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.

 - John 1:14

As we embark another year of celebrating the Savior’s birth, let us stand in awe of such a miraculous act from the Divine.  The Word which, existed from eternity past with the Father and the Spirit, the Word who knew perfect relationship with the Trinitarian Godhead (being a part himself), the Word who was worshipped by myriads and myriads of angels, the Word who was perfect, sinless, and eternal; this Word became flesh!  Let us marvel at his humiliation, “who though he was in the form of God… made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:6-7).  Let us marvel at his compassion and how he broke the power of sin and death for those who call on the name of the Lord– “since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death… and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery” (Hebrews 2:14-15).  Let us marvel at how much he suffered for us – “in the days of his flesh Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cryings and tears, to him who was able to save him from death… although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered” (Hebrews 5:7-8).  This Word became flesh!  As if that wasn’t enough, the next part should blow us away – HE DWELT AMONG US!!!

Literally, “dwelt among us” is the word “tabernacled”.  He set up his camp among vile sinners like us!  In the Old Testament, the tabernacle signified God’s very presence, and that God was with them (Exodus 25:8; 2 Samuel 7:9)!  Wherever God commanded Israel to go, God was right there with them!  Even in the midst of Israel’s flagrant sins, God was still among them!  When it says “the Word… dwelt among us,” God took the initiative to set up camp and to dwell among sheep that had no shepherd!  In our depravity, we would have never wanted God to come down and dwell among us; we would never desire a way to get right with God, nor would we comply with his terms.  We were ungodly in every sense of the word, we were “foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another” (Titus 3:3).  We were “dead in our trespasses and sins… children of wrath like the rest of mankind” (Ephesians 2:1, 3).  We were “weak… [and] still sinners… alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds” (Romans 5:6, 8; Colossians 1:21).  This is who we once were, and it was those whom Jesus set his infinite, eternal, boundless love upon!  And in eternity past, the Son of God was fully aware of that, and still desired to do the Father’s will and go to endless lengths to reconcile the Holy God and vile sinners through becoming a man, taking on flesh, and dying on that cross for our sins!

That is why the Son of God took upon another nature – humanity!  He actually took pity upon our helpless state!  See what kind of love that the Eternal One has shown.  The agent of carrying out Creation becomes created himself!  The eternal one enters into the limitations of time and space!  The omniscient one becomes a baby and grows up as a man (while still being God).  The invisible one has appeared – HE APPEARED (Titus 2:11)!  The one who was the prophesied Immanuel (Matthew 1:23; Isaiah 7:14) becomes a real man – God with us!  Jesus came to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15), to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8b), bring us near with his own blood, and we have seen him! 

For those who have trusted in Christ to save them from their sin and death, we have seen him!  John actually beheld the Savior in his transfiguration (Mark 9), his crucifixion (John 19); the Spirit was the one who opened our blinded eyes to see the Savior for who he really is (Ephesians 1:18)!  We now see Jesus as the source of God’s wisdom (Colossians 2:2; 1 Corinthians 1:30), and we now love him because he first loved us (1 John 4:19)!  We now confess Jesus as the Son of God, the One who is full of grace and truth, indeed the One who is the truth (John 14:6)!  We confess Jesus as the Messiah, the One who was prophesied to be the eternal King and rule over the spiritual Israel (Micah 5:2), the prophet who would tell us about the Father (Deuteronomy 18:15).  And most importantly, we confess Jesus as our Substitute (Isaiah 53:4-6), the only One who perfectly bore our sins in his body on that tree (1 Peter 2:24), and the Lamb of God who has completely satisfied God’s righteous and furious wrath for our sins (John 1:29; Romans 3:25-26), and the One who made purification for sins (Hebrews 1:3)!  He offered up himself as the only acceptable sacrifice for sins (Hebrews 7:27, 10:12), so that for those who would trust in Christ, our sins are completely forgiven, we are justified by his grace, and are set free from the fear of future wrath!

Let us marvel that the greatest gift of all comes from God himself, who sent his Son (Galatians 4:4; John 4:34, 12:44; 1 John 4:10).  More than sending his Son, God “so loved the world, that he gave up his only Son, that whoever believes in him (including you unbeliever!  Whoever!) should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).  Indeed, Jesus is eternal life (John 17:3; 1 John 5:20)!  And the miracle is that what we could not do (save ourselves), God did by condemning our sin in Christ (Romans 8:3), and Jesus was the One who knew no sin and yet became sin for us, substituting himself in our helpless state, so that in Christ we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).  And the greatest gift of all, is that “Christ also suffered once for sins (not many times, but once), the righteous (Jesus) for the unrighteous (us)”… all for this purpose: “that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18)! 

In closing, let us shout with joyful acclamation because of his redeeming work by becoming a man, taking upon himself flesh, dying on the cross for our sins, freely imputing his perfect life in us, and justified us by his grace; let us shout this from our very hearts:

THANKS BE TO GOD FOR HIS INEXPRESSIBLE GIFT (2 Corinthians 9:15)! 

HALLELUJAH!  HOPE HAS COME!