Hello everyone! Welcome back to our Christmas series What Child Is This? where we take a look at the Child who was born over two thousand years ago with the purpose of redeeming humanity through his life and death on the cross.
Today we will look at John 1 and learn about the great miracle of the Incarnation.
Let's read the passage for today and outline four points from our text.
In the Beginning, the Word
John 1:1-18
1. The Word is God. Christ is the Word. Christ is God.
The beginning of the Gospel of John is interesting in that it starts before the creation, in eternity past. Unlike the other Gospel accounts, which begin with the birth of Jesus or the start of John the Baptist’s ministry, the Gospel of John begins with “In the beginning,” as if it was the account of God’s creation.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.
It is important to note that, not only was the Word with God, but also was God.
3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
All that exists, exists because this Word, that is, God, created it. There does not exist something outside of what God has created.
Genesis tells us that, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. This implies that the Word (God) created it. If Christ is the Word, then He is God. This automatically disproves any claim that would say otherwise, and is essential to our Christology.
Why is this essential? The deity of Christ is perhaps the most, if not one of the most, important doctrines of the Christian faith.
- If Christ is not God, then we cannot, and should not, be worshipping Him, as it would be a severe disobedience against the first commandment in Exodus 20:3, “You shall have no other gods before Me.”
- If Christ is not God, then He is a liar (and I hate to even say that hypothetically) and would not have been raised from the dead. God the Father vindicated Jesus Christ’s claim to be God by raising Him from the dead.
- If Christ is not God, then Christians are the most to be pitied, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:16–20: 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. 20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Christ has been raised from the dead, and that is why, through Him, though we were dead, we are resurrected into an abundant life.
2. The Word is the Light and the Life.
John 1:4–9
4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the Light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the Light, but he came to bear witness about the Light.
There is quite a bit to tread through here, but we will do so briefly.
Jesus Christ is the Word which was in the beginning. The Word was God. Jesus Christ is the Word. In the Word was the life (verse 4). The life is the light of men (verse 4). The Light, the Life, and the Word are the same being.
The Word has the life and is the light of men. Through Him are all things, and both our physical and spiritual life are sustained in Him.
His light shines on the darkness of mankind to reveal our sin. But not only does He reveal it, He is the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world, and only those who believe in Him can have their sins forgiven and have His life and His light.
Jesus being the Light also points to a mystery that is veiled in the Old Testament, but revealed in the New Testament, in the life of Jesus. We will analyze this in verse 10, but we will start with verse 9.
9 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens everyone.
The Light was coming into the world. The Light was in the beginning, but had not come into the world. He created the world, but had not come into the world.
3. The Mystery of Christ
John 1:10
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
The world did not know Him because He had not yet come into the world (verse 9).
The world did not know Him, but the Old Testament had prophesied about Him.
Additionally, there are several appearances of the pre-incarnate Christ in the Old Testament, such as when He spoke with Abraham in Genesis 18:1–2:
1 Then Yahweh appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. 2 And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself to the ground.
No one has seen the Father. God is Spirit, and we cannot see Him with our eyes. No one has seen God the Father, but Jesus Christ has made Him known. In this example from Genesis, the Bible says that Yahweh appeared to Abraham. Yahweh is the divine name of God (I AM), and Jesus is the only way for us to see God (John 14).
Who Abraham saw was the pre-incarnate Christ who appeared before him. This type of appearance is what theologians refer to as a theophany or Christophany.
Though there are many passages in the Old Testament narrating a Christophany, the Old Testament saints would not have been able to comprehend the full extent of the identity of Jesus Christ and what His true mission would be when He entered the world through a virgin.
Colossians 1:25–26
Regardless, when He did come, though He is the image of the invisible God, the Jews, to whom were given the prophecies of His coming, rejected their Messiah.
John 1:11
He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.
This is a blessing for those of us who are Gentiles. While we are not descendants of Abraham by blood, we are Abraham’s offspring through faith in Jesus Christ.
Galatians 3:7–9
John 1:12–13
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Anyone who is sincere and truly believes in Jesus Christ for salvation has the right to be called a “child of God.” This is the mystery that Paul refers to in Colossians. The Jews believed that they were the only ones who deserved God’s blessings and promises. But in Christ, all who believe are redeemed from sin and birthed into a new life.
Those who indeed do believe in Jesus Christ believe, not of themselves (not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man), but of God. God puts it in them to believe.
4. The Word Dwelt Among Us
John 1:14
14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The Word became flesh. The Word, who created all things, became flesh.
He is the Light and came into the world.
The way He came into the world is by becoming flesh and being born from a virgin.
Through Jesus Christ, the Word who was in the beginning, we are able to know God—because Jesus Christ is God. He is the Word that became flesh. This is why we call His conception and birth “the Incarnation.” Incarnation comes from the Latin word incarnatio, which literally translates to in meat or into flesh. He dwelt among us and showed us the Father through His life.
Again, He is the image of the invisible God.
Final Thoughts
Though John provides us with a deep and profound revelation of Christ as the Word who became flesh, the image of a child in a manger might cause one to diminish and not properly comprehend nor appreciate the grandness of the miracle of the incarnation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
What we see in John 1 is the writing of the Apostle John who is reflecting on the person of Jesus retrospectively, having been a part of Jesus’ life and ministry, and being called as one of the twelve apostles. However, Joseph and Mary would only have the writings of the Old Testament as a reference. So, how could they know more about who this child was and would be?
It is interesting that John writes (in John 1:18), "No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him."
Nobody has ever seen God (the Father), but Jesus Christ, the Word, who is God (the Son) has made Him known.
Therefore, to know who the Son is, we should understand who the Father is, and we will take a look at that in our next post as we study Isaiah 6.
For Reflection
How does the truth that "the Eternal Word became flesh" shape the way I worship and trust Christ today?
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