# Hail the Incarnate Deity! A Sermon on John 1:1-18



## greenbaggins (Dec 24, 2009)

I know that many do not celebrate Christmas. However, for those who do, this is my Christmas sermon for this year. I hope and pray that it will edify. 

A television interviewer was walking streets of Tokyo at Christmas time. Much as in America, Christmas shopping is a big commercial success in Japan. The interviewer stopped one young woman on the sidewalk, and asked, "What is the meaning of Christmas?" Laughing, she responded, "I don't know. Is that the day that Jesus died?" There was some truth in her answer. We live in one of the most incredibly materialistic ages of history. Never before have we had access to so much stuff. Material things and entertainment are the gods of our age. Christmas has been completely emptied of all its real meaning, and the substitute is a pretty poor one. Satan has attempted to put everything else in place of the meaning of Christmas. The more stuff we have, the harder it is to hear a simple story about Jesus in a manger, and what He came to do. I believe that the materialism of our age is Satan's attack on the true message of the Gospel. We can be so focused on the gifts that we're getting and giving, that we can forget about the best gift of all: a Savior, given to us. To understand something of what this gift means, we will take a look at John 1. John 1 will completely change the way we look at Christmas. 

John 1 helps us to put Christmas in proper perspective. That perspective starts at the very beginning of it all, before creation, even. It is very important for us to see that Jesus is God, and that the second person of the Trinity existed from all eternity. The main point of what we want to say is that Jesus is the eternal God made flesh. He is the incarnate Deity. Verses 1-5 show us that Jesus is the Divine Word by which the world came into being. Verses 6-8 show us that John the Baptist's testimony corresponds with what the apostle John (different person!) says, namely, that Jesus is God, who brings life and light to humanity. Verses 9-13 tell us that the world didn't get it or understand what Jesus was. However, not all is lost, for there are some who believe, and they are the true children of God. Finally, verses 14-18 show us that Jesus, who we now know to be God, has come in the flesh and has dwelt among us. Jesus is indeed the incarnate Deity. 

In order to be the incarnate Deity, Jesus had to be Deity first. So, again, verses 1-5 show us that Jesus is God. There are many difficult things in these few verses, but I want us to stick to the main point: Jesus is the Divine Word by whom all things came into being. The opening words of John remind us of the first words of Genesis: “In the beginning.” But instead of saying “In the beginning God,” John says “In the beginning was the Word.” We worship one God. However, this one God has revealed Himself in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In verse 1, we have a large part of what it means for Jesus to be God, and yet be a distinct person of the Godhead. For it says here that the Word was with God, meaning that He is distinct from the Father, and yet He also was God, meaning that the Word is just as much God as the Father is God. So, the words “in the beginning” show us that we are talking about the time before creation even happened. Verse 3 tells us that every last thing in creation came about because of the Word. This gives us an interesting perspective on Genesis 1. Genesis 1 has God speaking things into existence. God SAID, “Let there be light.” And when God spoke, it happened. In some way that we do not fully understand, that speech is all about Jesus. Jesus is the Word. So when God says something, we are to think immediately of Jesus as the Word. The two important implications this has for us are given to us in verse 4: life and light for humanity. Why do we even live? And why do we have light, both physical light so that our eyes can see, but also spiritual light, so that our souls may live? Why do we have those things? Because Jesus is the Word. As Deuteronomy says, man does live by bread alone, but by every WORD that comes from the mouth of God. If we paraphrase that a bit, we can say that man does not live by bread alone, but by Jesus, who comes from the mouth of God. The incarnate Word Jesus is then connected to every word that comes from the mouth of God. That is why the Bible is about Jesus Christ. The written Word tells us of the incarnate Word. And those two things are very closely connected. So, Jesus is the Divine Word, by whom all things were created. Jesus is the incarnate Deity. 

The second part of our text says that John the Baptist said this too. There were some people around in those days who thought that John the Baptist was actually the Messiah. So the apostle John wrote quite a bit about John the Baptist. And what he wrote about him was that John testified that Jesus was the light. John the Baptist was not that light. Rather, he came to bear witness, or testimony, as in a court of law. And the testimony that John the Baptist bore is that Jesus was the light of the world. Later on, John the Baptist says that Jesus was before John. In other words, Jesus existed before John the Baptist. And that is why Jesus ranks higher than John the Baptist, even though, humanly, speaking, John the Baptist was born about six months before Jesus was. John the Baptist testified that Jesus was the incarnate Deity. 

The third section of our text is verses 9-13. This shows us that the world was divided in its reception of Jesus. Some believed in Him, and some did not. Jesus came to His own people, the Jews, but they did not receive Him. Even today, Jews mostly reject Jesus. However, God did not allow all people to reject Jesus. God gave it to some to believe in Jesus. And these became the children of God. Verses 12-13 tell us that the power to become a Christian does not come from man at all, but it comes entirely from God. God makes people His children. 

The Word became flesh for our salvation. The Nicene creed says, “Who for us and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate of the virgin Mary, and became man.” Will the Lord then draw all of us here today to Himself? Will He draw you? Do you not feel drawn to this immense love and kindness of our God? How will we receive Him? Will we reject Him, or will we receive Him? He is the incarnate Deity. 

The last section of our text tells us that the Word became flesh. That Word that was God, and was with God in the beginning, that same Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He became as much like us as was possible, except that He was without sin, and that is vitally important for us, for our salvation is tightly connected to that fact. But He dwelt among us! This is a very interesting word. One could paraphrase it this way: “Jesus pitched his tent among us.” You might remember that the tabernacle was the meeting tent where God met with man. And then also, there was the feast of booths, or tents, where the Israelites were to remember what God did for them. The Israelites asked the question, “Is God with us or not?” That is the question of Immanuel. It is answered in the person of Jesus Christ. God is indeed with us, in the flesh! He tabernacled in our midst. He is our Immanuel. 

My wife and I lost a son this year, as you know. His name was Immanuel. At the time, we felt that we should name him Immanuel because God had been with us all through those dark days of mourning and loss. His very name would remind us that God was with us, and helping to sustain us through the fiery trial. But now, we can see this in a different light. For the Father sent His Son to be named Immanuel. And he is the true Immanuel. He is truly God with us. So now in this Christmas season, we can know that our little Immanuel lives, because our Great Immanuel, Jesus Christ, lives. And just as we lost a son, so also the Father lost His Son. But just as Jesus came back to life again, so we know that our little Immanuel is alive and safe in the bosom of the Father. 

The end result of all this is that we should greet our sure redeemer. When you want a formal word for “greeting,” you use the word “hail.” And so, in the great hymn "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing," we find this wonderful verse, which is the best paraphrase in verse of John 1: “Christ, by highest heav'n adored; Christ, the everlasting Lord! Late in time behold Him come, Offspring of the Virgin's womb: Veiled in flesh the Godhead see: Hail th'incarnate Deity, Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel.”


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## Contra_Mundum (Dec 26, 2009)

Lane,
I preached John 1:1-18 (key verse, 14) as the middle of my three Nativity sermons for this year. Last Sunday night it was Is.49:1-13. Tomorrow, 2John7. I have tried to create a pattern: OT, Gospel, Epistle (not necessarily in that order).


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