Chad Coley
The Gospel According to John
Immanuel
John 1:14-18
29 November 2020
We live in a world where people prefer to identify with spirituality instead of religion. As if to say that spirituality were more virtuous than religion. But what they fail to realise is that like religion, spirituality too can be false. Therefore choosing false spirituality over false religion is to still choose falsehood. So in this first chapter, John wants us to grasp the truth of God, for this is the source of true religion.
Now, John's stated purpose in writing this gospel is so that his readers may know, and believe, that Jesus is the Son of God. We can believe because of the glory of Christ, of which John was a first-hand eyewitness. Though all the prophets looked forward to the coming of the Messiah, the Apostle John was there when Messiah came.
We can believe because of His grace in salvation. He is the source of all blessings, and in Christ is found all that we need for eternal life. The more we come to know Him, the more we understand His abundance.
We can believe because of His revelation. Nobody has ever seen God, except through Christ. He revealed His majesty when He came to earth, so that we could come to know Him. John writes about the fundamental truth of the gospel, which is Christ's incarnation. As well as having the full nature of God, He took on the nature of man, and entered into His creation to save us. Clearly, John wants to grip us with the truth of Christ: the Word who was with God; who is God Himself; and who is God in human flesh.
Since Christ took on human flesh, He emptied Himself of His divinity. This does not mean that He ceased to be God. Rather, He continued to be fully God while being fully human. And being fully human, He dwelt among us. Or as the text says, He "tabernacled" among us. In other words, in the person of Christ, God dwells among His people in a more personal and intimate way than in the past.
What a great joy this would have been, especially since the glory of God had departed in Ezekiel’s time and had not returned since. Until now, with the incarnation of Christ. The God who gave His law to His people now is the God who dwells among His people in bodily form. This is the message of John. That Christ has come and explained to us who God is.