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And the Word was made 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 1:14).
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 as man with men to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel.
Hark! The herald angels sing
“Glory to the new-born King.”
(“Hark! The Herald
Angels Sing”—Charles Wesley)
We ought to remember
that Christmas and Easter are distinctively Christian holidays. We know that
there have been various pagan customs mixed in over the years, but we are able
to remove what is foreign to the Christian message and keep what is vital.
Satan’s attacks today remain as subtle and yet ferocious as ever. The great
imitator of Christ has exalted the many world religions to equal prominence with
Christianity even in (so-called) Christian countries like America. But with
even greater subtlety he has created great antipathy toward the Christmas and
Easter message by redefining tolerance into intolerance for anything that claims
to be absolute truth.
Christianity, of
course, specifically and uniquely proclaims that it is the only way to God and
heaven. It claims that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God and that no one
comes to God but by acceptance of Him as the only Savior and His atoning work on
their behalf. Christianity’s claim of Christ’s incarnation through virgin birth
as well as His death, burial, and bodily resurrection makes it an “all or
nothing” belief system. No other religion rises or falls on specific miracles.
Theirs is based on moral teaching and good works. Christianity is based on
whether or not God became a man.
To the postmodern mind
this is as narrow and bigoted as you can get! How can Christianity claim to be
the only belief system that can take one to heaven? Many think this way of
thinking should be a hate crime in America. If you claim to be right and
someone else wrong, then you are setting yourself up as better than the other
person and therefore think you are superior to them. As illogical as it may
seem, claiming to have absolute truth, especially in religion, is equal to hate
in many peoples’ minds.
Each year Christmas and
Easter force this issue. Saying that God became a man only once in the Person
of Jesus Christ; and that Jesus Christ is the only Person to have risen from the
dead (thereby proving that He was indeed the God-man), is the exact equivalent
to John 14:6, I am the way, the truth, and the
life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me, or to Acts 4:12,
Neither is there salvation in any other: for
there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
It is this exclusivity about Christianity that our generation simply cannot
tolerate.
Of course, Christianity
is actually both inclusive and exclusive. It is inclusive in its provision,
offer, and application of salvation.
Whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life (John 3:16); For
whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:13). But
it is also exclusive in that no one can come to God except through Jesus
Christ. This is the factual and historic Christmas and Easter message.
No biblical statement is
clearer about the uniqueness of the Christian message than John 1:14. Westcott
said that this verse is “absolutely unique. The phrases which point towards it
in St. John (1 John iv.2), in the Epistle to the Hebrews (ii. 14), and in St.
Paul (Rom. viii.3; Phil ii.7; I Tim. iii.16) fall short of the majestic fullness
of this brief sentence.”1 Here, by this one verse, all religions
fall short, all religious leaders fade into oblivion, all spiritual thought
becomes dumb before the infinite divine Word who became flesh on that first
Christmas morning.
The Word
The
subject of the sentence has been John’s subject from verse one.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). From eternity this Logos
was; without
beginning, without ending, whose goings forth
have been from of old, from everlasting (Mic. 5:2). His name is
Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The
everlasting
Father, The Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6). Throughout eternity He existed
with
God. He was preexistent because He was eternal. But most startling and
unique, this Logos was
God!
Charles Ryrie wrote,
Without the Incarnation we would have no Savior. Sin requires death for its
payment. God does not die. So the Savior must be human in order to be able to
die. But the death of an ordinary man would not pay for sin eternally, so the
Savior must also be God. We must have a God-Man Savior and we do in our Lord
(Heb. 10:1-10).2
The
fact of Christ’s deity has been offensive to Satan from the beginning and will
be offensive to his antichrist yet in the future,
who opposeth and exalteth himself above all
that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the
temple of God, showing himself that he is God (2 Thes. 2:4). And this is
why the truth of Christmas is still offensive to non-Christians today. The mere
fact of the Word existing eternally before becoming a man is absolutely unique.
Was Made Flesh
What
did begin on the first Christmas morning was the humanity of Jesus Christ. The
eternal Second Person of the Godhead made
himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made
in the likeness of men (Phil. 2:7). Whereas in verses 1 and 2, speaking
of the eternal Logos, four times we read that He
was,
now, speaking of His humanity, we read
egeneto, He
became. Arthur Pink wrote,
The Infinite became finite. The Invisible became tangible. The Transcendent
became imminent. That which was far off drew nigh. That which was beyond the
reach of the human mind became that which could be beholden within the realm of
human life. Here we are permitted to see through a veil that, which unveiled,
would have blinded us. ‘The word became flesh:’ He became what He was not
previously. He did not cease to be God, but He became Man.3
Without ceasing to be divine He became human. No less God and no less man.
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing,
and yet Jesus Lord at thy birth. Isaiah
felt no contradiction in proclaiming, For unto
us a child is born, unto us a son is given and calling Him
The mighty God, The Everlasting Father (Isa.
9:6). Neither did Wesley feel a contradiction in singing,
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the
incarnate deity!
Never
will the world understand this hypostatic union apart from the regenerating work
of the Holy Spirit of God. The natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto
him: neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned (1 Cor.
2:14).
And Dwelt Among Us
For a
short time the God-Man dwelt on the earth. He
tabernacled among us; lived a tent-life during His brief trip away from
Home. The Royal Son had no pillow for His head, was
touched with the feelings of our infirmities;
and was in all points tempted like as we are,
yet without sin (Heb. 4:15). It’s not that the humanity itself was a
temporary tabernacle. Christ had a body after His resurrection too, one fit for
the next life. We also temporarily have flesh fit for this life. But mortality
will one day be swallowed up of life, corruption will put on incorruption,
mortal will put on immortality and we shall be changed! (1 Cor 15:53-54).
Jesus
took His humanity back to heaven with Him at His resurrection and ascension.
But this man, because he continueth ever, hath
an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost
that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners, and made higher than the heavens (Heb. 7:24-26). Our
humanity will go into heaven with us too. But whereas the God-Man could raise
Himself from death and take His humanity to heaven by His own power, we must
attach ourselves to Him by faith if we are to be raised.
For a
while Christ’s tent looked like our tent. It was fit for folding also. It was
given to Him for the purpose of dying!
Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou
wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared for me . . . we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus once for all (Heb. 10:5, 10).
And We Beheld His Glory
Now
and then His followers caught a glimpse of the body to come!
When we were with him on the holy mount,
Peter says, we were eyewitnesses of his majesty
(2 Peter 1:16, 18). No one, having seen such Christmas truth, could
desire this life over the next. Yea, I think
it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in
remembrance (vs 13) became Peter’s message.
John
was on that mount. He was also in the boat when Jesus came walking on the
water, and when He commanded the storm to obey Him, when by miracle He brought
heaven close to earth, His glory shining through from the inside of the tent.
John beheld
it all. It was a theomai, a “theater” of spectacular sights like a
display of shooting stars against the still dark night.
The Glory as of the only begotten of the Father Full of Grace and Truth
This
is the first time John calls the Word the only
begotten. Luther wrote,
In this thou hearest clearly and distinctly that the Word which was from
everlasting with the Father, and is the light of men, is called the Son, yea,
the only begotten Son of God. . . . God has many other sons and children, but
only One is the only-begotten, of whom it is said, that all was made by Him: the
other sons are not the Word, by which all things were made; but they were
created by this only-begotten Son, who, like the Father, is the Creator of
heaven and earth. The others all become sons by this only-begotten Son, who is
our Lord and God, and we are called many-begotten sons: but this is alone the
only-begotten Son, whom He was begotten in the Godhead from everlasting.4
John
does not use the word “grace” very often. His emphasis is much more on
“truth.” We worship God in spirit and in truth
(John 4:24). Though we call this the age of grace, and surely it is,
John sees it as an age when truth has been fully revealed. Darkness is past and
true light is now shining. And Jesus, the Word, the God-Man is
the true Light, which lighteth every man that
cometh into the world (John 1:9). By this incarnate Deity,
as many as received him, to them gave he power
to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name (vs 12).
As one writer put it, “He is entirely what He is; as it were, thoroughly God;
therefore is never behind the expectations which His own cherish of Him—gives no
promises which He does not keep, awakes no hopes which He does not satisfy,
never forsakes His own in times of difficulty.”5 What grace!
And So . . . .
Let the world’s religions say what they will but envy what we say:
Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy
morning,
Jesus, to Thee be all glory given;
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing;
Oh come, let us adore Him, O come, let us
adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!
Notes:
1. B.F. Westcott, The
Gospel According to St. John (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1964) 11.
2. Charles Ryrie, Basic
Theology (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1987) 245.
3. Arthur W. Pink,
Exposition of the Gospel of John (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1971) 32.
4. Quoted by E.W. Hengstenberg,
The Gospel of John (Minneapolis: Klock
& Klock, 1980) 46.
5. E.W. Henstenberg, Ibid., 47.
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