The Word Became Flesh

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” John 1:14

When was the last time you watched a game show? Most of us have stayed home sick from work or school and flipped channels between Let’s Make a Deal and Family Feud. Back when I was in college, I won The Price is Right. It was kind of a big deal. Heaps of fun. Loads of embarrassment. One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that games shows are built around the big reveal. Think with me to that moment in a game show when the host (usually spray tanned to a tropic orange color) asks a contestant if they want the prize behind door number one or door number two. This question brings the audience to a frenzy and the contestant waits on pins and needles for the big moment of revelation.

Revelation. The word means an uncovering, a removal of the veil, a disclosure of what was previously unknown.

Christmas is a type of revelation. For at the birth of Christ, God came to us and revealed His heart, His character and His plan. God came that we may know Him. Under a chorus of angels, worshipped by shepherds, in a cold stable in Bethlehem... the Creator of the world became a baby. Up until the moment when Mary swaddled baby Jesus, the world was left to scrap together bits of information about God. Sure, there were many things we could know about Him from the Creation and from how He revealed Himself in the Old Testament, but for God to truly reveal Himself to us, He had to become one of us. The seminal passage on this revelation of God to man is found in the Gospel of John 1: 1-14.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
 The 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.

John uses the title “The Word” to introduce Jesus. A word is a thought expressed. A word reveals a message. For example, when we read the word “tree” an image immediately forms in our minds. The word expresses the idea. Jesus is the living Word of God. This is the incarnation. The divine mystery that should absolutely stop us in our tracks is this...God became a man.

This is Christmas. God stepped into our story to invite us into His story. I pray we don’t miss Christ this Christmas. Let us behold His glory.

If you want to know who God is...behold Jesus.

If you want to know what God is like....behold Jesus.

If you want to know how God would respond....behold Jesus.
If you want to know the will of God...behold Jesus.

Further Scripture to Study: Hebrews 1: 1-3; Colossians 2:8-10; 1 John 1:1-3

By Marian Jordan Ellis
www.MarianJordan.com