“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

The theological word for Jesus’ coming to earth is incarnation. That’s from the Latin word for flesh which is the direct source of our word carnal. The idea is that God didn’t just put on a costume in Jesus. He became fully human and lived right here on earth as one of us. While Luke and Matthew tell the story of His arrival, John tells us the truth of who He actually was and what His coming meant. Let’s talk about this glorious truth today with John’s help.

For all the celebrating the birth of a baby at Christmastime, it is worthwhile on occasion to remind ourselves of just who this baby was. This baby was Jesus, the Son of God. He was God in human flesh. The God who created all we see and don’t had come to earth to be among us. But He wasn’t just among us. He was one of us. The Word became flesh, John said. In what is probably my single favorite bit of translation in The Message, Peterson words it like this: “God became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood.”

To get a sense of just how mind-blowingly amazing of a truth this is, consider for just a minute what the apostle Paul would later write about Jesus when describing Him in a great deal more of His fullness than we find just about anywhere else in the Scriptures in his letter to the Colossian believers.

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.” And a little later, “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile everything to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”

This Jesus is the one who came to earth and took on human flesh as a baby. The one who made the stars marveled in wonder at them. The one who first gave us breath took a first breath with His new and fragile lungs. The one who has no need and who provides all things for all people made Himself completely dependent on His earthly mother for all His sustenance. The one who was betrayed by sinners, and who could have rightly judged them with fire and fury, put Himself entirely in their care.

And why would He do all of this? John tells us in the verses just before this magisterial truth. “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.” He came as a child so that we could become once again the children of God we were made to be in the beginning.

More than this, He came to bring us life. This He did by eventually giving up His own life to pay the price for our sins; the very sins that led to His excruciatingly painful death along with every other sin carried out or conceived. He could this because, as John says right here, He came full of grace and truth.

Jesus was all of both of these things. He was not more truth than grace. That would have resulted in harsh judgment and an unyielding justice. At the same time, He was not more grace than truth. That would have led to a squishy permissivism whereby sin would have been allowed to flourish, which was the very thing He came to put a stop to. Jesus came full of both grace and truth. He held us to account, but then paid the account for us so that we could simply enjoy the life He won if only we would put our trust in Him.

Friends, this is who we are preparing to celebrate on the third day from now. I wonder: Do you know Him? If you don’t, now is a great time to fix that so that this Christmas celebration can be sweet in a whole new way. May you know the joy of Jesus, the God who put on flesh to bring you life as you continue to celebrate your way through this season.