SCRIPTURE: John 1
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. [John 1:14]
When people first saw and heard Jesus, something deep and profound struck them deep inside.
They loved Him or they hated Him, but they could not figure Him out.
Those that became His followers did so because they sensed the something of God in Him – His glory, His grace, His truth; they couldn’t put their finger on it, but they sensed it!
When John wrote his gospel, it was late in his life, maybe 60 years after he first met Jesus.
By this time he had come to understand that Jesus was – believe it or not – the Word of God that became human.
But what did he mean by “the Word of God”.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. [John 1:1-4]
In both Greek and Jewish religious philosophy, the pure Being of ‘God’ expressed itself through a mediating force – called the ‘logos’ (word, reason, wisdom).
We do not know God’s essence, we know God’s expression: like the sun, we cannot endure its essence, we can only experience it from a distance, through it’s rays – we see it, we feel it, but in mediated form.
The same with God – we cannot encounter God as God, we need God’s pure Being mediated to us somehow.
How does the pure Being God created something other than itself?
God speaks it into existence – and that word is the connection between what God has in mind, and the reality created.
Just like us, we need a means to translate our thoughts into action – words and hands and tools.
But God only needs to speak it, and that something becomes reality – And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. [Genesis 1:3]

After reflecting on his experience of Jesus, with the help of the Holy Spirit, John and the other believers realize that this ‘logos’ (this connecting, mediating force between God and us) took on flesh, became human – connected with us literally – to translate God’s plan of salvation into action, to help us experience His heart!
God could have spoken the plan, but He chose to personally come and show it to us; no longer do we hear about God’s grace and truth and glory, we see it, we experience it, up-close and personal.
This may sound mind-boggling, but it essentially means that the pure being of God – beyond our ability and experience to endure, chose to make Himself visible, tangible, audible, in order to show us His grace and truth.
Seeing Jesus (the logos made flesh) we the fullness of God in human form, so that we can share in (experience) His fullness [Colossians 2:9-10].

I believe the rest of the bible is intended to make us focus on Jesus; the old testament (the Jewish part of the bible) hinted that God was coming like this, but it did not explain exactly how.
But when people met Jesus, they said, ‘this is it! this is what they were talking about!’
Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote–Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” [John 1:45]
Not everyone accepted it (though I do believe everyone felt something, everyone was impacted somehow), but those who did experienced God in a whole new way- and everything changed for them.
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. [John 1:11-12]

How do I respond to my encounter with Jesus; what will I do?
Will I accept that Jesus is actually God – God’s heart, God’s mind, God’s pure Being – translated in the flesh, so that I can see, hear and experience Him, His love, grace, truth and glory?
Will I discover in Him not only who God is, but also who I am – His much loved child?

PRAYER:
Lord Jesus, somehow You represent the fullness of God to me, and in You is experience and receive it. I want to know You, so that I may know God, and so be blessed!