And the Word became
flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son
from the Father, full of grace and truth.                       --John 1:14

It has been a while since my last
entry, and I appreciate your patience. But let me pick up where I left off
previously. After telling us that the Word became flesh, John says, “We have
seen His glory.” Knowing that God had told Moses, “No man shall see Me, and
live” (Exodus 33:20), we are left to ask ourselves what John is referring to.
Certainly, he and the other disciples did not see the fullness of the glory of
God—the shekinah glory. If they had, they would have immediately died.
This leads many of us to conclude
that what they beheld was a lesser glory, a diminished glory, of sorts. And to
some extent, I would agree with this statement. On the other hand, I would
emphatically state that the glory they beheld was no small thing. For indeed,
they were eyewitnesses of the most glorious truth in the entire Bible—God
become Man.
Every time we think of the life of
Jesus Christ, it should fill us with awe and wonder, if for no other reason
than the fact that there is no more glorious truth than this: That God should
see fit to clothe Himself in humanity; the Creator becoming the creature. And
not just for the sake of wanting to feel what it’s like to be a man. He came
for a very specific purpose. Namely, to go to the cross and die a vicarious,
substitutionary death on our behalf!
In the Person of Jesus Christ, God
poured out all His wrath and hatred for our sins upon Himself. The wrath of God
was poured out on God! He did this so that we, rather than spending eternity in
hell, suffering torment and anguish beyond description, might spend it in
heaven, the glories of which match or perhaps even surpass the horrors of hell.
This is the great exchange. This is the gospel. This is the most glorious truth
ever revealed to Man.
So what was the nature of the glory
John beheld? What did John see in Christ that caused him to marvel as he wrote,
“We have seen His glory”? I will answer that question next time.
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