. It is why Bibles like this one call him the one and only. There was no other person like him who came from God, and was God with us. He was the only person who ever lived without sin, doing everything that pleased God. Paul called him the last Adam, a life-giving spirit, who offered himself in obedience to God as a sacrifice to make atonement for crooked sinners. Try to imagine a man who perfectly lived up to God’s hope and obeyed God’s word from beginning to end. It is the greatest accomplishment, highest achievement and most glorious victory ever.

There are some other ways that the word which became flesh revealed his glory. Hebrews chapter 1:3 says, he “ is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” Later it explains that he was the only person who could intervene on behalf of others with his own blood, so he was appointed a priest forever and ruler over everything in creation.

John saw God’s glorious grace in Christ while living among the disciples, helping everyone that came to him in miraculous ways and sharing the truth about corrupt society and the kingdom of God as it began to grow. John was there when the glory of God shone in Jesus’ transfigured appearance as it did through Moses on Mount Sinai.

John shared controversial, challenging and graceful truths that Jesus taught the people. God was seeking worshippers from all over the world and that any sinner may be born again as a child of God by the spirit. John many of Jesus’ sayings which reveal his glory in truth most perfectly. I am the light of the world. I am the way and the truth and the life. I am the bread of life. I am the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.  I am the resurrection and the life. I am the vine and you are the branches … remain in me and you will bear much fruit. Jesus counseled John how to be kind and friendly toward others even love his fellow disciples and gentiles from all over the world. John saw Jesus’ most glorious victory over death when he met the risen Christ and understood the reality that the way to eternal life was ready and accessible in Christ. John even got a glimpse of heaven and wrote astounding scenes of his glory in there, many truths about the churches and hints about the work of God going on behind the scenes.

These are a short list of some high profile ways that Jesus revealed his glory, full of grace and truth, during John’s lifetime. John wrote many more details in his gospel but had to say at the very end, if all the things Jesus did were written down, “even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” In his gospel chapter 20v30-31 he wrote, “30 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

Let’s read the key verse one more time. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. Thank you heavenly father for granting these revelations and wisdom to your servant John. Thank you for the word that give eternal life, made flesh among us to serve a lost world with his life so that we may have life in him. Thank you for showing us his glory through the eyes of your apostles and the words you gave us in the Bible. Help us see and experience his glory by reading John’s gospel and receive Jesus the savior and Lord by faith ,so that we may have life in his name. In his name we pray, amen.