The Incarnate Deity - John 1 Vs 14-15

Good morning, everyone Good to see everyone on this almost

Christmast Eve Hope you guys are having a good Sunday, but another

Sunday nonetheless to praise God We'll start with some announcements today

First two will be the fact that there is no prayer meeting this Sunday and There will also be no other continuation of Bible study until next year in January 15th

Next we have missionary of the month, which is Darcy Berglund She serves with ethnos 360 in Indonesia She works as a

Bible translator there So just pray that her efforts within the ministry that we support are fruitful and that they have an internal impact on those of which

That they encounter Next we have baptism Sunday on December 29th.

If you guys are interested in being baptized Please let any of the elders or pastors know

And then lastly we have the annual business meeting which will take place next year as well

This will be on the last Sunday of January January 26 so that'll take place after the service and we'll come together as a congregation to review the a

Lot of business aspects of the church. So please feel free to join that if you're available And that'll do it for announcements today if you guys will join me in prayer before we head into worship and sermon

Dear Lord, thank you for this day given us. Thank you for allowing us to be here to fellowship in your name

As we know what Christ has done already for us on the cross that that we remember. It's in our lives as we move forward here today as we get ready for worship and sermon prepare our hearts

Lord so that they are focused on you Lord and That we can learn more about your character through the sermon and your word here today

Lord, you know, I'm praying Jesus name. Amen We have about five

Christmas carols that we'll be singing this morning three of them were originally written either in German or Latin Translated into English and then the last two that we have of the day were written in English the first one is how great our joy

So stand together with me as we sing how great our joy as we think about our Lord coming to earth for us who verses 13 and 14 where this scripture says and suddenly there were with the angels a multitude of heavenly hosts praising

God and saying Glory to God in the highest look at the chorus there.

It says glory in Excelsis Deo Is that English? That's Latin and it really what do you think

Deo means? God and Excelsis is in the highest

So it's saying in Latin glory to God in the highest. So I thought we didn't want you speaking in tongues

You know, we wanted you to know what you're singing. So another it's another song a carol for Glory to the

God in the height Reading today is in Exodus 34

Verses 4 through 9. We pray that the

Lord would add his blessing to this word So he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones then

Moses rose early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai as The Lord had commanded him and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone now the

Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the

Lord and The Lord passed before him and proclaimed The Lord the

Lord God merciful and gracious long suffering and abounding in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and Transgression and sin by no means clearing the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation

So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshipped

Then he said if now I have found grace in your sight. Oh Lord, let my

Lord. I pray go among us even though we are a stiff -necked people and Pardon our iniquity and our sin and take us as your inheritance

This next song is oh come oh come Emmanuel and if you look at the words a lot of them are dealing with Israel, but it's really

Christ's birth is relating back to Israel as well as Christ's birth relating forward to you and I So there's a lot of good words in this.

I think this one was written back in the 1700s also and Probably originally in Latin, but it has some good

Promises that the Lord has kept so stand together with me as we sing. Oh come oh come

Emmanuel God with us Raised in Brighton England during the

Industrial Revolution when all the kids were working in the factories and she was starting Sunday schools trying to reach the kids and Tell them about the

Lord that somebody loved them She wanted to teach them that she loved them and that the

Lord loved them And so she wrote this song trying to reach these kids and as I'm writing the sermon

I realized we'll be here all day if I preach even those four verse what?

Five verses so I'm only going to be preaching from John 1 14 through 15

So let's all turn to John 1 Verses 14 through 15

John 1 Verses 14 through 15 and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and We beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the

Father full of grace and truth John bore witness of him and cried out saying this was he of whom

I said he who comes after me is preferred before Me for he was before me

This is the word of the Lord Let us pray Father we're grateful that we worship a

God not far away, but a God who came down to us down from his heavenly throne from his highest glory and We got to behold his glory

When he was lifted up on the cross help us To know that we have a

God who dwells with us Help us to appreciate delight and help us to worship him in Jesus name

First I would like to thank you for your generous and gracious Christmas gift

Lauren and I are very grateful for your Support not just in a financial way, but in every way.

I know many of you do pray for us Pray for each member to write not just us

Some might even pray for our cats And I wouldn't

I you think it's a joke, but I know there are some who really like our cats

And we're just grateful for how warmly you received us from the beginning

It doesn't seem like it, but it's been it's been a couple years since we got here, too and We're grateful for how kindly you treat us even

Week to week not and I feel like the love you've shown us hasn't

Grown cold since we got here in 2021 And it is no wonder that our son always wants to go to church

It doesn't matter how many people are gathered as long as there

Some whether it's the Bible study or Sunday evening prayer night or the

Sunday worship service when we are gathered he is excited to be with the church and We're grateful for all of you and we we hope you have a blessed

Christmas celebrating the birth of our risen Savior Now with this

I enter into John 1 John 1 verses 1 through 18 is the prologue to the gospel according to John and it is some of the richest

I Mean words you can find some of the richest theologically deepest verses in these 18 verses

In fact, I I would like to thank my New Testament professors

DA Carson and also Stephen Bryan For Taking a long time to unpack each part of the prologue.

I Took a class just on John During the last semester with Stephen Bryan Who was who was also influenced by DA Carson because he went to the same seminary

Stephen Bryan spent multiple class periods just to unpack the first 18 verses

And we zoom through everything else, but that's how theologically rich this portion is this prologue

Establishes how we must read this gospel account and it

Summarizes who Jesus is Although we don't get to hear the angelic announcements as we did in Luke We don't get to see

The baby also in Luke and Matthew John's prologue richly unpacks the significance of Christ's incarnation

Christ's incarnation is the true reason for celebrating Christmas God became flesh and dwelt among us and Matthew calls it

Emmanuel, which means God with us The doctrine of incarnation is crucial and without it we don't have salvation if it is not

God who came down to die for our sin, then Jesus death is meaningless and without incarnation.

We don't have Christ What does it mean the invisible

God the uncreated God became flesh That's what incarnation literally means it is the in flesh meant of God Again another lot

Latin term right carne means meat The untouchable

God became touchable and Dwelt among us. That's precisely how verse 14 starts the word became flesh

And why is this important ever since Genesis 3 the beginning of history

Humanity and God have been separated by sin In fact, the rebellious wicked people do not want to be anywhere close to the

Holy God God's purity and righteousness actually become threatening to sinners

Ever since Genesis 3 it has always been God who initiated to restore the broken relationship from calling out to Adam and Eve who hid themselves and to the instruction of the tabernacle to dwell among Israel and When Christ entered

God assumed humanity to dwell with them and finally die for them

John's prologue John's prologue is rather confusing and this is because it is jam -packed with the

Old Testament allusions and In order to understand Christ's redemption of the world

We must understand the Lord's redemption of Israel and it's exactly as Victor said

We need to know the history of Israel in order to know what God had done to save the whole world

Although I will be preaching from only verses 14 and 15. This section alone has multiple references to Exodus the second book of the

Bible the word became flesh and dwelt among us We beheld his glory full of grace and truth

The law was given through Moses These are all references to Exodus God redeeming

Israel from their enslavement And we must understand how

God redeemed the ancient Jews from Egypt in order to understand how God Ultimately redeems the world from sin through Christ John 1 was not written in a vacuum.

It's written with the context of what God has already done First after the

Israelites left Egypt God shows up. He shows up on Mount Sinai They do not see a figure

After all the invisible God does not take on any image But rather God comes down from heaven in his word

God's presence is in the very word that came down onto Mount Sinai from the highest heavens.

The word of course is the law of God God Graciously gave

Israel his law in order that God may dwell among Israel The law was a gift to Israel Oftentimes we think the law is burdensome

But rather the law when was one first given to Israel was a gift to Israel because Israel did not earn it

It was given by God and this leads to the second point the laws Purpose was not for Israel to be snobbish and snooty.

We have the law but you don't But rather it made it possible for the Holy God to dwell among a sinful people

Israel of course was not perfect Yet, how are they to reflect

God's glory? Unless they knew how to be Faithfully obeying

God and that is the second grace the giving of the law, which was gracious already

Was so that God would dwell among them the greater grace God's very presence

This makes sense with Exodus structure. The law is given from chapters 20 to 24 the

Ten Commandments chapter 20 and the case laws following it and The remaining book is focused on the construction of the tabernacle

God's very own dwelling tent his own portable palace

So that the Lord would be with Israel wherever they end up The law allowed for God to dwell with Israel The law was a gift for Israel so that they may experience a greater gift, which is

God's very dwelling presence and This concept is important for us today

Because we are given something greater than what Israel received on Mount Sinai 3 ,500 years ago in Jesus Christ we are given the greatest gift of all and that is a more

Personal and a permanent dwelling presence of God and we find that dwelling place

Not in a structure not in a building not in this building but in the person of Jesus Christ and That is precisely what we're celebrating on Christmas the person whom

God has given So that God himself would dwell among us The main point of today's text is that Jesus Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of the prophesied presence of God Jesus Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of the prophesied presence of God first Jesus dwells with us by manifesting his divine glory

Jesus dwells with us by manifesting his divine glory verse 14 starts

Rather cryptically and the word became flesh and dwelt among us for many of us the word or any word is abstract

What word? Who is this? But when we remember the

Exodus context we understand Just as the law came down on Mount Sinai So that God would dwell among Israel The word came down from heaven to dwell among God's people

In fact the term to dwell can literally be translated as tabernacled or tented

John is making an explicit connection to Exodus here the Messianic Jewish translation the tree of life version actually caught on this they actually translate it this way the word and the word became flesh and Tabernacled among us

The modern Jews have it, right? The tabernacle was the first official consistent portable dwelling place of God among God's people

Before the tabernacle God would show up here and there years apart only certain individuals

Right, even even the good faithful Abraham didn't get to just Go into God's presence whenever he wanted there were years apart

Sometimes In and through the tabernacle God dwelt among his people and what is

John telling us here? the Word of God Jesus Christ the person of Jesus Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of the law in the tabernacle

The law allowed God's people to experience God's life -giving presence

Now Jesus will allow God's people to experience God's life -giving presence

Not by building a new tent, but by being the new tent

Now Jesus will allow God's people to experience

God's life -giving presence not because he's some different law the Torah 2 .0

But rather he is the fulfillment of it What that means is the law?

pointed to Christ Not only that because he is God man

God's very presence is found in him He is both the tabernacle and the law

Jesus is not just the means of God's presence, but he is the very presence of God Jesus is not just another prophet telling

God's people how to approach God. He is God whom you approach in Christ is the fullness of God's glory in Christ the very presence of God dwells hence

John tells us this and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the

Father full of grace and truth and those who have seen

Christ have seen God's glory and This echoes the

Exodus account that was read this morning by Wayne All throughout

Exodus God's glory comes down Moses Encountering the burning bush

God's glory came down on Mount Sinai Starting with chapter 19

God's glory came down Chapter 34 when

Moses is dejected God's glory came down Chapter 40 when the tabernacles finally built

God's glory came down and dwelt there So much so that even

Moses could not enter the tent yet here John tells us that Christ physically reveals the divine glory of the

Father He is the one and only son of the Father there is no one like him

Yes, angels are sometimes called sons of God and Christians are called sons of God But there's only one type

That is solely Christ Only Jesus is uniquely the pre -existing

Son of God what that means is if you have seen the Son you have seen the Father and This has a background in Exodus, which

I'll unpack more here After God gave Moses the law

Moses comes down from the mountain Mount Sinai in Chapter 32

Moses sees a filthy abominable idol worship of the golden calf

Not only did his brother not stop them he is the one who facilitated it

Moses at that moment drops the Ten Commandments, which God has given him the tablets shatter and Oftentimes I thought why would he shatter the tablets?

It makes sense because then there was no purpose for the law

When Israel has quickly so abandoned the God who was willing to dwell with them

They didn't need the life. They were just if they chose another God It wasn't

Moses being dramatic Moses knew How could the

Holy God dwell with us now? What's the point of the law? When they have quickly so turned away from the

Lord who Redeemed them now

Before even the law Could be given to Israel so that God would dwell with them

Israel decides to worship a false God They chose a created image over the invisible

God now Moses who is distraught

He goes back to the Lord Moses does not think

Israel can actually be led to the Promised Land at this rate

Yet he knows that it is possible if God's presence still goes with them So Moses asks the

Lord, please show me your glory show me your glory Exodus 33 18 to this

God answers that he will only show his backside the goodness of God and As Moses is covered in the cleft of the rock

God will cover him and as the Lord passes by he will announce his name that is his glory passing by and He announces the

Lord the Lord merciful and gracious long -suffering and abundant in goodness and truth and This side of God's glory is what convinces

Moses that Israel could in fact make it to the Promised Land Not because Israel Repented so well, but rather Moses is assured

Despite the sinfulness of Israel After he sees the partial presence of God who passed by he sees that this

God Is able to forgive after all doesn't it start the

Lord the Lord Merciful and gracious It doesn't start just an unforgiving

It doesn't start Pure and utterly holy, but rather when he passes by and announces his name is merciful and gracious long -suffering

Patient he endures it he endures much more than our short fuse can and he's

Goodness and truth not just some not just a sample But abounding now, what's the difference between what

Moses beheld and what Jesus revealed? Moses beheld the partial glory of God and that was still abundant in grace and truth

Those who have seen Jesus have seen the full glory of God Full of grace and truth as John translates

When you have seen Christ you have beheld the full glory of God This is why in in verse 18,

I'm not preaching from there John says no one has seen God That's true.

Even Moses didn't get to see God only partial but If you've seen

Christ The one who was in the bosom of the father you had he has revealed him

You've seen God if you've seen Christ First this is actually very richly trinitarian all throughout the

Old Testament There's only one God and all glory belongs to God alone He is the

Lord who shares his glory with no other Isaiah 42 8 But what does

John say here Yet the Word of God fully manifests the glory of God the

Father God the Son Perfectly represents and reflects the glory of the

Father and nobody else can who could the

Son be? How could God the Father share through his divine glory with the

Son Unless the Son himself were the

Son is God The Father is God second

This is theologically significant When you fast forward to John 14 one of Jesus disciples whom

Jesus spent Some years with discipling him personally he says

Show us the Father and that is enough for us Mind you this is the

Last Supper This is the Last Supper. They're gonna have together and Philip says

Jesus Could you just show us the Father I Can see that you're going somewhere.

I Have a request. Could you show us the Father and Jesus doesn't say hold on.

Let me get my father on the line Rather Jesus rebukes him Philip's supposed to know if you have seen me.

Mr. Philip you have seen the Father What does this mean?

Jesus fully reveals his Father. He is the Word of God who reveals the invisible

God After all when you read the Old Testament if you read really any of the prophets How does it start the

Word of God that came to profit blank? the Word of God and the impact is fully divine the

Word of God shows up and It's as if God showed up and John says here if you've seen the

Word of God person of Christ You have fully seen

God's glory. Do you want to know what

God the Father is like? Look to his son receiving the rejects

Do you want to know how gentle God the Father is look to Christ embracing the little ones

Embracing sinners touching the lepers Healing the blind the famous Christmas song

Mary. Did you know has it right? Mary when you kiss your little baby you have kissed the face of God astounding now

When have we beheld his glory? When you track the term his glory in the gospel according to John you will note that it picks up from his first public miracle turning water into wine and John tells us he manifested his glory there and after that he will show about seven miracles and What it points to ultimately is that each miracle points to The crucifixion and resurrection

By chapter 8

Jesus reveals that it is his father who glorifies him. Jesus does not glorify himself

It is his father father God Then we get to chapter 17.

He is by himself praying fervently Right before his death and what's his request and Now father glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed

The request is that God the Father would reveal his glory in the

Sun that Jesus glory will be revealed to the world and On what platform is the public declaration of God's glory don't have to look further

A few chapters ahead John 19. Jesus is lifted up. He is exalted. He is highly exalted and It is not the throne that you think it is

It's the cross When Jesus is hanging from the cross, he is ultimately glorified

When Jesus bears our sin and suffers God's wrath on our behalf He reveals the full glory of God 15 years prior to Christ Moses was assured that the

Lord God could potentially forgive these idolatrous Israelites after the golden calf disaster

Only when Moses beheld the partial glory of God passed by the

Lord the Lord merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth and 2 ,000 years after Christ We can behold even the full glory of God when we look to the cross and How much more of the assurance we have of God's perfect pardon and full forgiveness

For those who have beheld the full glory of God We beheld his glory full of grace and truth partial

But the fullness of it the fulfillment of it That's how we can be assured even more so that your sins are forgiven in the person of Jesus Christ in his

Divine dwelling presence. We have the full assurance of God's mercy and grace upon a sinful people

Not much different from the idolatrous Israelites Now how is the dwelling presence of God's glory different than on Sinai?

The dwelling presence of God's glory in Christ is the eschatological fulfillment of the

Old Testament promises The dwelling presence of God's glory in Christ is the eschatological fulfillment of the

Old Testament promises Many people find verse 15 rather out of place read ahead verse 15

Some translations make it a parenthetical comment mind you the ancient

Greek did not have parentheses. Oh The Apostle John is just reminding us of John the

Baptist from verse 5 because you know John the Baptist will show up in verse 19

That's how they would argue. I don't think so. I Don't believe

John the Baptist John the Apostle had a memory lapse And I also don't believe

John the Apostle thought the readers had a memory lapse Rather verse 15 perfectly fits the argument that the

Apostle John has been making already John, this is the Baptist bore witness of him and cried out saying this was he of whom

I said He who comes after me is preferred before me for he was before me

It sounds like a tongue twister But let's unpack here consider the

Apostle John's Argument up to this point the Word of God Jesus is the fulfillment of the law in the tabernacle

He is the final culmination of the dwelling presence of God's Word and his dwelling place

The question on any Jewish mind must be how can we be sure that Jesus fulfills the law in the tabernacle

After all, isn't it God? Himself who gave Israel the law in the tabernacle

Which later became the temple? Did not the glory of God fill the tabernacle after it was built and later on God's glory filled the

Solomon's temple Then Apostle John by what basis can we say that Jesus fulfills both of God -given gifts

After all, it's it's a troubling place to be for a

Jew to say The temple is no longer the dwelling place of God But rather it's a person

That's that's a rather troubling thing to say for a Jew Not only that the law

That was were written on the stones That actually points to a person

They would have stoned you for that the

Apostle answers John bore witness of him and cried out saying this was he of whom

I said He who comes after me is preferred before me For he was before me

What is answer to John God has testified beforehand the coming of Christ The only way it makes sense for the temple in both of the tabernacle and the law to be ultimately fulfilled by Jesus Christ is if God actually promised that they would be fulfilled in the future if God has said in scripture that The law and the tabernacle or the law in the temple will once be

Ratcheted up and further Led into its intended purpose in the eschatological future and this happens in two ways

First John the Baptist bears witness of Christ This was he of whom

I said he who comes after me is preferred before me for he was before me a rather mysterious testimony, but nevertheless crucial

John is speaking of Jesus when he says he who comes after me after me signifies time

Jesus is the one who came after John the Baptist Temporally Jesus incarnation happened after John the

Baptist conception All right. Jesus was born after John the

Baptist Jesus ministry started after John the Baptist ministry yet Just because Jesus came later does not mean he is lesser

In fact, John the Baptist says he is preferred before me because Jesus takes prominence due to his pre -existence

Jesus is more prominent than John the Baptist because he is the one who has pre -existed

John the Baptist Again, it shows the divinity of Christ just because he took on flesh

At a point of history Doesn't mean that's when he was created

He existed before because he existed before he's more important than John the

Baptist who is According to Jesus the greatest man who's ever been born

Second John the Baptist testimony is grounded in the Old Testament prophecy

John the Baptist is not some Jewish man randomly crying out in the wilderness In fact, all four of the gospel accounts

Make it clear that John the Baptist is the fulfillment of Isaiah 40 verse 3

The voice of him who crieth in the wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord make straight in the desert a highway for our

God Here's the question if John is the voice that cries in the wilderness and prepares for the way of the

Lord Then logically he who comes after me in John 1 15 must be

The Word of God is none other than Yahweh The Word of God has returned to his rebellious people to restore

The Word of God has come back to dwell among them consider when

The prophecy that Isaiah wrote was written Isaiah the Prophet prophesied this in the 8th century

BC 700 years before Christ The Solomonic Temple was still standing.

This is before the Babylonian Exile The Ark of the Covenant was not missing.

It was still in the Holy of Holies The law was still in place and who knows maybe the

Ten Commandments the tablets were still in the Ark Yet God through Isaiah Promises that there will be a day in which he will return to dwell with them that priest

Supposes that he is no longer there at one point with them And when that day comes

God will send a herald to proclaim the coming of the Lord What does this mean?

It means God's revelation on Mount Sinai even in the Old Testament Was not the final

Destination God promised through Isaiah even 700 years before Christ's birth that there will be a greater revelation of himself and a more intimate dwelling presence among his people that is more significant and more spectacular than what happened on Mount Sinai and When the tabernacle was built

After all it wouldn't have made sense for Isaiah who has the beautiful Solomonic temple that he could look after didn't he also experience

God's presence in Isaiah 6 there in the very temple Yet he says in verse 40

The Lord's coming back There's a voice in the wilderness and he's going to declare the

Lord is coming back Consider Mount Sinai God audibly spoke

So that a close to a million people on the foot of the mountain heard and trembled

Yet God says You have not beheld my full revelation yet Thus verse 15 is the answer

Jesus the Word of God is the promised full Revelation of the Lord who came to restore his wayward people

God has declared that he will come back and his revelation will be fuller than ever

Compared to whatever came before rather at Mount Sinai tabernacle Solomonic temple and Now in during Jesus time it would have been

Herod's temple Those will not compare when the voice of the one crying in the wilderness comes

He is preparing for the very coming of the Lord and John says This was

God's plan not mine This was prophesied 700 years before That's why the word of the

Lord Came down and was made flesh and dwelt among us

When we celebrate Christmas this morning, we're celebrating nothing less the coming of the

Lord Yahweh We are celebrating God's gracious return to the fallen world to restore

Christ's incarnation is the very answer to the ongoing problem between sinners and God Sinners do everything to avoid

God's presence yet God's life -giving presence is precisely what they need in order to live.

That is a massive dilemma Sinners don't want God, but they can't live without God in order to save sinners

God himself took on flesh and Tabernacled among us in order to save sinners

Jesus became approachable to sinners God himself became vulnerable

In order to save sinners God himself became Mortal in order for God to dwell with sinners

He also took care of what makes us sinners what makes us hide from God sin he took it upon himself and bore it on the cross and died the death that we deserved and Because he is

God he did not stay dead but rose from the dead and through his death and resurrection

Jesus provides a more personal and Enduring presence that we could have ever hoped for God became man to die for you

So that he may dwell with you for all eternity with this in mind

The second verse From heart the herald angels sing comes alive

Christ by highest heaven adored Christ the everlasting

Lord Late in time behold him come offspring of the

Virgin's womb Veiled in flesh the Godhead see hail the incarnate deity

Pleased with us in flesh to dwell Jesus our Emmanuel Jesus is

God with let us pray father.

We're grateful that Jesus is with us and that his dwelling presence is assured and Secured because his death and resurrection for our sake

Help us To delight in what he has done and who he is

Help us to behold his glory full of grace and truth

Help us to know that there's not just a potential for forgiveness, but assurance of forgiveness help us to know of not just a potential for eternal life with God, but Security in it in Jesus name.

Amen Stand together with me as we sing. This song was written by Charles Wesley in the 1700s a new song

As you can see, but it really is a prayer that implores Christ To be among us and that's really the theme of pastors messages that Christ came to dwell among us

You are dismissed and go remembering