CHRISTMAS GLORY!

"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 ESV

GOD CAME IN ORDER TO BE SEEN! God came to live so that we could see Him and know Him. John says we saw Him. John wants to record the life of Jesus so that what happened to him will happen again to all who read his gospel 2000 years later. John says we saw God incarnate living with us, teaching us, healing, delivering, restoring. But we more than saw Him, when John says, "we have seen," he uses a word that means to gaze intently upon, to study as in a laboratory. It's the word from which we get the English word "theater." When we saw Him, we saw His glory! His supreme worth! His value! His beauty!

He puts it another way of his excitement about seeing Jesus in 1 John 1:1-4, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.".

Who is this Jesus that John saw? Hebrews 1:3 says that , “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.” Just as the tabernacle in the wilderness contained and displayed God’s glory (Exodus 40:34–35), so even more do we behold “the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). The same point is made in verse 18. "No one has ever seen God; the only Son [other older manuscripts say "the only God"], who is in the bosom [in the lap or the embrace] of the Father, he has made him known."

Here the point is that even though God is a Spirit and is therefore invisible (John 4:24), he has now revealed Himself in an utterly unique way—by the incarnation of himself in his Son Jesus. And that is what Seeing the glory of Jesus means seeing the very glory of God. To see the glory of God is to see Him for who He really is in all of His supreme greatness, beauty, excellence, worth, and uniqueness. When you look at Jesus, you see the face of God. When you watch Jesus in action, you watch God in action. When you hear Jesus teach, you hear God teach. When you come to know what Jesus is like, you know what God is like. When you look at Jesus, you see the face of God. Jesus is the exact image of his Father. If you have seen him, you have seen the Father (John 14:9).

GOD CAME IN ORDER FOR US TO SEE, SAVOR, AND EXPERIENCE HIS GRACE AND TRUTH- “…we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth

What is this glory that we see when we see Jesus? We see the glory, the beauty of God's grace and truth. John repeats this in verse 17, "The law was through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."

God is truth. God is reality who holds all reality together. And that is what we see in Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life. And second, God is grace. When the Holy Spirit opens the eyes of your heart in reading the gospel or hearing the preaching about Jesus the Holy Spirit is like a laser along which grace and truth streams into your life. The grace of peace, joy, life everlasting streamed into John’s life and all who behold His glory. If you don’t see Christ as glorious grace doesn’t come into your life. Grace comes into the spiritual sightline of glory. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:4, "God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

The face of Jesus shines with glory and John is very clear about glory is that the glory he sees is the glory of his grace in what he wants to stress about grace.The disposition of Jesus is one of grace. And this gracious disposition is very, very great. That’s why he uses the word full—the word full modifies glory. The glory of the Son of God is full of graciousness toward us sinners.Grace is a power that lifts you out of the domain of darkness and transfers you to the domain of light. Grace is God’s magnificent power erupting in your heart and soul by his own intervention so that you move from death to life, from darkness to light, from hell to heaven. Grace is power that is embodied in a person.

That's his grace. And that's the capstone of his glory. "We saw his glory . . . full of grace and truth." This seeing has huge effects. Verse 16 sums them up: “And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” When God gives us eyes to see the glory of Jesus—his beauty and greatness and worth—that seeing is the laser beam, as it were, along which great grace streams into our lives. Grace to love. Grace to rejoice. Grace to live forevermore.

This Christmas he wants to treat you with grace—to forgive all your sins—all of them!—to take away all your guilt, to make your conscience clean, to change your life, to help you with your problems, to give you strength for each day, and to fill you with hope and joy and peace. But more than that, He wants to give you grace to see His glory and to savor His glory and to enjoy His glory forever! 2 Corinthians 4:6, “For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” When Jesus turned the water into wine at Cana of Galilee, John tells us that "he thus revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him" (John 2:11). There is the dynamic, glory is revealed, faith is born.

Jesus has a glory-an excellence, a supreme beauty, that spoke to the disciples and speaks to our souls that says, “Yes this is truth!” It is like seeing the sun and knowing that it is light or tasting honey and knowing that it is sweet. This is glorious what John shows us of Christ here. We were graced to see Him for who He really is, the Word, the Son of God, and we saw Him for His supreme worth, beauty, and majesty.

Oh God wants to be seen and known and believed in his Son by each and every one of you. Jesus even prayed for this for you 2000 years ago the night before He was crucified in John 17:24, "Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory." There was nothing more important in Jesus heart than for you to see Him for who He really is and savor Him, love Him, delight in Him, and be satisfied with Him for all of His worth.

John wrote his gospel so that so that we today could be included in that amazing privilege “We have seen his glory.” The glory of the incarnate Son of God. “These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31). And when you meet him, through these inspired stories of his words and deeds, through the preaching of His word, His glory shines through—the self-authenticating beauty of that matchless mixture of grace and truth the experience of the early dis­ciples is duplicated in all who believe in the Lord of glory today.

Paul writes of the experience of all Christians when he says that "we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Have you seen His glory? Do you see Jesus for who He really is? Do you believe in Him? Do you love Him and treasure Him? Would you look at Him with new eyes this Christmas? As you look, I am praying that God would grant that you would see the glory of God in His lovely face. So I lift up before you the incarnate Son of God. He is the reason for the season. “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 …from his fullness we have received grace upon grace."

Receive His grace. Let His grace open your eyes and your hearts to see his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. See him, for the glory that He is, believe in Him and live. Let the sight of Him fill your heart with everlasting joy!

Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn King!

Pastor Bill