The very Word who was with God in the beginning became incarnate to tabernacle among us!

[jidong xiao]

约翰福音以这样的话开头：“太初有话，话与神同在，话就是神。”（约一1。）“太初”指已过的永远。在太初，在已过的永远里有话。约翰若没有在他的福音书里写这句话，我们绝不会想像到，我们的救主是永远的话。这启示太奇妙了！甚至这启示在我们跟前，我们还可能不明白“话”的真义。你能解释“话”是甚么？你知道有甚么道德或哲学的书籍有“太初有话”这样的辞句？约翰不仅说太初有话，他还说话与神同在，话就是神。然后他接着说，“生命在祂里面，这生命就是人的光。”（约一4。）我们从约翰一章十四节知道，这一位太初就有的话，成了肉体，支搭帐幕在我们中间。在约翰一章一节、四节和十四节，有话、神、生命、光和肉体。那是神的美妙的话，成了肉体。我们也许不以正面的眼光来看肉体一辞，但圣经宣告，话成了肉体。这是约翰著作中所传达的部分启示。

约翰一章十四节告诉我们，成了肉体的话，支搭帐幕在我们中间。当话成了肉体，祂就成了神的帐幕。我们从出埃及记知道，旧约的帐幕，乃是基督的豫表，就是神和人的互居之所。神住在帐幕里，而我们能进入这帐幕，成为神的“室友。

The Gospel of John opens with the words, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). The words "in the beginning" denote eternity past. In the beginning, in eternity past, was the Word. If John had not written this in his Gospel, we would never have imagined that our Savior was the eternal Word. What a marvelous revelation this is! Even with this revelation before us, we still may not be able to understand the true significance of the Word. Can you explain what the Word is? Do you know any books of ethics or philosophy that have such an expression as "in the beginning was the Word"? John says not only that the Word was in the beginning, but also that the Word was with God and that the Word was God. Then he goes on to 7 say, "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men"(v. 4). We know from John 1:14 that this One, who was the Word in the beginning, became flesh and tabernacled among us. In John 1:1, 4, and 14 we have Word, God, life, light, and flesh. The wonderful Word, who is God, became flesh. We may not regard the word flesh in a positive way, but the Bible declares that the Word became flesh. This is part of the revelation conveyed in John's writings.

In John 1:14 we are told that the Word who became flesh tabernacled among us.  When the Word became flesh, He became the tabernacle of God. We know from the book of Exodus that the tabernacle in the Old Testament, a type of Christ, was a mutual dwelling place for both God and man. God dwells in the tabernacle, and we can enter this tabernacle to be God's "roommate."