Jesus, the Word of God

Good to be with you all again for the first Sunday of Advent.

We are taking a short break from our sermon series in the book of Exodus,

and we're going to explore the Gospel of John for six weeks.

So we'll look at Jesus as the Word of God, that's today,

and then Jesus as the Lamb of God, Jesus as the Son of God,

Jesus as the Christ of God, and the Light of God,

and the Bread of God on Christmas Day.

So I look forward to going through the Gospel of John with you all.

So, and then we're going to be in John 1 today, so if you have your Bibles,

if you don't have a Bible, please raise your hand,

and we'll have some of our greeters bring you a copy of the Bible you can use while you're here.

It looks like you guys all have one.

So the Gospel of John in the New Testament, after the Gospel of Luke,

before the book of Acts, Gospel of John, chapter 1, verses 1 to 18.

John 1:1–18

Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word.

Heavenly Father, we humble ourselves before your Word.

Exalt your Son, Jesus Christ, the Word of God.

Strike as anew with a sense of wonder before the Word made flesh.

God who took on human infirmities.

Jesus who took our sins and nailed them to the cross.

Fix our eyes on Jesus this morning as we incline our hearts and ears to you.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

If you're able, please stand with me for the reading of God's Word from John 1, 1 to 18.

I'll read it out loud for us.

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 were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

He came as a witness to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through Him.

He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him.

He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him.

But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God,

who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the word became flesh, and dwelt among us.

And we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John bore witness about Him, and cried out,

This was He of whom I said, He who comes after me ranks before me, because He was before me.

For from His fullness we have all received grace upon grace.

For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

No one has ever seen God.

The only God who is at the Father's side, He has made Him known.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

Please be seated.

There's some famous first sentences of novels

that I think many of you would recognize.

If I were to say,

It was the best of times.

It was the worst of times.

See some knowing faces.

Before I finish that sentence,

many of you already identified that as the first line of Charles Dickens' famous novel,

A Tale of Two Cities.

But no first words are more famous or influential than the first words of the Bible.

from the book of Genesis,

In the beginning.

It then tells the beginning of how the world as we know it came to be,

how God created it all simply by speaking with the word of His mouth.

The Gospel of John begins with the same exact words,

In the beginning.

And John intends for us to hear echoes of Genesis 1.1.

It's a very ambitious first line for a book.

Unlike the Gospel of Mark, which begins with the public ministry of Jesus,

or the Gospel of Matthew and Luke, which begin with the birth of Jesus,

John goes all the way back to the creation of the world.

In fact, he goes even further back.

He takes us to the time before creation.

Pre-existence.

The absolute beginning.

Where all there was, was God.

Genesis 1.1 said,

In the beginning, God.

John 1.1 says,

In the beginning, the Word.

This is John's version of the Christmas story.

And he wants us to grasp the cosmic scale of this story.

Forget for a moment the sentimentality of a baby in a manger

and the pageantry of the three magi.

Though those are all important and significant.

John's taking us all the way back when nothing else existed.

In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

John's teaching us in this passage that Jesus Christ

is the Word who was made flesh

to make God known to us.

So I'm going to first talk about the Word,

and then a witness,

and then the Word that,

the world that did not know him,

and the Word made flesh that makes God known.

So we're going to follow that in turn

as we go through this passage.

So we have to ask the question at first,

what is the Word?

Because the verse one begins,

In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

John is not speaking of words of human languages

that we use to form sentences.

The word,

which in Greek is logos,

is the word from which we get the English word logic,

generally refers to an inner thought,

something like reason,

or even science,

and it played an important part

of the conceptual world of Greek philosophies.

The Stoics and Platonists, for example,

they all understood the Word

as the rational principle,

the animating principle

that undergirds and governs

the entire universe

and constitutes its essence.

So it's a very loaded word in its context.

However, that's not the end of it.

John is aware of the fact

that the Word is a buzzword in his day,

but his understanding of the Word

is not shaped primarily

by the Greek philosophies.

Rather, he's using the Word,

the concept, as a starting point,

but then he is reorienting the Word

toward the Bible's definition of the Word

by connecting it to Genesis.

The Word in the Old Testament

and in the book of Genesis

is God's speech,

the divine self-expression

or self-disclosure,

God revealing himself by his speech to us.

In Genesis 1, God creates by his Word.

He speaks light, darkness, sky, earth, land, sea,

and all the creatures

into being through his Word.

It says in Genesis 1, 1-3,

in the beginning,

God created the heavens and the earth.

The earth was without form and void,

and darkness was over the face of the deep,

and the Spirit of God

was hovering over the face of the waters,

and God said,

let there be light,

and there was light.

So God creates by his Word.

But God also reveals himself by his Word.

And so if you look at the prophets,

it's like Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel,

they often say this phrase,

the Word of the Lord came to me.

The Word revealing the Lord God himself

to human beings.

And finally, God saves his people

also by the same Word.

Psalm 107.20 says,

he sent out his Word

and healed them

and delivered them from their destruction.

The Word delivers God's people.

In short,

the Word of God

is God's powerful self-expression

in creation,

revelation,

and salvation.

Everything there is to know about God,

we know by his Word.

God reveals himself by his Word.

We cannot know God

apart from his Word.

So, so far,

that's pretty straightforward.

But then in verse 1,

it tells us something

that is absolutely mind-blowing.

It says that this Word

was with God.

So the Word is a being

that is distinct from God,

which is why we can say

that he was with God.

So it implies fellowship.

He was with God.

And yet,

John tells us

in the clause

that immediately follows

that the Word was God.

God, right?

This doesn't mean

that the Word is another God

or a part of another God

or one of the gods.

In the syntax here,

this underlying

the English translation,

the word God

in the Greek

is actually fronted

for emphasis.

So it actually says

God the Word was.

The structure of verses 1 to 2

highlight this clause.

You look at verse 1,

it says the first part,

in the beginning,

the Word was with God.

And then at verse 2,

likewise says,

he was in the beginning

with God.

They're mirroring phrases.

And they sandwich

this central clause

to highlight it.

The Word was God.

That's what it's emphasizing.

The very Word,

the very God

that the Word was with,

the Word was that very God.

The Word was with God,

yet that selfsame Word

was God.

We're so familiar with this.

This is so mind-blowing.

The Edmund Clowney,

a theologian,

puts it memorably.

He says,

the Word was with God,

God's eternal fellow.

The Word was God,

God's own self.

To the Jewish mind,

try to think about this

from a Jewish perspective,

they have been for generations,

for thousands of years,

drilled into their heads.

The Lord is God,

and the Lord is one.

There's no God

besides the Lord.

And then to bring this truth,

further revelation,

to His people,

saying that this Word of God

was God.

The Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

It shatters their reality,

transforms their theology profoundly.

This is the first building block

of the Christian doctrine

of the Trinity,

which our church is named after.

It is a foundational doctrine.

The doctrine of the Trinity

states that there is one God,

only one God,

but in three persons,

the Father, Son, and Spirit.

They are distinct,

yet inseparable,

three and one.

And we see here

the Father's relationship

with God,

the Son,

His Word.

And then we also saw

reference to the Spirit

when I read earlier

from Genesis 1, 1-3.

The Spirit of God

is hovering over the waters

as God the Father speaks,

and the Word brings

all creation into being.

Psalm 33, verse 6 says,

Psalms 33:6

By the Word of the Lord

the heavens were made,

their starry host

by the breath of His mouth.

The word breath here

is the same word

that is translated often

as Spirit.

So God speaks,

and His Word,

carried forth by the breath of God,

brings all of creation

into being.

The Trinity

is not a human invention,

it's what we have come up with

to make sense

of what God has revealed to us

in history

and in the Word of God.

So the Word is a person

within the triune Godhead,

and the Word of God

was not made by God

in the beginning,

He was God,

and as verse 2 reiterates,

He was in the beginning

with God,

already at the very beginning,

before anything else

was created,

the Word was there

with God.

So the Word was not created,

everything was created

through the Word.

Look with me at verse 3.

It says,

All things were made

through Him,

and without Him

was not anything made

that was made.

The totality of all of creation

exists through the Word.

All things,

anything,

there's not a thing

we see in this universe

from the smallest particles

that make up the atom

to the sun,

from the caterpillar

to the eagle

that soars the heavens.

Fire,

water,

human beings,

angelic beings,

black holes,

the galaxies,

nothing visible

or invisible

in the entire cosmos

was created,

came to exist

apart from

the Word of God.

That's why Colossians 1,

16 and 17

calls Jesus

the firstborn

of all creation,

the Word of God,

the firstborn

of all creation.

Not in the sense

that He was the first thing

that was created,

but in that He was the one

by whom all things

were created.

He is the first mover,

the originator.

Colossians explains it further,

for by Him

all things were created

in heaven and on earth,

visible and invisible,

whether thrones

or dominions

or rulers

or authorities,

all things were created

through Him

and for Him

and He is before all things

and in Him

all things hold together.

Everything you see

and cannot see

was created

through the Word

and for the Word.

He's the goal

of creation.

The Word is the instrument

of creation,

the reason for being

of all creation.

Why we exist,

why all creation exists,

it's Jesus,

the Word.

He precedes all things

and sustains all things.

So John is describing

how measurelessly vast

the Word of God is,

who's with God.

This is cosmic in scale.

And the verses 4 to 5 continue,

in Him was life,

and the life was

the light of man.

The light shines

in the darkness

and the darkness

has not overcome it.

Later in John,

John 5, 26,

Jesus also says that

as the Father

has life in Himself,

that He has granted

the Son also

to have life

in Himself.

So this is pointing

to Jesus'

self-existence

as the Word of God,

what theologians call

the aseity of God,

meaning that God

has no origin

or source

apart from Himself.

He is self-originating.

Because everything

we see around us,

every life that we see

has a beginning

at some point in time.

It has a source

in something else

or someone else,

but not the Word of God.

The Word of God

does not have a source

it comes from.

The Word has life

in Himself,

like light

that makes life

possible on earth.

All that is life

and not death

in this world.

All that we would

describe as life,

all that we describe

as light,

all that comes

from Jesus,

the Word of God.

And in the Gospel

of John,

I don't think

probably most of you

are not here

when we went through

the Gospel of John

some years ago now,

but John uses

the motif of light

and life

extensively

throughout the Gospel.

And he tends

to use those words

with double meaning.

So he's not only

referring literally

to light

and to life,

physical life,

he's referring also

to spiritual light.

God's illuminating,

enlightening light

and he's referring

to spiritual life,

eternal life,

resurrection life.

Despite all the evil

that you see

in the world,

despite all the darkness

and all the death

that you see

in the world

that's ravaging

this world,

the light shines

in the darkness

and the darkness

has not overcome it.

That's the word.

And then in verses

six to eight,

John digresses briefly

to tell us about

a witness of the word.

He writes,

there was a man

sent from God

whose name was John.

He came as a witness

to bear witness

about the light

that all might believe

through him.

He was not the light

but came to bear witness

about the light.

John being mentioned here

is not the apostle John

who wrote the gospel

of John

but John the Baptist

and three times,

so if you look at

verses one to five,

it repeats the word God

in conjunction

with the word

but here,

in stark contrast

in verse six,

it says,

there was a man

sent from God.

So the word

was with God

and the word

was God

and the word

was with God

in the beginning

but John is a man.

So there's a contrast.

John was not God

and if that wasn't clear

and if that weren't clear enough,

John makes it

even more explicit.

He says,

John was not the light.

It's like,

imagine introducing

a speaker

to a podium

and then talking

about all the things

he's not.

He's like,

yeah,

John is not the light.

you know,

John's just a man

and he's a,

he's,

but he is a witness.

How many times,

the word is repeated

three times,

witness,

so that we make

no mistake

about who John was

and what his purpose was.

John's function

is preparatory

and transitory.

He makes way

for the true light

and he bears witness

about that light

as great a prophet

John was

and there was

no greater prophet.

He is no Jesus.

He is not the word.

He is not the savior

of the world.

He is not the light

of the world.

Mistaking John

for these things

would be like mistaking

a guest at the wedding

who is merely there

as a witness

for the bridegroom himself.

John actually uses

that very metaphor

to describe himself

in John 3

when John's disciples

observe that all of

John's previous followers

are flocking to Jesus

on the other side.

John,

and then they bring it up

to John.

Hey,

can you do something

about this?

Look at,

they're all going

to that guy,

to Jesus.

And then John says,

I am not the Christ.

The one who has the bride

is the bridegroom.

The friend of the bridegroom

who stands and hears him

rejoices greatly

at the bridegroom's voice.

Therefore,

this joy of mine

is now complete.

He must increase,

but I must decrease.

John is saying,

I'm just a witness

at the wedding.

I'm just here to see,

celebrate.

Jesus is the bridegroom.

And God's people

are his bride.

It is my joy

to see them united

to one another.

Jesus must increase,

I must decrease.

And later in verse 15

of our passage,

this also gives us

a snippet of the witness

that John bore about Jesus.

He says,

this was he of whom I said,

he who comes after me

ranks before me

because he was before me.

Jesus came after John

in terms of time

and space

in the physical world

because John was born

before,

some months

before Jesus was.

And John began his ministry

before Jesus did.

So he was before Jesus

in this sense

and yet Jesus was before John

because why?

Verse one told us

he was in the beginning

with God.

Jesus is the eternal word,

the God,

the word of God himself

and he was right there

in the beginning

and so John,

on the other hand,

is just over 30 years old

and John never existed

before he was born.

And so John

is way outranked

by Jesus

and he knew this

so he bore witness

to Jesus.

isn't it so easy

for us to forget

this reality?

Our mission in life

is not

to make much

of ourselves,

to promote ourselves,

to bear witness

to ourselves.

Our Christian mission

is to bear witness

about Jesus.

He is the eternal word.

God,

we're just heralds,

messengers.

We mailmen,

relay a message

to proclaim a message.

Jesus is the light

of the world.

We're just satellites,

moons,

revolving around him

and we have light

only insofar

as we are reflecting

off of his light,

the light of the world.

So what is your

posture in life?

Is your posture in life

what's in it for me?

What does this local church

have to offer me?

What does this job

opportunity have

for me?

What does the next

five years in life

have in store

for me?

What am I going to do

with my life?

What if instead of asking

what's in it for me,

we ask what's in it

for Jesus?

What does Jesus

want to do

with the life

that he has given me?

The world does not

need more of me.

The world needs

more of Jesus.

Jesus is the only light

that can help people see.

Jesus is the only life

that can make people

who are dead

alive again.

Missing two Sundays

in a row

because of COVID

was a really helpful

reminder for me.

This church

is not my church.

It is the church

of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Even the pastor

is not the bridegroom.

He's just the guest

at the wedding.

starting in verse 9.

John tells us about

how the word

came into the world

and how he was received.

He says in verses 9 to 10,

the true light

which gives light

to everyone

was coming into the world.

He was in the world

and the world

was made through him

and yet the world

did not know him.

It's tragic.

The repetition

of the word

world

highlights the irony

of the world's

failure to recognize

the word of God.

The word is the true light.

He came into the world.

He was in the world

and the world

was made through him

and yet the world

did not know him.

Remember that

nothing in this world

came to be

without,

apart from,

the word of God.

Everything in this world

is upheld

and sustained

by the word of God

and yet the world

did not know the word

when the word

was right here

in the world.

Imagine a person

with two functioning eyes

who can see everything.

The faces of loved ones,

the elegantly trailing plants

in some of your houses,

the assortment of colorful,

you know,

fruits in a bowl,

the golden brown

of a well-cooked turkey.

He could see everything.

And then we ask him,

hey,

so do you know

what light is?

Do you know

where the light

is coming from?

How you're seeing all this?

And then he says,

no,

I've never heard of it.

I don't know

what light is.

Even though it is

by the very light

that he's seeing

everything that he's seeing.

I don't know

what the light is.

That's what the people

of this world

were like.

The word of God

who brought them

into existence

came into the world

but they did not

recognize him.

The situation

gets even more dire

in verse 11.

It says,

he came to his own

and his own people

did not receive him.

The word of God

came into his own people,

Israel,

the Jews,

the nation chosen

as God's special possession

among all the nations

of the world

in the Old Testament.

The people whom God

saved from their slavery

in Egypt

and brought forth

through the Red Sea

and brought into

the promised land

of Canaan

flowing with,

richly with milk

and honey.

Surely they would

recognize the word

even if all the other

nations failed to.

But tragically,

it says,

their own,

his own people

did not receive him.

Dementia is such

a grievous condition

because it's not only

debilitating for the person

who is affected,

but it also deprives

that person's loved ones,

all this person's

family members

of the shared memories

and the relational connections

that they had

with the person.

A demented man

might say

to his own mother,

I feel like

I should know you,

but I have no idea

who you are.

This is obviously

heart-rending

for the mother.

I gave birth to you.

I changed your diapers.

I carried you

in my arms.

I sang songs to you.

I brought you

to church with me.

I walked you to school.

Do you not remember me?

Verse 11 is tragic

in an even worse way.

It says,

he came to his own.

And his own people

did not receive him.

I created you

out of nothing.

I brought you forth

into this world.

I chose you as my own

when you were a nobody.

I saved you

by my mighty hand

and nursed you to health

and fed you

in the wilderness

and brought you

into the rich promised land.

And yet,

when I came into the world,

you did not

recognize me.

But though the world

did not know him

and his own people

did not receive him,

not all

rejected him.

Verses 12 to 13

say this,

but to all

who did receive him,

who believed

in his name,

he gave the right

to become

children of God

who were born,

not of blood,

nor of the will

of the flesh,

nor of the will

of man,

but of God.

It tells us

what does it mean

to receive the word

instead of rejecting

the word.

What does that look like?

It tells us right here.

It means to believe

in his name.

The name of Jesus

represents his person.

So to believe

in his name

is to believe

in who he is,

who he claimed to be,

and all that he did

in his life

here on earth.

To believe

that Jesus

is the son of God,

the Christ,

the Messiah,

the risen,

resurrected Lord.

To believe

in Jesus

is to entrust

yourself to him,

to renounce

all your other allegiances

and to say,

I pledge allegiance

to Jesus

as my Lord

and as my King.

To those who do this,

it says in verse 12,

Jesus,

he gave the right

to become

children of God.

Faith in Jesus Christ

is not what earns

the right

to become

children of God.

Faith in and of itself

is not meritorious.

Faith does not

qualify us

to be children of God

any more than,

you know,

me believing that

I am royalty

makes me a prince.

But Jesus,

who was,

who has the authority

to bestow such honor,

gives,

he gives the right

to become children

of God

to those who put

their faith in him.

For this reason,

those who become

children of God,

it says,

are born not of blood

nor of the will

of the flesh

nor of the will

of man,

but of God.

We have a lot of

babies in the church.

Babies are born

of blood and flesh.

It's not pretty

when they're born.

When a man

and a woman

engage in

reproductive acts,

a child is born.

A human child

is born.

But a child of God

is born,

not through

procreation,

but through

new creation.

Only God

can create.

A child of man

is born of the will

of man,

but a child of God

is born of the will

of God.

It is not ultimately

the will of man,

my decision,

that makes us

children of God.

It is ultimately

the will of God

that makes us

children of God.

No one belongs

to the family of God

by birthright,

not even the Jews.

Only Jesus

can bestow that right

and he bestows it

freely only to those

who receive him

and believe in his name.

But what is his name?

Right?

Up to this point,

John hasn't told us

he told us

John's name.

He hasn't told us

the name of the word.

He says,

believe in the word,

believe in his name,

but what's his name?

He tells us

in verses 14 to 17,

the word became flesh

and dwelt among us

and we have seen

his glory.

Glory as of the only son

from the father,

full of grace

and truth.

John bore witness

about him

and cried out,

this was he

of whom I said,

he who comes after me

ranks before me

because he was before me.

For from his fullness

we have all received

grace upon grace.

For the law

was given through Moses,

grace and truth

came through

Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the word

that became flesh

and dwelt among us.

Instead of letting

this familiar phrase

just go in one ear

and go out the other,

just let it sink in

for a minute.

The word became flesh

and dwelt among us.

The word of God

as we were reading

in our assurance of pardon

and in confession of sin,

the word of God

that stands forever.

Human flesh is but grass.

Grass withers

and flower fades

but the word of our God

stands forever

but that word

that stands forever

became flesh

which is like grass

that withers away.

The word that was with God

and was God

in eternity past

became a man

in a particular point

in space time.

It's crazy.

It's like the author

of a book

like entering

the book

as its principal character.

It's like an architect

of a building

somehow

becoming the very

foundation of the building.

It's strange

and mysterious

and yet

it is real.

It is true.

It happened

in human history.

And this word

became flesh

and dwelt

among us.

More literally

it says that the word

pitched a tent

among us

or tabernacled

among us.

It's the same word

that's used to refer

to the tabernacle

in the Old Testament.

The tent of God

where God dwelled

made his presence

known to his people.

And so we are learning

in John 1

that the tabernacle

of the Old Testament

was meant to foreshadow,

meant to point to

the reality of Jesus.

that Jesus was God's

ultimate plan

all along

to fulfill his plan

from the beginning

to dwell among

his own people.

That has been God's plan

from the beginning.

Not to create us

and leave us alone,

to run on our own,

but to dwell among us.

Unlike the so-called

gods of paganism

who dwelled in distant,

lofty mountains,

our God chose to dwell

among us,

to know our weaknesses,

to experience

our infirmities.

Think about this.

Jesus

knew what it was like

to soil his diaper.

Jesus knew

what it was like

to walk around

in sandals

on a hot, dusty day

and come home

with his feet

coated black

with dust.

He knew

what it was like

to have blisters

on his hands.

Jesus knew

the hunger

that we feel

when we don't eat

for a while

or for one hour.

Jesus knew

the pain

of weeping

at the loss

of a loved one.

Do you feel

that God

is aloof

from your pain

and suffering?

Do you feel

that God

doesn't understand

how hard it is

for you

to resist

the allures

of sin?

Do you feel

overwhelmed

by how broken

and dark

this world

seems to be?

Are you losing

hope for your future,

for the future

of your children?

Do you feel

that God

doesn't know?

God doesn't

understand.

This is God's

answer in his word.

He says,

the word became

flesh

and dwelt

among us.

He knows

what it's like

to be in our shoes.

He knows

what it's like

to feel

what you feel.

And because

he was tempted

and yet

he never sinned,

he's experienced

the fullness

of that temptation

like we

haven't.

Jesus became

like us

and dwelt

among us

so that

none of us

can ever

point to him

and say,

you just

don't understand.

And this word

became flesh

and dwelt

among us

not only

so that we

might know

that he

understands us

and that he

can save us

but so that

in Jesus

we might know

what God

truly is like.

So that in

Jesus we might

behold God's

glory.

Verse 14

tells us

we have seen

his glory,

glory as of

the only son

from the father

full of grace

and truth.

And that verse

is paralleled

by verse 14,

I mean verse 18.

Verse 14 and 18

parallel each other.

Verse 14 says

Jesus is the only

son from the father.

Verse 18 says

Jesus is the only

God who is at

the father's side

who has made

the father known.

Jesus is the only

God from the father's

side because he is

the only son

from the father.

God grants all

those who believe

in Jesus' name

the right to become

children of God.

However,

Jesus is in a

class of his own.

He is unique.

He is the only

son from the father.

God is God

and we are not.

We're only human.

But Jesus

is the God man.

He is fully God

but also fully man.

He is the only

son from the father.

One who is eternally

begotten of the

father and therefore

shares the father's

divine nature.

Every man and woman

because we are

creating the image

of God in some

way reveals

something about

God.

But none of us

can capture

the glory of God.

God.

The image of God

stamped upon us

has been marred

by our own sin

so that no one

can truly get to

know God the

father by just

looking at us.

Only Jesus can

reveal God the

father like that.

No one has ever

seen God.

Right?

It says in verse

18.

No one has ever

seen God.

And yet later in

John 14 9 Jesus

says to his

disciples whoever

has seen me has

seen the father.

Why?

Because he is the

only God who is at

the father's side

who makes him known.

Because Jesus and

the father are one.

Until Jesus came

the worshippers of

God could never

avail themselves of

an image, an idol,

an artistic

representation of

God because the

second of the ten

commandments prohibited

as we saw in

recent weeks.

They longed to see

God, to picture

God but they

never could.

But Colossians 3 15

tells us that Jesus

is the image of the

invisible God.

Jesus is the

invisible God made

visible.

Word made flesh.

Until Jesus came

the people of God

could only worship

him from afar.

Once a year they

could enter into the

most holy place

within the temple,

the very throne room

of God.

And not anyone and

not everyone, only

one person, the high

priest alone.

God made a

sacrifice for his own

sins beforehand.

But now we don't

need a temple.

We don't even need a

temple because we have

Jesus.

God in the flesh who

dwelt among us, who

made a once and for all

sacrifice for our sins.

in order to grasp the

staggering implications

of this, of what

Jesus, who Jesus is

and what he's done, we

need to go back to

Exodus 33, 18 to 23.

There Moses asks God,

please show me your

glory.

And God replies, I will

make all my goodness

pass before you and will

proclaim you before you

my name, the Lord.

But you cannot see my

face.

For man shall not see

me and live.

And you shall see my

back, but my face

shall not be seen.

And then later in

Exodus 34, 5 to 7, the

Lord passes by Moses and

shows him his back.

And the Lord proclaims

his glory.

The Lord, the Lord, a

God merciful and

gracious, slow to anger

and abounding in

steadfast love and

faithfulness.

The essence of God's

glory and goodness, who

he is, can be boiled

down to those two

attributes, steadfast love

and faithfulness.

Over and over again,

throughout the

scriptures, those two

words are used as

summary descriptions of

what God is like, what

his characteristics are

like, what his

attributes are like.

So he says in Psalm 36,

Psalms 36:5

verse 5, your steadfast

love, O Lord, extends to

the heavens, your

faithfulness to the

clouds.

A love that does not

fluctuate like the

waves of the sea, but

rather is constant and

immovable like bedrock.

A love that does not

vary or change depending

on the circumstances

based on the performance

of the object of love

and affection, but rather

an unchanging, steadfast

love.

Fickleness is not an

attribute of God.

That is a human

attribute.

The Lord is instead

characterized by

faithfulness, which

means the Lord is

always true.

He's always true to who

he is.

He is, to his gracious

and merciful nature.

The Lord is reliable.

He is faithful.

He is true.

Do you want to know

what the Lord our God

is like?

He is abounding in

steadfast love and

faithfulness.

That's who he is like.

But even Moses did not

get to behold the

fullness of God's

glory.

He did not get a

glimpse of the face of

God.

His face was hidden.

He only saw his back.

But Jesus, Jesus reveals

the glorious splendor of

God's steadfast love and

faithfulness.

We know this because

John tells us, he says

in verse 14, that Jesus

is full of grace and

truth.

And again, in verses

16 and 17, Jesus is

from his fullness, we

have all received grace

upon grace.

The first grace is the

law given to us through

Moses, and the second

grace is the grace and

truth that came through

Jesus Christ.

Two times, this pair of

words, grace and truth,

describe what Jesus is

like, and he's full of

it.

And those two words are

John's Greek rendering of

the Hebrew words,

steadfast love and

faithfulness.

Do you want to see the

face of God?

Look to Jesus who is full

of grace and truth.

That's why I love reading

the Gospels.

And I've been watching,

it's not the Gospels, it's

not a substitute, but I've

been watching Chosen with

my oldest.

And I love introducing

her to Jesus through the

Gospels, because in the

Gospels you meet our

Savior, what he was like,

how he dealt with tax

collectors and lepers and

sinners.

And in the way he lived and

the way he spoke and the

way he died and the way he

was raised, we see God in

his glory full of grace and

truth toward us.

And in the Gospel of John

there is one place in

particular where John tells

us God's glory is seen in all

its glory, all its fullness.

goodness.

It's not where you might

expect it.

But it says in John 12, 23,

that Jesus is glorified, his

glory is most seen when he is

hanging on the cross, laying

down his life for us.

That's the glory that John

points to, not when he is

transfigured, not when he is

ascending.

You want to see the glory of

God?

You want to see the fullness

of God's steadfast love and

faithfulness?

You want to see the face of

God in his grace and truth?

Look nowhere else.

Turn to the cross of Jesus.

Look at how love poured out on

the cross.

Look at how he laid down his

life that we might live.

Look at how the word of God

was made flesh and he poured

his blood.

That's where you see the face

of God.

That's where you see the glory

of God.

For God who said, let light

shine out of darkness, has

shown in our hearts to give

the light of the knowledge of

the glory of God in the face

of Jesus Christ.

We see the glory of God in the

face of Jesus because Jesus is

the word who was made flesh to

make God known to us.

Let's pray.

Let's pray.

Let's pray.

Let's pray.

Let's pray.

Let's pray.

Let's pray.

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus,

Lord Jesus,

you did not have to become man.

you could have come as a son of God

in all his terrifying glory to consume

all of us sinners.

and yet you came to reveal your glory in the fullness of grace and truth.

Fullness of your love, your faithfulness.

Lord Jesus,

please help us to know you and remember you rightly,

that we might relate to you rightly.

Especially this Advent season, remind us, remind us of the peculiar glory of the Son of God displayed on the cross.

His life, death, resurrection.

His life, death, resurrection.

Thank you.

We love you.

Jesus name.

We pray.

Amen.