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Introduction
“And the Word became 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
The Word
In John 1:1-5, we learn that the Word was with God and was God. The Word comes to us to reveal what God is like ( John 14:9, Col. 1:15, Heb. 1:3). This is how the Word has worked from the very beginning, working to show us what God is like. He is like light and life ( John 1:4-5, Gen. 1, Prov. 8). Both light and life are images that show us what God is like. And both are things that we are accustomed to wait for (Ps. 130:5-6). This waiting is what Advent is all about, waiting for the coming of Jesus, the light and life of the world (Lk. 2:25, 29, 36).
Became Flesh and Dwelt Among Us
Flesh can sometimes be used to describe the sinful desires that we wrestle with. But here it is used to describe human mortality (Ps. 78:39, Is. 40:6). God the Son, who is life itself, took on the nature of a man, a man’s body and a man’s soul (Phi. 2:7, Heb. 2:17).
And We Beheld His Glory
The face of God, which could not be seen by Moses or Elijah (Ex. 24:9-122, 33:18-23, 1 Kings 19:11-12), was finally shown to us in Jesus. The Word came to reveal the Father (John 1:18).
The Glory as of the Only-Begotten Son of the Father
Although we are all children of God, there is only one only begotten Son, the eternal Son, who has been generated of the Father from all eternity. So think for a moment of the irony of waiting for something to happen, which has eternally been the case.
Full of Grace and Truth
If you think about this for a moment, grace and truth are two things that do not naturally go together. We can either have both the truth and war, or grace and lies. But to hold grace and truth together is to try and hold together two identically charged magnets (Ecc. 7:21-22, Ps. 130:3).
But the Word came to reveal God to this world. The Son came to show us his Father, to show us what had always been the case, but what we could not grasp. And that was that grace and truth can come together, righteousness and peace can kiss (Ps. 85:10), and the Just one can be the one who justifies (Rom. 3:26).