Christ's Incarnation: Wrap Up

OK, let's wrap this puppy up!

We've talked about Christ's incarnation and what is means, we've talked about Christ's glory. Let's talk about the purpose of Christ's incarnation. There are three parts to this. Christ's incarnation is meant to reveal the nature of God, the grace of God, and the truth of God.

God's Nature (John 1:18)

We've already talked about this, but until the incarnation of Christ, men had never seen God in the flesh. They had seen many aspects of God, such as the theophanies of the Old Testament, the handiwork of God in creation (Romans 1:20), and they had read about Him in the Old Testament. But now, God wants us to know Him personally! We're able to have a relationship with Him now that we had never been able to have before!!!! In this verse (18), John says that Jesus has made Him known. The verb used here means "revealed", "interpreted", or "made known." This gives us a clue as to why John calls Christ "the Word." Think about it: through words, we make our feelings known. In the same way God makes his feelings about us known to us through His Word (check out Hebrews 1:1-2).


God's Grace (John 1:14, 16-17)

In the Old Testament, man experienced God's Law and Justice. However, God was gracious still. What are some ways that we know of that God was gracious to man in the Old Testament? So, how does the incarnation reveal Christ's grace? Well, God didn't have to send Jesus to begin with. We most certainly did not deserve it. In fact, man did not even want God's love and grace! Yet, despite our rejection of Him, God still sent His son. And this is how the incarnation reveals Christ's grace.

God's Truth (John 1:14)

What's another way to think of God's truth? Maybe this will help. God loves us, but His truthfulness will not let Him overlook our sin. Sin has to be punished. So, Christ came to be punished for us. Christ's agony on the cross reveals not only the grace and truth of God, but also these three things:

1. The awful consequences of sin

2. God's hatred of sin

3. The consequences that we must pay if we refuse His substitute

So, wrapping up John 1 (and I promise we will move quicker through the other chapters), we see both the importance of Christ's preexistence to prove Christ's deity, but also the need for Christ's preexistence to help us see and personally experience God. So, why do you think John packed this much into John 1?