When God Became a Man
John 1:1-14
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/GodBecameMan.html
It's not the Gospel of John, it's the gospel of Jesus! But I'm pleased today to begin a major new series in John's Gospel.
King Solomon stood in the lavish temple he had built and said,
1 Kings 8:27
But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?
If God did dwell on the earth, what would He be like? What would He say? What would He do? This is the astounding theme of our text. God did indeed dwell on the earth...as a man...a human being!
The four gospels are not biographies. A biography has the idea of entirety, but the last verse of this book makes it clear that this is only a portion.
John 21:25
And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.
The gospels are not the full picture...they are snapshots from the life of Christ.
ill.--this week I showed you pictures from Ecuador. Each is worth a thousand words, but pictures pale by comparison to the real thing. As amazing as the gospels are, someday we will see the real thing, and walk with Him and talk with Him and touch Him, and we will know everything which that unwritten, earth sized library of books could have imparted to us!
Matthew wrote with the Jews in mind, and emphasized Jesus as King of the Jews.
Mark wrote with the Romans in mind, and emphasized Christ as the suffering servant.
Luke wrote with the Greeks in mind, and emphasized Christ as the Son of Man.
But John wrote with both Jews and all Gentiles in mind, emphasizing Jesus Christ as the Son of God!
John will stress the prophecies of Christ in the OT, as well as the types and symbols of Christ in the OT. These were old pictures John pulled out of the big book, which pointed to something which was to come later in the NT.
The entire Bible is about Jesus Christ...all of history is HIS story. He's on every page in types, symbols, and shadows. And the gospel of John explains the fulfillment of all of those in the person of Jesus.
Example: It is in John that we learn that Jesus IS the lamb from OT sacrifices.
v. 29
Here is the theme of the entire Bible: It is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!
Adam and Eve sinned. Their boys inherited that sin nature. Both were told to bring a sacrifice for their sins. Abel brought a lamb, Cain brought fruits and vegetables / Abel’s offering was accepted, Cain’s rejected…what made the difference? The Blood of the lamb!
That’s Gen. 4:4—it was a lamb for one man in those days.
Next we come to Ex. 12, where God told every family to take one lamb, sacrifice it, and apply its blood to the top of the doorpost and the sides (what were they forming? A cross!)
Now it’s a lamb for each fam.
Lev. 16—God told the high priest to kill a lamb for the sins of the whole nation (this was done once a year for hundreds of years)
A lamb for the whole land.
Here’s the best part:
Jn. 1—Jesus is introduced…Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!
All the other lambs were leading up to this, they were just pictures of the perfect Lamb to come.
The Lamb to span all eternity! Now there's no need to sacrifice literal lambs...they were only pictures of Christ, and once you have the fulfillment, you no longer need the 'type.'
It is John who tells us that Jesus is the lamb of the OT.
It is John who tells us that Jesus is the ladder of the OT.
v. 51
Ah, but who was the first to see this ladder? Jacob!
He ran away from the wrath of his brother Esau, and that first night out in the wilderness, with a stone for a pillow, he had a dream. A ladder stretched from earth to heaven, and angels went up and down...and now John clarifies that Jesus is that ladder, the only connection which exists between heaven and earth! Jesus is the only one who can take God by one hand and mankind by the other and bring them together in reconciliation!
It is John that tells us that Jesus is the temple of the OT.
2:19-22
Solomon's temple was made of gold, marble, and brass...magnificent...breathtakingly beautiful. And everything in that temple was a picture of Jesus, who was yet to come. Even the color schemes pictures aspects of His character and nature.
As you walk into the courtyard you pass by the brazen altar where the lamb would be slain -- a picture of the cross. You would come to the brazen laver, the water of the Word, and Jesus IS the Word! Inside the temple is the table of shewbread...Jesus, the bread of life. The golden lampstand...Jesus, the light of the world. The altar of incense...our High Priest, making intercession for us.
How can some read the OT and not see Jesus?
John tells us that Jesus is the brass serpent of the OT.
3:14-15
The people of God were being judged, and bitten by snakes, and God told Moses to put a brass snake on a pole and lift it up, and anyone who looks at it would be instantly healed. [This is why the AMA has the snake logo] They didn't have to clean up their act or do good works...just look and live!
John says, Jesus is going to be lifted up, and you who have been bitten by the sins of the serpent Satan must look to Jesus on that cross, become the very image of sin for us and we will have eternal life!
John tells us that Jesus is the manna of the OT.
6:31-35
Everything about that manna, right down to its shape, size, and color, and consistency, was a picture of Jesus!
John does something special for us. The first three gospels record the events of Christ on earth...John gives us the meaning of those events.
Every gospel tells us of the feeding of the 5,000. Only John records the sermon Jesus preached afterward and explains the meaning to us.
John gives us many deep truths, but only one major theme: Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and is the only one who can give to you eternal life.
Today, briefly, we look at:
1. Jesus' Revelation [next week His rejection]
v. 1 Jesus is the Word.
Notice the last phrase: the Word WAS God. That verb is in a tense which means eternal existence. He always WAS God. He never BECAME God. He is the eternally existent one. Here He is merely revealed to us...that's why #1 is His Revelation.
3 words about His revelation:
• Incarnation.
v. 14 'made flesh'
What a profound statement. God Almighty limited His dimensions to that of a human body! We seem to picture Him w/ an aura around him and a holy halo, but he was flesh and bone, with limbs and hair. He had internal organs. He ate and processed food. He wasn't a phantom spirit. He who at His core was God was 100% man...God robed in flesh. He was as much human as we are!
Were all His teeth perfectly straight? Are yours? When He was a teenager, did He ever get a zit? Did He bite His fingernails? I don't know if they offered manicures in those days, but John emphasizes that Jesus was just like you and me. He got weary and tired. [4:6] He had to sleep. He would wake up. What would His breath be like? What do you think?! Could he get nose hair? Have you ever seen a Jew? If he plucked one, I believe His eyes would water.
This sounds almost inappropriate talk...like I'm bringing God down to man's level. I didn't do it, God did!
John 4:7 says Jesus got thirsty, and in chapter 11 that He sighed [groaned from within] over the death of a friend, Lazarus, and then He outwardly wept literal tears, just as He bled literal blood, and His heart stopped and He died...the eternal God died in human form just like we will. All these things He did just like we do except to sin -- good thing He was human, for He was our substitute!
There's no way we can completely wrap our heads around this truth of God taking on human flesh...this is why we call it the mystery of the incarnation.
1 Timothy 3:16
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh...
100% God / 100% man doesn't compute, it's a mystery/miracle!
The OT oft times predicts His coming as God and King, but sometimes as a man, such as:
Isaiah 53:3
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows...
Isaiah 9:6
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Which is it? God or Man? Both are right!
ill.--in Luke 2 we have the only story from Jesus' childhood. He wisely answered the questions from the doctors and theologians. I'm sure one of their questions was, "How old are you?" This is speculation, but He could have answered, "On my mother's side I'm 12, but on my Father's side I'm much older than my mother and the same age as my Father! Oh, also, before Abraham was, I am!"
And all His life there was this dual nature. He would get thirsty on His mother's side, but on His Father's side He was the water of life! [hungry...bread of life / no money or possessions...owned cattle on 1,000 hills / wept at the tomb...'Lazarus come forth' / fell under load of the cross...bore the sins of all mankind on His shoulders / on His mother's side He died...on His Father's side He rose!
v. 14 'made flesh'
Incarnation...
• Identification
v. 14 'and dwelt among us'
Don't miss this! "Dwelt" is from the root translated 'tabernacle', and our minds go back to the OT tabernacle, that portable temple. God had commanded that tabernacle to be built. So, why would God want us to build it? To picture Christ. To worship. But most of all, so that He might dwell among His people!
God doesn't want to watch from a distance.
Exodus 25:8
And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.
Bette Midler's song 'From a Distance', in its last verse makes God sound like an absentee landlord who created earth and then left it to run down. Well that may be the God she sees, but my God is on the scene and highly involved in every aspect of every day, and in this age of grace He not only dwells among us but in us who are saved!
• Illumination
v. 14 'and we beheld his glory'
When Christ came to earth He revealed the glory of God!
'Beheld' comes from Greek 'theo-omai' = theatre! It means to gaze at intently. The disciples saw the curtain rise and the spotlights shone on that lovely face, and they knew they were looking at God! We beheld His glory!
John 2:11
This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.
It says His miracles manifested His glory! And as we study this wonderful book I pray we will see His glory and come to know Him better than ever, because it's not just a theatre production...we get to go backstage and take pictures, get the autograph, get coffee and commune with Him, and then He invites us to His house, and after many good times reveals that this is OUR house, and He has built it for us forever!
You say, I need to know that God, but I don't know how.
John 1:12
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
Believe and receive!
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/GodBecameMan.html
