A Stunning Declaration
Scripture Reading — John 1:14, 16-18; 1 John 1:1-4
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
—John 1:14
This is a stunning, breathtaking declaration. It first announces that a crossing of the great divide—between heaven and earth, between eternity and time—took place. God’s Son came to earth to dwell among us. As God had walked in the garden in the cool of the day with Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:8), so God’s Son came in the wearying heat of human struggle to live with us.
What is it about God that he loves us so much and so strongly desires to be with us?
This declaration states that the Word became flesh. This means he became fully human, like us, except that he was without sin (Hebrews 2:17; 4:15). By assuming “our ignoble and base flesh,” as the theologian John Calvin put it, the Word came to know our sorrows; he bore our pain and suffering; he even took on himself the punishment for our sin (Isaiah 53:3-6). Flesh is what we are. As sinful flesh, we desperately needed help, so flesh is what the eternal Word became!
In Genesis 3 we are told that Adam and Eve wanted to be like God, and in their disobedience they experienced disaster and eventual death. But in Christ, the Word, God was willing to become like us so that all could be made right again.
What a remarkable God! What amazing love!
We bow before your creative power, O God. We admire the beauty of all you have made. And we are astonished at your desire to be with us. Thank you for that desire, for it is our salvation. Amen.
About the author — Harvey Stob
Rev. Harvey Stob and his wife, Audrey, served as missionaries in Argentina for eleven years. They then served churches in Cincinnati, Ohio; Ridgewood, New Jersey; and Ann Arbor, Michigan. Harvey retired from full-time pastoral work in 2009. He and Audrey have three children and seven grandchildren.
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