THE WORD BECAME FLESH
(John 1:14)
Immanuel God with us
Introduction
Well, it has officially begun Christmas or, as the world calls it the Holiday Season. We will have plenty to eat, parties and family get togethers.
That’s o.k. After all this country has been through the last three years, we need some celebration. However, let’s be careful this year not to forget,
as most of world has, “The Reason for the Season-Jesus.”
Matthew in his gospel devotes two chapters to the birth of Jesus, Luke almost as much. Mark doesn’t say anything about the Advent. John doesn’t
say a lot about the birth of Jesus or the Advent. In fact, this one statement here in verse fourteen of chapter one, is John’s only direct reference to the
birth our Lord, but this one brief statement says volumes. You see.
1. This statement puts God in a different perspective.
After Michael Angelo had finished his famous painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, people begin to come in to see his work. When they
tried to look up to see the work of art, they would become dizzy, and their necks and backs would hurt. Then someone came up with the ideal of
putting a highly polish mirror under the painting. Then people could look in the mirror and admire the beauty of the painting.
All through the Old Testament men looked up and tried and to understand what God was like. The scripture says, “God, who at sundry (different)
times and in divers (various) manners spoke in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by [His] Son.”
(Hebrews 1:1-2) Jesus is not just a reflection of God He is God. If you had known Me, you have known the Father Jesus told His disciples.
(John 14:7) If you really want to know what God is like, just look at Jesus. In Jesus God is no longer someone way up there, He’s God down here.
A mother trying to help her young son learn to sleep in his room alone assured him that God was right there with him. Yes, mother I know, the
child said, but I need a God I can touch. I think there are times when each of us need a God we can touch. When God stooped to become man, He
became a God we could touch. This same John in another one of his books says, in reference to Jesus “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, of the Word of life”. (1John 1:1)
Think about it.
Not only can we know God better, in Jesus, we have the assurance, that God understands us. Jesus even understands our temptations. The scripture
says, “For we have not a high priest (Jesus) which cannot be touched (sympathize) with the feeling of our infirmities (weakness); but was in all points tempted
like as we are (Hebrews 4:15) For thirty-three years He lived among us. He knows what it is like to be tired. He knows what it is like to be hungry and
cold. Thirty of those years He spent as a carpenter. I believe He knows what it is like to have someone cheat on a business deal. He knows what it is
like to be misunderstood by His loved ones and friends. He is a God that lived among us.
2. This statement puts life in a proper perspective.
Paul Harvey made famous the story about the agnostic who stayed home from the Christmas Eve service because he refused to believe in the
Incarnation, so he built a fire, sat down in a comfortable chair, with a good book. No sooner than he sat down, he began to hear a thumping noise
against his living room window. When he investigated, he found that a flock of birds had become lost in the storm and were trying to fly through the
glass into the warmth of his living room. He quickly put on his coat and boots and went and turned on the lights and opened his barn door, hoping the
birds would fly into the warmth and safety of the barn. However, they just kept flying against the window and injuring themselves. He tried getting
behind them and shooing them into the barn, but to no avail. He tried baiting them with corn, again to no avail. The birds were frightened of him.
Then he thought if somehow, I could become one of them, then, I could lead them into the safety of the barn. That moment the agnostic became a
believer.
In Jesus God became a man to show us how to live. Listen, do you want to live life to its fullest? Just live, as best you know how, like Jesus lived.
Get you one of these “What Would Jesus do: bracelets, and in every situation, look at it and do what Jesus would do. He came to teach us how to
live life at its best. He came to show us how to really live. “I have come that you may have life and that more abundantly.” (John 10:10)
Not only did he show us how to live, one day He walked up Calvary, and died in our place. He who knew no sin became sin for us. (2Cor. 5:21)
He died that we could go free from the power of sin and live the abundant life. He died that we could live forever. No wonder the Host of Holy
Angels appeared to announce His holy birth.
3. This statement puts the future in a great perspective.
It would have been wonderful to have lived while Jesus was here on earth. I would have liked to have heard Him preach and
watched Him heal the sick, cause the blind to see and raise the dead. I don’t know about you, but I get tired sometime, just
plain old tired, tired of fighting temptation, tired of dealing with problems. The course to the old spiritual says it best,” trouble
in my heart I want to cry sometimes. The song goes on to say, “my Jesus will fix it after a while.
There’s a verse in the closing chapters of Revelation that brings me a lot of comfort. It reads, “Behold the tabernacle of God is with
men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. (Rev 21:3b) the same
word used for dwell or tabernacle in John 1:14, is used here in Revelation. The presence of God with his people in heaven will not be
interrupted as it is on earth, but He will dwell with us continually. There is coming a time when God will again dwell or tabernacle
with His people. He’ll wipe all our tears and make everything all right. I can hardly wait. They tell me that I will probably never be
able go to the Holy Land because of all the walking. But one day I’m going to walk where Jesus walks and feel Him close to me.
We are going to bask in His Glory forever and ever.
Conclusion:
When the Word became flesh God was saying I Love You. Does this Jesus, the Word that became flesh, live in your heart? What a
wonderful time to accept Him as your personal Savior, and Lord, and one day go to dwell with Him forever. At church we sing,
” Go tell it on the mountain,” Christians, we ought to be telling it everywhere about this Jesus who became flesh to save the whole
world from our sins.
