The Day That God Changed His Clothes Part 1

John 1:14 "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us…”

Introductory Thoughts

- The mystery of mysteries

-- What is a mystery? It is a wonderful Truth that God is revealing or has revealed.

-- The Incarnation is a mystery.

1 Tim 3:16 "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory."


- An essential part of our salvation.

-- God so loved—John 3:16 ""For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

-- No mere man could have done this

- An Essential part of Christian doctrine.

1 John 4:2 "By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God," 3 "and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world."

-- You may be wrong about the mode of baptism, but that won’t affect your salvation.

-- You may be a believer in freewill to the point that you think a Christian can lose his salvation, but that doctrinal error doesn’t mean you are lost, just ill-taught.

-- You may be off on the end times, but that is of no consequence to your salvation.

-- You may have sucked in some liberal thinking in other areas.

-- But if you do not accept the Incarnation, that is prime evidence that you are lost.

- A verse and a concept beyond the reach of any human preacher

-- The Word Became Flesh

-- The Word Dwelt Among Us


1. The Word Became Flesh—John 1:14 "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."

a. What or Who Is The Word?

(1) The Word is Eternal—“In the Beginning, was the Word (already was)…”

(2) The Word is the face to face companion of the Father—“…The Word was with God…” (face to face with God the Father—1:18)

(3) The Word is God “…and the Word was God…”

(4) Yet, the Word is distinct from the Father—“…He was in the beginning With God…” (face to face)

(5) The Word is Creator—“…All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him, nothing came into being that has come into being…”

(6) The Word is the Source of Life and Light—1:4

(7) The Word is victorious over the darkness—1:5

(8) The Word is the universal illuminator—John 1:9, Ps 19:1

(9) When He Came, the Word was ignored by the World and by His own people—Jn 1:10-11

(10) But the Word was accepted by those who were made alive by God—(James 1:18) "Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures."

(11) The Word is the Full Explanation of God—John 1:18 "No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him."


b. Before the Word Became Flesh…..

(1) Pre-existence—He is Eternal:

(a) Micah 5:2 ""But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.""

(b) John 8:58 "Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.""

(2) Christopany—He appeared often in the Old Testament, in various forms—Dan 3:25 ""Look!" he answered, "I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.""

(3) Glory—He lived in glory, the adored Prince of heaven. John 17:5 ""And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was."

(4) In Love—He lived in love, in perfect, loving relationship with the Father and the Spirit. John 17:24 ""Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world."

(5) And He Left all of that for us. He left all of that to live among us; He left all of that to teach us; He left all of that to die for us.

2. The Word Was Made Flesh—Was made: Became—not the creation of a being, but of a body and soul.

a. He WAS and IS the Creator

(1) Christ was not created—John 1:3

(2) All things hold together in Him—Col 1:17

(3) But His body and soul were specially created, a gift of God the Father to the Son—Heb 10:5-10

b. The incarnation

(1) The author—Luke 1:35 "And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God."

(2) The Act—the Incarnation was the conception, not the birth. The birth merely completed the process. Christ had been incarnate for 9 months when He was born in Bethlehem’s manger—Luke 1:39-43 "Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, 40 and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 "But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 "For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.




c. Flesh—the definition of this word “sarx” is not just a human body, but an entire human nature. His flesh was real flesh

(1) Not just a physical body, but a human soul

(2) But Not Sinful Flesh

(a) 1 Pet 2:22 ""Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth";"

(b) Heb 4:14-16

(c) 2 Cor 5:21

d. In His Incarnation, Christ surrendered nothing but the external expression of His Glory. But what is important is what He took on—humanity, and humble humanity at that.

(1) His former Home: Heaven

(2) His former seat—the throne of Glory

(3) His former condition—all comfort and continually worshipped.

(4) His former state—Spirit

(5) His life as a man—humiliation.

e. The Condescension—In every way a man, but never ceased to be God.

(1) Phil 2:5-8 "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross."


3. The Word Dwelt (spread His Tent) Among Us—John 1:14 "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."

a. Tabernacled—Christ put His Tent up among us.

(1) Amazingly, He did not come for just an overnight stay.

(2) He was not just slumming

(3) He lived among us, worked among us, etc.

(4) He shared our lives and our pains.

(5) He was not born into the family of a rich merchant, who could have given Him all the comforts of earth.

(6) He did not come as the son of an earthly king.

(7) He was not born into the family of Caesar.

(8) He was not born into the country club set.

(9) He was not given a pleasant home in the cool alps as the son of a tribal chief.

(10) He came into the humblest of homes, as a member of a conquered race, and raised with none of the advantages of life so well-counted by sinful man.

(11) He Dwelt among us:

(a) Poor

(b) Conquered

(c) The adopted son of a working man.

(d) As a small-town boy in a place even the Jews had not much use for. John 1:46 And Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see."

b. The Reality of His Human Experience

(1) Sorrow—Mat 26:37 "And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed."

(2) Growth—Luke 2:40 "And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him."

(3) Hunger—Luke 4:2 "being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry."

(4) Sleep—Luke 8:23 "But as they sailed He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy."

(5) Poverty—Luke 9:58 "And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.""

(6) Fatigue—John 4:6 "Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour."

(7) The Victim of False Whispers—John 8:41 "You do the deeds of your father." Then they said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father; God."

(8) The Victim of Betrayal—Judas

(9) The Victim of False Accusation—

(10) The Victim of Denial—

(11) The Victim of Physical Abuse—

(12) The Victim of a Travesty of Justice—

c. The Blessings of His Presence For Those Who saw Him here.

(1) His healing hand

(2) His teaching and preaching

(3) His perfect obedience to the Law—Those who saw Him, saw One who really obeyed the Law, not the rote, perfunctory observance of the Pharisees and the scribes. But the obedience of the One who wrote the Law—

(4) And He met temptation the way we are to meet it, with the Word of God.

(5) His substitutionary death on the Cross

(6) His Triumphant Resurrection

(7) His Glorious Ascension And Intercession

d. The Primary Blessing of His Presence among us—The Salvation He Wrought for us

(1) Mat 1:21 ""And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.""

(2) 1 Tim 1:15 "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief."