What would be the Christmas story to you if there were no manger? If there were no angels? If there were no shepherds? If there was no star? If there were no wise men, what would be the Christmas story to you? Would it be a Christmas story at all? It would be the gospel of John. It would be John chapter one, and specifically verse 14. Second only to the glorious doctrine of the Trinity, there is no greater, more mysterious, yet more soul-stirring and faith-building doctrine in the history of the church than what we have before us in this text in John 114. In four short words, we have the source and sum of all theology, the truth of all the ages, the wonder of heaven, and the joy of earth. It is the word became flesh. And what we think about Jesus is the defining question of our lives, not where you go to college, not who you will marry, not even what church you will attend, but who is Christ? Who is he? One of the most important questions you can ask yourself It's one of the most important questions any man will ever have to face. And we'll face it one way or another. We'll face it here, on earth, or we'll face it in eternity. To help us answer this question, from our text in John chapter one, I wanna give us five points to see Christ clearly, for who he is. So we'll read the text and I'll give you those five points. John chapter one, verse 14. 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. So first, I want us to see his true divinity, his true divinity. Before there was a baby in a manger, Indeed, before there was anything created at all, there was the Word. As one theologian states it, in this book, we are shown that the one who was heralded by the angels to the Bethlehem shepherds, one who walked on this earth for 33 years, one who was crucified at Calvary, who rose in triumph from the grave, who 40 days later departed, was none other than the Lord of glory. Proof of this fact is plenteous in the Bible. And so as we begin to unpack this text, I wanna bring really three things to your mind about this fact of his true divinity. You can see that from the first verse in John's gospel. Jesus is called the Word. What does that mean? First of all, that means he was from the beginning. The Son of God preexisted before all things. By calling Jesus the Word, John reaches back into eternity to show us that before anything was created, anything that ever existed, the Son of God was. John states it plainly in verse one, in the beginning was the Word. Jesus even said this of himself before Abraham was, I am. A powerful phrase that shows himself to be none other than the eternal Yahweh of the Old Testament. The one who is from everlasting to everlasting and being named as such, the Hebrew's writer says he is the same yesterday, today, and forever. This one shared glory with the father before the world began. In the beginning God, Genesis 1-1, and thus in the beginning was the Word, John 1-1. He was from the beginning. Secondly, he was God. He was with God, forgive me, he was with God. This affirms his separate personality from the Father and the Spirit. He was not with the angels from the beginning, they had not been created. He was not with man from the beginning, nor had they been created. He was with the father from all eternity. He was with the father in the council of redemption. He was with the father in the creation of the universe. He was with the father in the government of the world. He was with him as the eternally begotten son in heaven. He is with him now. He was always with him. He is with him and he will ever be with the Father. So close is their relationship and nearness that Jesus could say, anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. He was with God. But also he was God. He was God. If we have any doubt about his true divinity, John clears the stage. He was God. He was not made a God from the Father, but he is God in himself. He was not appointed to be a God in his office, but he is God, infinite in being and perfection, incomprehensibly God, immutably God. in every way infinite, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, most holy, most wise, most free, most absolute, working all things to the counsel of his own immutable and righteous will for his own glory, sovereign, sovereign, most loving, most gracious, most merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, the rewarder of those who diligently seek him, and with all most just and terrible in his judgments, hating all sin, and who by no means clear the guilty. This is your God, beloved. This is true divinity. This is Christ. This is the word from the beginning with the Father and God himself. So make note of his true divinity. As you contemplate the birth of Christ, he is God. But notice too, his true humanity. Point number two if you have an outline. His true humanity. John says the word became flesh. Notice this mysterious complexity of our Lord. Mysterious complexity. This word became has a very special meaning and must be handled with great care. The eternal son of God, existing with the father from before all time, did not cease to be what he was before when he took on flesh. The Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, remained very and eternal God, the brightness of the Father's glory, one substance with him, and remained the maker and sustainer of all the world. He did not lay aside his divinity. He did not lay aside his divine prerogatives, as I've heard some say. He did not cease to be God in any way. When our text says God became flesh, it's meant to teach us that the one and same Son of God must be understood to have two whole, perfect, and distinct natures. One truly divine and one truly human. The divine nature doesn't come into contact with the human nature and somehow mix up and make this third nature. Think of matchup when you mix mayonnaise and ketchup. It's no longer mayonnaise, it's no longer ketchup. That's not Jesus. Who would think he would talk about matchup in the middle of a sermon about the incarnation? The divine nature is not changed into the human nature, beloved, nor the human nature changed into the divine. Jesus is not 100% God, 100% man, equals 200% something else. What we confess is very God and very man, yet one Christ. One Christ. And if that boggles your mind, you're right there with the Apostle Paul. 1 Timothy 3.16, great indeed we confess is the mystery of godliness. He was manifest in the flesh. Two natures, one person, one Lord, one Christ, one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Notice his mysterious complexity. But notice his appointed arrival, his appointed arrival. John says he became flesh, not only in nature, but in time, in time. In His infinite wisdom, the Son came to earth when He thought it best. Galatians 4.4 makes this clear. In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son. It was the time agreed upon and fixed by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In that eternal counsel of redemption, the very thing that formed and fashioned the world, It was God's appointed time. It was a time that was fitting. The father planned, the son willingly undertook that plan in obedience, and as John 6 says, he was sent. He was sent in the fullness of time, and he became flesh. Now, it may be asked here by some why God delayed so long. Why not sooner? Why not later? Why were there 4,000 years of darkness and gloom as the world sank deeper and deeper into sin? St. Augustine was once asked what God was doing before he created the world, and he allegedly replied, creating hell for curious souls. Some things we just don't have an answer to. Though we don't know the ultimate reason why God delayed, the scripture does give us clues. It does give us clues. Any other questions we need to ask, we may need to heed Augustine's warning. So think of this. It was just the right time for all prophecies concerning the coming of the sun into the world to be fulfilled. God had ordered men's words, and those words, in the order of events, were now being fulfilled in prophecy. It was just the right time to show man, in all his self-made religion, that he was utterly powerless to save himself. God had to thump us on the skull for 4,000 years to try to get it right. How many times had man, including the Jews, tried to invent their own way of worship? God had ordered man's frailty and blocked up his way. It was just the right time, because it was a time of peace. The known world was under Roman rule. And for the most part, it was under a common language, so that truth could travel fast and far. God had ordered the nations, the conquering of one over the other, so that Christ would come at just the right time. He ordered nations. And it's no small thing to say that it was just the right time that the stars aligned. Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east and have come to worship him. When God set the stars in place, he did so in the perfection of his decree. Every star, the billions of them, set perfectly where they need to be, working in perfect harmony with all things. And to show forth one thing, the birth of the King of Kings, the coming of his son into the world. Psalm 19 verse 1, the heavens declare the glory of God. Beloved, we ought to be filled with wonder at the thought of it. From the very moment God spoke the stars into existence, he knew the very time that the Messiah would come. He set the stars in the sky like clockwork. Wise men recognized that God had ordered everything in his time, even the stars. And it was just the right time to display the forbearance of God. Man is very presumptuous. The riches of God's kindness, forbearance, and patience were meant to lead men to repentance. He set forth his son at just the right time to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he had prepared beforehand for glory. Do you see the wisdom of God's timing? Do you see that? God sent forth his son at just the right time. Now, capture that thought and bring it home to your own heart, to your own circumstance. The very same thing asked about the wisdom of delaying this redemption, that same settling feeling that we get that God's timing was best, God's timing was best, that very same question can be asked concerning our lives. Can we confess the sovereignty of God in the timing of his son, yet cease to confess the wisdom and sovereignty of God over our circumstances? May it never be. May it never be. If everything concerning the son of God has been so ordered, so has your life. So has your life. All things have been ordered by God in Christ, and your life being in him has been ordered as well. There's not one thing that catches God off guard. There's no purposeless pain. There's no senseless happening. The perfection of God's timing is without scrutiny, without scrutiny. We cannot presume, beloved, to be dissatisfied with the secret purposes of God. We cannot presume to be dissatisfied. God gave us what we needed when we needed it. God has taken from us what was rightfully his own when he saw fit. He showed forth the truth of this in his own son, and he's showing us that very same thing in our lives. Do we trust him? Is he good? I pray the answer to those things in your heart is yes. But notice also his majestic condescension, his majestic condescension. The psalmist says it best, he remembers that we are flesh. He remembers that we are flesh. And so he became flesh. This word denotes not simply that he just became man. John could have said that, and the word became man. But you get the sense of what John is trying to do here by saying the word became flesh. John's painting a picture for us. By this word flesh, John is showing us more than just this immeasurable distance between the divine nature and ours. He's telling us that the word became flesh and descended to the depths of lowliness in its misery and frailties. All the things that the flesh was, sin accepted, Jesus was. All flesh is grass. Isaiah 40 verse six says, and he descended into that lowly state. Listen to Isaiah 57, 15. For thus says the one who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy place. And also with him who is of a contrite and lowly heart, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. Brandon read it this morning. He had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest. Not the corruption of our nature, but the mortality and the frailty of it. That's what he assumed. He became not an African's flesh, He became not an Asian's flesh, he became not an Anglican's flesh, but the text says he became flesh. That is to show that he came in the common flesh that is common among all men of the race of Adam. That he must become lowly flesh was most necessary for our redemption. Think about this, God promised a man, Genesis 3.15, I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. God promised a man. He was of the lineage of a man, Genesis 4.4, he was born of a woman. He had the consciousness of a man, he thought of himself as a man. If you were Abraham's children, he says to the Pharisees, you would be doing the works that Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. He had the appearance of a man. You know Pilate's words, behold, the man. He had the body of a man for Christ, as Peter says, also suffered once for sins being put to death in the flesh. He had the soul of a man. He said on the cross, it is finished, and bowed his head and gave up his spirit. My soul is sorrowful, even unto death, he said in Matthew 26. He had the limitations of a man. He hungered, he thirsted, he grew tired, he grew in wisdom, he slept, and he wept. God sent his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. And being lowly man, he was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. What was conceived in Mary's womb, what began to grow and ultimately come forth that wonderful night, was truly man. Saint Augustine said it best. The son of God was made like the sons of men. that the sons of men might be made the sons of God. He became lowly flesh. He became tempted flesh. He became weak flesh, that in the flesh he might condemn sin. And in glorified flesh, beloved, after the resurrection, he remains for you forever. I don't know if you've ever thought about that. Have you ever thought that it is the resurrected and glorified flesh of Christ that is right now at the right hand of the Father. It is flesh. His true humanity did not cease when he ascended to heaven. He ever lives to make intercession for you, and he does that right now, and even when you're sleeping tonight, dreaming about all his presence, you're gonna get in the morning, he does it in the flesh. He assumed human nature never to lay it down again, never to lay it down again. If there was ever a man who knew how to pray for you, it's the infinite one, the Lord Jesus Christ who took on flesh. Hallelujah. Thirdly, his true dwelling, his true dwelling. The text says, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And I'm so glad the Holy Spirit ordered these things. I didn't even ask Brandon about this text, but he picked Isaiah 40. It's just the bullseye. Bullseye, thank you, Lord. The word dwelt in the original means to dwell in a tent. Some old translations say he tabernacled among us. Now, for you who are tuned into the Old Testament, you know where I'm going. This is a very powerful and thematic phrase in John's Gospel, and it expresses deep continuity with God's tabernacle with Israel in the Old Testament. The tent sanctuary in the Old Testament is often referred to as the tent of meeting. or the tabernacle of testimony. In each of these references, we have the visible sign of the presence of God with speech. One writer says this, with the help of this word tent or tabernacle, one might almost follow the whole story of Israel. There are more verses, think about this, there are more verses devoted to explaining the tabernacle in the first five books of Moses than any other book in the Old Testament. And not surprisingly, there are more verses devoted to showing us Jesus in the first five books of the New Testament than any other subject. In John, this theme of the tabernacle is especially prominent. Whatever shadowy figure in the Old Testament the tabernacle gave us, it's set forth in plain truth in the Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever thing burned in the Israelite's heart as he longed to know God in a more complete way, Jesus made clear, crystal clear. This is not a part of our text, but look at verse 18. No one has ever seen God. The only God who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. And that's a very special word. You've heard the word exegesis, right? That's what we're doing here. We're unfolding, unpacking the word of God. John says Jesus is the very exegesis, the explanation of the Father. He makes him known. He's God's sermon to the world, and it's a perfect sermon, balanced in every part. When Moses was told to put the bread in the tabernacle in Exodus 40, symbolizing life, Jesus says, I am the bread of life, John 6.35. When there was a lampstand set on the table for light, Jesus says, I am the light of the world, John 8, 12. When there was a door set in the tabernacle as an entryway to the Holy of Holies, Jesus said, I am the door, John 10, 7. When there was an altar set for a burnt offering, Jesus said, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, John 10, 11. When there was a basin of water symbolizing the purification of the priest to enter before God lest he should die, Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he dies, yet he shall live, John 11, 25. When Moses built a court all around for the people as a way to worship God in truth, Jesus said, I am the way, I am the truth and the life. John 14, six. And when Moses set up Aaron and his sons as a perpetual priesthood, that they, as long as the tabernacle stood, may perpetually sustain the connection of the people before God, Jesus said, I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, He it is that shall bear much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. Beloved, the one who dwelt among us, God incarnate, is the realization of everything that the Old Testament foreshadowed. If we want to talk in eschatological terms, in time stuff, if you're looking for Ezekiel's third temple, you've missed Jesus. He is the true and final temple. What did he say in John 2? Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. And if there was any confusion about what that meant, John says he was speaking of the temple of his body. That should set us in real clear context for Matthew 24. Be amazed, beloved. He is the true tent, made without hands, Be amazed that in the incarnation we have the very presence of God dwelling with us, the true tabernacle. Whatever Moses and the other men set forth as figures for us, Christ is in reality. He dwelt among us. He dwelt among us. Fourth, his true glory. And thus we have this kind of bursting forth of this full and final manifestation of God to us. John says, we have seen his glory. The word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory. The word seen here in some translations I think is better translated beheld. Beheld, we beheld his glory. And here's the reason why. This word beheld has in it the idea of a calm-hearted scrutiny, a calm-hearted scrutiny, a contemplation, a sense of wonder. It wasn't that they just looked at Jesus with their physical eyes and said, eh, okay, gotta work Monday. It surely includes the physical sight, but he was referring to much, much more. Not all men beheld his glory. Not all men beheld the glory of Christ. For the most part, men then and men now are blind to the glory of God in Christ. They think him a lunatic, a blasphemer, a glutton, a lying bibber. But the Holy Spirit must open a man's eyes to behold him for who he truly is. Many saw the man But many only saw him with their natural eyes. Human eyes saw him, yet human hearts did not receive him. He came to his own, John says, and his own people did not receive him. But those who saw him truly, with the eyes of faith, saw his glory. But to all who did receive him, John says, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become 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. Those who see him rightly see him with the eyes of faith. Augustine says here, his birth became a kind of ointment. to anoint the eyes of our heart that we might, through his humanity, discern his majesty. There was glory in his birth, beloved. Glory to God in the highest, the angels proclaimed, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. There was glory in his birth. There was glory in the things that he did. Miracle after miracle manifested his glory. There was glory in the things he said. No one ever spoke like this man. And there was glory in his death. Psalm 1911 says, it is the glory of a man to overlook an offense. You ever met somebody like that? You see them forgive someone wholeheartedly, and there's a sense of gravity, weightiness, glory about that overlooking an offense. What sort of glory must this man bear that becomes the offense? For our sake, Paul says, he made him to be sin who knew no sin. so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Only redeemed eyes can see that. Only redeemed eyes can see that. Everything else is, without redeemed eyes, this is boring. This is boring to some people. But to us who are being saved, it's the very life and glory of God. The glory of God characterized his entire life from beginning to end. the splendor and brilliance that is inseparably associated with all of God's attributes, as one commentator says, and his self-revelation in nature and grace. All of those things characterized him. We must note here that we would have never seen the full glory of God should the Son of God never assume flesh. The people of old couldn't endure the glory of God on Moses' face. He had to wear a veil And though this glory is veiled in frail humanity, it was seen as the glory of the only son of the father. So when a sinner is brought from death to life, he sees the glory of Christ. It's as if John were saying here in this text, we have seen his glory, but have you? Have you seen His glory? You've heard facts about Him. You may have grown up in church hearing about Him all your life, but have you truly seen the glory of God in Christ? That's something no man can give you, only God. And John says, it is the glory as of the only son begotten from the father. What John and the other disciples saw was not just a man, but very and true, the glory of God, very and truly the glory of God. John leads us away from any creaturely contemplation of glory to the very summit of God himself. We're not contemplating the glory of Moses here. We're not contemplating the glory of angels, nor the glory of the earthly tabernacle, or any created thing. There was something in all of them that had a sense of glory, but not here, not in this text. What was set before us is the very Lord, the very King, very and true and only begotten Son of God, the very glory of God, the majesty of being co-equal with the Father, co-eternal, co-equal in glory. This is the glory that was beheld by John. And if we see him, we've seen the Father. All creatures recognize their Lord. All creatures recognized their Lord. The stars called out to the magi. The angels called to the shepherds. The child in the womb called out and leapt for joy. Devils fled. Diseases were healed. The graves gave up their dead. Souls were brought from death to life. And the very universe itself shouted, louder than any trumpet, that the King of Heaven had come. The glory of God drew out of the very lungs of the universe. Praise, stars and devils couldn't help recognizing their Lord. The Magi saw Him in the stars, but do we see Him? Do we see Him? Do we see Him high and lifted up, glorious in His majesty? Without seeing him with the eyes of faith, we have no salvation, beloved. Without seeing his glory, we have no holiness. Consider the words of the Apostle Paul. We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. We become what we behold. Whatever you set before you, before your eyes, you will become that thing. Behold his glory, glory as of the only son from the father. And lastly, his true ministry, number five. There are a great many things in the text that show us, in the Bible, that show us the glory of God in Christ. We could list all sorts of things, and we have up to this point. But John sets before us the two chief things we must consider as distinguishing marks of Christ in his incarnation. It brings to our minds the steadfast love of the Lord. In Exodus 34, verse six, the Lord The Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. John says, we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth, full of grace and truth. In Christ, we have the goodwill and love of God, that delivers us from the curse of the law. We're all under that curse. We've all broken God's law and thought, word, and deed. All our righteousness is like filthy rags. If we are to find forgiveness, unmerited favor, and atonement for the guilt of our sin before God, we must find it in Christ, the incarnate one. If we're to call out for grace in the fight against sin, we must go to the incarnate one. John says he is full of grace, but he's also full of truth. In Christ, we have the fulfillment of all the types and shadows of the Old Testament, the fulfillment of all the promises given to believers from the beginning of the world, and the completion of all things foretold by God. For all the promises of God, Paul says, find their yes in him. This is why through him we utter our amen to God for his glory. For in him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. The word became flesh, and he dwelt among us, beloved. And we have seen his glory. Glory as of the only son from the Father, full of grace and truth. I pray that these thoughts are received into your heart today, and if you have never received Christ, Today is the day of salvation. Repent of your sin. Receive him by faith alone. He will accept you. Bring all your filth. Bring all your thoughts about him. Bring all of your cares and concerns and lay it at the feet of Christ. He is full of grace and truth. He'll make your past straight. He'll forgive your sin. And he'll bring you home to heaven with him. Beloved, I pray these things are warmly received in your heart this morning. Glory be to God and merry Christmas to you all. Let's pray together. Oh, Lord, we've just touched the tip of eternity in these things, and I pray, Lord, that even so we find great salve for our wounds, great healing for our hearts. great comfort in a difficult time for many of us. Oh Lord, would you please show yourself to be full of grace and truth during this Christmas season and the days and months and weeks and years ahead. We need you, oh Lord. We are frail. We are weak and needy people. Meet our needs and we thank you that you have. In Christ's name, amen.