The Word Became Flesh

John 1:1-5, 9-14. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner during our Christmas Service, December 21, 2025.

We are pausing on our study of 1 Peter today in order to focus on the Incarnation of Jesus.  The Messiah would not just come to fix Israel, but he would also come to fix the Creation through a process of re-creation.  Matthew and Luke emphasize the human genealogy of Jesus.  However, John focuses on the fact that Jesus was an incarnation of the eternal Word of God that was revealed in the very first Word, “Let there be Light!”  The Word that brought forth all of creation in accordance with the will of the Father is the same Word that comes into the fallen world in order to bring about a re-creation.

This opening passage of John is intended to point us back to Genesis chapter one, helping us to understand the connection between Jesus and the Word of God.  The original creation is pictured as a world covered with darkness and water, i.e., not a good place for humans to live.  The destructive forces of sin brings us back to this state in a very real way.  We become stuck in darkness and the systems of our own making that are not good for us as humans.  At a particular point in time, however, God the Father sent the One True Light into the world so that we could see, believe, and be re-created.

Let’s look at our passage.

Jesus was the Word of God at creation (v. 1-5,14)

Jesus is the name that was given to a human who was unlike any other.  In some respects, this name only references the event in which the second person of the Godhead took on the additional nature of a human.  Yet, God had planned for this incarnation from the very beginning.  If Jesus is the Lamb, slain from the foundations of the earth (Revelation 13:8), then he was also incarnated from the foundations of the earth.  What I mean is that the Incarnation was the plan from the beginning.  The Father knew that it would become necessary.

Thus, there is nothing wrong with talking about Jesus being the Word of God back in Genesis one, as long as we don’t think of him as being a human being at that time.  Jesus is not a man who became God.  He is God who has become a unique man.  John is tying this back to the first light that came forth from the Word of God in the beginning.  He is showing us the backstory to the reality of who this Jesus truly was.

We should note the closeness of Jesus, the Word, to God in this section.  John uses four statements to reveal this.

1. The Word existed at the beginning of creation.
2. The Word was with (right up next to) God.  Before we go on, I would note that verse 18 refers to him being “in the bosom of the Father.  This pictures The Word, Jesus, within the embrace of the Father.  It is a picture of intimate relationship.
3. The Word was God.
4. The Word was in the beginning with God.

There is no clearer way to say that the Father and the eternal Son are both distinct and yet, one.  Like words that proceed from the inner part of a man, so the Son proceeds from the Father.

This passage is both mysterious and very clear.  The One True God has existed from before creation as a unity of plurality, a community of loving relationship.  God is not dependent upon creation, but He does desire relationship with it, with us.  He created this universe, and He can uncreate it.  He is the only uncreated thing that exists.

Genesis 1 pictures God creating through a series of commands, “Let there be light,” and so on.  By referring to Jesus as the Word of God, John shows us that there is a distinction of activity with God.  The Father wills and sends, but it is the Word, Jesus, who comes forth to do the will of the Father.  This makes Jesus the active agent of creation.  Verse 3 tells us that all things came into being through him.  To be clearer, apart from Jesus, the Word, “nothing came into being that has come into being.” This shuts down the argument that the Father must have created Jesus, or that a contradiction exists in which it looks like John says that the Word created the Father.  The Father and the Word are not a created being.  Rather, they are an eternal unity that existed before time itself was created.

Imagine a man walking on this earth knowing that everything on it owes its existence to him.  There are many powerful people on this planet who act like everyone owes their existence to them, but this is only true of Jesus.  All of creation owes its existence to Jesus, the Word of God.

We can also see the personhood of The Word in this passage.  John clearly sees the Word not as an impersonal force that comes from the Father, but as a person.  He refers to “the Word” as a means of helping us make the tie to Genesis chapter one.  Notice verse 14 expressly states that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  Even before this, the passage uses masculine personal pronouns of the Word (“through him,” “by him,” etc.).  This continues in the next verses as well.

He became a man to redeem and recreate humanity (v. 9-13)

The story of creation is not yet complete.  God has purpose and meaning for everything that exists, and humans are at the middle of that purpose.  Genesis chapter three shows how everything went sideways.  Mankind has lost its place and ability to image God the Father.  The Word become flesh, i.e., Jesus, came in order to redeem and re-create humanity.

Jesus pays the price to give us back what has been lost.  This has two stages to it.  Stage one involves us remaining mortal and learning to battle our sin, while growing in the ability to image God the Father within a fallen world.  Stage two comes into play when we inherit a new, immortal body and step into a restored Eden, a new heavens and a new earth.

As the True Light (v. 9), Jesus comes into the world to enlighten us just as we see in Genesis chapter one.  There are many forces from within humanity and from the fallen angels that promise to enlighten humanity.  The enlightenment of the 1600s forward projected the idea that there is no God and that the world around us can be disenchanted from such antiquated notions.  These are false lights that only mislead and bring humanity into greater and greater bondage, into blindness.  Only Jesus can truly enlighten us to our true purpose, which is to image God, and to the means by which all things can be fixed, which is to put your trust in him.  This world pretends like Jesus is a nice story but can’t really affect this world.  Jesus was sent to open our eyes to the reality of the Father’s love for us.

John tells us that the Word that had become flesh was not recognized and received for who he really is.  Verse 5 tells us that the light shined in the darkness but the darkness did not comprehend it.  The word translated “comprehend” also has the connotation of overcoming it.  When a person mentally grasps something, they comprehend it.  However, people often try to take hold of messaging and turn it to their own ends.  This is an overcoming and repackaging of Jesus, which John declares doesn’t work. 

We are all in the dark to the plans and purposes of God the Father without Jesus.  In him, we can step into the light and know the truth.

Verse 10 tells us that the world he made did not know him.  Verse 11 states that those who were his own did not receive him.  This is not just about Israel, although they are the initial example of this.  We become so blinded by the systems of this world that we cannot recognize the one who made us and gave us a purpose, meaning, value.  Thus, Jesus was treated as a common heretic by Jews and as a common rabble rouser by the Romans.  Yet, this was not the truth about who he was.

Verses 12 and 13 lay the path of redemption for humanity as a whole, but also for us as individuals.  We are to receive Jesus as sent by God to us.  We are to believe in His name.  That is, we are to live our life by faith in who He is.  We are not to trust in our genetics, our family wealth, our technology, and our ability to will things into being.  We are to embrace being spiritually reborn by the will of God the Father.

One day we will be also physically reborn by the will of God the Father, and through the Lord Jesus, King Messiah.  Do not lose heart.  Things are not falling apart.  God is simply birthing new children into the world, until the day that He brings this world into judgment.

May God strengthen your faith this year in the One who became human in order to save us from our ruined condition.  The world may not look like it is being redeemed by Jesus, but he is focused on our hearts first.  Fear not!  The day will come when Jesus will take up the thrones of this earth and bring all things into the glorious rule of the One True Light!

Word Became Flesh audio

The Ongoing Meaning of Jesus

For the next several Sundays we will be looking at what meaning Jesus has for today.  In a world that loves to take things from the past and give them whatever meaning it wants, we need to challenge ourselves.  Am I satisfied using Jesus for the meaning I want or do I want to know the True meaning God intended for him to have in my life?  People who have used Jesus for their own personal meaning over the years can grow tired and walk away from Jesus as if he has no meaning for today.  But this couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Today we will look at Acts 2:22-32, as Peter explains to the people of Jerusalem what was going on.  Jesus had been crucified around 40 days earlier.  In that sense many people had moved on.  “Well, he must not have been the messiah.”  However, there were rumors of a “resurrection.”  But in reality Jesus had ceased to have any meaning.  He was a possibility that proved false.  “Let’s move on.”  It is in this environment that the Holy Spirit comes upon the disciples.  As they walk out onto the streets of Jerusalem rejoicing and praising God, the crowd notices that they are speaking in many languages that is impossible.  In fact they assume the people are merely drunk and out of their mind.  But in this environment, Peter speaks to the crowd.  Let’s look at what he says.

Peter Reminds Them About Jesus

Peter begins by reminding the crowd that the recent life of Jesus was one that was spectacular.  He says that Jesus was attested by God.  This literally means that Jesus was “exhibited” or “pointed out” by God.  The life of Jesus was highlighted with things that could not be overlooked.  God’s hand and power was clearly evident in it.  Peter mentions the miracles (literally the powerful actions), the wonders (that which causes you to stop and look), and signs (activity that points to something.  Jesus fed 1,000’s of people with just one lunch.  Jesus had healed people who had been blind, mute, or lame for long periods of times, even from birth.  These were not charades.  These were events that left people with their mouths open saying, “who is this?”  But Jesus was not just “wowing” the crowd.  The miracles had a purpose.  They pointed to something.  When Jesus fed the crowds out in the wilderness it was pointing back to how God fed Israel in the wilderness with Moses.  It was a Sign that was making them remember the power of God in Israel’s past.  They were supposed to make the connection.  Even the cross itself was a sign that was pointing back to the sacrifices of the Old Testament, especially the near sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham.  So with so much evidence of God’s hand of Jesus, how could he be killed?

Peter says that God had given Jesus into the hands of Israel.  This is a term that is used when we turn someone in to the authorities.  Yes Jesus was a gift, but he was also delivered into the hands of the authorities.  They had no power to take his life from him.  But God allowed them to exercise such power.  Why?  He had a “determined purpose.”  Jesus was to be his sacrifice for the sins of mankind.  He was to be the means of taking away the sins of sinners.  Also, Peter mentions God’s foreknowledge.  God knew that Israel would become so captive to sin that even though they were given truth, in the Law, they would be so corrupt that they would kill God if they could.  In Jesus they could.  So the death of Jesus was not proof that he wasn’t the messiah.  Rather, it was proof that God was doing something different with the messiah than they thought.

Peter then reminds them that the execution of Jesus was done unlawfully.  Now there was a trial and, even though it stretched the bounds of the law, it had the appearance of being lawful.  However, the truth was that this was an unlawful execution.  Throughout history man has operated within the boundaries of the law to do “unlawful” things.  These things are wrong by the laws of God, but also by the spirit of the law.  When we use the law to hurt others we are abusing the law and using it lawlessly.  So this is not a “legal” point in the courts of men.  It was a legal point in the courts of God.  They were lawless and guilty before God whether they “felt” guilty or not.  They did this over the top of God’s witness. 

It Is Impossible For Jesus To Remain Dead

Peter, in verses 24 and following, moves to the resurrection.  Jesus was raised from the dead because it was impossible for death to hold him.  The pictures are beautiful.  He was “loosed” from the birth pangs of death.  This reminds us of how Lazarus was loosed from the grave clothes that held him.  But here Jesus is having the “pains” of death unwrapped off of him.  It has been pointed out that for Jesus the tomb became the womb of the resurrected life to which he was going to be raised up.

Why is it impossible?  Peter answers that by quoting from Psalm 16:8-11.  However, if I were to sum it up, I would say that it was because of the relationship that Jesus had with the Father.  David’s close relationship with God brought him to a point where he not only realized that God would not leave him in the grave, but that God would not let the coming Messiah even see corruption, which is a clear reference to physical decay.   Jesus as the eternal Word of God had been in relationship with the Father before the worlds were ever created.  It was impossible for him to be “extinguished” by the mere death of his humanity upon a cross.  God would not let his promises to David go unfulfilled and He would not completely turn away from His Son.

In fact Peter states that the disciples were witnesses of these things.  Not just the 11 plus Matthias, but over 500 followers of Jesus saw him at one time; along with his multiple appearances to many different groups at many different times.  Peter and the other believers were witnesses of the fact that Jesus was resurrected and alive.  Though Jerusalem had moved on past Jesus, Jesus was not done with them.

Final Thoughts

The modern world has relegated Jesus to a thing of the past that is dead and gone.  Even many of those who do “believe” in Jesus, do so without believing that anything in the Bible was literally true.  They look to it as an inspiring story for what I want to do today.  But Jesus didn’t die to just be your inspiration.  It is impossible for Jesus to remain irrelevant to the politics and entertainments of this world.  Why? Jesus cannot remain irrelevant forever, precisely because he is alive and sitting at the right hand of the Father, awaiting the command to come and judge the nations of the world.  Are you ready?  Jesus must not continue to be irrelevant in your life, precisely because if he does then you will have to face God with the guilt of your rebellion against Him hanging over your head.  He is not relevant because you have a good feeling about him.  He is relevant because He is The Truth, The Way, and the only one who can give you Life.  Don’t wait another day without asking Jesus to forgive you of your sins and taking your place in his kingdom of hearts by following his word.

Ongoing Meaning audio