Jesus Reveals God
Message 2
Today is part two of the introduction of the Gospel of John. It is part two of the incredible summary of WHO Jesus IS and WHAT Jesus Christ came to earth to do. IF John 1-18 were the only verses you had of the entire Bible, you would know exactly WHO Jesus Christ IS, and you would know exactly why Jesus came from Heaven to earth.
Here is the shortest summary I could make of these I first eighteen verses of the Gospel of John.
Jesus Christ is fully God
Who was Miraculously Incarnated in human flesh
so He could Perfectly illuminate God to the world
for the purpose of saving us from the eternal consequences of our sin.
Last week, in the first half of John’s introduction, John made it very clear:
1). Jesus Christ has always been God
2). He is the vehicle of creation of the Godhead of all that’s been created, and nothing has been created that was not created through him, and for him, and is going back to him
3). In Him is life, Jesus Christ is the Author and Giver of life
4). He is God in Communication (God in Expression – the LOGOS – that is his role) – He is God expressed to man, God revealed to man,
5). He came to the world, and the world (as a whole) did not receive him; he came to his own, the Jewish people, and they rejected him
6). But to those who did receive Him, He gave the right to become children of God (born of God) John 1:12
That was a massive first message, and it was only half of this introduction summary of WHO Jesus Christ IS and WHAT Jesus came to earth to DO.
In this message, we see the second half of this incredible summary of the entire Gospel of John.
1). The miraculous incarnation of Jesus (verses 14-15)
2). The fullness of God’s grace toward us in Jesus (verses 16-17)
3). The perfect illumination (revealing) of God through Jesus (verse 18)
Super big theological truths. These are foundational life-changing but actually life-directing truths. Really, really huge.
Let me tell you why everything in this summary is so critically important because everything we truly need not only for eternal life but also to live a truly abundant life here is found in the fullness of God that comes to us through our faith in Jesus Christ.
We struggle with this until we get in the place where we don’t have anything else, and then we realize, you know what? Everything I need is IN Jesus Christ. Everything I need comes through Jesus Christ. And this world is all passing away, but he is the source of not only my eternal life but also my abundant life here while I’m sojourning through this place to my real life – my eternal life. That’s how important these verses are to us, personally.
In our verses today, we start with the Christmas story from an eternal perspective. Luke uses 2500 words to convey the “Christmas story.” Matthew uses almost as many in his “Christmas story.” But here, John tells the same Christmas story from a strictly eternal (heavenly) perspective, and he tells it in just thirty-four words (in the New Living Translation – NLT).
John 1:14 (NLT)
14 So the Word became human (flesh) and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
He tabernacled in a tent of humanity among us. Can you imagine the “awe and amazement” of all of Heaven as they witnessed what we casually call “The Christmas Story.” Can you imagine the angels in Heaven looking at the incredible sinfulness of man, then looking at the incredible glory of Jesus Christ, and not being able to understand why Jesus, in his eternal glory, would be willing to become like Mankind in their incredible sinfulness? Mankind – sinful, hell-bound, separated from God. Maybe the only thing the angels could manage to speak (with great bewilderment) might have been the words John says here . . . “The Word has become human.”
How those four words must’ve traveled around Heaven.
“the Word has become FLESH”
“the Word has become HUMAN”
“the Word has become MAN”
When we say, at Christmas, a babe was born in a manger, that sounds like a new life had begun – but that is absolutely not what happened. John tells us exactly what happened that first Christmas morning. The eternal, all-powerful, Creator God came IN EXPRESSION to Mankind – the Word became flesh.
He took on humanity and came in the lowest, most humble way possible in order to do what no one else could do. And that is to live a sinless life because he came sinless. He came in humanity but one hundred percent God, one hundred percent sinless; that’s why he was born of the Holy Spirit, so he didn’t inherit the sin nature. He came sinless, but he faced every temptation we will ever face. He was the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, the perfect sacrifice. That’s why he came.
THAT is the Christmas story – from Heaven’s perspective, and the word translated “flesh” in most translations actually means Jesus Christ took on “human nature.”
The Word (the expression of God) became HUMAN because he had to be one hundred percent man. But he did not take on our sin nature because that was not part of the original human nature.
Jesus was 100% man AND 100% sinless God.
And that is why his death was able to pay the full penalty required for our sins. And that is why verse 14 says So the Word became human and made his home among us. The full glory of God was “veiled” in a human body, and God dwelt among the people in the Person of Jesus Christ, and in the tabernacle of Christ’s human body is where God met man and where man’s sins were dealt with before God. (We’ll return to the rest of verse 14 at the end.)
John 1:15 (NLT)
15 John (the Baptist) testified about him when he shouted to the crowds, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.’ ”
John the Baptist was the last of the Prophets who came before Jesus, and he was the first to identify Jesus AS who he was. Here, in verse 15, there were two things John the Baptist knew for certain about Jesus.
1). He knew the Lord Jesus was pre-eminent over all, meaning Jesus was far greater than John the Baptist or any other Prophet of God. Here in verse 15, John the Baptist says, ‘Someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am’ and just down in verse 27 of John Chapter 1, John the Baptist says,
John 1:27 (NLT)
27 . . . I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandal.”
John the Baptist knew the Lord Jesus was pre-eminent over all.
2). John the Baptist knew for certain the Lord Jesus pre-existed before all things. Again, here in verse 15, John the Baptist says simply, Jesus is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me. Both of those statements refer to Jesus being GOD in human form. John recognized that Jesus Christ was God in human flesh in both pre-eminence and pre-existence.
We’ll be talking more about John the Baptist in the next two weeks. But for now, let’s continue in verse 16.
This is a really power-packed verse, especially in the original language. The Apostle John tries to “put into words” all that we have received through Jesus Christ and through God becoming man in Christ. This is a short verse, but it means so much.
John 1:16 (NLT)
16 From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another.
The Greek word translated “abundance” here means “the sum total of all the attributes and all the power of God.”
So – OUT OF: the sum total of all the attributes and all the power of God that all EXIST in Jesus Christ, through him we have ALL received one gracious blessing after another.
The picture in the original language here is the idea of a fountain overflowing, without end, of GRACE UPON GRACE. But look how the Amplified Bible “amplifies” this version. (This is a paraphrased translation, and it’s good to use alongside your other Bible if you have a different translation.)
John 1:16 (AMP)
16 For out of His fullness (abundance) we have all received [all had a share and we were all supplied with] one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift [heaped] upon gift.
This is the Amplified Bible trying to convey what the original language is trying to portray. Does that give you an idea of how deep verse 16 really is?
We have got to stop thinking of Jesus as our “wingman,” someone to call when our way doesn’t work and we need help. Everything we have comes from him. He is the source of life. He’s the source of everything that will be important to you the moment after you take your last breath. Everything that will be important to you for eternity comes through Christ, and he allows us to experience a taste of that. That’s the abundant life, experiencing just a little taste of that here as we’re headed there.
John is trying to convey the overwhelming absolute sufficiency of God’s grace in Jesus Christ. The whole point here, and this is what John’s gospel is for, is to set Jesus Christ above everything else, in every way.
Martin Luther said, “Christ our Lord is such an infinite source of all grace, that if the whole world were to draw (meaning draw from him) enough grace and truth from Him to make all the world angels, yet He would not lose a drop, the fountain of grace always runs over, full of grace.”
In Christ, we have been given all we need, and in our culture, it’s so easy to forget that. It’s now a matter of us appropriating it, to make it our own, to embrace it. “What does that mean for me in my life? What does that mean for me tomorrow morning when I wake up on Monday?” Meaning – we have got to walk (to set our path, to order our steps) in WHO the Lord IS and what he’s DONE for us. And we’ve got to learn how to begin to walk in his GRACE.
I promise you that learning to walk in the overwhelming sufficiency of God’s grace in Jesus Christ is the journey of a lifetime, and even then, we will never reach the end of it. Learning to walk in who Jesus Christ IS, is a lifelong journey. It’s a lifelong journey. Every day we wake up, we are in a circumstance or situation or season where we have to learn to walk in who Jesus Christ is and what he’s done for us. And so, it doesn’t mean we just go sit on a rock and just sit there our whole lives “ooohming” or something. Every day, we’re following Jesus. And when we wake up, that’s where we’re following Jesus. And that’s where what we receive from Jesus, what we receive from faith and obedience in Christ, applies today. It applies to what we are doing today.
When I got saved in 1979, it was easy because it was, honestly, radical. I just happened to have one of those radical salvations. And I just walked away from everything in my life, literally, and started over. But then, I found out that I now have to follow Jesus. Now I have to know him in my new life. It wasn’t just enough to get saved and walk away from the environment I was living in. Now, I had to really learn to walk in the new life. That’s how it applies.
Continuing in verse 17.
John 1:17 (NLT)
17 For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ.
You can see the connection between verses 16 and 17. The focus here is not so much the Law, but it’s the unfailing love and faithfulness that comes through Jesus Christ, which is what verse 16 was saying. John is contrasting the Law with the truth that is in verse 16. The Law was ‘given by God,’ but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness ‘CAME from God.’ The Law was given in thunder and lightning on Mt. Sinai in the midst of God’s terrifying power. But God’s love and faithfulness came veiled in human flesh to ultimately become the only sacrifice sufficient to pay the full penalty required to wash away our sins completely and give us HIS righteousness of God – so that we could live in the presence of God for eternity. Jesus did all of that when we could not deserve it one bit. We were his enemy and we were shackled in our sin.
And although the Law gave the hard truth of the righteousness and holiness required by God. The Law actually prepared the way for God’s grace (that’s what Galatians 3:24 says.) The word is tutor. The word PEDAGOGAS is tutor. It’s “the one who guides us to something.” The Law would guide us to Christ because once you know the Law, you know you can’t keep the Law – there’s no hope on your own to do it. You may think you need to do this or do that, but Jesus did all that. You receive that, and you begin to walk in WHO he IS and WHAT he’s DONE. Your life will be transformed, and Heaven IS your home. But it was not until Jesus Christ came as God in the Flesh that the truth of God’s Law and the unfailing love and faithfulness could be fully received by the world.
As we continue through the Gospel of John, we’ll see events that illustrate the fullness of the unfailing love and faithfulness of our Lord.
The late-night meeting with Nicodemus
The Woman at the well
The Woman caught in adultery
The Leper
The Woman with the issue of blood
The man with the withered hand
Over and over again, these are all incredible illustrations of the unfailing love and faithfulness of Jesus.
But for today, to finish this incredible summary, verse 18 makes it clear to us that Jesus Christ IS GOD REVEALED TO US (this is a great verse.) If I say God in Revelation, you’d think about the Book of Revelation, though the Book of Revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ. And so, when John says that the Word became Flesh, and what he’s about to say here in verse 18, it’s God revealed, God illuminated.
John 1:18 (NLT)
18 No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.
The first sentence says No one has ever seen God.
This refers to the fact that God is Spirit, so we cannot see God fully in his essence. The Bible does record “Manifestations” of God, where God manifests himself to people in a partial way, especially in general, for the benefit of a prophet.
But our physical eyes are physical, and God is Spirit (John 4 says). Physical eyes cannot fully see God, who is a Spirit. It’s like Billy Graham said, “We can’t see the wind, but we can see the effects of the wind.” And that is also why the Holy Spirit is generally not visible. God can manifest his attributes but doesn’t fully show his essence. We cannot see the essence of God because GOD IS SPIRIT. This prepares us for the next sentence of verse 18.
John 1:18 (NLT)
18 . . . But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart . . .
This is a great translation to explain what the phrase “The Son of God” means. (Do you know that in the Dome of the Rock Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, when you go inside it, encircling the rock are the words “God has no son.” All the way around the circle.) When the Bible says Jesus Christ is “The Son of God,” it means “The only One who has come from God. NOT come from God in a physical birth way. But instead, Jesus has come from God to reveal God to us!
The other good definition of “The Son of God” is the only One of Its Kind OR the unique One (which the NLT uses here).
The unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart, meaning intimate closeness and oneness.
The unique One, the Only One Who Came From God Who is God Himself – do you see Jesus there in verse 18? But the unique One, who is himself God – that’s Jesus – is near to the Father’s heart. . . It’s this phrase in the Greek of intimacy, of oneness, of unity. We dealt with it last week. He was with God, he was face-to-face, he’s One with God. He’s the only one that has come from God; he IS God, and he was one with God – all of those things are in verse 18.
These two sentences explain in advance the third sentence of verse 18. Let’s look at the whole verse again.
John 1:18 (NLT)
18 No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.
And it’s really important when you see the way the Holy Spirit wrote; he makes sure that we don’t misunderstand that Jesus revealed God to us like I would, or a prophet would, or a teacher would. You know, Like, “Let me show you God.” NO! Jesus IS God. And illuminated God. He radiates God; he doesn’t reflect God. Hebrews says he radiates God. He has revealed God to us.
Jesus is God. He is God in Revelation; God in Expression; and he is God Become Man, and that’s a big deal. It’s bigger than what we think.
There’s a religion that puts Jesus and his mother on the same plane. John’s dealing with that right here. Jesus is GOD. And there is none like him. He is the unique one, and there is no other.
For this word “revealed” (your Bible might say illuminated) – here’s one more little Greek word study. In Greek, it is EXEGEOMAI. Exegeomai is where we get our English word “exegesis” which is a very critical word for every Bible teacher. It means “To expound, or to bring out what’s already there.” It’s the way we teach; it’s the only way we teach; it’s the only way we allow people to teach. You don’t get to come up with your own stuff and say your own things. You don’t get to come up and have a motivational message about how you can have your best life now. You come up here to exegete the Word. No adding, no subtracting, just bring it out. Exegesis means to “fully and accurately set forth the truth that already exists.” So, when verse 18 says that Jesus Christ reveals God to us, it means Jesus fully and accurately sets forth, expounds, brings out, and illuminates GOD TO US.
So, the Word is God
And the Word became flesh
to Reveal God to us
so those who receive him may become “children of God”
If John would have only written these eighteen verses, he would’ve given us an incredible view of who Jesus Christ truly is and why he truly came. We have an incredible book full of God’s unfailing love and faithfulness ahead of us.
But to close today. I’d like you to look back at the end of John 1:14 (we said we would come back to that). How do you apply it to your life? How do you allow these truths to transform your life? It’s at the end of John 1, verse 14.
John 1:14 (NLT)
14 . . . And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
THAT is how you do it. THAT is how you begin your eternal life journey. You behold the glory of God IN Jesus Christ. You behold him in the WORD, look for him in his Word until you are in awe – in WORSHIP – and in INTERACTION with him in prayer.
I pray that each of these messages will cause each of us to see (to behold) the glory of Jesus Christ and that we are driven to behold the glory of God. The more we do, the more our lives will be changed.
The GLORY of the
Only One who IS God
Only One Who has COME from God
Only One Who REVEALS God to us
How do we embrace the fullness of the unfailing love and faithfulness of God? You have to make time to behold the glory of God in Jesus Christ. Put down your phone. (Stop doom-scrolling – you’ve already been doing it for an hour or more.) Instead, take the time to know Jesus Christ, WHO he IS, truly. You have to fight to make time to behold him in His Word and in worship and in genuine interaction with him.
We BEHOLD the SON
The One who IS GOD
And has COME from God
to REVEAL God to us
Jesus Christ is the fullness of the grace and truth of God, and he miraculously pours out HIS grace and truth on all who will follow him.
Today, you can
Receive Him as your SAVIOR,
Make Him the LORD of your life, and
COMMIT to FOLLOW Him.
Here is the shortest summary I could make of these I first eighteen verses of the Gospel of John.
Jesus Christ is fully God
Who was Miraculously Incarnated in human flesh
so He could Perfectly illuminate God to the world
for the purpose of saving us from the eternal consequences of our sin.
Last week, in the first half of John’s introduction, John made it very clear:
1). Jesus Christ has always been God
2). He is the vehicle of creation of the Godhead of all that’s been created, and nothing has been created that was not created through him, and for him, and is going back to him
3). In Him is life, Jesus Christ is the Author and Giver of life
4). He is God in Communication (God in Expression – the LOGOS – that is his role) – He is God expressed to man, God revealed to man,
5). He came to the world, and the world (as a whole) did not receive him; he came to his own, the Jewish people, and they rejected him
6). But to those who did receive Him, He gave the right to become children of God (born of God) John 1:12
That was a massive first message, and it was only half of this introduction summary of WHO Jesus Christ IS and WHAT Jesus came to earth to DO.
In this message, we see the second half of this incredible summary of the entire Gospel of John.
1). The miraculous incarnation of Jesus (verses 14-15)
2). The fullness of God’s grace toward us in Jesus (verses 16-17)
3). The perfect illumination (revealing) of God through Jesus (verse 18)
Super big theological truths. These are foundational life-changing but actually life-directing truths. Really, really huge.
Let me tell you why everything in this summary is so critically important because everything we truly need not only for eternal life but also to live a truly abundant life here is found in the fullness of God that comes to us through our faith in Jesus Christ.
We struggle with this until we get in the place where we don’t have anything else, and then we realize, you know what? Everything I need is IN Jesus Christ. Everything I need comes through Jesus Christ. And this world is all passing away, but he is the source of not only my eternal life but also my abundant life here while I’m sojourning through this place to my real life – my eternal life. That’s how important these verses are to us, personally.
In our verses today, we start with the Christmas story from an eternal perspective. Luke uses 2500 words to convey the “Christmas story.” Matthew uses almost as many in his “Christmas story.” But here, John tells the same Christmas story from a strictly eternal (heavenly) perspective, and he tells it in just thirty-four words (in the New Living Translation – NLT).
John 1:14 (NLT)
14 So the Word became human (flesh) and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
He tabernacled in a tent of humanity among us. Can you imagine the “awe and amazement” of all of Heaven as they witnessed what we casually call “The Christmas Story.” Can you imagine the angels in Heaven looking at the incredible sinfulness of man, then looking at the incredible glory of Jesus Christ, and not being able to understand why Jesus, in his eternal glory, would be willing to become like Mankind in their incredible sinfulness? Mankind – sinful, hell-bound, separated from God. Maybe the only thing the angels could manage to speak (with great bewilderment) might have been the words John says here . . . “The Word has become human.”
How those four words must’ve traveled around Heaven.
“the Word has become FLESH”
“the Word has become HUMAN”
“the Word has become MAN”
When we say, at Christmas, a babe was born in a manger, that sounds like a new life had begun – but that is absolutely not what happened. John tells us exactly what happened that first Christmas morning. The eternal, all-powerful, Creator God came IN EXPRESSION to Mankind – the Word became flesh.
He took on humanity and came in the lowest, most humble way possible in order to do what no one else could do. And that is to live a sinless life because he came sinless. He came in humanity but one hundred percent God, one hundred percent sinless; that’s why he was born of the Holy Spirit, so he didn’t inherit the sin nature. He came sinless, but he faced every temptation we will ever face. He was the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, the perfect sacrifice. That’s why he came.
THAT is the Christmas story – from Heaven’s perspective, and the word translated “flesh” in most translations actually means Jesus Christ took on “human nature.”
The Word (the expression of God) became HUMAN because he had to be one hundred percent man. But he did not take on our sin nature because that was not part of the original human nature.
Jesus was 100% man AND 100% sinless God.
And that is why his death was able to pay the full penalty required for our sins. And that is why verse 14 says So the Word became human and made his home among us. The full glory of God was “veiled” in a human body, and God dwelt among the people in the Person of Jesus Christ, and in the tabernacle of Christ’s human body is where God met man and where man’s sins were dealt with before God. (We’ll return to the rest of verse 14 at the end.)
John 1:15 (NLT)
15 John (the Baptist) testified about him when he shouted to the crowds, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.’ ”
John the Baptist was the last of the Prophets who came before Jesus, and he was the first to identify Jesus AS who he was. Here, in verse 15, there were two things John the Baptist knew for certain about Jesus.
1). He knew the Lord Jesus was pre-eminent over all, meaning Jesus was far greater than John the Baptist or any other Prophet of God. Here in verse 15, John the Baptist says, ‘Someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am’ and just down in verse 27 of John Chapter 1, John the Baptist says,
John 1:27 (NLT)
27 . . . I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandal.”
John the Baptist knew the Lord Jesus was pre-eminent over all.
2). John the Baptist knew for certain the Lord Jesus pre-existed before all things. Again, here in verse 15, John the Baptist says simply, Jesus is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me. Both of those statements refer to Jesus being GOD in human form. John recognized that Jesus Christ was God in human flesh in both pre-eminence and pre-existence.
We’ll be talking more about John the Baptist in the next two weeks. But for now, let’s continue in verse 16.
This is a really power-packed verse, especially in the original language. The Apostle John tries to “put into words” all that we have received through Jesus Christ and through God becoming man in Christ. This is a short verse, but it means so much.
John 1:16 (NLT)
16 From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another.
The Greek word translated “abundance” here means “the sum total of all the attributes and all the power of God.”
So – OUT OF: the sum total of all the attributes and all the power of God that all EXIST in Jesus Christ, through him we have ALL received one gracious blessing after another.
The picture in the original language here is the idea of a fountain overflowing, without end, of GRACE UPON GRACE. But look how the Amplified Bible “amplifies” this version. (This is a paraphrased translation, and it’s good to use alongside your other Bible if you have a different translation.)
John 1:16 (AMP)
16 For out of His fullness (abundance) we have all received [all had a share and we were all supplied with] one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift [heaped] upon gift.
This is the Amplified Bible trying to convey what the original language is trying to portray. Does that give you an idea of how deep verse 16 really is?
We have got to stop thinking of Jesus as our “wingman,” someone to call when our way doesn’t work and we need help. Everything we have comes from him. He is the source of life. He’s the source of everything that will be important to you the moment after you take your last breath. Everything that will be important to you for eternity comes through Christ, and he allows us to experience a taste of that. That’s the abundant life, experiencing just a little taste of that here as we’re headed there.
John is trying to convey the overwhelming absolute sufficiency of God’s grace in Jesus Christ. The whole point here, and this is what John’s gospel is for, is to set Jesus Christ above everything else, in every way.
Martin Luther said, “Christ our Lord is such an infinite source of all grace, that if the whole world were to draw (meaning draw from him) enough grace and truth from Him to make all the world angels, yet He would not lose a drop, the fountain of grace always runs over, full of grace.”
In Christ, we have been given all we need, and in our culture, it’s so easy to forget that. It’s now a matter of us appropriating it, to make it our own, to embrace it. “What does that mean for me in my life? What does that mean for me tomorrow morning when I wake up on Monday?” Meaning – we have got to walk (to set our path, to order our steps) in WHO the Lord IS and what he’s DONE for us. And we’ve got to learn how to begin to walk in his GRACE.
I promise you that learning to walk in the overwhelming sufficiency of God’s grace in Jesus Christ is the journey of a lifetime, and even then, we will never reach the end of it. Learning to walk in who Jesus Christ IS, is a lifelong journey. It’s a lifelong journey. Every day we wake up, we are in a circumstance or situation or season where we have to learn to walk in who Jesus Christ is and what he’s done for us. And so, it doesn’t mean we just go sit on a rock and just sit there our whole lives “ooohming” or something. Every day, we’re following Jesus. And when we wake up, that’s where we’re following Jesus. And that’s where what we receive from Jesus, what we receive from faith and obedience in Christ, applies today. It applies to what we are doing today.
When I got saved in 1979, it was easy because it was, honestly, radical. I just happened to have one of those radical salvations. And I just walked away from everything in my life, literally, and started over. But then, I found out that I now have to follow Jesus. Now I have to know him in my new life. It wasn’t just enough to get saved and walk away from the environment I was living in. Now, I had to really learn to walk in the new life. That’s how it applies.
Continuing in verse 17.
John 1:17 (NLT)
17 For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ.
You can see the connection between verses 16 and 17. The focus here is not so much the Law, but it’s the unfailing love and faithfulness that comes through Jesus Christ, which is what verse 16 was saying. John is contrasting the Law with the truth that is in verse 16. The Law was ‘given by God,’ but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness ‘CAME from God.’ The Law was given in thunder and lightning on Mt. Sinai in the midst of God’s terrifying power. But God’s love and faithfulness came veiled in human flesh to ultimately become the only sacrifice sufficient to pay the full penalty required to wash away our sins completely and give us HIS righteousness of God – so that we could live in the presence of God for eternity. Jesus did all of that when we could not deserve it one bit. We were his enemy and we were shackled in our sin.
And although the Law gave the hard truth of the righteousness and holiness required by God. The Law actually prepared the way for God’s grace (that’s what Galatians 3:24 says.) The word is tutor. The word PEDAGOGAS is tutor. It’s “the one who guides us to something.” The Law would guide us to Christ because once you know the Law, you know you can’t keep the Law – there’s no hope on your own to do it. You may think you need to do this or do that, but Jesus did all that. You receive that, and you begin to walk in WHO he IS and WHAT he’s DONE. Your life will be transformed, and Heaven IS your home. But it was not until Jesus Christ came as God in the Flesh that the truth of God’s Law and the unfailing love and faithfulness could be fully received by the world.
As we continue through the Gospel of John, we’ll see events that illustrate the fullness of the unfailing love and faithfulness of our Lord.
The late-night meeting with Nicodemus
The Woman at the well
The Woman caught in adultery
The Leper
The Woman with the issue of blood
The man with the withered hand
Over and over again, these are all incredible illustrations of the unfailing love and faithfulness of Jesus.
But for today, to finish this incredible summary, verse 18 makes it clear to us that Jesus Christ IS GOD REVEALED TO US (this is a great verse.) If I say God in Revelation, you’d think about the Book of Revelation, though the Book of Revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ. And so, when John says that the Word became Flesh, and what he’s about to say here in verse 18, it’s God revealed, God illuminated.
John 1:18 (NLT)
18 No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.
The first sentence says No one has ever seen God.
This refers to the fact that God is Spirit, so we cannot see God fully in his essence. The Bible does record “Manifestations” of God, where God manifests himself to people in a partial way, especially in general, for the benefit of a prophet.
But our physical eyes are physical, and God is Spirit (John 4 says). Physical eyes cannot fully see God, who is a Spirit. It’s like Billy Graham said, “We can’t see the wind, but we can see the effects of the wind.” And that is also why the Holy Spirit is generally not visible. God can manifest his attributes but doesn’t fully show his essence. We cannot see the essence of God because GOD IS SPIRIT. This prepares us for the next sentence of verse 18.
John 1:18 (NLT)
18 . . . But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart . . .
This is a great translation to explain what the phrase “The Son of God” means. (Do you know that in the Dome of the Rock Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, when you go inside it, encircling the rock are the words “God has no son.” All the way around the circle.) When the Bible says Jesus Christ is “The Son of God,” it means “The only One who has come from God. NOT come from God in a physical birth way. But instead, Jesus has come from God to reveal God to us!
The other good definition of “The Son of God” is the only One of Its Kind OR the unique One (which the NLT uses here).
The unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart, meaning intimate closeness and oneness.
The unique One, the Only One Who Came From God Who is God Himself – do you see Jesus there in verse 18? But the unique One, who is himself God – that’s Jesus – is near to the Father’s heart. . . It’s this phrase in the Greek of intimacy, of oneness, of unity. We dealt with it last week. He was with God, he was face-to-face, he’s One with God. He’s the only one that has come from God; he IS God, and he was one with God – all of those things are in verse 18.
These two sentences explain in advance the third sentence of verse 18. Let’s look at the whole verse again.
John 1:18 (NLT)
18 No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.
And it’s really important when you see the way the Holy Spirit wrote; he makes sure that we don’t misunderstand that Jesus revealed God to us like I would, or a prophet would, or a teacher would. You know, Like, “Let me show you God.” NO! Jesus IS God. And illuminated God. He radiates God; he doesn’t reflect God. Hebrews says he radiates God. He has revealed God to us.
Jesus is God. He is God in Revelation; God in Expression; and he is God Become Man, and that’s a big deal. It’s bigger than what we think.
There’s a religion that puts Jesus and his mother on the same plane. John’s dealing with that right here. Jesus is GOD. And there is none like him. He is the unique one, and there is no other.
For this word “revealed” (your Bible might say illuminated) – here’s one more little Greek word study. In Greek, it is EXEGEOMAI. Exegeomai is where we get our English word “exegesis” which is a very critical word for every Bible teacher. It means “To expound, or to bring out what’s already there.” It’s the way we teach; it’s the only way we teach; it’s the only way we allow people to teach. You don’t get to come up with your own stuff and say your own things. You don’t get to come up and have a motivational message about how you can have your best life now. You come up here to exegete the Word. No adding, no subtracting, just bring it out. Exegesis means to “fully and accurately set forth the truth that already exists.” So, when verse 18 says that Jesus Christ reveals God to us, it means Jesus fully and accurately sets forth, expounds, brings out, and illuminates GOD TO US.
So, the Word is God
And the Word became flesh
to Reveal God to us
so those who receive him may become “children of God”
If John would have only written these eighteen verses, he would’ve given us an incredible view of who Jesus Christ truly is and why he truly came. We have an incredible book full of God’s unfailing love and faithfulness ahead of us.
But to close today. I’d like you to look back at the end of John 1:14 (we said we would come back to that). How do you apply it to your life? How do you allow these truths to transform your life? It’s at the end of John 1, verse 14.
John 1:14 (NLT)
14 . . . And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
THAT is how you do it. THAT is how you begin your eternal life journey. You behold the glory of God IN Jesus Christ. You behold him in the WORD, look for him in his Word until you are in awe – in WORSHIP – and in INTERACTION with him in prayer.
I pray that each of these messages will cause each of us to see (to behold) the glory of Jesus Christ and that we are driven to behold the glory of God. The more we do, the more our lives will be changed.
The GLORY of the
Only One who IS God
Only One Who has COME from God
Only One Who REVEALS God to us
How do we embrace the fullness of the unfailing love and faithfulness of God? You have to make time to behold the glory of God in Jesus Christ. Put down your phone. (Stop doom-scrolling – you’ve already been doing it for an hour or more.) Instead, take the time to know Jesus Christ, WHO he IS, truly. You have to fight to make time to behold him in His Word and in worship and in genuine interaction with him.
We BEHOLD the SON
The One who IS GOD
And has COME from God
to REVEAL God to us
Jesus Christ is the fullness of the grace and truth of God, and he miraculously pours out HIS grace and truth on all who will follow him.
Today, you can
Receive Him as your SAVIOR,
Make Him the LORD of your life, and
COMMIT to FOLLOW Him.