“The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.” – John 1:14
I met my
wife on a blind date when we were in college. One afternoon, one of my buddies
pulled me aside and told me that a girl he liked would only go out with him if
it was a double date. So, he needed me to go out with this girl’s best friend:
Christine.
Well, I was pretty hesitant. I didn’t like the idea of being stuck on a date with a girl that I didn’t know. “What if she has a weird personality? What if we have nothing in common? What if she looks like Cruella De Vil?” So, my friend said, “I’ll tell you what. When you get to her dorm room door to pick her up, if you don’t like what you see, just pretend you’re having an asthma attack. Then you won’t have to go on the date.”
Well, that sounded like a pretty good plan. So, later that day, I knocked on Christine’s door, and there stood one of the prettiest girls I had ever seen. Beautiful blonde hair, big brown eyes, a cute smile—I couldn’t WAIT to get to know her better! But before I could introduce myself, she took one look at me, clutched her throat … and started having a fake asthma attack.
Okay, that didn’t really happen. But I am SO glad that Christine didn’t start gasping and wheezing the first time she met me. And aren’t you glad Jesus didn’t fake an asthma attack the first time He laid eyes on you? On the contrary, according to John 1:3: “Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.” That means that before Jesus ever laid eyes on you, He saw you, He knew you and He loved you. So, He created you. Before the very foundations of the world were laid, you were in the mind and heart of the Word of God: Jesus Christ. Before God ever said, “Let there be light!” the Word of God, Jesus, saw you and knew you. And Jesus loved you with an everlasting love.
Notice that from the very first verse of John 1, John refers to Jesus as the Word of God. He could have called Jesus any one of several other names: the Truth, the Life, the Good Shepherd. All would have been correct. Why did John refer to Jesus as the Word of God? I believe verse 14 helps to give us the answer: “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
You see, the entire Old Testament is a record of God communicating with His followers. And God’s spoken words and His written words were intended to do three things: 1) to reveal Himself and His glory; 2) to provide a roadmap for finding God and being reconciled to God; and 3) to teach His followers right from wrong, and how to glorify Him with their lives. That’s the threefold purpose of God’s spoken and written word. So John calls Jesus the Word of God, because Jesus Christ is the embodiment of all three of these purposes. The WORDS of God lead us to God in black and white. But the WORD of God leads us to God in living color. He is Lord in the flesh … the Divine with meat … God Con Carne.
When we take a closer look at those three purposes, John 1:14 gives us three Life Lessons:
Life Lesson #1: Because the Word became flesh, you can now see the glory of God in living color. If you want to see the majesty and beauty of God, you need look no further than Jesus. And, most importantly, if you want to see the character of God, carefully study the character of Jesus. No one characterizes God like Jesus. He reveals and displays the character of our holy and beautiful God in Heaven … perfectly.
Life Lesson #2: Because the Word became flesh, you now have a clear roadmap for finding God and being reconciled to God. Jesus didn’t just come to earth to SHOW us a roadmap to God … Jesus IS the roadmap. If you want to find God, just find Jesus. If you want to get right with God, get right with Jesus. If you want to go to heaven someday to live forever with God, you have to follow Jesus there. Jesus is the Way—the ONLY Way—to God.
Life Lesson #3: Because the Word became flesh, you now know exactly how to glorify God with your life. Some might say, “Wait a minute! I don’t know what career God wants me to have! I don’t know who God wants me to marry or how many kids He wants me to have! How can you say, I know ‘exactly’ how to glorify God with my life?” Well, Jesus has made glorifying God with our lives much simpler than you might think. Whatever job you have, whoever you’re married or not married to, however many kids you might have … do these three things every day: Trust Jesus, love Jesus, and obey His commands. It’s not easy, but it’s simple.
Two thousand years ago, the Word of God became flesh. He moved into our neighborhood to show us EXACTLY what God is like. He came to offer us a much clearer path to getting right with God and glorifying Him with our lives. So, trust Him. Love Him. And obey Him.
Dane Davis is the
pastor of Impact Christian Church. Join us at our great NEW worship location in
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