Kaleo San Diego Church

Opening

14 The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. We gazed on his glory, the kind of glory that belongs to the Father’s unique Son, full of grace and truth. 15 John told the truth about him when he cried out, “This is the person about whom I said, ‘The one who comes after me ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’ ” 16 From his fullness we have all received one gracious gift after another. 17 For while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. The unique God, who is close to the Father’s side, has revealed him.

Verse 14- The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. We gazed on his glory, the kind of glory that belongs to the Father’s unique Son, full of grace and truth.

And the Word became flesh

Here we see John once again scandalizing those around Him by saying that this Word from all eternity, became something that He had never been before, Man.

To the Gnostics of John’s day that believed that all physical matter was evil and only the Spiritual was Godly, this verse was foolishness. How could God who is perfect, come into a fleshly body and dwell among us? In other words, how could a Holy God enter into an evil body? We know that man is the only creature that has been created as an image bearer of God. That He created us, out of love, to bear His image. Not a physical likeness of Him, but one in character, one that is holy, one that is loving, one that is just, one that is merciful, one that is gracious. Yet as sin came to this world through Adam, mankind has since been in a state of death and decay. We no longer bear these attributes naturally. We have been marred by the blackness and decay of sin and now no longer walk in perfect communion with God as Adam and Eve enjoyed in the Garden of Eden. We have become “children of wrath (Eph.. 2:3) and are separated from God with His holy judgments held over our heads.

The incarnation of Jesus stands out as one of the great mysteries of our faith. That the infinite God from all eternity, who is all powerful and all knowing and ever present, came to a virgins womb and would be subject to time and space. He would be born into a body that feels pain, that ages, that feels full human emotions and yet would remain fully God. Fully aware of His purpose in coming. We see in 1Timothy 3:16 “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.”

We see Jesus, second person of our Triune God, entering human History at this appointed time from eternity past, so that He could be fitted for the role of mediator between God and man.

Jesus would come, and as a bridge that is laid down between two gulfs, so that man can travel back and forth from either side, now Jesus would come and lay down His life as the bridge between the throne of God and the world of man.

Only God could be the bridge between these two great gulfs. We see the word says in 1Ti 2:5 “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,”

Now that Jesus has come, three great things were accomplished. (1) It was now possible for Him to die, (2) He can now feel our infirmities and emotions by experiencing them, (3) He has left us an example to follow in His steps.

This verse also answers the confusion that existed as the Old Testament prophets were given and spoke of two natures of the Messiah. Prophecy sometimes represented the coming Messiah as human, sometimes as Divine. We see in Old Testament scripture these two, seemingly contradictory natures.

He was to be the woman’s "seed" (Gen. 3:15);

a "prophet" like unto Moses (see Deuteronomy 18:18);

a lineal descendant of David (see 2 Samuel 7:12);

Jehovah’s "Servant" (Isa. 42:1);

a "Man of sorrows" (Isa. 53:3).

Yet, on the other hand,

He was to be "the Branch of the Lord, beautiful and glorious" (Isa. 4:2);

He was "the wonderful Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Father of the ages, the Prince of peace" (Isa. 9:6).

As Jehovah He was to come suddenly to His temple (see Malachi 3:1).

The One who was to be born in Bethlehem and be Ruler in Israel, was the One "whose goings forth had been from the days of eternity" (Mic. 5:2).

How can these two different sets of prophecy to be harmonized? John 1:14 is the answer. The One born at Bethlehem was the Divine and eternal Word. The Babe of Bethlehem was Immanuel—God with us.

and dwelt among us

This beautiful picture of God dwelling among us was hidden in Old Testament types and foreshadows. The verse means that God “tabernacled” among us. He literally “pitched His tent” here on earth for 33 years. You have heard me say several times that the New Testament is concealed in the Old Testament and the Old Testament is revealed in the New Testament.

The tabernacle of the Old Testament was a foreshadow of the Son of God coming into the flesh:

• The "tabernacle" was a temporary appointment. In this it differed from the temple of Solomon, which was a permanent structure. The tabernacle was merely a tent, a temporary convenience. So it was when our Lord tabernacled here among men. His stay was brief—less than forty years

• Outwardly the "tabernacle" was humble, and unattractive in appearance. Unlike beautiful temple of Solomon, there was nothing externally about the tabernacle to please the eye. Nothing but plain boards and skins. And so it was with Jesus who was hidden beneath a veil of flesh that had no beauty to desire.

• The "tabernacle" was God’s dwelling place. And during the thirty-three years that the Word tabernacled among men, God had His dwelling place in Palestine in the fleshly tent of Jesus body.

• The "tabernacle" was the place where God met with men. Christ is the meeting place between God and men. No man comes to the Father but by Him (see John 14:16). He is the One who spans the gulf between deity and humanity, because He is Himself both God and Man.

• The "tabernacle" was the center of Israel’s camp. The tabernacle was the great gathering center. As such this was a beautiful foreshadowing of Jesus. He is our great gathering-center. And His promise is, that "where two or more are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst" (Matthew 18:20).

• The "tabernacle" was the place where the Law was preserved. Again, this shows us Christ! He said, "Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me; I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart" (Ps. 40:7, 8). Throughout His perfect life He preserved in thought, word and deed, the Divine commandments, honoring and magnifying God’s Law.

• The "tabernacle" was the place where sacrifice was made. So it was with the Lord Jesus. He fulfilled in His own Person the typical significance of the altar. The body which He tabernacled on earth was nailed to the tree. The Cross was the altar upon which God’s Lamb was sacrificed, where His precious blood was shed, and where complete atonement was made for sin.

• The "tabernacle" was the place of worship. And so it is with Jesus. It is "by him" we are to offer unto God a sacrifice of praise (see Hebrews 13:15). It is in Him, and by Him, alone, that we can worship the Father. It is through Him we have access to the throne of grace.

and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

John says in his epistle of 1 John chapter 1 verses 1 and 2 “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life- 2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us—

John was an eye witness of His Glory. He walked with Him, he talked with Him. He witnessed His miracles. He knew and loved the only son of God who was and is full of grace and truth.

Verse 15-John told the truth about him when he cried out, “This is the person about whom I said, ‘The one who comes after me ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’

Here we see John the Baptizer explaining very clearly that Jesus is greater than He because Jesus is God and has existed before John was even born. We know historically that John was 6 months older than Jesus, yet here John says that He was “before me.”

Verse 16-From his fullness we have all received one gracious gift after another.

God’s grace is never used up. This verse could be stated, And out of his never empty storehouse, we have been given one grace, stacked upon another, without end.

Those that are His own, have this great promise that they will receive such grace. Each day, God has given you grace over grace. You wake and God’s mercies are new every morning. And this is all out of Jesus fullness contained in Himself.

Verse 17-For while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

I want to take my time dealing with the next two verse because of their importance.

We should notice in this verse that the law was “given through” Moses. Moses did not create the law and he did not own the law. It was God’s to give through this man.

We notice in this verse and explained in other sections of scripture that the Law came first. God had designed that His holy standard would first be proclaimed to all people before His grace would come in Christ.

This profound truth needs to be understood by every Christian. The law is an explanation of God’s moral standards by which all men on this earth will be judged. It does not reveal anything about God to man, other than what His moral expectations are. It doesn’t tell us anything about His grace, His mercy, His love, His beauty or any other attribute other than His moral perfection.

And yet the scriptures say in Psalm 19:7 “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.”

So what is the purpose of the law and how can it convert us?

Simple, we read in Galatians chapter 3 verses 19 to 24 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. 20 Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one. 21 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. 22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

The law leads us by the hand to Jesus Christ by exposing our sin in truth. It is a Holy mirror that we see ourselves in all of our dirt and filth. And only a fool would take the mirror off of the wall and attempt to clean himself with it. And only a fool would take the law and try to keep all it’s perfect commands to earn God’s favor.

No, you would turn on the faucet so that you could be cleansed by the running water. So a man must see himself in truth before God’s holy mirror, before he will ever be prompted to come to the fountain of life, which is found only in Christ, and be cleansed.

How is a sinner supposed understand that he needs a savior unless he clearly understands God’s law?

There is no way in individual will truly repent, unless he knows what he is repenting from and why he is doing it. Parroting some sinners prayer without any understanding of what it means, will not save a man and make him a Christian anymore than walking into a garage will make him a car.

Paul said Romans Chapter 7 verse 7 “I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet."

Paul is saying that he would not have even understood what sin was if he was not given God’s commands to show him he was breaking them.

Paul also says in Romans chapter 3 verse 19 after telling us that the reason that men do wicked things is because there is no fear of God before their eyes, he goes on to say, “19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”

Paul says that every mouth will be shut up in justifying itself in self-righteousness when compared to God’s standard of morality and righteousness. He also says again, that the purpose of the law is the knowledge of sin.

Well, what is sin? 1st John Chapter 3 verse 4 “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.”

John says that sin is breaking God’s law.

What is God’s law? The commandments of God given through Moses.

So who is the law intended for? Paul tells us in 1st Timothy Chapter 1 verses 8 through 11 “But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, 9 knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10 for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, 11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.

Paul says that the law is to be given to the sinner, the ungodly, those out of Christ. Why? So that they may see their sin, turn from it and come to be justified by believing in the righteousness found only in Jesus Christ.

We will not be judged in happiness, we will be judged according to the scriptures as proclaimed in Acts 17:31 "because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained.”

What are some of the differences between the Law and Grace?

1. Law addresses men as members of the old creation; Grace makes men members of a new creation.

2. Law manifested what was in Man-sin; Grace manifests what is in God-Love.

3. Law demanded righteousness from men; Grace brings righteousness to men.

4. Law sentences a living man to death; Grace brings a dead man to life.

5. Law speaks of what men must do for God; Grace tells of what Christ has done for men.

6. Law gives a knowledge of sin; Grace puts away sin.

7. Law brought God out to men; Grace brings men in to God.

This is why John says that grace and truth came through Jesus. As the law was only given to Moses, grace and truth came in Jesus. Jesus contains all grace and all truth so that as he entered into humanity, man can know what absolute truth is in the face of Christ, and man can receive grace through the perfect, sacrificial blood of Christ.

Verse 18-No one has ever seen God. The unique God, who is close to the Father’s side, has revealed him.

This ends our prologue in the Gospel of John. And it summarizes the reason for all the we have read from verse 1 of this chapter to now. The reason that Jesus Christ came to this world and was born of flesh was to fulfill all that we have discussed, but ultimately, it was to reveal God to man.

No man has ever seen God, but now, God is fully revealed because the Son has shown us God. The word “declared” means to “exegete” or explain God to us.

This should be our desire, to “know” God. Moses requested that God “show him His glory.” Was his request granted?

Let’s read Exodus chapter 33 verse 19, “Then He said, "I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." 20 But He said, "You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live." 21 And the LORD said, "Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. 22 "So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. 23 "Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen."

You don’t know someone by their “back” but in His face. The fact that Moses was not allowed to see the Fathers face is in perfect keeping with the purpose of the law. We should be grateful that the time of the law has passed and we now are in the time of Grace. We don’t look on the back of Jehovah. As 2nd Corinthians states in chapter 4 verse 6 "For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

I pray we understand that grace which has brought us out of darkness into light, because the God whom no man hath seen at any time has been fully "revealed" by the Son. And we see why God became a man.

What if God were one of us? He was one of us and He has accomplished all of the Fathers will so that we could have a way to right with God.

That way is by believing in what the Son has done, that He came as God in the flesh, He lived among men, He was given a mock trial and condemned to die on the cross. He was tortured beyond recognition and then nailed to the wood so that He could say, “It is finished” and give up His life to fulfill God’s moral requirements of the law. Three days later He rose and defeated death, proving He was God’s Son and he defeated sin by breaking free from it’s bondage so that all that are in Him are accepted in the beloved.

Are you accepted by almighty God? I pray you are. If not, cry out to God while you can, for the Scriptures say in 2 Cor 6:2 "In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

If you are caught in sin and can’t see a way out. We have one of the greatest promises given to man in 1st John Chapter 1 verse 9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Before taking communion, as a believer in Christ, do so with sobriety and with humility, remembering what He has done by His death so that you can come from death to life.

LetÂ’s PrayÂ…Â…

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