And the Word became 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. John 1: 14, NKJV.
Holy Father we give You thanks for being here as we study Your holy Word. Please help us to understand the mystery contained herein; is our prayer, in Jesus’ name! Amen.
In the past, we have touched on this topic directly, and indirectly, and our study has left us desiring to know more. We are aware that there are things we will never be able to fully understand. As someone has rightly said, “If God was small enough for our heads, He would not be big enough for our needs!” So I am sure that we will revisit this topic, again and again, and there will always be holy ground upon which we have not trod. Today let us look at a few points on the mystery of the incarnation of Jesus the Christ.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God….John bore witness of Him and cried out saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me’ ” (John 1: 1, 15, Emphasis provided). Perhaps it would not have been as great a feat, if God had simply created a son, and sent him to die in our stead. In the same manner in which He created the angels, He could have created a son. But it could not have been said that “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.” It had to be one who was equal with God. And as John said of Christ, “He was before me.” To be equal with God, one had to have existed forever! The Son had to be God, to represent God!
No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (18, Emphasis provided). Even though angels had seen God, only the Son was in the bosom of the Father. The original word used in John 1: 18, for bosom, or chest, represents a special kind of closeness, or nearness, that I imagine, was shared only by the members of the Godhead. Only one who had seen the Father in the way the Son had (and I do not understand this myself), could faithfully, and adequately, represent Him! It was not a revelation, but a knowledge, of the Father, that the Son possessed. For all other creatures, we can only know God in the measure that God reveals Himself to us. Not so with the Son; He knew the Father!
“And John bore witness, saying, ‘I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said unto me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God” (32-34, Emphasis provided). When John saw Jesus walking toward him, and he declared, “Behold! The Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world” (29), He could say it with all certainty, because God Himself, had revealed to John, who Jesus was!
We have been highly favored to have One, who is forever a part of the human race, representing us in the courts of heaven: the God-Man, Jesus, the Christ! How very blessed we are!