Beholding the Lord Through His Word - II

Good morning. We're going to be proceeding into this passage and actually some of the verses right before it here this morning as we continue on in this series. So we'll be looking at John 1, 1 through 18 is the entire passage. This is the second in a series that we just introduced. It's a mini series introduced last Sunday.

Beholding the Lord through his word and our idea here is seeing the living Word of God Christ in the written Word of God the Bible, okay, and So we looked at last week 2nd Corinthians 318, but we all beholding the glory of the Lord Today, we'll be looking at John 1 1 through 18. We saw his glory full of grace and truth and We'll be looking the next couple of weeks ahead at 1 John 1, 1-4. We have seen with our eyes the word of life. In Hebrews 12, 1 and 2, fixing our eyes on Jesus.

So we'll be proceeding through this mini series here now with the second passage. One of the things we've introduced from time to time at Holly Hills is that a lot of times there are things that are written in a literary pattern called a chiasm. And the way we illustrate that is it's a written mirror image, just as we have in here in this picture, a mirror image of here's the sky and the mountains and then the mirror image of that and the water below. And so there is a written form of that in various places in the Bible. This is one of them in this passage. And to summarize it, it looks like this. You have this also on a slide on page one of your handout.

What corresponds here is the word, the beginning with God, verses 1 and 2. That also is reflected in the last verses, 14 through 18, the word existed before. the middle of that chiasm, so that you all might believe. And of course, that's the theme of the Gospel of John. John wrote in chapter 20, verse 31, these things are written so that you might believe in that believing you may have life through his name.

There's another way to look at it, too, in terms of summarizing the high points. Three of them. One of them here in John 1, 1 through 5, the deity of Christ is brought forward. In 6-13, John the Baptist is brought out as a witness to Christ. And then 14-18, that Wayne read for us there, the Word made flesh.

So we'll be going through these sections here and seeking to gain some understanding. Our focal point here will be John 1-14, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

So, as we proceed here, John 1-18 draws from Old Old Old Testament passages, right? And why do we say Old Old Old? It's the oldest of the Old Testament passages. John 1-10 draws from Genesis 1, the very first chapter of the Bible. In the beginning is a phrase that's in the very beginning of the book of Genesis, and also here at the start of the gospel of John. Light and darkness, which are themes there in the early verses of the book of Genesis, also brought forward. And then life, which was created, and the world was made through him. So much of the theme of Genesis chapter 1, the very first chapter of the Bible, is brought out here in these first 10 verses of John chapter 1. The next verses, 11 through 13, draws from Genesis 16. Abraham, offspring, and his descendants. So John draws from a lot of those themes. And we'll talk about that more in detail as we get into it. What's interesting is the passage that Wayne just read for us draws, believe it or not, from Exodus chapter 33.

And let me touch on the points there. Verse 7, the presence and actually the tent. And we'll talk about, wait a minute, I didn't see a tent in there. Yes, you did. And we'll talk about that in a minute. Gazing and seeing. in verses 8 and 10. In verse 13, to know God is brought out. Moses name is brought out there, as it is in Exodus 33, there in these verses. And then 18 and 22, to show glory. And then finally 20 and 23, cannot see God directly. So these things are brought out right from Exodus chapter 33. And that finishes out this passage, John 1, 1 through 18.

The Apostle John also does something unique throughout his major writings, and he certainly does twice in this passage here, and that's the first one, John 1.1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, referenced to Christ as the Word, is part of John's longer term and larger picture pattern. There, as we saw in verse 14, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

First John 1.1, we had an elective on that not too long ago, what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands concerning the Word of Life. Christ is the Word of Life. And finally, even in Revelation 19, which is the chapter about the Second Coming, his name is called the Word of God. So John makes repeated reference in his major writings of Christ as the Word.

And so we see that there in those three books. There's another pattern that John carries out, and we'll want to make note of it, and that John wrote with words like they were a baton in a relay race. What? Yeah, I mean that. Passing words from book to book, but what we'll see here in this chapter, passing names from verse to verse. Names for Christ from verse to verse. We'll see that in just a minute here. And so this baton passing principle gets carried out in this very passage here, as we'll soon see.

What we also see is why John wrote the book, and John doesn't wait to bring forward this theme, puts it out the middle. As a matter of fact, as we illustrate this chiasm, this reflection pattern, Right in the middle is this focus on believing. And John writes, I'll start with verse 31, but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing may have life in his name. Believing may have life in his name. So that's a theme that John carries out. John writes with astounding consistency. It's something in every one of his major writings consistent from book to book and consistent within the book. And that's no exception here. Belief is at the center of this chiasm, this reflective pattern.

We talked about the high points, and so let's go into the first one here, John 1, 1-5. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not comprehend it. Now, looking at this, in the beginning, here's twice in the beginning, John wrote about the relationship of Christ to God at the time of the beginning of this present created universe.

So here's Genesis 1.1 and John 1.1 and 2. that have this phrase in the beginning, and that's unique.

Two Bible books start with the beginning, here in Genesis 1.1 and then in John 1.1-3 here.

You can also compare with that Colossians 1.16-17, all things came into being through him, that is the Word, and apart from him, the Word, nothing came into being that has come into being.

If he didn't make it, it doesn't exist, right? That would be one way to put it. So John 1, 1, 2, 3 is a restatement of Genesis 1, plus having additional insights into the character of Christ and his involvement in that initial creation. So then he says, was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God, he was with God.

It may appear John's being really repetitive here, again and again and again, repetitive also as well. another time. Though it may appear that John is being quite repetitive, John is very specific in his message here in what he's written in John 1, 1 and 2. He has a different point actually for what sounds at first glance like it's repetitive. So John 1, 1 and 2 are saying this.

In the beginning was the word, says Jesus Christ, God's personal expression existed from the beginning. He existed from the beginning. It's not like the people who come to your door two by two, the Jehovah's Witnesses, and say that Christ was the first created being. Nothing came into being, not even himself. He was not a created being. He was, in fact, the one who made everything.

He was God's agent. The Word was with God. Jesus Christ, God's personal expression, had fellowship with the Father and with the Holy Spirit. When they began to create, they said things like, let us make man in our image. Like, let us make man in our image. The Word was God. Jesus Christ, God's personal expression, was indeed deity himself.

He was deity. He was God. He's not a created being. He's not just a really nice guy. He is in fact God. And finally, he was in the beginning with God. His fellowship with the Father and the Holy Spirit was already there at the beginning. He wasn't the first thing created and then he created everything else. He already had been having fellowship up to that point with the Father and with the Son. And between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit was this communication.

Let us make man. Plural in our image. Verse 3, all things came into being through him and apart from him nothing came into being that has come into being. If he didn't make it, it didn't happen. The positive statement comes off like this, all things came into being through him. That's the positive statement. The negative statement, and this is a Hebrew poetry pattern, apart from him nothing came into being that has come into being. So he made everything and if he didn't make it, it didn't exist.

That's the way he puts it in contrast to the negative statement. All things, nothing. See that? All things, nothing. John's choice of words are absolute. And they're extreme. Everything either came into being through Christ or it never existed at all. Period. Exclamation point.

Now notice the baton handoff that we talked about earlier. Let's take a look at that. We mentioned the passing names from verse to verse. And we'll want to examine that here. The baton handoff, and this shows up on a slide on page two of your handout there, in the beginning was the word. And so we see use of the word there several times. And then notice that in verses two and three on into the beginning of chapter four, the pronouns he and him.

So the word becomes he and him. referencing the word and then we notice twice in verse 4 life and then life gets handed off to what? the light, the light, the light on into verse 5 so we see this sequence the word, he or him, the life, the light the identity of Christ ends up getting passed from one to the next pass on, it's the same person it's the same entity, he keeps talking about Christ, but a different word for him each time. By the way, have you seen Christ or Jesus in there yet? Not yet. Because he's got other names, he keeps coming up with different identities for Christ.

Then when we get into verses six through ten, we see this. There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. There was the true light, which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him.

So looking at this beginning part, six through eight, this is talking about John's ministry. By that we mean John the Baptist, John the Baptist ministry. So it introduces John the Baptist. John the Baptist is going to become a major player towards the end of the chapter. Here, he talks about John here, and then we'll see a few verses later, he talks about John again.

What we see here is this word light comes as a continuing theme. The light, the light, the light, the light, and then finally the true light. And then he and him. So that gets passed along. After using he and him earlier, he now switches back to he and him. Because he's made it abundantly clear who he's talking about. The light turns into finally, the last use of it, the true light. the true light. It's not the last use of it, however, in the Gospel of John that we're going to see carries on.

In verse 7, so that all might believe through him. So verse 7, that all might believe through him, is John's first use of believe in this book. Telling why John the Baptist came to testify. Think about, why did John the Baptist come? So that people might believe, right? That's why. That's why he came.

And so John the Baptist, we were just studying in the elective here just before this, John the Baptist was happy when in the end Jesus got a whole bunch of disciples and he wasn't getting any. He says, my joy has been made full, which I'm sure was stunning to John the Baptist's disciples. Nonetheless, John came to testify so that all might believe through him. John's happy.

That's what's happening, right? so that all might believe. The center of our literary chiasm, our reflection here. So that, that you may have life. This verse is the last place in the Gospel of John where he wrote about believing, excuse me, first place, having used the word, oh excuse me, this is in John 20, having used the word or some variation of it about a hundred times. John says this is the purpose and he doesn't just cover that lightly a hundred times throughout the book and we're seeing it here in this first chapter so that you might believe that you may have life believing you may have life through his name there isn't any other way to have life you know people people on this planet look for life in all kinds of ways they look for life in all kinds of ways they look for other people to give them life they look for life out of a bottle They look for life out of all sorts of things. If my bank account is big enough, I'll have life. That's what people do. Life only comes through believing in Christ. Not all the other ways that people try. Those don't work. And he who dies with the most toys doesn't win.

Christ's relationship to the world is given here in verse 10 and John continues touching on that theme not only here but in his other major writings as well in the world and through him and didn't know him so let's look at that he was in the world he did come here right a world that was made through him here he is responsible for having created everything The world was made through Him, but nobody knew Him. Didn't recognize Him. Who? Who are you? Oh, I know! You're that guy in that little town that is a carpenter or something. You're that guy. We know you're brothers and sisters. You're just a little, you know, homeboy. Right? We're not interested. The world didn't know Him.

So verses 11 through 13 put it this way. And he came to his own, and those who were his own did not receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

Let's take a look there. He came to his own. John, on the one hand, gets specific within the world. This is the apostle John. His own, the Jews, okay? ethnically the Jews, on the other hand presenting a general summary of that response. Did everybody say, oh wow, this is the Messiah! I am so glad! No. Didn't happen. Didn't happen that way. Did not receive him. That's the general summary.

But, for those few that did, as many as did receive him, to them he gave the right to become children of God. So while there were exceptions, as many as, those are the exceptions, who did in fact receive Him. And that receiving was expressed in their believing. By the way, you don't receive Christ except by believing in Him. You ever hear somebody say, this person received Christ.

Well, that's an okay way to say it. The only way to get there is by believing. You don't accidentally believe. You don't go, whoops, I believed. Doesn't happen by accident. Doesn't happen by osmosis. Matter of fact, we're glad that all of you are here, but none of you are going to get saved just because you're sitting in a pew. Nothing about this place, as great as it is to have it, that makes anyone safe. It's only by believing. Period. That's it.

Now, what happens when a person believes they have a relationship with God? Children of God. Children of God. who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Now you might be wondering, what's all that about? Not this, not that, not, not, not, right? So, how were the children of God, verse 12, who become so by means of believing, were they not spiritually born, verse 13, not of blood, not of the eye of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God.

So what does that mean? Let's talk about that. First, what does John mean by born? What does John mean by born? We have a clue here in the context that says those who receive Christ by believing in him become Now I don't want to get all greeky geeky here, right? The point being is this word become has built within it the idea of born. You become by being born. And so he gets explicit about that here in the next part of it. Now in chapter 3, John will narrate a private conversation between Christ and Nicodemus in John chapter 3, which will shed more light on what's being meant by this word born, or as Jesus put it, being born again.

Being born again. But we become, by birth, children of God. And by the way, this is a very important point. God has no grandkids. I love grandkids. Nancy and I have seven. We're soon going to get eight. It's just wonderful. But God has no grandkids. Why? It's because everyone who is in the family of God gets there by being born into the family of God and they are a child of God. God has no grandkids, as much as I love my own. Now, verse 13, who are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. I want to take a look at that. So let's untie the knots, and by that I mean N-O-T-S. Being born a child of God is not of bloods, plural, and by the way it's plural in the original language there, not just from a Jewish bloodline.

You see, the Jewish teaching was, if you're Jewish, I mean, you're in. Right? The Jewish mythology was that at the end time, Abraham will stand at the gates of hell to make sure no Jew ever gets in. Right? That was their Jewish mythology. Boy, if you're Jewish, you're in. Right? He says, uh-uh. That's not how it happens. That's why Nicodemus was stunned. You've got to be born again. What? You're kidding.

Being born a child of God is not of the will of the flesh. It's not of a human desire to have some kind of offspring. It doesn't happen that way. The phrase will of man or man is specifically male. We know that from the Greek there. Nor the will of man points to fathering a child as a strategy as Abraham did, Genesis 16 and 17.

He said, hey, I'll have a kid. And God says, that's not the kid I had in mind. So he's negating all these different things, these physical strategies. Hey, I'll get born into this ethnic group. Hey, I'll have a kid of my own choice and decision. No, that's not going to fix it. None of those, but born of God. Born of God. Born from above. So verse 13, if we set aside the negations for a moment, says, who were born of God. That's the positive statement. Everything else is a negation. This is the positive statement.

Born of God. This verse negates human strategies and human means for being born spiritually. There is no way around it. You have to have a spiritual birth, and that happens by believing. No other way. We have a baptistry behind this screen here, and at times we'll do baptisms there. You know, nobody gets saved by getting wet. It doesn't happen.

Born again is from believing. Period. It says that spiritual birth is of or out of God. God is the one who originates that spiritual birth. It's not something we do. We don't say, you know, I'm working really, really hard at getting born again. It doesn't happen that way. Those who believe in His name. Belief. Not by anything ethnic, not by anything genetic, not by anything that human beings can pull off.

And now John 1.14, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. This of course is central to what we're trying to point out here in this passage.

And God's expression of himself towards mankind became flesh. Here is Christ who put aside all the privileges of deity to become a man. He didn't put aside his deity, he put aside the privileges of his deity. The important distinction. So here you see Christ born of Mary in Bethlehem. He didn't cease from being or having that character of deity, he instead took on, added his humanity. His deity was not modified or impacted. He is both God and man, fully God and fully man.

He dwells among us, and very interestingly here, this particular word for dwell means to live in a tent. He tented himself. Dwell in a tent. In the books of the New Testament only, only John uses this word, and four other times. In each case it is used for God dwelling with men. In those instances where John uses it. God dwelling with men. God tents himself with man.

Among us, and we saw his glory. In this case, among us, It talks about Jesus having dwelt among the disciples, because John says us, that includes him and the disciples and others who were along with them. Because it was those ones who saw that King James has beheld, and I actually think that's a better way to bring it across, his glory. The Greek word for saw or beheld means to look closely.

In our modern vernacular we might use the term take a mental picture. Boy, that's, matter of fact, it's faded now, but we would say, boy, that's a Kodak moment, right? These days people say, what's a Kodak, right? But anyway, all right, enough of that.

So John meant that he and those in company with Christ looked closely at his radiant essence. They looked and they went, wow! Wow! Did I see what I just saw? Yeah, you did. Wow. Who was glorious, his radiant essence was glorious because of Christ's deity.

Glory is the only begotten from the Father. In order for us to understand the magnitude and character of the glory John and the others in the company beheld, he wrote that it was a glory as of the only begotten. from the Father. Now, what does he mean by that? John used the word more than any other New Testament author, this only begotten. By it, he meant Christ was unique. We could substitute glory as of the unique one from the Father. Glory as of the unique one from the Father.

That's what he's talking about. The Greek has no definite article equivalent to the English, the, that's not present there. So John is focusing on the character of Christ's uniqueness. We have it for the sake of smooth English here, Gloria is of the only begotten, but it's actually, the idea is it's a character quality, not the specificity.

And finally, in keeping with the character of Christ having been uniquely from God the Father, John, later on, is going to provide some amazing and unique insights into the relationship of Christ with the Father, as he does in this book, as well as the ministry of the Holy Spirit. So we have the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit represented repeatedly in the book, sent from both the Father and the unique Son, Jesus Christ. The Father and His unique Son, Jesus Christ, both send the Holy Spirit. John wrote that when Christ dwelt, tented, among us, they looked closely upon Christ's awesome, unique glory. That Christ was likewise full of grace and truth.

Not just little wimpy, skimpy bits. Not a sampling, okay? You go to the store, you know, and they give you a bunch of free samples, and by the time you're done, you're full, right? No. This is full, like completely full. of the glory. No gaps in spaces, nothing missing. Full of grace and truth. Glory is the radiant essence of who God is, and God is by His eternal character also infinite grace and truth. Christ's capacity for and expression of grace and truth was not partial or limited, but instead was full. Full on, full out grace and truth.

John 1.15, John testified about him and cried out, saying, This was he of whom I said, He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for he existed before me.

This is Deity. Now John the Baptist was in fact six months older than Christ. But John says, he existed before me. Why? Because John's recognizing he's Deity. He's Deity. John the Baptist proclaimed Christ was greater than himself because Christ did, in fact, exist before him. As John will later write, before Abraham was born, I am. John 8, 59. Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am. It means not I was, but I am. Christ and the perspective of God is that all times are now. That's about the best way we can explain it. All times are now. It's a recognition that Christ existed in eternity past.

Here's John 1.16, For of His fullness we all received, and grace upon grace. John the Apostle and those who were in company with Christ all received the fullness of Christ's character, glory, and grace, and truth.

They didn't get just little samplings of it. It was full on, full out. This was drinking from a fire hydrant. Hey, let's open this up a little bit. Whoa! John is overwhelmed by what he saw. Regarding the grace John said that they all received, he expressed it as grace upon grace. So let's say, what does that mean? Grace upon grace? Well, John is picturing two things, both the abundance of it and the continuity of grace that came from Christ. Flowing from his changeless character. It's Christ is expressing grace and When they look at it, they are overwhelmed.

They're saying they're saying there is so much grace here That I am overwhelmed by it and there is a lot more grace behind what we're seeing Verse 17 for the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. I So John's making it really clear here.

Moses carried out his charge passing on the law to Israel. All 613 laws. Moses gave the law as moral and spiritual information. Okay, here's the law. Follow it. Okay? By the way, you got all 613 memorized? You better do it fast. Someone will kill you. Right?

But the grace and the truth were not just given through Jesus Christ. You notice the difference there? Not just given through Christ, the grace and truth came in walking, talking, living, breathing human form, flesh and bones, through Jesus Christ. And that's different. It's not, here's the law, take a look at it. Here is Christ. Behold Him.

Something else we point out, the grace and the truth. And that's a distinction we want to make clear here. In John 1, 14-17, you don't have a slide that exactly shows this, so you have to make note of it. This is given without the definite articles in verse 14. Full of grace and truth, no definite articles.

So the focus is on the character of grace and truth. In verse 17, the original language, the Greek, has the grace and the truth. Those are talking about the singular and specific character of the grace and the truth. The grace and the truth specifically from Him. So a different character between those, even though a lot of our English translations don't bring that out distinction in verse 17.

And finally, the last verse there, no one has seen God at any time, the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has explained him. So, why do we read of people seeing God in various forms? What's John saying here? How can he make such a statement? The answer is that while God has taken on a visible form at times, even Christ was God in human form, no one can see God's essence. You've seen a physical expression with these eyes. You've seen a physical expression, but you've not seen God's essence. God is an uncreated spiritual being.

John 4.24 says that. All of what human beings see with these physical eyes is matter that was created by God. You cannot see God's essence. The only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. His only begotten, as we saw in verse 14, is Jesus Christ. And here is the only begotten God. Jesus Christ is deity. Remember, begotten is unique. He is unique deity. There are not a whole bunch of gods out there, and you and I aren't going to become ones. We're not going to become those. He is unique in that deity.

John 8.59 and 10.31 record two instances where the Jews picked up stones, because why? They interpreted and understood Jesus to be claiming deity. And that's why they picked the rocks up. His death did not come by stoning, did it? The time was not yet. He has explained to him.

When John wrote that he saw Christ, see John 1.14 and also 1 John 4.1-4 as we'll study next week, He was not saying he saw the essence of a God, but he saw Jesus Christ, the personal being, expressing that deity. That's what John was saying. So getting back to verse 14. He dwelt among us, we saw his glory in the various things that they saw. They had no doubt we were seeing His glory.

Last week we touched on 2 Corinthians 3.18, but we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as from the Lord the Spirit. So this mirror is the Word of God.

Here in John 1.14, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us when we saw His glory, glories of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. So our reading about how John beheld the glory of Christ in his first coming is our beholding Christ through the word. As we're reading about John beholding, we're beholding. See that? We're reading about John beholding, we are beholding the Lord too. Transforming us from glory to glory, and that is a work of the Holy Spirit. We now behold Him. We now behold Him. We are transformed from glory to glory. We now behold Him. Yes, we now behold Him through His Word, our Savior and Lord.

The expanded and explained version goes like this. And Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and God's communication of His essential being came So as to be born in human form, and though total deity, He was dwelling in that human form, even while among us, and we beheld, and oh, this is awesome! We beheld His glory, that radiant essence of God Himself, since Christ is the unique Son of, and expression from the Father, full of the grace and the truth, which are God's eternal and infinite character. As we behold John's description of how he and the disciples beheld Christ, we are beholding him as well, and as a work of the Holy Spirit, are being made to grow in and into the glorious character of Christ.

John 1.14, just to pick that brief portion apart, He was dwelling in that human form even while among us and we beheld, and oh this is awesome, we beheld His glory, the radiant essence of God Himself.

Let's pray. Lord, thank You that we are amazingly privileged to behold your glory through your written word. You have in mind not just that we take in biblical and spiritual information, but that we actually be touched and transformed and changed by beholding you and your written word, by beholding the living word in what you have had written for our benefit. Thank you for that awesome privilege that we have. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.