We Beheld His Glory

John 1:1-14

† In Jesus Name †

May we testify with the apostles, that we have seen His glory, glory as the only begotten of the Father!

He Came!…. He came…

I love the 14^th verse of our gospel reading this morning.  It doesn’t matter the translation,

John 1:14 (KJV) ¹⁴ And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

John 1:14 (CEV) ¹⁴ The Word became a human being and lived here with us. We saw his true glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father. From him all the kindness and all the truth of God have come down to us.

John 1:14 (YLT) ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh, and did tabernacle among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of an only begotten of a father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:14 (NLT) ¹⁴ So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

John 1:14 (NJB) ¹⁴ The Word became flesh, he lived among us, and we saw his glory, the glory that he has from the Father as only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.

There are days… when I wish I could have been there, at the manger, as He taught the sermon on the mount, at the transfiguration, in the upper room for the last supper.  How much stronger would my faith be?

Or is the answer, that our Lord still lives among us, that we still see His glory, that we still see His grace, and truth?

The Gift Refused..
Even and those words, those incredible words testifying of the Incarnation thrill my soul, so to I am… saddened, even grieving, over those who  are described in verse 11.  Can you imagine knowing of God’s love, of promises, diligently studying scripture, to know all the signs to look for, things that must be fulfilled prior to the long awaited Deliverer’s arrival….

as He taps you on the shoulder, you brushing it away, telling the Lord not to bother you?  Such was the reaction of the people while Jesus walked the earth, and to be honest, many people we know today.  It is perhaps the most challenging thing – to realize that we don’t always remember He is here… that His glory, His grace and truth is here… now… even as He has gathered us here this morning.

Even as He walks through this week with us, His Spirit dwelling with us.

And if it is sad that we occasionally forget He dwells, in all His glory with us..

How far more grieving should we be that there are others… that walk without Him at all?

The Gift Received…

Even as I grieve over the moments where we forget His presence, those times we fall into sin, there is something else to consider – verse 12 and 13

John 1:12-13 (NLT) ¹² But to all who believed (trusted) him and accepted (welcomed/received) him, he gave the right to become children of God. ¹³ They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.

In our baptism – we received the gift of the Holy Spirit – we were united with Christ, we received God, that is when we were born again – here Paul’s words to Titus,

Titus 3:4-7 (TEV⁴ But when the kindness and love of God our Savior was revealed, ⁵ he saved us. It was not because of any good deeds that we ourselves had done, but because of his own mercy that he saved us, through the Holy Spirit, who gives us new birth and new life by washing us. ⁶ God poured out the Holy Spirit abundantly on us through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ so that by his grace we might be put right with God and come into possession of the eternal life we hope for.

The Gift..

This is the gift given to us this Christmas, no other gift – can be compared to the gift of His Son, the Word, our Redeemer and Lord,  All of our lives, all of History changed when God made His promise true, when the Word of God, the One through all that was created was created… came into the world, came into our world… and changed everything…

May we indeed adore Him, the One who became flesh and dwelt among us, and causes us to dwell with Him, in His glory and truth….

AMEN.