497: The Word Became Flesh | Dave Sloop

Thanks Bob. Good morning everyone. So glad that you're here and it is my sincere hope that we have some new folks among us today. Perhaps you were invited by someone. My name is Dave Sloop. I'm one of our pastors here.

We're right at the beginning of our series where we're going to be walking through the Gospel of John for the next probably couple of years, at least 18 months or so. And we're really excited about it. Tim last week gave us an introduction and talked about some of the high level themes to be looking for throughout this book. This week we're going to jump into the first 18 verses.

We only read the first 14, but this is almost an impossible task. If you were to ask people, what are some of the most theologically dense words of the New Testament? I would be willing to bet that many theologians would say John 1:1 through 18. This is known as the prologue of John's Gospel and it is packed. In fact, a seminary professor might take these 18 verses and spend an entire semester unpacking the implications of what John just laid out. And I have 30 minutes to talk to you about what it means and what it says.

I was struggling this week as I prepared because I am aware of this phenomenon that when you try to say everything you end up saying nothing. So I thought I'd just focus on a portion of it. But then I thought, gosh, but when you take out a portion of it from the context you lose the significance. So I'm going to make an attempt to talk to you about 14 verses. I have stripped out four verses—the verses that talk about John the Baptist, which Tim is going to talk about next week. But this week we're going to look at 14 of the verses here in John's prologue.

Understanding John's Purpose

I want to tell you a couple of things before we kick off. First of all, I want to remind you of what we discussed last week. John tells you why he wrote this account. He was an old man. And if you are reading a book, maybe you're friends with an author like Alan Janney. I live across the street from Alan. If I wanted to understand why Alan wrote one of his books, I could just go knock on the door and ask him. And if Alan speaks, it is a final word because he is the author of that book. He gets to speak with authority as to why he wrote what he wrote. We don't always have that benefit. But John actually writes in his account and tells you why he wrote it. We should be reading the whole thing with that verse in mind.

"Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book." — John 20:30

I want to pause right there. This is the understatement of the universe. Jesus did many other things which are not written in this book. Jesus lived for 33 years, roughly. The last three years of his life were his ministry, which is roughly a thousand days. Do you know how many snippets of days are recorded in John's gospel? 20. There was a lot more that he could have said. In fact, he will say later in chapter 21 that if we wrote down everything that he did, there wouldn't be room in the world to contain the books that would have been written about him.

But he lets us know that what he did choose to write, what he carefully selected to say was enough for this: that you may believe. That Jesus is two things. Number one, Christ. This was a Jewish term rooted deep in the Hebrew scriptures—Messiah. Jesus was the promised Messiah who was first discussed in Genesis 3:15, immediately after the fall of man. Then the rest of the Old Testament is an unfolding revelation of who he would be, where he would come from, what he would be like, what he would come to accomplish. John says to his Jewish readers, this is the one that you have been waiting for your whole life from Genesis. This is the one.

But secondly, he is the Son of God—God the Son. He's going to unpack just exactly what that means, but he's not just the Jewish Messiah. He is Christ, God, Savior of the world, light unto the Gentiles too. This is the one.

Here's what he says about him. If you believe those two things—and it's a kind of belief that turns into believing. It's not just a one-time belief, just a fact that you know. It's a belief that produces an ongoing active belief called believing, believing in him—that you would have life in his name. What does that mean, to have life in his names? That means that you are actively believing that he is all that he said he was and would be. And that produces life.

In fact, John's gospel is so focused on this idea of life and death, of light and darkness. In one of his other books—the creative title of the second book is called First John.

And in that book, he says this in First John chapter 5:

And this is the testimony that God gave us eternal life. And this life is in his Son, whoever has the Son has life, whoever does not have the Son, does not have life. — 1 John 5

If John were here today, what he would tell you is that his gospel is attempting to answer the most important question—hear me—that you and I will ever answer in our entire life. You might not think that's true. But John would say that what you decide about the person of Jesus Christ is a life and death issue. And he is after your belief. He wants you to believe something about someone so that you could become something new. That's what it's all about.

And here's what he says, beginning in verse 1. Oh, one more thing. He's going to give this one that he writes about Jesus a nickname in chapter 1. He's going to call him the logos, which is translated into English as "the Word." And to a Jewish person, this would have been significant because the Word of God was that by which he created. He said, "Let there be light" and there was light. When God speaks, it happens. It's also the way that he reveals himself. If God doesn't speak, we don't know him. And so throughout the Old Testament, you see "the Word of the Lord came to the prophets." The Word of the Lord came to Isaiah and he spoke. It's how God discloses himself.

But also, the logos in particular is a pretty common word. But in Greek philosophy, it carried significant weight, especially at the time when John was writing this. Among the Stoics, they believed in a universal, unifying, rational principle that held the world together. They looked around at the universe and they said, we're not here by mistake. There is something—and they believed it was a something, by the way. It was not personal. It was an impersonal principle that held everything together. In fact, there was an old philosopher named Heraclitus and he believed it was difficult to access the logos. But a wise person would live what they called kata logon—according to the logos. And you could get to a place where you could sense this universal rational principle.

In John, in the first two verses, he is going to affirm that there is a universal reality. There is a universal reality that holds the whole world together. But in a second breath, he is going to completely subvert that idea. Listen to what he says, starting in verse 1.

In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. — John 1:1-2

Do you hear what he did? He says to them, "Yeah, there was a logos. There is a unifying rational principle in the universe, but it's not a principle. It's a person. It's not a hypothesis. It's a he." And he—get this—was in the beginning. Meaning he was eternal. Back before anything was, he was. He was there. In the beginning. In the beginning. What's John pointing to? Genesis 1, the first three words of the book of Genesis:

In the beginning God created. — Genesis 1:1

Genesis is telling us something about what God did in the beginning. John predates Genesis. He's telling you something about who God is in the beginning. And here's what he says: "In the beginning was this Word, the logos. And he was in the beginning with God. He was distinct from God. But then he says, he was God."

Now you might be hearing this and thinking, "Doesn't it make any sense? How can you both be God and with God at the same time?" Our finite human minds for centuries and centuries have tried to grapple with this fundamental reality about the nature of God—that he is one God that exists in three persons. He is Father. He is Son. He is Spirit. And he is one. And this one at the beginning, through whom everything was created, which we're going to read in verse 3, he was there. He was God. And he was with God, which means that God is multi-personal.

The God that made you is at his core—get this—a relationship. From eternity past, God in himself has been experiencing delight, joy, oneness, unity. Which means this. And this is so important. We don't have time to dig into all the implications of the Trinity. But I will tell you this: we were created by a God who is a relationship. That is his essence.

If we weren't, we would have been created by a God who hadn't experienced a relationship until he created us. But our God is a relationship that had been perfectly experiencing love, self-giving, unity, companionship. Which means he did not create from a place of lack, but a place of love—overflow. He didn't create from a place of deficiency, meaning that he had to create us in order to experience some of these great things about life. He created from a place of desire. He wanted you to exist, to invite you into this ring of joy that had been experienced in the personal God for all eternity.

That's who he is. He says that this is the God that created you.

And so he says that in verse 3:

All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. — John 1:3

Now, why does he get redundant here? I'll tell you why. First of all, he says, "All things were made through him." Paul would say it this way: He's the firstborn over all creation. He's the image of the invisible God. "All things were made by him and for him." That's what Paul says. John says it this way: "All things were made through him," and then he says it in the positive, and now he says it in the negative—"and without him was not anything made that was made."

Why would he do that? Because what he wants us to know is that Christ was not made. See, if you just read that first sentence—"all things were made through him"—you might have thought, "Well, God created Jesus, and then through him he created everything else." John says, "No, no, no, no. Anything that was made was made through him," meaning there's a made category and an unmade category. In Jesus himself, he's in the unmade category. He is co-equal, co-eternal, and he is the co-creator.

It doesn't just say that he created everything. It says that God created through him, meaning that there was coordinated creation at the beginning with him, through him. And then it says this:

In him was life, and the life was the light of men. — John 1:4

Again, every single one of these phrases we could park here and spend the rest of the day. "In him was life, and the life was the light of men." You can't miss the Genesis imagery. In Genesis, darkness, the spirit of God hovering over the deep, and God said the word, "Let there be life." It was light. God breathed into Adam, and what happened when God, the breath of life, went into Adam who was formed out of the dust? He came to life, and light was experienced by Adam. This is what he means. It's part of what he means. There's a deeper meaning that I think is more important, but he is saying that all physical life finds its origin in this one.

Later in John, he's not just telling you that he possesses light and life. He's going to say he is light. He is life, and this life gives light to all men. Meaning, as Paul would say in Acts 17, "In him we live and move and have our being." He's not just the creator. He is the sustainer. If you're drawing breath right now, you're doing so with his permission. That is how involved he is in the created order. He is creator. He is sustainer. He was with God in the beginning.

But there is another meaning here. I think what John is trying to communicate is that what happened physically for Adam is a spiritual reality that needs to happen for every individual. And it cannot happen without God. Listen to this: What is the opposite of light and life? Darkness and death. And that is the spiritual condition of every single person apart from his life.

Paul would put it this way in Ephesians 2:

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions in which you used to walk. But God made you alive.

When his life comes into you, spiritual sight. His life is necessary for your light. Light is often used as a synonym in John's Gospel for revelation. Later he's going to call him the true light. He is the true and full revelation of God. His life is necessary for our light.

He continues this thought in verse 5 when he says:

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. — John 1:5

It's the first time we see a present tense word in John's Gospel. Everything was past tense talking about his nature. But now he says that light that I've been talking about—it shines. And darkness has not overcome it.

Now you might have a translation that says "does not comprehend it" or "does not understand it." And I think John intentionally means both. Let me tackle first: The ESV says, "Light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it." Here's what I think John means: The light came into the world, and his name is Jesus. He's going to tell us that in verse 17, but that's a spoiler. Light comes into the world and you crucified him. But the light shines brighter still. Says John, "And all of my apostle brothers that you also killed—and the light continues to shine. You cannot snuff out this light." I think that's what he's saying.

But also, that Greek word can mean you cannot comprehend it. You cannot understand it. And I think the rest of this chapter leans more towards that understanding of the word—that you cannot comprehend it.

We're going to skip ahead to verse 9. Let's see what it says here:

The true light. — John 1:9

Three times in John's Gospel, he's going to say "the true something" to describe Jesus. In John 1, he's the true light. In John 6, he is the true bread. In John 15, he says, "I am the true vine." And every time he uses that word—the Greek word, I think it's alethinos—the Greek word means "the fulfillment of." It means that there was a previous symbol that was just pointing to the actual. In that context, what he means here is the true light—the full revelation of God.

Not the partial light which we have seen in the creation and through the prophets and in the law. The true light was coming into the world is what John 1:9 says. But then he interrupts himself and says, "In the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him."

Here's what I think John has in mind here. He's telling you, the true light was coming into the world. And by the way, this was always the plan. Christ coming into the world was not plan B because of the fall. It was plan A.

He chose us in him before the foundation of the earth was laid. — Ephesians 1

Meaning, Christ was always coming. He was always coming. This is always his plan. The true light was coming into the world. But then he says, in a sense, his light was already here. We had a partial revelation.

His invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made so that they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God, or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. — Romans 1

He's saying, there was enough light in creation to cause us to go, "Wait a minute. We didn't get here by mistake. There must be a God." He's saying, the light was already here, but they didn't. God's fingerprints everywhere. But we just don't see because we're darkened. We're blind, and we need his life to see his light.

The Word Became Flesh

But then it says this, skipping ahead to verse 14:

The word became flesh and dwelt among us. — John 1:14

It's so hard to stand on this stage and try to convey how crazy and significant and profound those words are. These words that if you've been coming to church for a long time, you've heard them so much that perhaps they've just become commonplace. Those four words: the word became flesh. It's four words in English, four words in Greek, perhaps the most profound words ever written in any language.

In fact, in the Greek, it says this: the word flesh became. John puts those words next to each other—word flesh. The word, the divine logos, the universal rational principle who is not a principle, actually it's a person who existed from all eternity through him. All things were made. And that logos, that divine reality became person, became human. The logos, flesh.

You know that's the lowest word that John could have used to describe humanity? Sarks in the Greek. It became flesh. Any time that word is used, it is to convey something negative about humanity. Jesus would say, "The spirit is willing, flesh is weak." Anytime Paul talks about the flesh, it's talking about this suit that we live in that is at war with the God that made us, and we just cannot seem to obey because of our flesh. It is frail. It is weak. And you know what else? It is killable. It dies.

The word flesh became. The implications of that word are staggering. Became. It's in the aorist tense in the Greek, which means the aorist tense always indicates a completed act in the past, a historical act in the past. There was a point in human history when this one who existed from all eternity actually became flesh. And what I mean is that he became flesh in an irreversible way, irrevocable. He wouldn't take it back. It was an eternal forever identification with humanity.

The word flesh became.

There is one mediator between man and God, the man, Jesus Christ. — 1 Timothy 2:5

Paul had put it this way, and he speaks in the present tense. The one that mediates us to God is a man who happens to be in heaven, still flesh. Something ontological changed about Jesus. The eternal word that day. Not that his divinity was lessened. Nothing changed about his divine nature, but something was added to it. He took on flesh.

When I say he took on flesh, even that is misleading. Because it wasn't like a costume that he put on that he could discard when he was done with it. He's still flesh. That is how deeply he identifies with the human nature. He is the eternal God man to this day.

And then it says he dwelt among us. That word in the Greek is actually tabernacle. It means tent, it's a dwelling. Moses, when he used to pray to God, if he led the people out of Egypt, he would meet with God in the tent of meeting. And his face would shine. Later the tabernacle, what they would call the tent of meeting—it was where God's presence dwelt.

But here's the thing. They knew that God's presence was in there, his shekinah glory. But they couldn't have an unmediated encounter with that presence because it would consume them. And so it was behind this big thick curtain in this place called the Holy of Holies. But they knew that the presence was there because God wanted to be among his people.

The word flesh became untabernacled among his people.

Amazing. The question is this. Why? Why did he do it? I mean, it makes for a great story. But why? Why did this God permanently take on human flesh forever? Two reasons. In the next four verses, they're going to tell us. John's going to tell us. Something that you need to see and something that you need to receive. He says the word flesh became dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory.

And if you are someone who knows your Old Testament, when you see that phrase, seen his glory, you might think of a character in the book of Exodus, specifically in chapter 33. Anybody? Moses, who had the audacity to say to God, "Please show me your glory." This was after Moses had gotten the 10 commandments from God. He came down from the mountain, and he found the people of God who were worshiping some golden calf. It just came out of the fire that way. They don't know how it happened. They're worshiping this calf, and he's so angry. He throws down the tablets that God had given him with the law. They break. He goes back up on the mountain, and when he's up there, he says God, essentially, "Don't give up on us." And he says, "My presence will go with you." But Moses isn't content. He wants more. He doesn't just want something from God. He wants God.

Because when he said, "Show me your glory," what he was essentially saying was, "I want to see you for who you really are." That's the Hebrew word, kabad. "I want to see your full weight. I want to understand who it is that I have been communing with." And God essentially says to him, "I can't show you my glory, because you would die. No man can see my face and live."

And you might wonder, why is that? Why can't he let other people see him? But the reason is not because God is cruel or mean or he has silly rules. It is that you and I cannot interface with a holy God because we are not fit for his glory. In the same way that the sun is wonderful and it's life giving and it provides warmth and growth. But if you're to get too close to it, it's not a good day for you. In fact, some of us, even on vacation, get a little too close to the sun and we get burnt. You can't go into outer space without a protective suit because your body, your humanity is not fit for outer space. You and I in our sin are not fit for the glory of God. God won't let you see his face because it would consume you, not because God's mad, but because you aren't fit. It would consume you.

And so he says to Moses, "I can't let you see my face. But here's what I'll do. I'm going to hide you in a rock. I'm going to cover your eyes with my hand and I'm going to pass by and then I'm going to remove my hand and you're just going to catch a glimpse of my back. Just a sliver of my glory. But since you can't see my full glory, I'm going to tell you how to interpret it."

In Exodus 34, here's what God says when he passes by. He tells Moses what to believe about his glory:

The Lord, the Lord. A God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. That's my name. That is if you could see my unfiltered glory, this is what you would experience. Abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. — Exodus 34

And when you take that Hebrew phrase and you convert it into the Greek, do you know what it says? Full of grace and truth. John is not—this is not a coincidence. He is telling you that what Moses wanted to see, we have seen in its fullness. He is the fullness of God's glory.

In verse 18, also referring to this passage, he says:

No one has ever seen God. No one can be in his presence without being consumed. No one has seen God except the only God who is at the father's side. — John 1:18

You know the word that he uses there? He's at the father's bosom. That is heart. And then he says this. He has made him known. That Greek word for made him known is the same word that we get the English word exegesis from. I don't know if you've ever heard that word. It means to lead out. When someone stands on this stage with this book and they preach from it, they are exegeting the scriptures. They're telling you what it actually means. They're drawing out the true meaning. John begins his gospel by saying the word of God and he ends this prologue by saying he is the exegesis of God. He is the one that tells you what it means. He shows you.

And what we saw from his life? Full of grace, full of truth. If you want to know what God is like, John says, just look at him. God says, "No one can see my face." And the problem with that is if you can't see someone's face, you don't really know their heart. Kids say they text. It's the worst way. They have really hard conversations over text. Terrible. It's better to talk on the phone because you can hear the tone of voice. But listen, if you can't see the eyes, the look, the mouth—our face carries our heart. Jesus gave God a face. We see the heart of God in the face of Jesus Christ. If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus.

Okay, I have to go quick. But then there's something that we need to receive. There's something we need to see. We need to see who God is. His glory. Now there's something we need to receive. He says from his fullness, remember he's talking about his glory, full of grace and truth, from that fullness we have received, he says. Grace upon grace. And then he explains what he means by that in verse 17.

"For the law was given through Moses." — John 1:17

That's the first grace. And you might think, grace, law, those are at odds with one another. Not for John. God gives the law through Moses. And that is a grace because it shows us the heart and character of God. It also shows us if we will let the law do its work in us, it exposes our complete inability to please God without God. And that is a grace that brings you to the end of yourself and causes you to know that you need a Savior. Grace upon grace.

The second grace is this. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. This is the first mention by name of Jesus in John's Gospel in verse 17. And he says he's the one that brings grace and truth. And here's what I think he has in mind here. The law came from Moses. The fulfillment of the law came through Jesus. It's grace. It's unmerited favor. Why? Because that flesh which represented all humanity lived perfectly the law that we could never live. But I told you that his flesh was also killable. And so that flesh not only lived the life that you couldn't live, it took the penalty that you and I deserved. That's why he had to become flesh and remain flesh to forever intercede as the one mediator between God and man, the man, Jesus Christ.

Do you see what John is doing here? He, this one, the Logos of God, he's the one that made the world, he's the one that broke into the world and now he's going to tell you he wants to break into your world. And here's how that happens in verse 12.

"But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God." — John 1:12

He became flesh so that you could become a child, his child. He continues to explain what that meant.

"And we're born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God." — John 1:13

His life in you becomes light. You begin to see ultimate reality for what it is. You begin to see him for who he is. When his life comes in you, you begin to see. You are born of God. That's what he talks about. And that is a concept that we will unpack later.

John never got over this, that we are children of God. In fact, in 1 John 3, he would put it this way.

"Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are." — 1 John 3:1

In other words, we're not just called children, it's not just a title he gave us. We're actually his. And his spirit confirms it in our heart. Rise out. Father, we're his kids.

You know, John says that the only one that could describe the Father is the one who is at the Father's bosom. You know the other time that word is used in this Gospel? John 13, the one who writes this book, the one that Jesus loved, the disciple whom Jesus loved, reclined at the table at the bosom of Christ. See, Jesus is the only one qualified to exegete the Father. You know what John is telling you? No one was closer to him than me. I am qualified to exegete the Son.

And my hope for you is that you would believe so that in believing you would have life in his name, because it is a life and death issue, he is the divine logos of God. And our hope in the coming weeks and months is that you would not just experience him as the one that made the world, but the one who has broken through into yours.

Let's pray. Father, we love you. We need you. God, I thank you for everyone here today, specifically for anyone here today that might be considering these thoughts for the first time, but that they might have the courage to respond. Lord, it's just thank you that you're the one that does the work. You've already completed the work. You lived the perfect life and you took the penalty that we deserve, that we might become your kids. Father, I just pray that some people come home today. In Jesus' name. Amen.