The Word Became Flesh and Dwelt Among Us!
John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, declares, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being…. 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” (John 1:1-3, 14). In these few lines, the Gospel writer pronounces the person of Jesus Christ to be both fully divine and fully human and the co-eternal Creator of the universe.
The theologically rich language of the fourth Gospel offers truth that can revolutionize lives and offer solutions to the world’s most pressing issues. John understands Jesus to be the Divine Word who incarnated Himself and lived among men. The biblical writer does not believe the material universe is an illusion, so that one must acquire mind over matter psychic techniques to come to realize the prison of the material world. He needs not convince himself that “there’s no spoon.” Neither does he believe the material universe to be self-generated with all that exists being material without reason for God, angels, demons, and souls. Nothing comes from nothing. He finds there is a God, He made this material universe, and there is something about His creation worth saving.
John believes the world is fallen in sin, which is the cause of suffering; yet understands God has come to save the world. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (3:16). He realizes nothing is perfect. Marriages can be ruin. People get sick, they suffer, and they die. God, however, enters into this world to save it. Jesus, the God-man, discloses His divine nature through miraculous signs—turning water to wine (2:1-11), healing the terminally ill (4:46-54), making lame walk again (5:1-9), feeding the multitudes (6:1-17), walking on water (6:16-21), giving sight to the blind (9:1-12), and raising the dead (11:1-46). Christ does not stop there, but gives of His own life on the Cross, and resurrects from the dead on the third day. These miracles demonstrate Jesus’ full divinity, and the compassion of the God who is out there. Moreover, in the last two chapters of John’s Apocalypse, God ultimately restores the creation, so that there is a new heaven and a new earth.
God provides a way for lost people to rediscover their place in the creation as those created in the image of the Creator. Those who believe can have victory over sin and death through the hope that shall be raised to eternal life in the last day. They can be transformed by God’s Spirit and love in the likeness of their Creator. They have reason to use their human capacities in bringing order to the disorder within the world, for as they discover truths about the material world, they are also learning something more about the One who spoke the universe into existence. They have the basis to use the scientific method in discovering how the universe works, and use what they understand in life giving activities. They have reason to take the raw materials of the universe and construct them into works of art in the likeness of the Creator. The fact that they are created in the likeness of the Creator explains why people take the cacophony of sounds in the world, arrange them into melodies and harmonies, and form symphonies for the glory of God—“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” (Psa. 150:6).
If John is incorrect—that is he was wrong about viewing the material universe created by the Word, and the world having fallen into sin, but the Word still finds the world worth saving—then what basis is there to serve the common good? If the world is an illusion, so too is its suffering. If the world is only matter, then why not believe all things are relative, that there is neither good nor evil, right nor wrong, truth nor lie, but why then be so bothered by sickness, suffering, and death? If the strong are to survive, why bother with the weak?
The reality of the Advent brings to mind the carol “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” a wonderful melody composed by Felix Mendelssohn with words by Charles Wesley. The last half of the second stanza goes…
The theologically rich language of the fourth Gospel offers truth that can revolutionize lives and offer solutions to the world’s most pressing issues. John understands Jesus to be the Divine Word who incarnated Himself and lived among men. The biblical writer does not believe the material universe is an illusion, so that one must acquire mind over matter psychic techniques to come to realize the prison of the material world. He needs not convince himself that “there’s no spoon.” Neither does he believe the material universe to be self-generated with all that exists being material without reason for God, angels, demons, and souls. Nothing comes from nothing. He finds there is a God, He made this material universe, and there is something about His creation worth saving.
John believes the world is fallen in sin, which is the cause of suffering; yet understands God has come to save the world. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (3:16). He realizes nothing is perfect. Marriages can be ruin. People get sick, they suffer, and they die. God, however, enters into this world to save it. Jesus, the God-man, discloses His divine nature through miraculous signs—turning water to wine (2:1-11), healing the terminally ill (4:46-54), making lame walk again (5:1-9), feeding the multitudes (6:1-17), walking on water (6:16-21), giving sight to the blind (9:1-12), and raising the dead (11:1-46). Christ does not stop there, but gives of His own life on the Cross, and resurrects from the dead on the third day. These miracles demonstrate Jesus’ full divinity, and the compassion of the God who is out there. Moreover, in the last two chapters of John’s Apocalypse, God ultimately restores the creation, so that there is a new heaven and a new earth.
God provides a way for lost people to rediscover their place in the creation as those created in the image of the Creator. Those who believe can have victory over sin and death through the hope that shall be raised to eternal life in the last day. They can be transformed by God’s Spirit and love in the likeness of their Creator. They have reason to use their human capacities in bringing order to the disorder within the world, for as they discover truths about the material world, they are also learning something more about the One who spoke the universe into existence. They have the basis to use the scientific method in discovering how the universe works, and use what they understand in life giving activities. They have reason to take the raw materials of the universe and construct them into works of art in the likeness of the Creator. The fact that they are created in the likeness of the Creator explains why people take the cacophony of sounds in the world, arrange them into melodies and harmonies, and form symphonies for the glory of God—“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” (Psa. 150:6).
If John is incorrect—that is he was wrong about viewing the material universe created by the Word, and the world having fallen into sin, but the Word still finds the world worth saving—then what basis is there to serve the common good? If the world is an illusion, so too is its suffering. If the world is only matter, then why not believe all things are relative, that there is neither good nor evil, right nor wrong, truth nor lie, but why then be so bothered by sickness, suffering, and death? If the strong are to survive, why bother with the weak?
The reality of the Advent brings to mind the carol “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” a wonderful melody composed by Felix Mendelssohn with words by Charles Wesley. The last half of the second stanza goes…
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,The Word became flesh is truly a radical concept given to us by the Apostle John, and it has implications in answering the question to our deepest questions.
Hail th’incarnate Deity!
Pleased as man with men to dwell,
Jesus our Immanuel.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
‘Glory to the newborn King.’
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