2019.12.10 Hopewell @Home ▫ John 1:14-18

Read John 1:14-18

Questions from the Scripture text: What did the Word become (John 1:14)? What does this mean the Word had been before? When the Word became flesh, what did He do? What did the evangelist (John) behold? What kind of glory did they behold in the enfleshed Word? What did this glory mean that He was full of? Who bore witness of Him? Why did John the Evangelist say that Jesus was preferred to him (John 1:15)? From what have we received (John 1:16)? What did we receive from His fullness? What was given through Moses (John 1:17)? Through Whom did grace and truth come? Who has seen God (John 1:18)? When has someone seen God? Who has declared (exegeted) God? Where is this Son that declares God? 

Next week’s Call to Worship, Prayer for Help, and Song of Adoration come from John 1:14-18 in order to sing God’s thoughts after Him with Wondrous King All Glorious. This passage emphasizes that Jesus is God’s full and clear revelation of Himself.

No one has seen God at any time. In fact, we cannot see God, because He is invisible Spirit. But later in this book, Philip is going to ask to see the Father, and Jesus is going to answer, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”

Jesus’ point in John 14:9 is the same as John’s point in our little passage. Jesus is the complete revelation of the Father. There is nothing un-Jesus-like in God. If you have seen Jesus, there is nothing more left to see of God. Once you’ve seen Jesus, there is no longer any ground whatsoever to wish that you could see the Father.

Wow!! Of course, that wasn’t the first time that such a request was made. Moses had asked God to show Himself too, and when God did, He announced His own name in Exodus 34:6, “Yahweh, Yahweh God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth.” When that last phrase was translated into Greek, it was exactly the phrase at the end of our John 1:14 today.

Jesus is Yahweh, who declared His name to Moses on the mountain! That’s what verse 14 is saying. And of course John 1:15 says that He is eternal. And John 1:16 says that He is the God of our salvation—all of our salvation—by grace upon grace. Moses came down from the mountain with the Law, but in Jesus Christ, Yahweh Himself has come down to us—all of that glory now inseparably joined to a human nature forever.

Oh, the wonder of this clause: “The Word became flesh”! If your chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, then there is nothing more central to your existence and your purpose than to know, worship, and enjoy this Jesus Christ—our Savior and our God.

What are some religions that claim to worship the same God as we do? Why don’t they really do so? Why is it important to increase our theological knowledge and skill?

Suggested songs: ARP110B “The Lord Has Spoken” or TPH280 “Wondrous King All Glorious”