[Power of the Word] We Beheld His Glory
Daniel Brady
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.