Anchor My Faith

Title: The Word became Flesh (John 1:14)

We come to a verse that is so important; one we should all understand. It is: “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 1:14 ESV).

The Word is the Son of God who spoke the universe into existence and then entered the human race through a virgin birth. Just try to imagine an infinite God clothing himself with the flesh of a man, but the “Word” became man. The Son of God and the Son of Man; truly God and truly man in the person of Jesus. No other person who ever lived or is living or will live can or will be able to claim that. This is central to being born spiritually that we believe that Jesus was God in flesh. When we are born spiritually, the Spirit of God comes to dwell in us and we become one with the Spirit. Jesus is the body of the Son of God and the Church is the body of the Spirit.

The body of Jesus was a tabernacle or a tent for the Word to dwell in, just as God dwelt in the tabernacle among the Jews. How do we know that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us? Consider 1 John 1:1 – 3 (ESV): “¹ 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— ² the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— ³ that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.” The disciples lived with Jesus and had ample opportunity to verify that Jesus was who he said he was and that evidence has been presented in the gospels for us to learn from, which is what we will be doing for a very long time.

The disciples lived with Jesus and know that he was God in man. During his time on earth, Jesus took three of his disciples, John, Peter and James, up to the top of a mountain where Jesus began to shine with bright rays of light. Next appeared the prophets Moses and Elijah and began to speak with them. Jesus was then addressed by a voiced from above saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him” (Matthew 17:5 ESV). These three disciples saw his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.

Jesus was God’s only Son and thus was a beloved son. There was none other like him; he was above all. Our spiritual birth means we have a beginning and are called “sons” of God or his children. We are like him, but we have a beginning. Jesus is exalted far above all and deserves our obedience and worship.

He, that is Jesus, is full of grace and truth. The Word of God became flesh, not to judge us, but to be gracious to us. This grace would be a righteous, God-exalting, costly grace that would lead to the death of Jesus on the cross. The Word of God had to become flesh in order to die in our place for our sin. It was on the cross that we have the best example of his fullness of grace as he sacrificed himself for us.

While Jesus was on earth he claimed to be truth. He made many statements about who he was and what he came to do and through performing miracles he backed up his claims. He made it clear that he came to purchase our salvation with his blood and to rise from the dead, providing the way for us to enter heaven. He fulfilled his promises and we, as believers, know it is true because of the presence of the Spirit within us. What a beautiful thing that the Word became flesh and lived among us so that we could better know God. He came to die so that we might live. He demonstrated how to live a life of grace and truth in preparation of living with God for an eternity.

Prayer

Father, thank you that the Word became flesh and left us a record of his life. Thank you that over the next several years, if God wills, we are going to study this record. I pray that we will find it to be a life changing adventure that will touch the lives of a growing number of readers and through our changed lives, I pray it will bring honor and glory to you.