For the Christmas season this year, we are exploring the incarnation of Jesus recorded in the first chapter of John’s Gospel. Last Sunday we looked at John 1:1–5 (“In the beginning was the Word…”). On Christmas Eve we looked at John 1:6–13. We saw there the mission of Jesus, the gospel of Jesus, and the forerunner to Jesus—John the Baptist. Today, we close out our short series “God Enfleshed” by looking at the last few verses of this Prologue, John 1:14–18.

John’s Prologue, by the way, has inspired much literary output over the centuries. And that’s understandable. Great literary artistry inspires great literary art. And an example of John 1 inspiring art can be found in the following poem. 

In 1836, the abolitionist author and poet, Josiah Conder, sat down to write a poem about the Eternal Word of God based on John 1. And here’s what he wrote. 

Thou art the everlasting Word

The Father’s only Son;

God manifestly seen and heard

And Heaven’s beloved One.

Worthy, O Lamb of God, art Thou

That every knee to Thee should bow.

In Thee most perfectly expressed

The Father’s glories shine;

Of the full Deity possessed

Eternally divine:

Worthy, O Lamb of God, art Thou

That every knee to Thee should bow.

True image of the Infinite

Whose essence is concealed;

Brightness of uncreated light

The heart of God revealed:

Worthy, O Lamb of God, art Thou

That every knee to Thee should bow.

Today we are going to take one more look at John 1:1–18. And today we want to zero in on verses 14–18 where the “Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Last Sunday, we answered the question, “Who is Jesus?” Today we want to answer the question, “Why did Jesus come to this world?”  

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Why did Jesus Come to this World?

I’ll give you three answers to that question today. Here’s the first. 

1) Jesus came to display glory (1:14–15)

Now the way verse 14 starts, you might think that Jesus came to do the exact opposite. You might think that the way Jesus is described here is rather inglorious. Look at verse 14.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, 

The Everlasting Word who existed before time, dwelt among us! Here in time and space and history! How is that a display of glory? That Word who was in the beginning with God and who was God took on human flesh. How is that glorious?

To this you might say, “Pastor Tony, doesn’t Paul speak of the incarnation as an act of humility and self-abasement? How is that glorious?” Paul says in Philippians 2, “Christ Jesus…though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (2:5–7). How is that a display of glory? That’s not glorious; that’s inglorious!

Well hold on now. What’s the rest of the story in Philippians 2? What’s the rest of that passage? Paul goes on to say, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:9–11).

So, hear me on this. There’s a sense in which the incarnation of Christ actually increases God’s glory. It manifests his glory before us. There’s a sense in which Jesus’s self-abasement in the incarnation actually intensifies the limitless glory that he already has. And there’s a sense in which our worship of him increases and elevates and deepens as a result of the incarnation. 

By the way, let’s define this term incarnation. “Incarnation” means “in flesh” or “in meat.” Carnem is the Latin word for “meat.” The English word “carnivore” is a reference to animals that eat meat. Carne de vaca is Spanish for “beef” (or carne asada). So incarnation means “in meat.” And it’s a reference to the enfleshing of Jesus Christ when God became a man. That’s why we’ve called our series “God Enfleshed.” 

So when we read in verse 14, 

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, 

Let’s be clear. This is not a small thing. This is the most amazing thing that has ever happened on planet Earth. John MacArthur says that this is the “most essential doctrine in the Christian faith... [that] the Word became Flesh.” That God took on flesh! That God became a man!

Tommy Nelson calls the doctrine of the incarnation recorded here in John 1:14, “The pinnacle of all human thought.” He says, “This is the most marvelous of all [human] concepts…that of the incarnation….of God becoming a man.” 

14 … the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, 

In fact this first statement is even more dramatic than you know. Because the word “dwelt” here is the word σκηνόω in Greek, which could be translated “tented” or “tabernacled.” Thus, “The Word became flesh and [tabernacled] among us.” What does that make you think of? The tabernacle in the wilderness, right? In Exodus! Where God pitched his tent among the people, and manifested his shekinah glory in the holy of holies! Actually the word shekinah is derived from the word for “tabernacle.”

In the OT, God came down and filled the tent of meeting with smoke, and it awed and terrified the people. In John’s day, God did not tabernacle with his people by pitching a tent in the wilderness. No, he tabernacled with them in a body… in meat… in the flesh of Jesus Christ! That’s why Jesus was called Emmanuel (“God with us”). 

Now do you feel the glory? Jesus came to display glory! This is glorious! John writes as follows. Look with me again at verse 14.      

14 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 says, “We’ve seen his glory.” “We’ve seen it!” Remember on the Mount of Transfiguration, when Jesus’s face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light (Matt 17:1–13)? John was there. He saw that. “We’ve seen his glory.”

Remember when Jesus brought a little girl back from the dead? A man named Jairus had a daughter. And she died. And Jesus brought her back from the dead (Matt 9:18–26). John was there. He saw that. “We’ve seen his glory.”

John was there when Jesus was crucified. And as Jesus was asphyxiated and started choking on his own blood, he cried out “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt 27:46). John was there for that. And John was even there when Jesus said Τετέλεσται from the cross (John 19:30). “It is finished.” 

John was there when the earth shook and the sky grew dark and the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. John was there when the tomb was empty. John outran Peter to the tomb. He was first to believe in the resurrection (see John 20:8).

And after that, John saw his crucified Messiah alive. He had watched him die, but afterwards impossibly he was raised from the dead. And John saw him in his new glorified body. The grave couldn’t hold him down. Death could not defeat him. 

John says in verse 14, “We’ve seen his glory.” John says, “I’ve seen it firsthand.” “He was no ordinary man.” His glory was “glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Jesus came to display the glory of the Father here before us.

Look at verse 15 with me. John puts this little parenthetical statement here about John the Baptist which reinforces this display of glory.

15 (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.’ ”) 

 You might say, “This is high praise from John the Baptist.” 

15 … He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me…

John the Baptist was a superstar. John the Baptist was universally respected in his day, except by people who had no respect. Jesus said of John that of men born of women, no one outpaced John! But John says of Jesus, “He who comes after me ranks higher than me.” How does that work? 

This is like Larry Bird saying about Michael Jordan, “He who comes after me ranks higher than me.” This is like Chuck Berry saying about Elvis Presley, “He who comes after me ranks higher than me.” This is like President James Buchanan saying about Abraham Lincoln, “He who comes after me ranks higher than me.” I doubt James Buchanan ever said that. But in retrospect he should have. 

So the question here is how could someone as great and as important as John the Baptist speak so highly of someone else? Someone who was younger than him? Remember John the Baptist came first. He was conceived first. He was older than Jesus, yet he leaped in Elizabeth’s womb when Mary came to tell Elizabeth about her pregnancy. John knew intuitively even from before his birth that Jesus outranked him.

 And not only did Jesus outrank John the Baptist; he also predates him. Look at the end of verse 15.  

15 … He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me…

 What does that mean? Well it means what we’ve been saying since the beginning of this series. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Jesus came in the incarnation after John the Baptist. But he existed before him. And he ranks above him. John the Baptist knew it. John the Apostle knew it. And you need to know it too. Don’t get lost in the sequence here!  

Jesus is the Word. The Word existed in eternity past with the Father. The Word became flesh. And the Word, Jesus, came to display glory.  

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Write this down as well as #2. Why did Jesus come to this World? Jesus came to display glory (1:14–15). But also, 

2) Jesus came to dispense grace (1:16–17)

Look at verse 16.

16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 

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

There are two important statements in these verses that we need to take a closer look at to see how Jesus came to dispense grace. The first is John’s statement “grace upon grace.” What does that mean? From Jesus’s fullness we have received “grace upon grace.” What exactly does that mean? 

And then secondly we see a second reference to “grace and truth.” We saw that already in verse 14. What does “grace and truth” mean? And why is that important? And why does John emphasize that twice in this short section of the Prologue? 

Well let’s take a look at both of these statements, starting with “grace upon grace.” John says, 

16 For from his fullness 

Or “from his [manifest glory in the flesh].” 

16 For from his fullness we have all received…

Now let me stop there, because that word “all” is key. Okay? Because in the previous verse, verse 14, the “we” is limited to John and the other Apostles. “We have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.” John saw him! John saw Jesus in the flesh with his own eyes. 1 John 1:1 says something similar, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life.”

John and the other Apostles saw Jesus. They beheld his glory. But we didn’t see Jesus in the flesh. We didn’t see the Logos enfleshed. We only see that vicariously through John and through our eyes of faith. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. We haven’t seen Jesus face-to-face. Not yet. But we will someday.

But look, the “we” in verse 16 is different than the “we” in verse 14. It’s not “we”; it’s “we all.” It’s us in this room. We all have received, “grace upon grace.” Turn to your neighbors right now and say, “We have received, grace upon grace.”  

So what does that mean that we have received “grace upon grace?” Well literally the Greek says “grace [instead of] grace” or “grace [in place of] grace.” What does that mean? Well we’ve got to interpret that based upon the context of the statement. And what does John immediately follow up this statement with? He follows it up with a statement about Moses and the law. 

So look at verse 17, 

17 For the law was given through Moses   

You might say, “Oh, I see, Moses brought the law; Jesus brought grace.” “The OT was about law; the NT was about grace.” “I’m so glad I wasn’t born in the OT, Pastor Tony, because there was no grace there.” No! That’s not quite right. 

There was grace in the OT. In fact, there was grace that was part of the law. When Moses was given the law, he was also given instruction for the animal sacrifices and atonement rites that were performed on behalf of the people. 

These things were a shadow of the grace that would come later through Christ, but they were still a “grace” in and of themselves. It was God’s grace that provided an absolution for their sins. It was God’s grace that allowed them to repent and by faith embrace the forgiveness that God offered them when they fell short of the law. 

But (as we all know) that grace was incomplete. D.A. Carson says it this way, “The grace and truth that came through Jesus Christ is what replaces the law; the law itself is understood to be an earlier display of grace… The covenant of law, then, is seen as a gracious gift from God, now replaced by a further gracious gift, the ‘grace and truth’ embodied in Jesus Christ—.” So grace was on both sides of the cross. And Jesus coming in the flesh, coming in fullness, replaces grace with grace. 

If grace was on both sides of the cross, then which grace is better? OT grace or NT grace? Is the grace on this side of the cross better than the grace on the other side of the cross? Absolutely, it is! It’s a finished work of grace, not an anticipatory work of grace. It’s a finished work of grace that we can look back on, instead of looking forward to with animal sacrifices. 

I don’t know about you, but I’m glad that we don’t have to offer animal sacrifices on this side of the cross. Aren’t you?  I’m glad you don’t bring animals to me as your priest and ask me to slaughter them in front of you and sprinkle you with blood. Why don’t we do that? Because Jesus, according to the book of Hebrews, is the once-for-all-time sacrifice for our sins. He offered himself and then he sat down at the right hand of God (Heb 10:12). THE END! IT IS DONE!

So when John says, “grace upon grace” or “grace [in place of] grace,” he’s talking about how the blood of Jesus has provided a grace for us that is far superior to God’s grace to the Israelites in the OT. 

In fact (I’ve said this before, let me say it again), the grace that was demonstrated to the Israelites in the OT… that grace is dependent on the future coming of Christ. And his death actually paid for their sins in the same way it paid for our sins. That’s what they anticipated as they were offering those sacrifices. So Jesus in his fullness has replaced “grace” with a greater “grace!”  

Now look at verse 17.

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

What does John mean by “grace and truth?” And how is that different from Moses? Well “grace and truth” is a mixture of 1) God’s underserving favor, his grace, the OT word is ḥesed which I have shared with you before and 2) truth. So Christ doesn’t offer a squishy, sentimental, anything-goes “grace” that doesn’t demand anything of our lives. And neither does he offer us a brutal, graceless truth that doesn’t forgive anything in our lives. 

As Warren Wiersbe has said before, “Truth without grace is brutality; grace without truth is hypocrisy.” It’s not one or the other; it’s both. The power is in the combination. Jesus offers us both. And neither of these compromises the other. So it’s not like 50% truth and 50% grace. “I got to be a little more gracious and a little less truthful.” No! It’s full-on truth and full-on grace. That’s who Jesus is, and that’s what he offers. 

Let me ask you this, “Did Jesus ever compromise truth?” No. “Did Jesus ever compromise grace?” No. As we look at his life, and John will show you this in this book, Jesus was 100% gracious and 100% truthful. And never did either of those things compromise the other.

Look Jesus came to this earth to offer you grace. That’s why he came. Your sins can be forgiven, not because of anything that you have done, but because of what he’s done. But if you think that Jesus came and did that, so that you can live your life anyway you want to, and you have no standard of truth or righteousness or holiness imposed on your lifestyle, you are fooling yourself. And if I preached that kind of “cheap grace” to you, I’d be doing you a disservice. 100% truth. 100% grace. That’s what Jesus offers.

And some people today might say, like Pontius Pilate said to Jesus, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). “What is truth, Pastor Tony?” “Truth is relative.” “Truth is what I make it out to be.” No, it’s not. The truth is the standard of right and wrong as God has established it. The truth is reality as God has created it. And the truth is the revelation of who God is and what he has done in this world. 

And the truth is this: you are a sinner, lost without Jesus. And without him you will be eternally condemned. And the truth is that Jesus (“the way, the truth, and the life”) died for you, and he offers you “new life” in himself. Like John said already, you can become a child of God. That’s the grace combined with truth that Jesus offers you. The question is, are you going to take it? Are you going to receive that grace or not?   

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So 1) Jesus came to display glory. 2) Jesus came to dispense grace… a grace and truth combination… a power combo…! And then finally, why else did Jesus Come to this World?

3) Jesus came to disclose God (1:18)

Jesus says later in the book of John, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (14:9; see also 6:49). I heard Tommy Nelson say once, “If you want to learn about Elvis Presley, don’t talk to some historian in Australia. Go talk to Priscilla Presley. Go talk to his daughter. Because they really knew him. They were close to him.” 

The same is true of you and me. If you want to learn about me, go talk to my wife. Go talk to my son. Because they know what I’m like at home. They know what I’m like behind closed doors. They’ve seen me in every conceivable situation. After twenty-four years of marriage, my wife knows me better than I know myself.

How do we get to know who Jesus is? Well John the Apostle was Jesus’s best friend. He knew Jesus better than anybody on earth. He was the disciple whom Jesus loved. He reclined at Jesus’s side. The Bible says literally that “[John] was [in the bosom of Jesus]” or “[John] was [in the lap of Jesus]” (see John 13:23 including the ESV footnote). [More on that terminology in just a moment]. That’s a picture of friendship and a close-knit relationship. Nobody knew Jesus on earth better than John. So if you want to know who Jesus is, look to the Apostle John and his Gospel.

But what if you want to know who God is? How do we get to know God? Everyone is asking that question these days… not just Christians. How do I get to know God? How do I see God?

Well, John says, “If you want to know God, you’ve got to know Jesus. Because Jesus came to disclose God.” Look with me at verse 18.      

18 No one has ever seen God;

“In the Old Testament to see God would have been tantamount to signing one’s death certificate.” Remember in the OT, when God revealed himself to Moses. God said, “No one can see me and live” (Exod 33:20). Because if God revealed himself fully to us in all his glory, we would be obliterated. So God hid Moses in the cleft of the rock and showed him just a small sample of his glory… just the edges of his glory. And that was enough to make Moses’s face shine before the Israelites.

Think about Jacob wrestling with God in Genesis 32. When Jacob found out that he had wrestled God, he was shocked that he was still alive afterwards. He called the name of the place where he wrestled “Peniel,” which means “face of God,” and he said, “I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered” (Gen 32:22–32). What Jacob saw there was some small manifestation of God, maybe even the pre-incarnate Son of God. But he did not see God face-to-face…not fully. Because no one can see God and live.  

And John writes here in verse 18, 

18 No one has ever seen God; but…the only God, Or “the only begotten God” to use the language of the NASB. “The only begotten God” who is at the Father’s side [bosom], 

John the Apostle reclined at Jesus’s “side” or “bosom.” John says here that Jesus “reclined” so to speak at the Father’s “side” or “bosom” or “lap.” 

the only God, who is at the Father’s side [or bosom], he has made him known. 

That word used here for “side” or “bosom” is the same word that John uses later when he says that “He reclined at Jesus’s side” or “He was [in the bosom of Jesus]” (13:23). The Greek word for this term is κόλπος, and it means “lap” or more literally “fold.” “It’s actually used in the book of Acts for ‘bay,’ or ‘inlet.’” It’s the word used for the fold in material. If you took a bunch of clothes and piled them up, and they had these little folds, that’s the word used here. The word is also used for a very tight, small pocket.

And what does that mean here? Jesus was at the Father’s side. Jesus was in the bosom, in the pocket, of the Father. What does that mean? It’s a picture of intimacy. It’s a picture of a close-knit interpersonal relationship that has been going since before time began. The Father and the Son have loved each other and have been at each other’s side forever. And John says, “If you want to know God, get to know Jesus.” Because Jesus is God. And also because Jesus has made known to us the Father.

By the way that word for “only” in verse 18. That’s the word that μονογενής in Greek which is translated “only” or “one and only” or “only begotten.” When John says that Jesus was the “only God” who is at “the Father’s side,” He’s saying that Jesus and the Father are both from eternity past. Jesus is eternally the Son. And God is eternally the Father. And to say that Jesus is “only” God, means that Jesus is of the same “stuff” … he’s of the same “essence” as God. 

This is where I think that word “begotten” can be confusing, because the cults (the JWs and others) will come to your door and say, “See, see Jesus is begotten. He was created.” But that’s not what John is saying. That’s not what μονογενής means in this context. If that was the case, why would John the Baptist say, “He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me” (1:15)? 

Why would John the Apostle say, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1)? Question: How was Jesus before John the Baptist? Answer, He’s the Word. He existed before time existed. He’s eternally the Son. And when John uses that word μονογενής (“begotten”) he’s not talking about chronology, as if the Father came first and then the Son. He’s talking about essence. Jesus is of the same essence (μονογενής)… He’s of the same stuff as the Father. That’s why Jesus said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).

Just as an illustration, my son is my “one and only” son. He’s of my stuff, my essence. He looks like me. He talks like me. Lord help him, he acts like me. Thankfully there’s enough of his mama in him to offset what I’ve given to him.  I’m his father. He’s my son. He’s of my stuff. And he’s both chronologically and essentially my only begotten. He came after me, but he is of me.

Now here’s where the metaphor of father/son language breaks down. It’s not like that with Jesus. He’s of the same stuff of God the Father, but he’s not chronologically his son. Okay? We’ve got to be very careful here. Because Jesus is eternally the Son. And God the Father is eternally the Father. And there was never a time when Jesus was not. 

You might say, “Aren’t you parsing this a little too carefully, Tony? Aren’t you taking this a little too far?” Trust me, I’m not. This proper understanding of Jesus is literally the difference between Eternal Life and Eternal Death. In 1 John 4:1–3, John says that people who don’t recognize the truth of the incarnation are filled with the spirit of antichrist. I didn’t say that. John said that.

When people attack Christianity, they typically attack Christology (our understanding of Christ). And if you don’t have a proper, orthodox understanding of Jesus, that he is eternally God and eternally the Son, then your faith in Christ is null and void. Why do you think John takes so much time in this Prologue to explain exactly who the Word is and exactly the nature of Jesus’s deity?

The great church father, Athanasius, fought and suffered and died defending this doctrine of Christ from the heresies in the fourth century. And we’ve got to defend it in our day. 

18 No one has ever seen God; [but] the only God, who is at the Father’s side [i.e. Jesus], he has made him known. 

Paul says it this way, “[Jesus] is the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15). He’s the visible image of the invisible God! You want to know God? You need to know Jesus. You want to be reconciled to the God of the Universe who created you? You need to believe in Jesus. You want to be a child of God; you need to embrace The Eternal Son of God. You want to spend eternity with God and not be eternally separated from God? You’ve got to know Jesus. Because he has made him known. He has made God the Father known. 

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Why did Jesus come to this World? John tells us here in this Prologue. Jesus came to display glory (1:14–15). Jesus came to dispense grace (1:16–17). Jesus came to disclose God (1:18). Jesus did that. 

I’ll close with this. I started this message with a poem. Let me end it with one. This poem is entitled “God Enfleshed.” 

I was lost and I was wounded

disgraced, disowned, distraught, deluded

Without hope for a future saving

With a tainted soul, freedom craving

But hope took flesh, a divine incarnation

On a mission to save every tribe and nation 

Power came down as a babe in a manger

God enfleshed, but in mortal danger    

The Word became meat and dwelt among us

The Son of eternity past, the divine Logos

Our God came down to bring men up

Sin was put down, eternal death was stopped

He was God enfleshed, but born to die

He was born to save, a messiah crucified

Saving sinners and restoring creation

Jews and Gentiles, from every generation

He is now at the right hand, undead, unbound

Interceding for his own, whom grace has found

We worship him, we serve him, we commit to him afresh

the Son, the Eternal Word, Our God enfleshed