The Word Became Flesh

INTRO

One of the things you need to know as we begin our study of John is that 98 percent of the material is unique to John. What we’re going to see in our study is all new and fresh. Very rarely will you see material in John that you’ve already seen in Matthew, Mark, or Luke. Wiersbe says, “Whereas the first three Gospels major on described events in the life of Christ, John emphasized the meaning of these events.”¹John, the writer of this Gospel, described himself as “the disciple Jesus loved.” John’s older brother was James; together, they were known as the Sons of Thunder, (Mark 3:17) and as the sons of Zebedee. John was also an apostle. Peter, James, and John were featured in Matthew as Jesus’ inner circle.

John was a close associate of Peter and is often referred to as an eyewitness. He also wrote 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, and Revelation (1 John 1:1–4). John wrote five books of the Bible; his is a first-person account. The Gospel was written between AD 80–90, some “fifty years after John witnessed Jesus’ earthly ministry.”²Because of the large amount of unique material in the Gospel, John provided support for the other Gospels.³Of the four Gospels, John is the most theological and it emphasizes that Jesus is God.

The purpose of the book is found in John 20:30–31: “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in His name.” Signs and miracles are presented throughout the Gospel of John. MacArthur points out two themes for the book: evangelistic (100 times “believe” is mentioned in the book) and apologetic (to show the readers that Jesus’ identity is the incarnate God). MacArthur outlines John 1:1–18 into six sections⁴that will be used below.

TEACHING

John 1:1–3: The Eternal Christ. “In the beginning” (v. 1) relates back to Genesis 1:1. The Word was in the beginning and was with God and was God. “The Greek construction emphasized that the Word had all the essence or attributes of deity, i.e., Jesus the Messiah was fully God.”⁵There’s no genealogy in John, because He doesn’t need one. Jesus was in the beginning, and everything was created through Him. By eternal, we mean that Jesus has been here since before the beginning.

Colossians 2:9: “For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ.”

John 17:5: “Now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with that glory I had with You before the world existed isted.”

Ephesians 3:9: “And to shed light for all about the administration of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things.”

Hebrews 1:2: “In these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son. God has appointed Him heir of all things and made the universe through Him.”

John 1:4–5: The Incarnate Christ. John 5:26: “For just as the Father has life in Himself, so also He has granted to the Son to have life in Himself.” So there is life in God. The language that you hear with God is the same language that you will hear with Christ. John 10:28 says, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish—ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand.” Verses 4-5 provide a comparison of light and darkness. Light is biblical truth; darkness is false. Light is holiness and purity; darkness is sin and wrongdoing. This comparison leads to the truth: “The powers of darkness are overcome by the person and work of the Son through His death on the cross.”⁶

John 1:6–8:The Forerunner of Christ. John the Baptist came after 400 years of silence to testify about the light that was coming into the world. This points to the evangelistic nature of Jesus’ coming: “Who gives light to everyone” (v. 9). John was preparing the way for the light to come. Verse 8 points out that John was not the light but came to testify about it.

John 1:9–11: The Unrecognized Christ. John wrote that Jesus was coming into “the world.” MacArthur explains that “John gives it several shades of meaning: (1) the physical created universe; (2) humanity in general; and (3) the invisible spiritual system of evil dominated by Satan and all that it offers in opposition to God, His Word, and His people.”⁷Jesus was coming into these environments in the world He created—He is the eternal Christ. But the world He created did not recognize Him. John stated that Jesus came to His own—the Jews—but they did not receive Him (v. 11). What Jesus received repeatedly from the Jewish people was rejection.

John 10:25: “’I did tell you and you don’t believe,’ Jesus answered them. ‘The works that I do in My Father’s name testify about Me.’”

John 1:12–13: The Omnipotent Christ. John emphasized that though the Jewish people had rejected Christ, there was a remnant who believed.

John 1:14–18: The Glorious Christ. How do we know the Word was actually Christ? Because the Word became flesh (v. 14). Paul affirmed that fact to Timothy: “And most certainly, the mystery of godliness is great: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory” (1 Timothy 3:16). The statement, “The Word became flesh and took up residence,” in the Greek means “to pitch a tabernacle.” It means Jesus lived in the tabernacle. In the Old Testament, “God’s Shekinah presence filled the entire structure. When the Word became flesh, the glorious presence of deity was embodied in Him.”⁸The Jews who heard this would have automatically thought of Exodus 25:8, where God met Israel in a tent; Exodus 33:11, when God spoke to Moses face to face; and Exodus 40:34, when God’s presence filled the tabernacle. Prophetically, these verses in Exodus point to John 1:14.

CLOSING

Eventually the glory of God departed from the disobedient Israel (Ezekiel 9:3; 10:4, 18; 11:22–23). Years later, the Word became flesh “and we observed His glory” (John 1:14) - the glory of the One come from the Father, full of grace and truth. All of that points out that Jesus is the answer.