The testimony of John the Baptist, John 1:19-34

The world is a very different place in the 21st century than it was in the days of our parents.  But I am not talking about the obvious advancements in technology and science and so forth.  The difference in our day from our father’s day is that at least in western civilization,  man has become more egocentric rather than theocentric.

A good illustration of that is that in our father’s day, young men cheerfully signed up  to fight the Nazis, risking and even losing their lives for the sake of God and country.  Not that everyone was a Christian in those days of course, but there was instilled in people the sense that there were higher ideals worth living for than simply self gratification.  Consequently, we look back in history with a sense of awe at what previous generations suffered through, and hopefully we realize that their sacrifices provided the security and prosperity that our nation now enjoys but too often take for granted.

On the other hand,  when the pendulum started swinging in the opposite direction after WW2, during a time of  prosperity, we see that society lost that sense of chivalry and became increasingly narcissistic and egocentric.  That attitude has fostered a philosophy of secular humanism which is now the pervasive view of society. 

As a result, politicians pander to such self-aggrandizing attitudes, producing a society that increasingly depends upon government entitlements and consequently is contributing to what I think marks the beginning of the end of this great nation.  John F. Kennedy’s quote made 50 years ago that we should “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" no longer gets traction in today’s “Me First” culture that demands special rights for every possible special interest group at the expense of the greater good. 

But what is more disconcerting than that trend in the political arena is that the church is pandering to the egocentric trends of the culture as well.  The whole focus of the relevant church movement is to find out what appeals to the congregation, and then format the church to meet the desires of the people.  So we end up with messages geared to such topics as fixing your marriage, or straightening out your finances.  There is even a popular sermon series out there based on dieting.  It’s called the Daniel Plan.  Not that there is anything wrong with dieting.  Some of us could probably benefit from it, but it is not the ministry of the church to provide a health club or social club or self help classes. 

The Apostle John said in vs. 6 that “There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him.” So what was the testimony of John the Baptist who was sent by God to give a message to the Jews? Did he come to preach feel good messages about how to live your best life now? Did he come to preach messages on how to resolve family issues? Did he come to preach messages about psychotherapy? I’m sure all of that would have been as popular in his day as they are in ours.  But John the Baptist saw that the need of his people was much more fundamental than that. Israel had left her first love. Israel had become apostate. Israel was a nation who needed to repent and  receive forgiveness from God.  So John the Baptist preached repentance.  He didn't think that repentance was impractical, old fashioned, or irrelevant. He didn’t tickle their ears and give them what they wanted to hear, but he preached to them sound doctrine.

The great thing about the ministry of John the Baptist was that he didn’t pander to the culture.  He didn’t worry about being seeker friendly.  He spoke about what God told him to speak about.  His message was simply repentance, to prepare the people to receive the Messiah, the Son of God.

Sound doctrine is the wisdom that leads to salvation.  Paul told Timothy in 2Tim.3:15 that the scriptures gave him the wisdom which leads to salvation through faith. And once a person is saved sound doctrine produces stability, maturity and spiritual fruit.

Now I would remind you that Jesus said about John the Baptist that among men born of women, there was none greater than John the Baptist.  So if we are going to pattern our ministry after someone, then I suggest patterning our ministry after John the Baptist.  I for one can identify with a voice crying out in the wilderness. And like John, I believe that the primary message of the gospel is repentance and pointing people to Jesus Christ.  I guess I also identify with the idea of a no frills, open air ministry.  Of not really having a permanent location, especially when we meet out here on the beach. 

So I want to look at the testimony of John the Baptist that is presented here, and take some points from his ministry which we should apply to our own.  And we are going to divide this passage by looking at three points; first what John says he is not, and second, what John says he is, and third, who he says Jesus is.  What he is not, what he is, and who Jesus is.

Now to introduce this section let me remind you that the Apostle John in this first chapter has presented a masterful theological treatise, much like the opening statement in a court of law, presenting the facts concerning Christ.  Now John brings forth his first witness to corroborate those facts, and to illustrate that theology.  And the star witness the apostle brings forth is John the Baptist.

So vs.19 says that “This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’”   Now for most of us, there is no more favorite subject matter that we prefer to talk about than ourselves.  Isn’t that so?  If the average pastor was asked that question today, he would probably launch into a biographical essay in which he ends up giving a glowing testimony of his achievements.  But not John the Baptist.  This was a humble man.  And let me tell you something; humility is the hallmark of a true servant of God.  Not where you went to seminary, or how many degrees you have, or how big your church might be.  But even as Jesus humbled himself, taking the form of a servant.  And if we are truly servants, then we should remember that no servant is greater than his master.  We need to be humble, to practice humility if we are going to minister as Christ’s representatives.

And we see that humility illustrated in the answers that John gives to the questions of the religious leaders.  As my outline illustrates, he starts out by saying what he is not.  What he is not.  That is the mark of humility.  Peter admonished the men of the church in 1Peter 5:5-6 “You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time.”  All of you, that is all of the church, clothe yourselves with humility.

You know there was another famous prophet who was singled out as being one of the greatest, and that was none other than Moses.  And notice what it says about Moses in Numbers 12:3, “Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.”  Humility is the hallmark of a man or woman of God.  Not how charismatic or talented or knowledgeable they may be, but how humble they are.  That is what God cares about. And that is the person that God will use. He will not share His glory with man.

So what John was not.  He answers their question of “Who are you?” with “I am not the Christ.”  I believe it was Luke that tells us in his gospel that the religious leaders had been asking, along with many of the multitudes that were coming out to hear him, if John the Baptist could be the Messiah, or in the Greek, the Christ.  And so he answers that question; “I am not the Christ.”

Then they ask him, ““What then? Are you Elijah?” And he *said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”  The last verses of the OT prophesied that Elijah would come before the Messiah.  And so they wondered if he was Elijah. John said he wasn’t Elijah, but an angel had prophesied that John would come in the spirit and power of Elijah. They asked if he was the Prophet. It’s likely that Prophet they spoke of was the Messiah that Moses had said would come after him. And John disavows being that prophet as well.

So John says he is not the Messiah, he is not Elijah, he is not the Prophet, and back in verse 8 we see that he was not the Light.  Furthermore, in vs.27, John says “He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”  He is saying that he doesn’t even consider himself worthy of being the lowest household servant in the kingdom of God, so that he is not worthy of even untying the sandals of Christ.  So not only is he not the Christ, he is not even worthy to untie Christ’s sandals.  Now that is humility.  And yet Jesus says about him that John the Baptist is the greatest among men. That’s an illustration of the verse I quoted from Peter a minute ago; “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God and He will exalt you at the proper time.” 

Jesus said in Matt. 20:26-28 "It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant,  and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave;  just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

Now then let’s look at what John testifies about himself.  Who John says he is and what he is doing. Vs.22 Then they said to him, "Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?" He said, "I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, 'MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,' as Isaiah the prophet said."

First of all, note the contrast John the Baptist makes between himself and Christ.  He is not the Word, but he is a voice. The Word exists before him.  The word exists in the mind before the voice articulates it.  The Word remains once the voice is silent. He just speaks the words of God as God gives him utterance.  John would later say “He must increase, but I must decrease.”  He understood that it was not his voice that had any power to save.  But John knew that the Word of God who was God was the only power unto salvation. 

I wish we could get hold of that principle today in our churches.  We exist merely to give voice to the Word of God.  To bear witness of Him.  All of the programs and videos and dancing and singing in the church, if not giving voice to the word of God are just entertainment.  Those things may attract a crowd, but the only power to save is found in giving voice to the Word. 1 Cor. 1:21 says, “it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”

John the Baptist says that his mission was to prepare or make ready, the way of the Lord. He quotes from Isaiah 40:3.  He is saying that his ministry is to prepare people’s hearts to receive the Lord, the King. To call people to repentance.

Then notice that the next question they are concerned about is his practice, his baptism.  People are concerned about the externals, aren’t they?  What rituals or ceremonies we practice.  Or what kind of programs do you have. Well, John did indeed practice baptism.  But the priority was not John the Baptist’s baptism, but on the fact that he was a witness. He was pointing people to Christ.  Baptism simply prepares people’s hearts to receive Christ through repentance. Four times other gospel writers spoke of John the Baptist as preaching a baptism of repentance. So John’s emphasis is not on the ceremony of baptism as a means of receiving  salvation, but as a sign of repentance. The focus is not on the outward sign, but on the heart of man.

So they ask him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”  See the problem wasn’t that he was baptizing.  Baptism was already practiced among the Jews as a means of purification.  But it  was actually for Gentiles, not Jews.  It was part of the method by which non Jews could become proselytes.  They could become accepted into the Jewish faith by becoming immersed in water and then going through certain ceremonies and offerings.  But John the Baptist is in effect preaching that Jews had no inherent national right to gain the kingdom of God because of their race, and they needed repentance and cleansing just like the Gentiles. 

But again, John deflects attention from his ministry and points to Jesus. Vs. 26 John answered them saying, "I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know.  It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie."  What John was saying was that his baptism was a sign.  He did not have power to cleanse or forgive sins.  All he could do was use earthly means to point to a heavenly purpose that would be fulfilled in Christ.  It was a sign in the flesh, much the same as the sign in the flesh of circumcision which was given through Moses.  So John the Baptist comes with the sign of baptism, and this sign points to Jesus Christ.  First by showing their need for a Savior, and then when John baptizes Jesus it points to Him as being the Son of God.  So in all  aspects, John’s ministry points to Jesus and Jesus alone.  Never does it magnify John the Baptist.

Now then the last point, who John testifies that Jesus is. Who John says Jesus is.  Vs. 28 These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.  The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”  John says Jesus is the Lamb of God. Now that goes back to what I just said about John’s baptism.  The first purpose of baptism is to show us our need for repentance, for forgiveness of sin.  And as he is baptizing, which has no power to forgive sin in and of itself, he sees Jesus coming to him and says “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”  Baptism then has no power to take away sin, but the Lamb of God does take away sin.

Now any Jew would understand the imagery that John is referring to when he says the Lamb of God.  First of all, hearing that a Jew would naturally be reminded of their father Abraham when he offered up Isaac on the altar, and was about to slay him as a sacrifice, and God stopped him and provided a ram that was caught in a thorn bush behind him.  God provided a substitute.  God provided a lamb. That is the first lesson of the Lamb of God.  He is our substitute.  God placed our sins, our punishment upon Him, so that He died for us, so that we might be made righteous by His righteousness and live. 

And that brings up a second point of the Lamb of God that every Jew would think of.  And that would have been the Passover Lamb that was slain on the night when God caused all the first born male children in Egypt to die because of the hardness of the Egyptian’s hearts and their refusal to let Israel worship the Lord.  So God told His people to take a lamb for every household and slay it and put the blood on the doorposts of their houses so that the angel of death would not strike them.  And as they obeyed God’s command and sacrificed the lamb and put the blood on the doorpost of their house, the angel of the Lord passed by and they were saved from death.  Now that illustrates the second principle of the Lamb of God, He saves us from death, eternal death. 

So first who John says Jesus is - He is the Lamb of God that takes away sin. Secondly, John says Christ is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. As opposed to his baptism with water, Christ will baptize in the Holy Spirit. So John says in Vs. 30 "This is He on behalf of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.'  I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water. John testified saying, ‘I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.'”

Now there is a lot in those verses and we don’t have time to unpack everything there.  But one thing I want to emphasize is that John says it was necessary for him to baptize in order that the Christ might be made known. Now certainly John knew of Jesus before this time. He was Jesus’ cousin.  And though they may not have lived near one another as they were growing up we must imagine that John knew of Him, and perhaps even had met Him or known Him all his life.  That is certainly possible but I don’t think that is what John is saying here.  What he is saying is that I did not know Him as the Christ, as the Messiah, as the Son of God until it was divinely revealed to me in the baptism.  God had spoken to John previously and said He who the Spirit descends upon is the Christ. 

So John knew who Jesus was not by sight, not by human intellect or knowledge, but by divine revelation from the Holy Spirit.  And this illustrates an important principle of salvation.  God has to open men’s eyes to see that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.  Remember the famous situation with Peter when Jesus asks, “who do men say that I am?”  And Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of God.” And what did Jesus say to that?  “Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you Peter, but my Father who is in heaven.  (Matt. 16)  It takes  divine intervention to open a blind man’s eyes, and we that are in our sins are blind.  Jesus said in John 6:44  "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.”

But it also reveals the two fold nature of salvation; on the one hand there must be a removal of sin, but also a filling of the Holy Spirit. Both are necessary for salvation.  One sanctifies you, the other makes you a temple of the Holy Spirit and empowers you to live as a witness to the world in obedience to God.  You must be born again by the Spirit of God if you will have the life of God in you.

Then the last statement that John the Baptist testifies as to who Jesus is, is found in vs. 34 "I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God."  This is the ultimate witness of John the Baptist.  That Jesus is the Christ, that is the Messiah, and He is also the Son of God.  He is God in the flesh, the Word made flesh.  And John saw the Spirit of God descend and remain on Him just as God said, and he heard the proclamation of God as recorded by Luke in Luke 3:22  when the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, "You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased." This was the witness of John, and this is his testimony, that Jesus is the Son of God.

And of course that testimony correlates perfectly with the Apostle John’s stated purpose for writing this book in John 20:31,  “but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”

Now there are two quick applications that I would point out that makes the believing in Christ efficacious for you. One is to recognize the One whom you do not know. Notice vs.26, John says, “among you stands One whom you do not know.” Some have decided that they do not want to know Him.  They have rejected the idea of God and Lord, and so they have rejected the Savior of the world.  To know God is to believe in God, which is a decision that everyone must make for themselves.  To believe the truth about God. That He was manifested in the flesh as Jesus Christ, and that He is Lord of all. 

And then the second point of application is that you must receive Him as your Lord and Savior. It is not enough to just believe in God, or even believe that Jesus lived on earth 2000 years ago.  It’s necessary to receive Him as your Lord and Savior.  You must accept Jesus’ substitutionary sacrifice on your behalf, for forgiveness of your sins, that you may be born again by the Holy Spirit.  If Jesus is truly the Son of God, then there is no alternative but to bow down before Him and plead for His mercy.  And Jesus said that to them that call upon Him He will surely save them.  In vs. 12 of our text, John says, “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.”

Today we have heard the testimony of the Apostle John here in this passage before us, who lived with and followed Jesus for 3 years of his life.  We have heard the testimony of John the Baptist who heard the voice from heaven declaring that Jesus is the Son of God and saw the Spirit descend in the form of a dove upon Him as was prophesied.  We have heard the testimony of the Old Testament Scriptures which present the Christ as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  We see around us the testimony of creation which reveals His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, so that we are without excuse.  But most importantly, we have the witness of the Holy Spirit inside us, convicting us, drawing us to Christ, opening our eyes that we might see Him and believe in Him and be saved.  I hope if you are here today, and you do not know Him, that you will not reject these faithful witnesses.  Jesus came to earth to save those that are lost.  All that is necessary is for you to believe in Him and receive Him as your Lord and Savior, and you will be given the right to become children of God and have everlasting life.  I urge you to repent of your sins and receive Him as your Savior and Lord, that you might be saved.

The Word became flesh, John 1:14-18

I for one am happy that the Apostle John does not dwell on sentimentalism, as he writes of the coming of Christ, but he focuses on theology.  Although most people may think theology and doctrine are dull and uninteresting, I believe that a proper understanding and belief of the truth is the path to true salvation.

I passed a Universalist Church in Rehoboth the other day, and they had a sign out front on which was written, “We believe that there is not just one way.” While I knew that they believed that, I was amazed that they would come out and say it so matter of factly, even advertise it.  They obviously don’t believe in the Bible at all.  If you don’t believe the Bible is true, then you will believe anything that appeals to your sensibilities. But simply believing in something, even believing fervently in something, does not make it true. We believe that God’s word is true, that it is authoritative, that it is  God breathed.  And thus what we believe about the Lord Jesus Christ who John calls the Word is efficacious in our salvation.

But in John’s sparse literary style he is giving an account of the coming of Christ and it’s possible due to his approach to miss the fact that this is the greatest love story ever told.  In preparing this message, I thought of trying to find an example of a great love story in order to illustrate this passage, but I ended up discarding every possibility because they could not come close to the magnificence of the story of Jesus coming to earth in human form.  One of the most famous love stories in literature is Romeo and Juliet.  But even though that story is often called the greatest love story of all time, it pales in comparison to the story we have in front of us.

In addition to being a great love story though, vs. 14 represents one of the greatest theological statements in the Bible. “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” This entire prologue of John’s gospel is one magnificent presentation  of the doctrine of the divinity of Jesus Christ.  So far in this first chapter, we have seen that the Word was God, the Word was Light, and now today the Word became Flesh. 

Now I want to try to explain why this passage can be called the greatest love story of all time.  But to do that we must go back once again to Genesis, to the creation account.  In chapter 1, God said “let us make man in Our image, in Our likeness.”  So God made man in the image and likeness of God.  He made man spirit, soul and body, a triune being like God Himself.  And then in John chapter 1, we see God making Himself in the image of man.  “The Word, who was God, became flesh and dwelt among us.” 

That in and of itself is a stunning thought.  That the eternal God who existed in the form of the Word, who was life, and was Light, who made all that was made in the universe, became a man. He didn’t just appear in the form of a man, but He became man. I believe that God appeared in pre-incarnate form in the appearance of a man at various times in the Old Testament period. But those pre-incarnate appearances were different than being born as a man. But the immediate question is why would the eternal, creator God stoop to become one of His creation?

Well, the answer I would suggest is illustrated in chapter 2 of Genesis. After God had made man, He declared that it was not good for man to be alone.  But after God made that statement, He did something interesting. He didn’t immediately create woman. But God caused all the animals of the creation to parade before Adam so that Adam could name them. And in the process, something was discovered by Adam.  Gen.2:20 says, “but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.”  Once Adam realized that fact, then God put him to sleep and took a rib from his side and made woman for man. 

And I think that scene illustrates a great truth.  I think that it illustrates why God made man to begin with.  God existed from eternity past before creating the heavens and the earth.  And we don’t know what He created in eternity past, other than that He created the angels. But it’s certain that He created other galaxies. I was watching a renowned physicist by the name of Brian Cox on YouTube recently, and he was speaking about the wonders of the cosmos. He said that there are 2 trillion galaxies in the piece of space that we can see. I guess there is space that we can’t see. Not 2 trillion stars, but 2 trillion galaxies.  And that each galaxy has an average of 400 billion stars in it. He also said that light takes 100,000 years to travel across a galaxy. He also said it seemed that the universe was infinite. And yet that our solar system was special. The way it had formed, and the way that Earth was positioned in relation to the sun and other planets set it apart from other similar solar systems.  He seemed to think that the science suggests that we are the only civilization in the milky way. Now I don’t know how much of that to believe. I am skeptical of modern science. But it would seem that it appears that there are trillions of galaxies beyond our own. And I don’t know what to make of that. But I believe that there is one God, who made everything that is made.  John said in vs 3, All things came into being through Him, that is through the Word, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

As Christian Creationists, we believe that the Bible indicates that life on this planet is just over six thousand years old. That doesn’t square with science. The geological matter may of this planet may have existed for millions of years, even billions of years, but it was without form and void. But day one of creation was about six thousand years ago.  Genesis says that God created light on the first day of creation.  We can’t square that with modern science either. And we know that God created man on the sixth day.  We can’t square that with evolutionary science either.  But we also know that the angels were already in existence when God made man. How much longer before man they were made we do not know.

And by the way, the Bible doesn’t teach that all angels look alike. We do see that different types of angels were created for many different purposes.  So we could speculate on what God might have created beyond what the Bible tells us, but I’m not sure that it would be profitable.  However, suffice it to say that when God made trees He did not make just one type of tree, but thousands of types.  When God made birds, He made thousands of different types of birds.  And the same with all types of His creation; there is great variety in each thing that God made.  Even with people, there is great variety within the species.  So we can assume that though we call them “angels” there is great variety in that type of being.  But contrary to popular images of angels, it’s not likely that they all look identical.  However, the Bible does indicate that the number of angels correlates with the number of stars.  Possibly billions or even trillions of different types of angelic beings. But beyond that we do not know what else God might have created in eternity past. 

But what I think God is illustrating with Adam naming the animals is that God viewed everything that He had created in eternity past, and there was not found any creature suitable to be a help mate for Him.  And in a manner of speaking, God had decided that it was not good for Him to be alone. So God created man in His image, in His likeness.  Another indication of this desire of God for a help mate is that in all of the rest of creation, He merely spoke and that thing came into being.  But with man God bent down and formed man out of the ground with His hands.  And then God put His mouth on man’s lips and breathed into him, and man became a living soul. 

So creation itself was no less than a great act of love.  Now the Bible has much to say about the church being the bride of Christ, and Christ being the bridegroom.  In chapter 3 of John, John the Baptist refers to Jesus as the bridegroom and the church as His bride.  Jesus Himself talks about the kingdom of God as culminating with the marriage supper of the Lamb.  In Revelation 21 the angel shows John what is called the bride of Christ, which is the church, spotless, having no spot or wrinkle, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.  

But probably the best passage that illustrates this principle is Ephesians 5, which talks about the way a husband must love his wife, and says in vs. 25-32, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,  so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,  that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.  So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself;  for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church,  because we are members of His body.  FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH.  This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.” So Paul is saying that human marriage is a picture of Christ’s marriage to the church, the bride of Christ.  We are made from His body to be united with Him as one body, joined together with Him for eternity.

But looking back at Genesis again, we see that Adam and Eve enjoyed walking with the Lord and communing with God, having fellowship with God.  But not long afterwards, they sinned by eating of the forbidden tree.  And as God had promised, their spirit died.  That part of their being that was in communion with God, that divine spark that they were created with was extinguished and the now sinful bride of God was removed from His holy presence.  They were banned from the garden and they no longer were able to be in the light of His glory.  Consequently, as their spirit died, their flesh soon followed after. And every offspring of Adam thereafter not only inherited his sinful nature, but he also inherited his mortality. But thank God for 1Cor. 15:22, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.”

Now that brings us back to our text.  Because God did still love the world. Specifically, He loved the human race.  And He loved the human race so much that though His holiness and justice requires that man suffers the penalty of his sin by separation from the Life of God, yet His love found a way to satisfy that requirement.  And God satisfies His judgment  by the most incredible means possible.  He became one of us.  Man could not come to God, he could not bridge the chasm between God and man.  He could not ascend to God, so God came down to man. Phl. 2:6-8 “[Jesus] who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,  but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

So because God so loved the world, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  As we were first made in the image of God, so God must be made in man’s image in order to be the representative man who would be able to become man’s substitute, Savior and high priest, dying in our place. Now that is love.  We cannot imagine a love story to equal that story.  If we were to imagine a king relinquishing his throne to become a peasant so he could marry a peasant girl that would not come close to Christ’s love for the church. If we were to imagine a man blinding himself in order to be married to a blind bride that still would not rival this story.  There is no greater story of love than to consider that the eternal God created man to be like Him, to be His mate, His companion, and then that mate rebelled and sinned against Him, and was expelled from His presence, only to have the same Holy God humble himself to take on human flesh so that He might die for His bride in her place as her substitute. It’s beyond our comprehension.

So the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Even so He remains fully man and fully God. The deity of Christ is not diminished by His humanity, nor is His humanity overpowered by His deity. It is what is known in theological terms as the hypostatic union. The combination of the divine and human nature in the person of Christ.  Fully man, and yet fully God.  Because as John says, even though we beheld Him in human form, He retained His glory as God, and He was seen in His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

We need to explain that word glory.  What is glory? When I was a kid growing up in an old country church, I used to hear sometimes one of the old timers yell out “glory!” when the preacher would really get them riled up or some singer would sing a rousing song.  Never knew what it meant, but  it usually managed to snap me awake. Well, I’ll tell you what it means.  There is a hint right there in the verse; it’s the word “dwelt”, or skenoo in the Greek.  And it means tabernacled.  You will remember that the tabernacle was the tent that God designed to house His glory when the children of Israel set out for the Promised Land.  God dwelled in the tabernacle, and His shekinah glory indwelled the tent so that it lit up in the nighttime with the light of His presence.

So what John is saying here is that the Word was Light, the Light of the world, and He came into the world, becoming human, one of us, and His shekinah glory tabernacled among us in the human form of Jesus.  Now John says we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.  And one explanation for that statement would be that he was speaking about the transfiguration, when Jesus’ glory began to shine out of Him and the Father God rebuked Peter by saying “this is My beloved Son, listen to Him.”

But for even more insight into His glory we need to go back to Exodus 33 and 34, when Moses asked to see God’s glory.  And God told Moses in Exo. 33:19-22 "I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion."  But He said, "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!"  Then the LORD said, "Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by.”

So in the next chapter we see the Lord put Moses in the cleft of the rock as His glory passed by, but listen how God describes that glory.  Not by describing the passing of God as a blinding light, but with words describing His attributes. Exo. 34:6-7 Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth;  who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations."

Now that’s incredible isn’t it?  We know that there was also a great light because Moses came down from the mountain with a veil over his face because it shone so much the reflected glory of God that the people could not look at him.  But when God describes passing His glory by Moses, He doesn’t describe the light, but with words describing His attributes.  And what two attributes do we see on parade above all others?  Grace and truth.  The very same attributes John ascribes here in John 1:14, “and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

So how did John and the disciples primarily see the glory of God revealed in Jesus?  By His attributes.  He was holy and righteous, full of grace and truth. Though He was fully man, yet He was fully God and manifested the character of God in all that He did. Hebrews 1:3 says of Christ, “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.”  So Christ’s attributes attested to His divinity as clearly as a  blazing light from heaven.

Then in vs.15, the apostle also includes the testimony of John the Baptist as to Christ’s divinity.  Listen to vs.15: John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’”  You will remember the in the story of Jesus’ birth, Mary His mother visited Elizabeth who was already pregnant with John.  So John was about 6 months older than Jesus.  He was born before Jesus, and yet John is saying that Jesus existed before Him. That means that He was preexistent.  Eternal.  And immortality is another attribute of divinity.  And John the Baptist adds that Christ had a higher rank than him.  Jesus then was more than a great prophet, He is the Son of God.  John was the herald going before the king, but Jesus was the King.

John continues this great love story in vs16. The eternal God became human flesh and we beheld His glory.  So that His bride might receive that same glory. Vs.16, “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.”  Now what does this mean?  Well let’s start with the word “fullness.” It is really referring back once again to His attributes, all the attributes of God, epitomized by grace and truth.  John is saying Christ was fully God. 

Paul says the same thing in Col. 2:9, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.”  So Christ is fully God in human form.  But then John says we received that fullness.  We received God’s fullness?  How does that work? It works because Christ died in our place to satisfy the justice of God, effectively purchasing us to become His bride, the church.  That divine spark that was extinguished in the fall of the first Adam, was rekindled in the Light of the second Adam, when we believed on Him and received Him as our Savior, and we were given the fullness of His righteousness, so that now the Spirit of God tabernacles within us.  His Light in us gives us the Light of life so that our divine spark in reignited.  The Word became flesh so that the glory of God might tabernacle in us.  So that we might be like Him.

Eph. 1:22-23 says about the exalted Christ “And He (God) put all things in subjection under His (Christ’s) feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”  We don’t receive a piece of the Holy Spirit, or a part of the Holy Spirit.  But we receive the fullness of deity in the Spirit of Christ who dwells in us.  Christ fills us with the fullness of the Spirit of God that we might exhibit the attributes of God to the world and so that we might be conformed to His image, made once more in the likeness of God.  That we might become suitable unto Him as a help mate. That we might become His spotless bride.

So John says not only did we receive His fullness, but we received grace upon grace.  Never ending grace is certainly one interpretation of that.  Grace that never runs out. Grace that is greater than all our sins. But even more to the point, I think it means we not only receive the gift of our salvation, but the gifts of the Spirit, and then we receive the gift of our inheritance; that we shall rule and reign with Christ - as the bride of Christ we will sit on the throne next to Him and share in His glory.  That shekinah glory of God that man could not look on and live, one day we shall share with Him. We will receive glory, glory like the glory that He has. 1John 3:2 “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.”  That is the essence of the beatific vision, is it not? When we shall live forever in the light of His glory, so that His glory becomes our glory.  That is the fullness of joy.  And that is our inheritance. That is our future.

John says in vs 17, “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Someone greater than Moses has come.  The law given through Moses was a tutor to show us our need for Christ.  But when Christ came, He fulfilled the law, and we received grace and truth.

Up until that time, John says, “No one has seen God at any time.”  God cannot be seen by any man while he is in sinful flesh. But we have seen Jesus, and if we have seen Jesus, we have seen the Father. Jesus said to Philip in John 14:9, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”  Vs.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.”  The Greek word is exēgeomai, which means to unfold, or explain.  It’s the word we get exegete from, which is the term we use to explain the style of preaching that I use.  I attempt to unfold the word of God, explain it, expand it, unpack it.  And that is what John says Jesus has done by coming in the flesh.  First in vs.17 John says Jesus manifested the attributes of God. Then in vs.18, Jesus explains God. The Word made flesh and dwelt among us, and then we beheld the glory of God in Him and through Him as He exhibited the attributes of God. And all of that is so that we might become like Him, to be united with Him as the church, the bride of Christ.

Well, that is enough for today.  But let me leave you with this thought. I want to leave you this morning looking forward to the coming of Christ for His church, for His bride.  That was the purpose of Christ coming to earth the first time, to prepare a bride for HIs return.  To become tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin and then to die for our sins so that we might become the children of God, the body of Christ, even His church.  Jesus is coming again for His bride.  This time He comes not as a baby in a manger but in the fullness of His glory as King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. This time He is coming not in secret, but at the sound of trumpets.  In the fullness of His glory. He is coming for His bride.  I hope that He finds you ready to meet Him.