Chapter # 1 Paragraph # 4 Study # 1
November 13, 2022
Broadlands, Louisiana
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Thesis: When Jesus became flesh, the disciples saw Grace and Truth in a way that had been buried by the people whom Jesus had claimed as "His own".
Introduction: We have seen, in John's preliminary words as he set out to present Jesus to the world, that the descriptive "name", "The Word", is the bedrock of all of "the words" that were to come. As "The Word", the Creator of all things created is treated as God's Message to men regarding "Life". Before Him a man named John was miraculously produced to be the agent of faith for all of the men who "believe". But, regardless of John's "forerunner" identity, the major response of men was "
rejection" even though thousands had gone out into the wilderness to hear John's message and they considered him to be a legitimate "prophet of God".. However, according to God's "remnant theology", some did "receive" The Word and were born of God as the outcome.
As we begin the actual message of John's Gospel this morning, we are going to look into his declaration that The Word became flesh.
- I. The Claim Made By John.
- A. Begins with a return to a focus upon his subject: The Word.
- 1. This is only the second reference to The Word by John after 1:1 where the three-fold repetition was designed to set the stage of all of the following words.
- 2. This is the last time John uses "The Word" as a descriptive name of his main Subject.
- 3. That John began with a three-fold emphasis in his first uses, and never used the Name again after 1:14 tells us something critical: the identity of the subject of John's Gospel is absolutely critical for all of our understanding of everything else he tells us.
- B. Consists of, perhaps, the most crucial truth undergirding God's Promise of Eternal Life.
- 1. It is crucial because it means "Life" for those who embrace it and "Death" for all who do not.
- 2. The crucial truth is this: The Word became flesh.
- a. This is a statement that beggars the imagination.
- 1) The Creator Of All Things Created became as one of the human beings that He created.
- 2) Imagine the Creator of the Hercules Corona Borealis Great Wall, which is thought to be the largest created thing in the universe, 10 billion light years across, being compressed into a physical human body.
- 3) The issue of "The Word" in 1:3 is that He created all things: thus, we cannot escape the linkage between a "God" so vast as to be able to create a physical entity so large and that Word in 1:14 becoming a mere 'man' who couldn't create anything of any significance at all.
- b. But is also a statement that alerts us to the significance of man in the eyes of God.
- C. Goes beyond the claim itself to the question of "Why? ... Why did The Word become flesh?"
- 1. Part of the answer is in the previous focus upon God generating "children" of Himself out of "children of flesh".
- a. Whatever else the issue of God bringing men to the status of "children of God" being "born of God", one thing stands out: God's interest in men of flesh is extremely great.
- b. This beginning of revelation regarding this interest is in the fact that "The Word", Himself being God, became as one He had created.
- 2. And another part of the answer is in the rest of this text: He became flesh in order to illumine men, and correct them, regarding two major facts that had been buried under the manipulations of men in respect to His words: Grace and Truth.
- a. The illumination is related to two issues.
- 1) He dwelt among us: literally, "He pitched His tent in our midst."
- 2) He enabled those among whom He had pitched His tent to "behold His glory".
- a) The straightforward significance of this is that "His glory" had been severely compromised by the prior generations of "flesh" and needed a powerful correction.
- b) The words indicate that He intended in this event for it to last only a brief time: He set up His tabernacle in the midst of a few men for a short time.
- b. This illumination is focused upon the identity of The Word as The Only Begotten From The Father.
- 1) The word "only begotten" refers in other texts to a single child.
- 2) But the word "begotten" (used in 1:13) is specifically used in Acts 13:33 to refer to the resurrection of Jesus with the words, "this day have I begotten you".
- 3) Thus, not only was "The Word" made "flesh" as a unique man (born of a virgin), He was "begotten" by God by resurrection from the dead.
- II. The Point.
- A. The Word became a real human being with certain restraints imposed upon Him.
- B. This Word has a critical message for us regarding "Grace" and "Truth" that includes the fact that this man was rejected and crucified so that those who receive Him and believe His words can enter into Life.
