In Christ, God Has Come to Stay :: John 1:1-14 (15-18)

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When King Solomon dedicated the first temple in Jerusalem, he wondered aloud ... Will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain [him]. How much less this house that I have built! (1 Ki 8:27). 

This was a marvelous observation from the wisest man on earth just moments after the glorious cloud of YHWH’s presence filled the temple in such a way that the priests could not stand to minister there (v 11). 

Of course, Solomon’s temple was only a prelude for what would follow. The Word [that] was in the beginning and was with God and was God ... the Word through whom all things happened ... the Word who is Life and Light came into the world. ... He entered his temple conceived in Mary’s womb ... and [he] dwelt among us (Jn 1:10-11,14). True God, the maker of heaven and earth, enfleshed himself as True Man with complete human nature. He is Immanuel, God with us. He has a name and a birthday ... just like you and me. 

Yes, Jesus has indeed dwelled on earth ... and ... 

IN HIM, GOD HAS COME TO STAY

1.

This is why we celebrate Christmas. Forget all about the gifts you give each other. Christmas isn’t about our gift giving. It’s about God’s giving. As we heard the angel announce last night, Behold, I announce to you good news, a great joy which will be for all people, because to you today is born a savior who is Christ the Lord in the city of David (Lk 2:10-11). 

Though we couldn’t look upon the holiness of God before that time, or even enter his temple, Jesus has entered human history and entered his. He who is one with the Father has become one with us ... finally and permanently. 

This is not some kind of mystical or spiritual union. Mysticism relies on inner experiences, contemplations, and feelings. The problem is those feelings, contemplations, and experiences change. They lead us to a theology of our own glory. But God does not change. His glory is seen in the incarnation ... his life, his death, his resurrection. These aren’t spiritual concepts. God truly became a human being in the person of Jesus to live and die and rise, to give us new life. 

2.

First, he truly experienced everything you experience and felt every emotion you feel. We did not unite ourselves with him. He united himself with us. He stood in our place, walked in our shoes, bore our sins and burdens and sorrows. He subjected himself to our pain and misery. He allowed himself to face our depravity and confront death on a cross. He did that to give us his peace.

While we will mock him, and beat him, and reject him, and crucify him ... just like the world does with their ideas about God ... God will not abandon his temple that is not made with hands. His incarnation will not cease. After he rested from his work of redemption, he rose on the third day, just as Jesus told us he would, Destroy this temple ... that is, the temple of his body ... and in three days I will raise it up, Jesus said in John 2:19. I came so that you will have life and have it abundantly, Jesus said even later (John 10:10). 

3.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the Word Become Flesh is himself life. And this Life, his life, is given to all who believe in the voluntary passion of his death. For without the shedding of blood, his innocent blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.  

This is one of the truths Paul is getting at in our epistle where he writes ... When the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom God poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:4-7).

So if you want to know who God is ... the one Wise God ... then look no further than the Word Become Flesh who does indeed dwell with us and gives himself to us, sharing himself with us. Look no further than the font and the altar for his presence. His body and blood is here. Through these means, he is the God who lives, and loves, and dies, and rises, and gives life ... himself to you. He is the God who forgives without condition. He does this so that he will always be with you.

Yes, as John says, to all who believe in his name, he gives the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (vv 12-13).  

[Conclusion]

So will God really dwell on earth? 

Can the creation really contain the Creator? 

Is the finite capable of the infinite? 

The answer is yes ... finally and decisively ... in Jesus Christ. Behold, Saint John wrote in the Revelation, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God (Rev 21:3). 

Christmas, then, is not only a celebration of what God once did. It is a celebration of God with us ... always and forever ... in Jesus’ name.

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