The Person of Christ & His Incarnation

Transcript

GRM 1113
The Person of Christ and His Incarnation
John 1:1-18
12/14/13
Gil Rugh


We want to look at one of the very familiar passages relating to the person of Jesus Christ and His coming to the earth, the opening verses of the the Gospel of John. It's one of those passages that we come to often and often at the time of year when we remember the birth of Christ. It's a passage of great depth. It is amazing to me every time I come to this portion of the Word how much the Spirit of God revealed to John and guided him in unfolding in such a small section the great truths of Jesus Christ. And we never want to lose the wonder, what it means that the Son of God is born into the human race. That is a truth that is almost unfathomable to our human minds, that God will become a man. Not cease to be God but be fully man. That is unfolded for us in the opening verses of the Gospel of John. And we're only going to be able to look at a few of these verses in more detail and then highlight some of the others, just to crystallize in our thinking again the significance of what is being celebrated with the birth of Christ.

The opening verse of John, and John's Gospel will have an emphasis on the deity of Christ. We have recently been taken through a study of Mark with Greg and each Gospel has its own particular emphasis as it unfolds something of the earthly ministry of Christ, each of those Gospels building and climaxing with the death and resurrection of Christ to provide salvation for the world—the Gospel of Matthew presenting Christ as king, Mark presenting Him as a servant, Luke as man and John as God. And John opens up with that emphasis.

He calls Jesus the Word in verse 1. “ In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God”. The background for this title for Christ is in the Old Testament Scriptures as you might expect. John is a Jewish writer here, one of the apostles that followed Christ in His earthly ministry. He is drawing on the Old Testament background. A word is something that reveals. We'll say to someone, a penny for thoughts. We want them to put into words what they are thinking. That will enable us to know them better, to know what they are thinking. In the Old Testament God's Word is a means of revealing Himself, He reveals Himself by what He says, what He speaks. He accomplishes His purposes through His Word.

I jotted down a couple of verses. In Psalm 33:6 we read, “by the Word of the Lord the heavens were made.” We considered this in our study in Hebrews. By the Word of the Lord the heavens were made. The Lord said this happened, and it was good. God's Word has power, it accomplishes His purposes, it accomplishes His work. In “Psalm 107:20, He sent His Word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions.” Again, His Word accomplishes His work. It reveals God and it accomplishes the work of God. So it is a very fitting title to be used of the Son of God.

Turn over to Hebrews, where we have spent so much time recently, “Hebrews 1:1. God after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and many ways.” You see God spoke, He revealed His purposes, He revealed Himself, He revealed His work. In these last days he has spoken to us in a Son. So a greater, fuller, more complete revelation has been given now through the One who is the Son of God. God has spoken in the Son.

So come back to John 1. In the beginning was the Word, the One in whom God is revealing Himself more clearly and fully and finally than we have ever had before. This first verse of John is packed with great theological truth concerning Christ. The first statement is in the beginning was the Word. He is eternal. When you get to the beginning, the Word already was. The verb was here, in the Greek, is in the imperfect tense which denotes something continually going on in the past. By the time you get to the beginning the Word already was. I mean, He is there, He has been in the process of existing before there was a beginning. And what beginning are we talking about? “Genesis 1:1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Before that, all there was, was God, because He is not a created being. He is eternal. But when you get to the beginning, the Word already was, and as we'll see, because He's the One who brought into existence all that was created. So begins right off with that tremendous statement—in the beginning the Word already was. When you get to Genesis 1:1, Christ precedes that, emphasizing the fact He is eternal.

“The Word was with God.” Remarkable. Before there was creation, the Word, referring to Christ, existed and “the Word was with God.” So He is personally distinct from God, referring to the Father here as we'll see in a moment. That word which denotes a closeness, if you will, an intimacy of relationship. He was with God, ___________ God, the closeness there. But He is distinct from God. And yet the last statement is “the Word was God.” And we say, if He was with God, how can He be God? And we understand from the revelation of Scripture that God has given, what we have as a theological statement—there is one God eternally existing in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. All three persons are God; but they comprise one God. Well, I don't know that I understand that. I don't understand it either, but I believe it because it is true. I don't expect as a finite created being to be able to put my arms, my mind, my thinking and embrace completely with full understanding all that God is. But there is one God eternally existing in three persons.

So when it says, “in the beginning was the Word”, we are referring to the Son of God. He was with God the Father in the most intimate of relationship. And He was God. So clarify here, when you say He was with God does not mean He was anything less than God. But He is distinct from the Father, yet Himself is fully deity. Now those great statements are compressed in one statement as John opens His gospel. We sometimes talk about our serious study of Scripture and how important it is. Here is John the Apostle writing an account of the life of Christ and he opens up with a statement about Christ that has taken volumes as men have tried to unfold this truth and examine it in detail, that Christ was eternal. When you get to the beginning of creation, He was already existing. He was with the Father in a relationship of intimacy and He Himself was God. What great truths.

Then he goes back to the first statement again in “John 1:2, He was in the beginning with God.” He was in the beginning, He was with God. The first two statements are compressed in verse 1. He was in the beginning with God. Why does he go back to that? He wants to show, then, He was God because He was in the beginning with the Father, because He is going to be the person in the Godhead who brings everything else into existence. He is going to start creation. Before the beginning, Genesis 1:1, there were no angels. We'll see that in another reference in a moment. There was nothing but God. And the Word was in the beginning with God.

He was God, that's demonstrated in verse 3. He has brought everything else apart from God into existence. “All things came into being through Him.” All things—every individual thing in creation is a result of the creating work of the Word who was God. All things came into being. What do you mean by all things? I mean apart from Him nothing came into being that has come in to being. He is the creating God. One of the great passages that brings this emphasis to us is in the New Testament.

Come over to “Colossians 1:15, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” That word firstborn does not mean He was born, He had a beginning. He has priority over all creation, supremacy over all creation. He is the One who is the image of the invisible God. He is the person of the Godhead who reveals and manifests in a visible way the invisible God. “Colossians 1:16, For by Him all things were created, that includes things in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible.” That's why I said a few moments ago, that includes angels who dwell in the heavens. They would be invisible. Thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities. All levels of angels, Michael the archangel, Lucifer the anointed cherub covering the throne, all created by Him. All things have been created through Him, and note this, and for Him because all glory must come to God, all honor must come to God. And the Word was God.

So all things were created through Him. And the Father acting through the Son, it was accomplished and carried out by the Spirit who doesn't receive the emphasis, but nonetheless He is there. In Genesis 1 we read the Spirit of God moving over the creation at that point. The emphasis here, it was done through Christ.

He is before all things and in Him all things hold together. That is a consistent moment by moment, day by day. We talk about the laws of nature. If Christ stops sustaining everything, it will dissolve, collapse. We talk about, what will happen to the world in a thousand years if we don't do something. I know, and I'm not a scientist. But I know the God who created it and the God who holds it all together. That's why we are not flitting about from this to that and wringing hands and worrying. Because the One who is our Savior holds it all together. He created it and He sustains it. That assures that it will ultimately realize His intended purposes.

And then we were in Hebrews. These are three of the greatest Christological passages we might say in the New Testament—John 1, Colossians 1, Hebrews 1—for the material that they pack in about Christ and what they reveal concerning Him. There are others but these three stand out. Philippians 2 some might add to that.

Hebrews 1. In these last days, verse 2, “He has spoken to us in a Son whom He appointed heir of all things.” All things are for Him. He is the One who is the heir of all things. Through whom also He made the world, the ages and everything in them, you remember. And He is the radiance of His glory, the exact representation of His nature. He is God and so do you want to know about God? What God is like? Look at Christ. That's why He could say, he who has seen Me has seen the Father. Not because I am the Father, but because I am the exact representation of what the Father is in His very being. And He upholds all things by the word of His power. He upholds all things by the word of His power. Same thing as Colossians said, in Him all things hold together.

Some people wonder why Christians aren't in a panic. What are we going to do if an asteroid hits the earth and everything dissolves to nothing? Well, give me all your money and your house and I'll tell you how you can avoid that, because I know it's not going to happen. Why? Because I know the One who holds all things together. We don't live in a world, in a universe of random events, we live in the creation of the living God and He holds it all together and is moving it all towards His appointed climax and the time when all glory will be given to Him.

Come back to John 1. He is the creator, He is the One who brought life. And we're just going to summarize some of these statements. “John 1:4, in Him was life and the life was the light of men.” He is the creator, life comes from Him. It didn't evolve, beginning with some piece of salt or some pre-life form of life. Life came from the author of life, the creator. In Him was life and the life was the light of men. And I think he is talking about the work of creation here for all of us, all humanity. That's the focal point of life. Of course He created all life, animal life, but the real focal point in the Word here is on man, created in the image of God, unique and distinct from all other creation. We didn't evolve from another life form. We were created directly in the image of God. We got life from Him and that life is light. Contrast of light and darkness is a favorite one, both in John's Gospel and in the epistle of 1 John that will come later in our New Testament.

The life was the light of men. Light reveals. If we would, and I thought of doing it; but I thought it might create an unhealthy situation, turn all the lights off in here, there are no windows. That's so you can't look out and be distracted. It would be dark, you wouldn't see anything. What happens when the light comes on? We see. Now we know. If you went into a room that was perfectly dark, you wouldn't know anything about the room. And then you turned it on and you find out there are beautiful paintings and furnishings. You say, I didn't know they were here. Because light is revelation. God is light, you contrast with darkness, sin. So light is the knowledge of Him and so on.

The life that God gave when He created Adam, then Eve, they bear His image, they have life from Him, they know Him. To a certain extent, every human being does. That's why no matter where we have gone in the world and what kind of primitive, pagan, isolated tribe they've found, they have some kind of religion. Not worshiping the true and living God, but there is within man that awareness, that lights. And even though because of sin it flickers, but it is there. And that life is the light. That's why man can have a relationship with the living God, but a dog can't, other life can't. But we can.

Turn over to “Acts 3:15. Verse 14 for the sentence, but you disowned the holy and righteous One. You asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and put to death the prince of life, the author of life, the One whom God raised from the dead.” Who Jesus Christ is, He is the author of life. The horror of their sin—the creator, the author of life, and you killed Him.

Turn over to Acts 17. In Acts 17 Paul is addressing the intellectual people at Mars Hill in Athens. Verse 27 talks about God, extended sentence here. Verse 28 says, for in Him, referring to God, we live and move and exist, we are, have our being, even as some of your own poets have said, for we are His children. Not that we belong to Him as redeemed beings, but all humanity is a result of the creating work of God. So even their pagan poets have said that in Him we live, move and are. Even though they didn't know the true and living God, that flicker of light that they knew within their being that there is a God, a sovereign being. But they were ignorant of the true and living God. We are His children, we are His creation. So Paul picks that up as the point. Yes, even your poets understand there is a sovereign God and all our activities take place in the context of Him. But I want to tell you who He is, the One that they worship in ignorance, he will now tell them about.

Come back to John 1. So this One who created life, and that life was light is called the light. “John 1: 5, The light shines in the darkness, the darkness did not comprehend it.” [or overcome it.] So Christ is the life and the life that He created is light. And He came as the fullness of light to reveal the Father that men only know as these pagan poets did, and Athenians as we saw in Acts 17, that there is a God. They have light from being created in the image of God flickering there, but they are worshiping in ignorance. Well, the God who created them, created life in them, created them in the image of God; That One who is the fullness of light is now present, he says in verse 5, shines in the darkness. And the darkness did not comprehend it. And this contrast between light and darkness which is so often used by John, the darkness refers to sin and evil. The light is the revelation of God and the truth that is found in Him.
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Turn over to “John 3:19, this is judgment, that the light has come into the world,” referring to Christ. He is the fullness of revealing God and making Him known. Jesus said, he who has seen Me has seen the Father. The fullness of light of making God known. Light has come into the world. “John 3:19&20, Men loved the darkness rather than the light for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the light.” Men reject Christ, the truth revealed in Him concerning God because they love their sin, they love their wickedness. So they reject the light. That's what happened as Christ was present on the earth.

Light has come into the world and it continued. He came into the world as light. This was God's revelation to the world, and we are testimony to that. We are 2,000 years later, many miles removed from the land of Israel, but the light of the Son of God has shone in our hearts. As Paul talked to the Corinthians, the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, that light who walked this earth was rejected and crucified, the light who was the author of life rejected.
Jesus spoke to them saying in “John 8:12, I am the light of the world. He who follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” He'll bring true salvation to them, spiritual life. He'll take them from their spiritual death and bring them to spiritual life. I am the light of the world. The only salvation is found in this One who is God in the flesh, as we'll see.

One more passage on this before we go back to John 1:1. “John 12:35, Jesus said to them, for a little while longer the light is among you. Walk while you have the light so the darkness will not overtake you.” That word overtake, incidentally, is the same word back in John 1:5, the darkness did not comprehend it or overpower. This may indicate what it means back there, it's a word that can have a little different shade of meaning. But here it has to mean overtake or overpower, that's probably what it means in John 1:5. The darkness will not overtake you. He who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. While you have the light, believe in the light so you may become sons of light. You see to enter into a new, real, full relationship with the living God by coming to the light, you must come to Christ. In “John 14:6, Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but by Me.”

There is a lot of talk today about the great monotheistic faiths, as though Christians and Muslims have a lot in common—both believe in one God. Meaning what? It's what you believe about the One who is the revelation of the only God that determines whether you know Him and His salvation or not.

While you have the light, believe in the light. He is no longer walking the earth. The light is present in the message concerning Him. The light of the Gospel shines in the darkened hearts when they believe in the truth concerning Christ.

Come back to John 1. He brings in John the Baptist here in verse 6. “There came a man from God whose name was John.” Why does he do that? Because he's going to bring in the earthly life of the One who is God, and the One who will introduce the Son of God to the world is none other than John the Baptist. So when it says there came a man from God whose name was John, it's not the same John who wrote this Gospel that we're studying. That was John the Apostle. The John here is John the Baptist.

He came as a witness to testify about the light so that all may believe through Him. He was not the light but he came to testify about the light. So John's role was to come and tell people about Jesus Christ. Remember when he introduced him to the nation? That will be recorded in “John 1:29, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” He was not the light but he came to testify regarding the light. There was the true light which coming into the world enlightens every man. When He came into the world, He came as light to the world. That does not mean everyone has believed in Him. Everyone knew who He was. That old spiritual, we didn't know who you was, they didn't, they reject Him. We saw that—men love darkness rather than light. But the light is there. But you have people who say, I won't look, I don't want anything to do with the light. Turn the light off. Like you tell someone who comes into a room when you are trying to sleep, turn the light off. That's the way the world is—I don't want the light, I don't want the light, I don't see any light, no light here. That's the way they are.
But He was the true light and He is the light that when He comes into the world enlightens every man. Again, not that every man comes to believe. But He comes into the world as light to the world. You can't escape Christ, you cannot escape Christ. You can refuse to believe in Him; but some day you will stand before Him to be judged and sentenced to your eternal destiny. You can't avoid dealing with God, you cannot avoid dealing with the Son of God. He will be the judge of all men. John will talk about that in John 5.

He was in the world, the world was made through Him, the world did not know Him. So there is going to be a development here. He was in the world, the world was made through Him, the world did not know Him. Isn't that amazing? Here is the creator walking this earth and the world didn't recognize Him. He came to His own and those who were His own did not receive Him. This moves along a step. Now we move from the world to a particular group in the world, the Jews. They were Christ's own people, He was born a Jew. You have something of His lineage, genealogy recorded in Matthew and in Luke. There is no genealogy recorded in John; because John's focus is on His deity and God has no genealogy. But the reality of God becoming a man is unfolded here.

He came to His own, the Jewish people, they didn't receive Him. The world didn't know Him, the Jews wouldn't receive Him. But as many as received Him, now we narrow it down from the world, to the Jews, to believers. Those who received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name. What a statement. The One who created everything, the One who dwelt in eternity in the most intimate relationship with God the Father, the One who Himself was God, again the One who created everything—to those who received Him, He gave the right to become children of God. Now think about that—children of God, those who belong to God as His own who have God as their Father watching over them, providing for them, caring for them, preparing them for the glory that He promises them. That's for those who receive Him, which means the same thing, the end of verse 12, to those who believe in His name—who He is, that He is everything that Scripture says He is, that He has accomplished everything that Scripture says He has accomplished.

There are some things I don't understand, there are many things I don't understand. The more I study the Word of God, the more I realize there is much more that I don't understand than I realized I didn't understand. But I do understand and know this, that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. He suffered and died to pay the penalty for sin, and He promised if I will place my faith in Him, He will cleanse me from my sin and give me the right to be called a child of God. I am sure, and I have claimed that for my own as many of you have.

These are people who were born, not of blood, it's not just some physical lineage. The Jews thought, we're born Jews, like we talk about today, they are our flesh and blood or in royalty they talk about being blueblood. What is the line? Well, being of a certain lineage doesn't do it. They were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh. This is not something that human beings can carry out on their own. I can't make my children, my grandchildren become believers in Jesus Christ. I cannot accomplish that, you cannot accomplish that. But we're born of God, that's a sovereign work of God. He graciously causes the new birth, which Jesus will get into when He talks to Nicodemus in John 3. You must be born again. If you are not born again, you will never see the kingdom of God. If you're not going to the kingdom, you're going to an eternal hell. There are only two options in eternal destiny—the kingdom, ultimately the heaven on earth where the throne of God will dwell on a new earth along with a new heaven. You have to be born of God to become a child of God.

That overview.

Then we come to verse 14, and verse 14 really connects back to verse 1. So let's go back and read verse 1. “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Verse 14, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.” So he has elaborated in verses 2-13 but really the connection here, and these first 18 verses, they'll be unfolded through the rest of the Gospel of John to help understand these great truths. But the amazing thing is the One who was in the beginning, the One who was with God the Father, the One who was God Himself, verse 14, He became flesh. You know that is to me one of the most awesome and almost unfathomable truths in all Scripture. I mean, I can grasp some things, that the eternal God could create everything, that the eternal God can control everything, that He rules over all. But that the One who is the eternal God, the creator of everything could become flesh, physical, he's clear here, it's not just some kind of veneer, some kind of docetic appearance. He became flesh and dwelt among us, John says. How does the eternal God, the One who has dwelt in eternity as Micah the prophet prophesied, the One to be born in Bethlehem is the One who has dwelt in eternity, the creator of All. God became flesh. Now you have one person, the Son of God, the second person of the triune Godhead who Himself is God, can never cease to be God, and all that God is becomes fully human. We don't have two persons, we have one person with a divine nature and a human nature.

The Board of Elders has been talking about this recently and interacting about it, reading articles. I have to say the more I read, the more I study on this, the more in awe I am of this fact. What we are talking about with the birth of Christ at Bethlehem is the birth of the One who has dwelt in eternity. How can He become fully human? And He can't cease being fully God because one of the characteristics of God is He is eternal, He is immutable, unchanging. He is fully God and fully man.

And He dwelt among us, John could write. And you have in your margin, that word to dwell is the word that means to tabernacle. And probably drawing the Jewish attention back to the Old Testament because remember what happened in the tabernacle when the glory of God's presence would descend there? God's glory was manifested in that tabernacle. Now we have the glory of God tabernacling, dwelling in a human body. “Colossians 2:9 says, all the fullness of deity dwelt in Him in bodily form.” I do not understand it, and the more I study about it, I'm losing ground. I was doing better a couple of months ago before we started studying it more. Now I feel like I'm sliding backwards because the more I read, the more I study, the more I realize how little I know. How do I explain the God/Man? The theoanthropic union is the theological way we usually express it, from theos, God, and anthropos, man—the theoanthropic union, the God/Man union that is one person, fully God and fully man. Now He is walking the earth and most of the people who come in contact with Him don't know who He is. How can you mistake the creator of all? The eternal God? But they are going to crucify Him, they are going to put the author of life to death. Amazing.

John says, we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. We saw His glory. And again He tabernacled among us, we saw His glory, the glory of the presence, the shekinah in the Old Testament as we refer to it. Now here it is. All the fullness of deity, all that makes God; God is here dwelling in a human body. And we beheld His glory. Now you think, if you're going to write this and you say God is going to come to earth and be present as a man, you won't mistake Him, you won't miss Him. But they do.

Turn over to John 2. What does it mean they saw His glory? Because obviously He is not being manifested as He was prior to the incarnation. I spent some time in preceding weeks studying Isaiah 6, and in Isaiah 6 you have Isaiah saw the Lord sitting upon His throne lofty and exalted. And the train of His robe filled the temple. And the seraphim cry out holy, holy, holy. John 12 tells us that was the pre-incarnate Christ; that Isaiah was writing about Christ. Well obviously that is not the way He is seen when He is walking the earth, but there is manifestation and evidences of His glory as God, if people will see it.

Look at John 2:11. This is the result of the first miracle Christ performs, the turning of water to wine at the wedding feast. Verse 11 summarizes it, this is the beginning of His signs. That word signs is John's favorite word for the miracles that Christ did because they are evidences, demonstrations of who He is. This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested His glory. So in these miracles is a revelation of the glory that is His, that is contained there. His disciples believed in Him. Amazing, it's just like here. You can hear the message of Christ. For some of you the glory of the Gospel has shone in your hearts and it's clear and it's full, it's beautiful, it's attractive. For others it's what time is it? How long until we're done? I have things to do and things on my mind. And came because my husband wanted me to come, my wife wanted me to come. I came because we are visiting relatives. Whatever. Same thing. We have people there who saw the miracle and it just goes right on by. They didn't see the glory. But the glory is being revealed and manifested. John said, we saw it, we saw it right here, we believed in Him. That becomes key in this whole understanding and appreciation of God's glory and . . .

Come back to “John 17:1, Jesus spoke these things. Lifting up His eyes to heaven He said, Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.” So this mutual, bringing glory within the Godhead to one another—the Son glorifying the Father, the Father glorifying the Son. “John 17:3 -4, This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on the earth, having accomplished the work which you've given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with yourself with the glory I had with you before the world was.” Remember? When we get to the beginning, the Word already was and He had been dwelling in eternity in glory, the glory of God—God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. But that glory is veiled, if you will, not manifested for all to see. But the disciples caught a glimpse of it from time to time. They saw it because they believed.

John after the ascension of Christ will see Christ after His resurrection and ascension to heaven. And in Revelation 1 it's altogether different. At the Last Supper you'll remember John, the writer of this Gospel, is reclining on the chest of Christ at the meal, talking to Him. But when he sees Him in His resurrected glory in Revelation 1, he falls down as a dead man. He is overwhelmed with the glory. Now Christ has been restored to the glory He had before the creation. Awesome that this glorious God could be found in a human body and that human body contains, if you will, God. But God's glory is not manifested with its fullness, but it is manifested. Those who believe it see it.
Just like today, when those who hear and believe the Gospel of the glory of Christ, they see it, they understand it, the reality of it comes to them.

Come down to verse 24. Father, I desire that they also whom you have given Me be with Me where I am so that they may see My glory. So you see they have seen something of His glory, but they haven't seen His glory. What they saw is a revelation of His glory, but they haven't seen anything yet. I want them to be with Me in your presence, then they will see the fullness of His glory. That they may see My glory which you have given Me. And I think that better there would be those you have given Me. In other words He is repeating. I desire that they also whom you have given Me be with Me where I am, that they may see My glory, those whom you have given Me. For you loved Me before the foundation of the world. The Father and the Son have an eternal relationship that precedes creation. Now in some remarkable way when Christ became a Man He stepped from the glorious presence of the Father, veiled that glory with humanity. He didn't cease to be fully deity, but became fully man, so that He could die on the cross as the God/Man and provide redemption.

Stop at 2 Corinthians 3:18. Talks about when people hear the truth concerning Christ, particularly the Jews in the context, but there is a veil over their eyes. The truth is so clear but it's like you put a bag on your head—doesn't matter how beautiful and clear the picture you are, we have beautiful pictures out here in the building but if you put a bag over your head, you don't see the beauty of it. That's why here is the beauty of the truth concerning Christ. And it's like people have a veil over their head.

“2 Corinthians 3:16, whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” “Verse 18, but we all with unveiled face, we as believers in Christ, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord.” We are still beholding that glory. Now we are looking, the truth revealed here. And this is like a mirror. As a believer you read the Word and sometimes it just seems that you are overwhelmed with the beauty of the truth of God that is presented here, the truth concerning the person and work of Christ. We are being transformed into the same glory from image to image, just as from the Lord the Spirit. This is the sovereign work of God. He has caused us to be born again, now He is maturing us from glory to glory.

Look at me, you even have the big screen, don't I look much more glorious than last week? You understand I'm going from glory to glory. You might not notice the improvement, we don't. Why? It's inner. As Paul said in”2 Corinthians, the end of chapter 4, though our outer man is decaying, our inner man is being renewed day by day.” So you see, we are beholding in the mirror of the Word, the truths concerning Christ. We believe in Him, we see them and we are to be molded and shaped, conformed to His glory. We are not becoming God, but we are the children of God, we are partakers of the divine nature. We belong to Him and we are becoming like Him in that His character is being produced in us.

Back to “John 1:18, no one has seen God at any time, the only begotten Son who is God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” That's a summary. No one has seen God the Father at any time. The only begotten Son who is God, that's the sense of this, who is in the bosom of the Father, that position now of greatest intimacy. Remember, He was with God, verse 1, now He is in the bosom of the Father, that closest, most intimate relationship. He's the One who has exegeted the Father. That word explains, we get the English word, exegete, from the Greek word. He has explained Him, made Him known. That's why Jesus could say, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me. I mean, how could you come to the Father without coming to the Son? The Son is in the bosom of the Father, they are in the most intimate, closest relationship. He that has the Son has the Father. There is one God eternally existing in three persons.

A familiar passage to us who have been believers for a while. We never want to lose the awe and wonder of what it means, “Christ was born at Bethlehem.” God has become a man and through eternity He will be the God/Man. His humanity has been glorified, His deity is now revealed with the fullness of His glory. But the remarkable event that occurred there was true. For those few years, the creator walked the earth. But He was rejected. We say, how could they do that? But here we have the revelation of the truth concerning Him.

How many people continue to choose to live in darkness, put a bag over their head? I won't see it, I don't want to hear it, I'm not impressed by it. Humbling thing to come and realize, yes, I am a sinner and God became man so that I could be redeemed, cleansed, forgiven, and have the right to be called a child of God.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your Son and your plan determined in eternity that He would leave the glories of your presence, take to Himself the fullness of humanity and thus all the fullness of deity would dwell in a human body. Lord, so much is beyond our finite minds, but the wonder of this glorious truth and its purpose so that He, the author of life, might die and in His death and resurrection provide life. Thank you for the privilege of believing in Him and living in the light. We pray in His name, amen.