Glory Overflowing with Grace and Truth

John 1:14-18

December 14, 2003

 

            A common saying in our culture is, “Seeing is believing.” This statement, however, is not confined to Americans. In his sermon called “The Word Became Flesh,” John Piper tells the story of Yuri Gagarin. Yuri Gagarin was the first Soviet cosmonaut, and he first journeyed into outer space in 1961. Yuri Gagarin also claimed to be an atheist. When he was in outer space for the first time, he declared that God did not exist because he could not see Him in outer space. Gagarin is recorded as saying from space, “I don’t see any God out here.”

            Many people take this approach to truth. What is seen is often more powerful and effective to them than what is not seen. Perhaps that is why so many people will be deceived by the signs and wonders performed by Satan through his false christs and false prophets at the end of the age (Mtt 24:24).

            “Seeing is believing” was also a motto adopted by one of Jesus’ apostles after the resurrection. Thomas, forever known as “doubting Thomas,” claimed he would not believe that Jesus rose from the dead unless he saw the imprint of the nails and was able to touch the place in Jesus’ side that had been pierced (Jhn 20:25). Jesus graciously appeared to Thomas and allowed Him to see and touch His scars, to which Thomas exclaimed, “My Lord and my God” (Jhn 20:28)!

            There is something powerful about a visual presentation of truth. Even the great prophet, Moses, had a desire to see the Lord. In Exodus 33:18 we read, Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” Moses desired to see the glory of God. He wanted to see the infinite worth and majesty and greatness of God with his physical eyes. God’s response to Moses was, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live.” To see the face of God would result in utter ruin for a sinner in his current physical body of sinful flesh. Moses saw the back of God’s glory as the Lord passed before Him, but He was not allowed to see the full manifestation of it. When God passed before Moses, He proclaimed His name, saying, The Lord, the Lord God, comopassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations” (Ex 34:6-7).

            Many people think this passage is the Old Testament background for John 1:14-18. The phrase in Exodus 34:6, abounding in lovingkindness and truth to many is a parallel to John’s statement about Jesus in John 1:14, full of grace and truth. Many commentators and students of the Bible have seen Moses’ request for a vision of the glory of God fulfilled in the Person of Jesus Christ. Moses could not see the glory of God; yet John says, we saw His glory…full of grace and truth.

            This text before us this morning is one of the most majestic, glorious texts in the Bible. It really doesn’t get any better than this, and I almost feel bad about only taking one week to preach on it. This passage is worth at least one sermon per verse, if not more. So this morning, get ready because we are going to hit a lot of Mount Everest peaks of truth in this text, and we are going to hit them quickly.

            The main point of John 1:14-18 is this: The glory of God is uniquely and fully revealed in the glory of His Son, Jesus Christ. That is the doctrinal deduction you should discover from this text. The glory of God is uniquely and fully revealed in the glory of His Son, Jesus Christ. This means that what is unseen, namely the glory of God in its fullness, has been made plain, it has been revealed, it has been seen in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ makes visible to us what is by nature invisible to us and unseen by us. Jesus Christ reveals and makes known the glory of God.

            John does not state this so plainly in this text. He takes steps to prove to us that the glory of God is fully revealed in the glory of Christ, and so I want to walk those steps with you this morning. There are five of them. Five statements John makes to prove to us that Jesus is the revealer of the glory of God.

 

Step 1 – The Glory of Christ has been revealed (v. 14)

            The first step is found in verse 14. There John tells us that the glory of Christ has in fact been revealed. He writes, And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. This is foundational, because if the Word had not been made flesh, and if no one had seen His glory, then the glory of God would not be revealed to us because no one would have revealed it. All we would have is types and shadows and symbols pointing to the essence of the real glory of God. We would still be in the dark shadows of the Law, under a tutor, as Paul puts it in Galatians. But John tells us in this verse that the glory of Christ has been revealed. The glory of the Word, who is the Son of God, has been made known and seen.

            John tells us that the Word became flesh. That is crucial to John. There is no salvation for anyone who would deny that the eternal Son of God became flesh and had a real, physical, human body. The pre-existent, eternal Christ became flesh. This is, of course, one of the greatest mysteries in the Bible. How could the eternal Word, which was God before anything existed, become flesh? How could God become man and still be God? It is utterly inexplicable. It is one of those doctrines that all we can do is wonder at, because we can’t explain how it could be.

            While we cannot fully understand how it could be, we clearly can understand what it means. John Calvin explains that there are two implications of this statement in his commentary. He wrote, “There are two things chiefly to be observed. The first is, that two natures were so united in one Person in Christ, that one and the same Christ is true God and true man. The second is, that the unity of person does not hinder the two natures from remaining distinct, so that his Divinity retains all that is peculiar to itself, and his humanity holds separately whatever belongs to it.” In other words, what Calvin is explaining, which is entirely accurate and what this text is teaching, is that in Jesus Christ are two natures, God and man, and that these two natures co-exist at all times within Him, so that He is not sometimes God, sometimes man, but fully both natures continuously and without interruption.

            In our day some have tried to divide Jesus Christ, and say that sometimes He was acting from His human nature, and sometimes from His divine nature. To say that is to commit heresy. The New Testament never speaks of Jesus acting as a man sometimes, and at other times acting as God. Not at all! The New Testament teaches that within this one Person, Jesus Christ, exist two separate and distinct natures: human and divine. Whatever Jesus does, He does as God and man all at the same time. So when we read about Jesus casting out demons, that is not the divine side of Him; rather, it is Him as God and man, the God-man, fully man and fully God at one and the same time. And when we read about Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Not my will, but yours be done,” that is not the human side of Jesus, but it is Jesus Christ, fully God, fully man. You cannot divide the two natures of Jesus Christ.

            The Word became flesh means that at a point in history the Son of God took on a human body. Romans 8:3 says that God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. Philippians 2:7-8 tells us that Jesus Christ was found in appearance as a man and was made in the likeness of men. O, what great condescension for the Son of God to become the Son of Man! What humility for Him to take on our flesh, with our frail and perishing nature, and submit Himself to death, even the death of the cross!

            The Apostle goes on to tell us that the Word not only took on flesh, but that He also dwelt among us. That means He made His home here. He had His dwelling place here. He did not just appear for a moment, as Calvin comments, but He stayed on this cursed earth until He had completed the work the Father sent Him to do. He lived here among sinful men.

            It was because He was made flesh and dwelt among us that the Apostle could say, and we saw His glory. The word here for saw is a word that has the idea of an extended gaze. It means to study or examine with the sense of sight. It does not mean that the Apostles glanced at the glory of Christ. It means that they observed it. They studied it. They found it to be authentic. The glory of Christ was revealed to them.

            I want to take a minute to define the word glory for you. What does he mean by glory? Well, the Apostle will go on to describe it in more detail, but let me give the general meaning of the word. Glory has the idea of greatness. It has the idea of majesty. In the Old Testament this word translates a Hebrew word that means heavy or weighty. It is God’s heaviness, His weightiness, His infinite worth, value, greatness, and majesty. It is what causes us to fear Him because we know His splendor and power and worth. So when the Apostle says that he and the other apostles (which is what I think he means by we since many of his readers had not seen Jesus Christ) had seen the glory of the eternal Word made flesh, what He means is that they had seen Jesus Christ’s majesty. They had seen His greatness. They had seen the wonder of His person. They had seen His weightiness and His intense splendor.

            This is crucial to this passage. The Apostles saw the glory of Christ. It was revealed to them. It was glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. The meaning here is that it was not human glory. It was glory that could be compared to something that could only be related to the Father. This was no ordinary glory. It was glory from the Father; it was glory full of grace and truth. It was the majesty of the Son of God put on display in fullness of grace and truth.

            John is being emphatic here that this was no ordinary glory. This was not normal human glory. Normal human glory is described like this: All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness (or glory) is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades (Isa 40:6-7). That is human glory. It is like grass, meaning that it withers and perishes. It is like a wildflower; it fades away. Human glory does not endure. Just in case you think that because the Word was made flesh, and all flesh is grass which withers, the Apostle is clear that this was not fleshly glory. No, this was glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. It is unfading, never-ending, never withering, never-perishing glory! It was seen by the Apostles. They witnessed this glory of Jesus Christ. The glory of Jesus Christ has been revealed.

 

Step 2 – Christ’s glory seen in His superiority to all men (v. 15)

 

            Now, a question that you may be asking is, “What was this glory like? What does it mean that it was full of grace and truth? How shall I understand this glory that has been made known and seen by these apostles?” Verses 15-17 serve to answer that question.

Let’s start with verse 15, which is step 2. John writes, John testified about Him and cried out saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’” The second step that John gives us to prove that the glory of God is revealed in Christ is to tell us something about this glory, namely, that it is superior to that of all men. In verse 14 the Apostle told us plainly that the glory was revealed. In verse 15 he begins to show us that glory and what it was like, and he tells us that it was superior to the glory of even the greatest prophet, John the Baptist.

That John was the greatest of the Old Testament prophets is made plain in Matthew 11:11. There Jesus declares, Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! From the days of Adam right up until the birth of Christ there was not prophet greater than John the Baptist. In fact, there was no person greater than John the Baptist. Moses was not as great as John the Baptist. Elijah was not as great as John the Baptist.

Why was John so great? I think the reason that John was the greatest Is explained in verse 10 of Matthew 11, where Jesus explains that John fulfilled the prophecy as the forerunner of the Messiah. John’s greatness was not because of his words, his deeds, or his baptisms; no, it was because of his role and his relationship to Christ. He was sent to prepare the way of the Lord. John’s greatness was only so incredibly great because of the glory of the One whom He was proclaiming and for whom He was preparing the way! John’s greatness came because He personally was the prophet who prepared the way for Christ, and it was the glory of Christ that made John the greatest prophet until that time.

If, then, it was the glory of Christ that made John great, we should find John also proclaiming that, and that is exactly what we find in verse 15 of John 1. John’s constant testimony was that Jesus Christ was greater than him. Jesus was not second to John. Jesus was not lesser than John. No, all of John’s glory and greatness came because of Jesus Christ and His glory and greatness. That is why John says, “He who comes after Me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.” The point of this text is that Jesus Christ is superior to John the Baptist, the greatest of prophets. His glory is clearly shown in that he far surpasses any human being. The greatest of the prophets is nothing in comparison to Christ. His glory far outweighs all human glory.

 

Step 3 – Christ’s glory seen in His infinite supply of grace (v. 16)

 

            That is the second step: Christ’s glory is superior to all human glory, as seen by His superiority to John the Baptist. The first step is that Christ’s glory has been seen, and the second is its superiority over men. The third step is in verse 16. There John writes, For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. Step three is this: Christ’s glory is seen in His infinite supply of grace.

            The word for at the beginning of this verse ties it back to verse 14, and the word there, full. Christ is full of grace and truth. And I think John is here answering the question, “How do we know that Christ is so glorious and so full of grace and truth?” First, we know it by the testimony of John the Baptist. Second, we know it because of our experience of the infinite supply of grace that flows from the eternal fountain, Jesus Christ. It is of His, Jesus’, fullness that we have all received. Any grace that you have received in your life has come from the fullness of Jesus Christ. It has not come from any other source. All of it at all times in all ways flows from Jesus Christ to you when you receive His grace. It is of the fullness of Christ, meaning His never-ending supply, His infinite store, His eternal all-sufficiency. Christ never runs out of grace. It is out of His fullness that we receive. It is not out of a supply that may run out someday, or that may not have enough for what we need. Christ will never run short of grace. He is full of grace, and it is from this fullness that we receive.

There are two things this should move you to. One is it should move you to never doubt that the grace you receive is enough. You should never wonder if the grace that Christ gives you is going to be enough for your needs. It is out of His fullness, meaning that He has everything you need. He will not be short. Second, it should make you bold in asking for it. You are not going to deplete Him. You are not going to deprive Him of anything by asking for His grace. The writer of Hebrews tells us that we should come boldly to the throne of grace to receive help in our time of need. It is a throne of grace, and it is full of grace that can never run dry. It is an overflowing fountain and supply that can never be exhausted by you or me or all the believers of all time in all places of the world. So you should never doubt that Christ will be able to supply you with the grace you need, and you should never hesitate to ask for His grace, knowing that He has an infinite supply of it because He gives it out of fullness, not out of poverty or neediness or want.

The Apostle adds, and grace upon grace. O what a marvelous picture he paints for us here. The word and is better translated even. For of His fullness we have all received, even grace upon grace. One good gift of God upon another. One supply of grace upon another. One writer likened it to waves that crash into the seashore. Just as one gets done, another wave of grace comes crashing in upon us. We have received of this inexhaustible fullness, and what have we received? Even grace upon grace. Grace for grace. Christ continually supplies us with grace upon grace upon grace.

Do you experience this in your life? Do you know this Christ that John is describing here? Do you experience His grace like this? Can you say from experience that you have received from the fullness of Jesus Christ, even grace for grace for grace, from His never-ending supply of grace? What a glorious Savior we have? Who is a god like our God? There is no other God like ours, who supplies us with infinite supplies of grace! The glory of Jesus Christ was made known and seen visibly by men, and it is seen in its superiority to all men, including John the Baptist, and it is seen in its inexhaustible fountain of always flowing never-ending grace for all of His children. That’s step three.

 

Step #4 – Christ’s glory seen in His superiority to Moses and the Law (v. 17)

 

            Step four. Look with me at verse 17. John writes, For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. For the first time the Word is given a name, and that name is Jesus Christ. The full title is given to Jesus. He is the man, Jesus, and the divine Christ: Jesus Christ. What is this verse saying as we look at these steps that John is taking to show us that the glory of God is revealed in His Son. Step four is this: Christ’s glory is seen in His superiority to the Law and Moses. This glory that was revealed and seen in the Word made flesh is a glory that is superior to the Law and Moses. You have to see those two aspects to this verse. There are two contrasts: the Law contrasted with grace and truth, and Moses contrasted with Jesus Christ. Let’s take them one at a time.

            The first contrast is between the Law and grace and truth. What is John contrasting here? What does it mean that the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ? Or perhaps, to say it another way, What is the difference between grace and truth and the Law? Why are grace and truth superior to Law? To understand this you must understand the Law. The Law was given for this purpose: to show us the exceedingly high standard of God’s righteousness so that as sinners we would realize we could never meet it. Or, as Paul puts it in Romans 3:20, for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. The reason the Law was given was to show Israel that she could not live up to the Law, and that she needed a Savior. Paul says this in Galatians 3:24: Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. The Law is meant to be a tutor, a schoolmaster, that leads us to Christ. The Law was never meant to bring anyone salvation. No one is saved by the Law. In fact, as Paul tells us in Galatians 3:10, Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law, to perform them. If you don’t perform every single thing written in the Law of Moses, if you violate one commandment in the Law, you are cursed of God. One sin puts you under the eternal curse of God. So the Law does not serve to save us; rather, it serves to show us that we are sinners and that we cannot be saved by Law.

            The Jews, of course, were very busy trying to justify themselves by works. They thought circumcision and prayers and fasting and tithing and all of these works would bring about their justification before God. The Law of Moses was everything to the Jews, and even today the Jews still try to justify themselves by works. They do not believe Habakkuk 2:4, The righteous will live by his faith. To be saved by faith is utter nonsense to a Jewish person. So here John tells us that the Law came, but if we understand the Law, we know that the Law is not good news, because all the Law does is show us how we cannot meet God’s standard and we are under a curse.

            The contrast to the Law is grace and truth. Grace and truth are shown as superior to Law. What does he mean by grace and truth? By grace, I believe, he means the means of salvation. The means of deliverance from the curse that we are all under as sinners. We all have broken the Law of God, and therefore we all are under a curse. The only way out of that curse is grace. The Law cannot save us. That is why Paul wrote in Galatians 2:21, I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly. If you claim that the Law will save you and bring you righteousness you nullify the grace of God, Paul says. The grace of God and the Law are opposed to one another in this sense, that the Law brings about condemnation, but grace brings about salvation. Grace is this free gift of God of salvation that is completely unearned. What we earn is a curse; what God gives us is grace if we are in Christ. Grace is superior to Law because grace brings salvation, whereas Law does not. Grace brings righteousness, whereas Law does not. If Law could save us, then Christ need not have been born into this world, lived a perfect life, and died and rose again! Grace trumps Law because grace brings salvation!

            What about truth? How is truth different than, or contrasted with, Law? Isn’t the Law also part of God’s Word, and doesn’t the Law contain the truth? Indeed, the Law is truth, but the type of truth John is talking about isn’t the type of truth that is contrasted with a lie. Rather, what he means here by truth is that which is real, genuine, or reality. With the Law came types and shadows. With the Law came symbols that showed us what God was going to do to save us. With Christ came the reality of all of those types and shadows.

            When John says that the Law was given through Moses, and grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ, he means to contrast the ministry of condemnation, namely, the Law, with the ministry of salvation, namely the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is more glorious than all and He is the  radiance of the glory of God because through Him came salvation and reality of all that God planned for us in our salvation. It was this grace and truth that was so superior to the Law. The Law was just a pointer to lead us to Christ. Christ is the substance.

            This inevitably leads to the conclusion, then, that Christ is greater than Moses. We see this in two ways. First, Christ has a better ministry! What came through Him is superior than what came through Moses. The first covenant of Law was not faultless, so God made a new covenant that came through Christ. The very fact that Jesus brought salvation, or in John’s words, grace and truth, and Moses had the Law given through him, which only gave the knowledge of sin, shows that Jesus Christ is superior even to Moses. Secondly, the verbs used to describe how the Law came and how grace and truth came show the superiority of Jesus Christ. Notice the Law was given through Moses. The words was given imply that Moses did not create the Law. He only received it. He was an inactive participant in the Law being given. He was merely the voice, not the author. Yet grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. This word, realized, is the same word used in John 1:3 to talk about creation. The verse would be better translated, Grace and truth came into being through Jesus Christ. That means that He is the author of grace and truth. He was not just someone who received these things. He was not merely an instrument through which grace and truth came. Rather, He created them. He brought them into existence and into being. I like the way the writer of Hebrews puts this contrast in Hebrews 3:3: For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. A beautiful house has a certain kind of glory and honor. But it is evident that a house does not build itself. A house is completely passive in its construction. The house does not nail the beams together. It does not lay the foundation. The house is absolutely passive in the construction process. The builder, however, is active. He brings the house into existence. He is not a passive observer, or someone who is being acted on. Moses is likened to the house, if you will. He was passive. The Law was given through him, but he himself did nothing. The builder, the one who brought everything into existence and was the active worker was Jesus Christ. He is the builder, and therefore He is more glorious than Moses, and what He brought into being by His life, death, and resurrection, are more glorious than what was given through Moses. He is more glorious because He brought them into being actively, and because grace and truth bring salvation and reality from all the Old Testament Law and types and shadows.

            Now, if you don’t see how glorious Jesus Christ is by this point, there’s not much left to say. This glory is the glory that you will enjoy for all eternity if you know Him. The glory that is overflowing in grace upon grace. The glory that never fades like the glory of a man. The glory that is the glory of Builder, not the glory of what is built. O how glorious is our Savior Jesus Christ! How infinitely worthy is He of our praises and our thanks and our love! This is the infinite glory that was revealed to the Apostles, and the glory about which the Apostle John is now writing. The Apostle is saying, “We saw the glory of the Word made flesh, and it was so glorious that it trumped John the Baptist, it overflows in grace upon grace upon grace, and it brings about salvation and the reality of all the Old Testament shadows. The glory of this Incarnate Word shines brilliantly, and we saw it!” There is only one link missing in this chain. Only one step left, and that is for John to show us that this glory of Christ is the glory of God. This glory that trumps the greatest of men, that never stops abounding in grace, and that brings about deliverance and salvation for sinners by grace is the very glory of God.

 

Step #5 – Christ’s glory is a revelation of God’s glory (v. 18)

 

            That fifth link is in verse 18. John writes, No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. He starts with the problem: we haven’t seen God. We don’t know what He looks like, we can’t be impacted by any picture of Him because we have never had a clear perception of Him with our bodily senses. No one ever has. So how can we know His glory? How we can we be utterly satisfied with His grace and goodness and love when we cannot perceive Him? How do we know what He is like?

            The answer is the second half of the verse: the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. Here’s the point of this verse, and the fifth link in our chain: Christ’s glory is a declaration of the glory of God. It announces to us and explains to us what the glory of God is like. When John says the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, he is saying two things. One is that Jesus Christ is God. Even though He is eternally begotten He still is God as the Son of God. Secondly, Jesus Christ, the only begotten God, has an incredibly close relationship with the Father. That is what is meant by in the bosom of the Father. That implies intimacy, closeness, familiarity. If anyone understands the Father, it is the Son. John Calvin said that the bosom is the seat of counsel, and Christ was acquainted with the most hidden secrets of His Father. No one has seen God at any time. The only exception is the Son of God, because He is in the bosom of the Father.

            The begotten God has explained the Father to us. That word, explained, means declared, made known, narrated, or unfolded. Jesus Christ Himself has shown us the Father. That is why He said to Philip, He who has seen Me has seen the Father. Jesus Christ is the perfect picture, the perfect image of the Father. When you know Jesus, you know God the Father, because the Two are One God, and the Son is in the Father, and the Father is in the Son. This is incredible mystery. The Son of God has openly and plainly declared and made known and shown what is unable to be seen. We cannot see the Father. No one has ever seen God. Yet Jesus said, He who has seen me has seen the Father. The Son perfectly reveals the glory of the Father! In fact, the only place we can see the glory of God is in the Son. Paul tells us that the glory of God is in the face of Christ in 2 Corinthians 4:6. Do you want to know the glory of God? Learn who Christ is, and get to know Him, and you will know the glory of God.

            The glory of God has been perfectly revealed in Jesus Christ. It was seen in Christ, and it was seen as a glory superior to the glory of even the greatest of men, it was seen as a glory that is an inexhaustible supply of grace upon grace, and it was seen as a glory that brought truth and salvation, and this glory that was seen is the very glory of God. Let’s pray.

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