Tuesday 29th November
Read John 1:1-5, 14
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (NIVUK)
One of the great mysteries of the incarnation is how the eternal, holy and pure God could make ‘his dwelling among us’ (v14). The word for ‘dwelling’, used only here by John in his gospel, could easily be translated ‘tabernacle’ and refers to the presence of God amongst His people in the wilderness. The tabernacle contained the Most Holy Place, a place where sin could be atoned for, but also an immensely dangerous place for mortals to tread. The tabernacle was also a place upon which the Shekinah glory of the Lord descended, in cloud and fire, marking out the otherness of God.
Yet John records that the holiness and glory of the divine Son was not compromised in any way by taking up flesh or by dwelling among us. No, that glory is fully revealed. ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (v5)’ (NIVUK). Rather than be sullied by His presence amongst us, His presence purifies and glorifies and overcomes darkness and sin and death (v4).
What does that mean in practice? JC Ryle asks and answers that question for us:
“Did the Word become flesh? Then He is One who can be touched with the feeling of His people’s infirmities, because He has suffered Himself, being tempted. He is almighty because He is God, and yet He can sympathize with us, because He is man.
Did the Word become flesh? Then He can supply us with a perfect pattern and example for our daily life…. Having dwelt among us as a man, we know that the true standard of holiness is to “walk even as He walked” (1 John 2:6). He is a perfect pattern, because He is God. But He is also a pattern exactly suited to our needs, because He is man.
Finally, did the Word become flesh? Then let us see in our mortal bodies a real, true dignity, and not defile them by sin. Vile and weak as our body may seem, it is a body which the Eternal Son of God was not ashamed to take upon Himself, and to take up to heaven. That simple fact is a pledge that He will raise our bodies at the last day, and glorify them together with His own.” (JC Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Volume 3:27-28).
In the words of Charles Wesley, ‘Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see; Hail the incarnate Deity’…
