Advent Week 4

The only truly free being, with unlimited resources and power, didn’t just choose to snap his fingers and get rid of the problem in his creation. He chose to put himself in harms way at the hands of his creation to rescue his creation. 

Word: Logos- the means by which God created and communicates to his creation. Greek thought said Logos was the rational thought that brought order to creation. John tells us who this Logos is; God himself. God didn’t send a subordinate. He came himself. 

Flesh: sarx- meat, body, lineage, people, human nature, sinful nature, sin. John can’t mean that the Word put on sin or a sinful nature. John has to mean all of the others. He didn’t just put in a human costume. He took on the full human experience. 

1 Timothy 3:16

Dwelt: skēnoō- tent, tabernacle, symbol of protection and communion. In the OT people had to keep their distance from the tabernacle or they would die. But Jesus drew near to us and pulls us close to him. He changed what it meant for God to be among us. Jesus showed us what it would have looked like if Adam and Eve had never sinned. His life shows us what it looks like to be truly human. 

Glory: doxa- dignity, glory, honor, praise, worship. John doesn’t equate the glory to a conquering king, but to a Father and Son. The glory that the Jews were waiting for was the visceral demonstration of God’s power. Rome equated glory to their military power.

John wraps up all of the gentle and personal touches of Jesus. This glory was of a father loving his son. 

Because God stepped into his creation, we get one blessing after another. It’s so much better than the old covenant and Moses. Moses never even saw God’s face. Only Jesus himself has ever looked the Father in the face and he reveals the Father to us. Now we have seen God.