THE CHRISTMAS GIFT GOD MADEDecember 22, 1974
Pastor Henry F. Kulp
John 1: 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
At this Christmas season we remember that Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judea almost 2,000 years ago. And He was the unique person of history. He is different from any other one who ever lived. Let us understand Him and appreciate Him this morning and in so doing, we will appreciate the season called Christmas.
1/ There are three declarations in this verse. And I am interested right now in the first one. And the Word was made flesh. There can be no doubt that the Word is Jesus Christ. He is the Logos.
2/ The first question that comes to mind--the Word was made flesh, is that He existed before He was made flesh, and of course, this chapter teaches that very clearly. Notice, verse 3 All things were made by Him. Then, verse 10 The world was made by Him. So He had to exist before He became flesh.
3/ Immediately some will say, we don’t believe in God. A young skeptic said to an elderly lady, I once believed there was a God, but now since studying philosophy and mathematics, I am convinced that God is but an empty word. Well, said the lady, I have not studied such things, but since you have, can you tell me where this egg comes from? Why, of course—from a hen. Then where did the hen come from—Why from an egg. Then the lady inquired--Which existed first? The hen or the egg? Oh, the hen must have existed first? Then the hen must have existed without coming from an egg. No I was mistaken, I should have said the egg was first. Well, then you mean one egg existed without having come from a hen. Well, maybe the hen was first. Who made the first hen, from which all succeeding hens and eggs have come from? The young man was perplexed and said, What are you trying to prove? Simply this, He who created either the first hen or the first egg, is He Who created the world. You can’t explain the existence either—of a hen or an egg without God, and yet you wish me to believe you can explain the existence of the universe without Him.
4/ The Word became flesh. No greater or more mysterious words were ever written than this simple clause that begins verse 14. The verb Made, is in the middle voice, and it tells us two things in our study. First of all, the Word, was benefited by being made flesh. Secondly, it means He became flesh by His own violation. He did so, willingly. He was not imposed upon or forced.
5/ Philippians 2: 6, 7 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
Here we read, AND HE TOOK UPON HIM THE FORM OF A SERVANT. He did it willingly. It was love for sinful man that was the motivating force, when He voluntarily took upon Himself, flesh.
6/ So the word, MADE is really the word, BECAME. This tells us that the immaterial, Logos, takes on matter, flesh. The spiritual becomes material and He is the perfect Man. He is not just a man--He is the unique, the only one that ever existed.
7/ John 1: 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
…AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD
Here John is careful to point out that the Word, Jesus Christ, is not the same Person as the Father. He is God, but a distinct Person, and not to be confused with the Father.
8/ The verb, Was, EN in the Greek, durative, imperfect, and it means the Word has always been with God, the Father. He did not have a beginning after the Father, but He has always been with Him.
9/ The word, WITH, Pros is face to face. This means that Christ and the Father were facing each other. No suggestion whatsoever of the Son following the Father, or being less than the Father, but rather being co-equal with the Father, and we have two Persons of equal personality. The word, pros, tells us IT IS A LIVING AND CONSTANT FELLOWSHIP, MEANING THEY ARE EVER TOGETHER.
10/ A little boy said to his mother, Mother, who made God? That’s a hard question, Jimmy, why don’t you go out and play for a while--said the puzzled mother. But Jimmy insisted on an answer. The mother suddenly got an inspiration, and taking off her ring, she handed it to her little boy saying, Here Jimmy, show me the beginning of it and the end of it. After careful examination, Jimmy turned to his mother and said, But, mother, this has no beginning and no end. God is the same way, Son.
11/ Verse 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
…AND DWELT AMONG US. His sojourn among men was to be temporary. In order to reveal this fact to us He used the Greek which should be translated TENTED or PITCHED HIS TENT. A tent is something that is used for a temporary dwelling. Either by nomads or soldiers. He used that body for 33 years. He came to die.
I Timothy 1: 15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
12/ Have you ever thought about the fact that He came and tented among His creatures who were ENEMIES? They hated Him, yet He came to dwell among them so that He could die and save them.
13/ The word, BEHELD The word beheld is an intriguing word. And it means AN ACTUAL VIEWING BY PHYSICAL EYES OF SOMETHING TANGIBLE. And it means TO BEHOLD IN AMAZEMENT. So they literally looked Him through and through with a constant gaze. Here was God manifest in human flesh.
14/ I am sure God used this word, BEHOLD in the Greek, because He wanted to dispel any wrong thoughts about the reality of the Body of Jesus Christ. In the early church there was a heresy that arose called docetism. DOE - C - TISM which taught that Christ did not have a real, material body. His birth, eating and drinking and death were so many illusions. He could not really be seen.
15/ This word, BEHOLD, shows this heresy for what it is right from the very start.
16/ HIS GLORY. This is a very interesting thought. Everything in Heaven has glory.
I Corinthians 15: 40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
There is the celestial glory--that is, the heavenly glory. What glory did they behold? They beheld His heavenly glory, because He didn’t have any celestial glory when He was on earth, and this that they saw was celestial glory.
John 17: 5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
Here in our Lord’s High Priestly prayer as He faces the cross, He asks the Father to restore His glory, for He asks for the glory He had with the Father before the world began. When He became man, He gave up this glory. When did John see this glory?
Matthew 17: 1, 2 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
This is the same John who wrote the Gospel of John, and here on the Mount of Transfiguration Jesus Christ is transfigured and John saw Him in a sample of His glory. This is different from the glory of Exodus 40: 34 Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
Here where we have the Shekinah glory--Shekinah means that which dwells. But Christ, right now is an effulgence of glory.
Hebrews 1: 3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:
17/ When you think of Christmas it should be centered in this wonderful Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son Who became man.
John 17: 6, 7 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.
Just think--Even the Light from Heaven did not penetrate the darkness. John had to call out, “Here’s the LIGHT!”
Psalms 106: 23 Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.
1/ Every Jew was familiar with the Lamb
2/ This Wonderful life
3/ The Jews had waited centuries for the Lamb.
AMEN
Ref: 12/22/1974 / 181 - The Christmas Gift God Made / 12/17/2020
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