God Sent The Son | When the Creator Visited Earth (John 1:14-18)

Topic: God Sent The Son

Reading: John 1:14-18

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. 15 (John bore witness to him, and cried, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, for he was before me.’”) 16 And from his fulness have we all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.

Introduction and Overview

When God sent the Son, His only begotten son to the earth, a momentous time was about to begin. When God sent the Son it would herald a new beginning. It was to commence the Age of Grace.

Before this time, God chose Israel as His own people. His choice came through the promise God made to Abraham that he would have a son. And He promised that Abraham’s children would inherit the earth.

Over time, generations of people descended from Abraham to become the nation and peoples of Israel. God gave them the law and they were instructed to follow it diligently. There were strict conditions and failure to follow those conditions would lead to punishment.

But the promise to inherit the earth was not in the law. The promise to Abraham that his descendants would inherit the earth came through faith and through the grace of God. It was not about strict adherence to commandments, ordinances, and rituals. The promise to inherit the earth came through faith and believing in God.

When God sent the son, He came to commence the time of Grace. He came to teach all people that through faith anyone and everyone could receive the grace of God, and thereby inherit the world with Christ as the children of God.

In these words today we see that when God sent the Son, He was sending the Creator of all that we can see, to visit His Creation. And when the Creator visited the earth, everything changed.

Key points from reading:

The Word was the Son of God who created the world and everything in it.
The Word became flesh and blood in the form of Jesus to begin the Age of Grace.
The Word in the form of Jesus made known the nature of the Father, for He was sent by the Father to save mankind.

Discussion:

Scripture: John 1:14 – God Sent the Son
- In this verse we understand that The Word, this mighty spiritual being, was sent to the earth. The Word was and is the only begotten Son of God. God sent the Son into the world not to condemn it, but to save it.
- The Word became Jesus, and as we see in this verse, He was full of grace and truth. This is a different perspective than what had come before. Moses was sent to bring the law into being. But Jesus came from the right hand of the Almighty God and Father of all things to show us His nature. When God sent the Son into the world, He was showing us Himself. Jesus bears the stamp of the nature of God and He reflects the nature of God, as we are told in Hebrews chapter 1, verse 3.
- The glory of God the Father was brought down to earth and revealed to mankind when God sent the Son. And God sent the Son for the purpose of revealing His love, kindness, and grace, so that we could see and find a better way to live. He offers grace to all mankind, and the promise of eternal life to those who will believe in Him.
Scripture: John 1:15 – The Witness of John
- Jesus did not come without warning. The Old Testament and the prophets spoke extensively of His coming. When God sent the Son it was not a surprise visit. The Jews were well aware of the coming of the Messiah. But they were expecting a king to rule and reign over them, and to destroy all of their enemies. They misunderstood the purpose of God and the nature of the visitation of Jesus.
- But Jesus did not come without advance notice. It was prophesied that God would send a messenger before the Messiah came to, “Prepare the way.” That messenger was John the Baptist. John appeared prior to the revealing of Jesus as the Christ, and John’s ministry was to call the people to repentance. He prepared the people for the glory that was to come in person and the teachings of the Christ, the Son of God.
- John bore witness to the truth that Jesus was the Christ. When God sent the Son, He made sure there would be a witness to make the people ready for His Son. This was necessary because when God sent the Son, He would change the world. The whole world was altered when God sent the Son. All of the old rules and old ways could no longer stand under the grace that was revealed in Jesus Christ. And the role of John was to witness and present Christ to the world.
Scripture: John 1:16 – Grace upon Grace
- When The Word was revealed and came into the world as Jesus, those who received Him received grace upon grace. The grace of God is boundless. There are no boundaries or walls to God’s grace, which He offers to all mankind in Jesus Christ.
- Prior to the coming of Jesus, God made distinctions and selected Israel as His people. He did this for many reasons, but one of the main ones I feel was to establish a pure line for the coming of the Christ. Genealogy was important to the Jews. They needed to trace their ancestry back to Abraham as that was the proof of their heritage and inheritance in the lands of Canaan that became Israel. And it was necessary that Jesus came through specific lines in the nation of Israel to fulfill the prophecies about Him.
- Jesus had to be a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He had to be a descendant of the line of Judah, the lineage of the kings. And He had to be a Son of David for the prophecies to be fulfilled.
- But even though Jesus was born under the laws of the Israelites, He came to offer the world something far better than the law. When God sent the Son, He came to offer grace to the world. And grace upon grace. An unending, unlimited, and abundant supply of grace that would cover all of the sins of the world for those who came to Him in faith. This is what has been given to every person in the world, not just the children of Israel, but everyone, when God sent the Son into the world.
Scripture: John 1:17 – The Law versus Grace
- In this verse we see a great contrast. Moses came to lead the people of Israel out of the bondage of slavery in Egypt. And it was through Moses that God gave His laws by which the people were to live. The Ten Commandments, written by God on tablets of stone, were the key commandments given by God so that man could live according to the will of God. And there were many more commandments by which the people were taught to live.
- But the promise of eternity goes far beyond the commandments. The Jews became slaves to the commandments and they failed to see that the commandments were to guide their lives. The commandments were never meant to replace God, but in the slavish way the Jews chose to follow the commandments, they lost sight of the God who wrote them.
- Furthermore, they failed to understand the things that underpinned the commandments. Jesus pointed these things out when He said,
  
  “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith; these you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.” (Matthew 23:23)
  
  And;
  
  “But woe to you Pharisees! for you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God; these you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.” (Luke 11:42)
  
  The way the people followed the law did not emphasise the things that were important under the law. They focused on the keeping of the law rather than the love, compassion, justice, and mercy that the law represented. God sent the Son into the world to show them the better way under grace, where these things were made known apart from the law, even though the law bore witness to them.
Scripture: John 1:18 – God Sent the Son to Reveal Himself
- In the final verse in this section, we see the reason for the coming of Jesus Christ. It states that “No-one has ever seen God.” But God sent the Son to reveal Himself in Jesus Christ.
- As mentioned previously, Jesus reflects the nature of God. The nature of the Father is the nature of the Son. They are indistinguishable from one another. Not because they are the same being, but because they think, act, behave, and exist in the same frame of mind.
- The Bible shows the individuality of the Father and the Son in many places. But they are alike in all of the ways that matter. Jesus came to reveal the nature of the Father. The nature of the Son is the same as the nature of the Father. In the words, the works, and the life of Jesus we get a glimpse of who the Father is. As God is love, so too Jesus is love. As God is compassionate, merciful, and full of grace, so too is Jesus. And as this these last words in this scripture tell us, Jesus came to make known the Father to mankind. He came to show that the Father is not some distant, unfeeling, remote being. God the Father is a hands-on God, showing love and compassion to His people. And it is His greatest joy when we choose to follow His Son.

Prayer Points:

Pray and ask God to reveal Himself in the life and love that Jesus has for you. Seek His grace through faith so that He will come and make His home with you, as He has promised.