In the Flesh

“The true Light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 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 saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth…For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is at the Father’s side, He has made Him known.” – John 1:9-18

Last week a telescopic view of the universe helped us appreciate the grandeur of the eternal Word of God, who created and sustains it all. This week a microscopic view helps us appreciate the humility of God’s Word, who condescended to become a man. John’s Gospel may be the most helpful in grasping the theological significance of Jesus’ birth. “The Word was with God, and the Word was God...and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us!” In Jesus, Divinity and humanity exist in perfect indissoluble union. Jesus was not ‘faking it’ when He placed Himself into the limitations of human flesh. He got tired, sore, thirsty, hungry, tempted and everything else just like we do. Why? Let’s look at a few reasons.

The first and most obvious was to die. The One who is the Life could not pay the death penalty for us without first becoming one of us. The incarnation was a required step on Jesus’ journey to meet us where we all once lived spiritually, namely “dead in sin” Ephesians 2:1-5, which amazingly is exactly what He willingly became on the cross. Jesus went the distance to meet us at our horrible spiritual address, so He could take us to live with Him forever in paradise.

A second reason the eternal Son of God became a man was to express the fullness of His empathy with us. In Hebrews we read, “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are” - Hebrews 4:15. I think God has always had perfect empathy with us, but now we know that He knows what it is like to feel the pull of temptation and pain of betrayal. When we experience rejection, we know we can go to One who has been there. “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.”

A third reason the Word became flesh and dwelt among us was to give us an example. If we built a building according to a poor model, the building would be less than it could and should be. Jesus went through all sorts of situations with all sorts of people to show us how it is done - to leave His people the perfect model on which to build the new lives He has given us.

So, let’s look at how to become a child of God and thus experience these and all the blessings that come with adoption into God’s eternal family. It is right in our text. Anyone who receives Christ receives the God-given right to become a true child of God. So how do we receive Christ? This and many other texts tell us that we receive Him by believing on Him. That is...we place our faith in the reality that God loves us enough to give His only begotten Son to pay for humanity’s sin by living a sinless life as a human (fulfilling the requirements of God’s Law in our place) and then offering Himself to God on a cruel Roman cross as an atonement for sin (enduring the penalty of breaking God's Law in our place). We must also trust the reality that God raised Jesus from the dead and that He is very much alive in heaven interceding for us even now. We believe Him to receive Him, and we receive Him to become children of God.

So, how does Biblical belief come about? Are we born into Christianity? According to this text and others, the answer is “no!” We can be born into nobility or poverty, but we cannot be naturally born into God’s family. Do we emotionally work up saving faith or will it into being volitionally? Again, our text says “no!” It is “not of blood nor of the will of flesh nor the will of man.” If neither our parents nor even our selves can generate it, where does saving faith come from? The answer is from God. Most people did not recognize that Jesus was the Christ in spite of the evidence. God repeatedly reveals that only He can overcome our spiritual blindness. The Bible goes on to say that we are not only spiritually blind - we are spiritually dead. Thankfully, God awakens us from spiritual death and gives us 'eyes to see' that we might turn to Christ. Think about our physical birth. We all experienced our birth, but none of us caused it. Likewise, we all participate in our spiritual birth (we cry out to Christ like we cried during physical birth), but like our first birth, we are not the source of our new birth - God is. He unites the seed of His Word and His Spirit in our hearts creating new life as we are born again, believe in Christ and become children of God!

This new life we receive as a gift from God is much more full and abundant than anything available through God’s Law. I love how God paints humanity pictures of His Gospel using people as His brushes and history as His canvas. For example, Moses was able to lead God’s people to the Promised Land, but he was not allowed to take them in. It was Joshua, (Yeshua -‘YHWH saves’) who followed Moses after living under his leadership, who took God's people into the Promised Land. Likewise, God’s Law given through Moses can lead us to the edge of receiving God’s promises but only Jesus (Yeshua), who followed Moses and lived under God's Law, can take us in to possess the fullness of God’s promises. "For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ."