John 1:14-18 We Have Seen His Glory

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We Have Seen His Glory

John 1:14-18

Introduction: The gospel John carries with it a dominate similarity to John’s Revelation. In Revelation, John begins by telling us the message has been written in “signs.” In other words, we are not to simply see the surface of the story, but to behold a deeper message from the story. In his gospel, John again highlights “signs.” We are aware of John revealing seven miracles, which he calls signs because of their deeper messages. However, we need also to be aware that the story lines are also filled with signs. How do we understand these? Just as in the book of Revelation, the signs are understood through the fact that they allude to Old Testament texts that give us the complete picture, or said another way, the complete message. The OT texts were originally given to prepare us for the NT text that give us the full meaning.

You can see this in our text: “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (16). Jesus has brought a fullness that added grace on top of grace. “Fullness” implies that there was something not full before. If we are to understand fullness, we must know what was partially full before. This is the nature of John’s message. 

1. Words and Phrases That Trigger OT Pictures
   1. “The Word became flesh” – the physical embodiment of that power that brought all things into existence has stepped out of that eternal mystery and taken on a body like ours so that we can know and understand him. 
   2. “Dwelt” – ‘Tabernacled’ – Reminder of promises in which God said he would dwell with us and he would be our God and we would be his people. Reminder of the tabernacle/temple scenes, but circumstances that were limited to God at a distance.
   3. “Beheld his glory” – reminder of Moses desiring to see the glory of God. Glory is the major key of the text. Being able to see his glory is obviously something that never happened previously. In fact, compare the beginning of the text with the end. Verse 14, we have seen his glory. Verse 18, “No one has every seen God…he has made him known.” 
   4. “From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses…” Reminds us that there is a comparison to be made from what took place through Moses and what we have now that is so much greater in Christ.
   5. “He has made him known” – “exegesis” – the Word, the Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has given us a full interpretation of God.
2. The Word Dwelt Among Us
   1. Our first connection is seen in the phrase, “the Word…dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory.” 
      1. If we have truly seen the OT story, we know that after man is removed from the Garden because of sin, everything that God does from that time on is to make it possible for him to dwell in the midst of his people. In Exodus 25:8 we read, “Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.” God was foreshadowing for Israel how he would solve their sin problem so that he could again dwell with them. The whole point of the Bible story is God’s with us. 
      2. Further, notice John’s mention of seeing his glory. You will remember that when the tabernacle was completed, the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. The scripture follows up by saying, “And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Exodus 40:35). Even Moses could not come near! 
      3. Later, in 1 Kings 8:10-11, when the Solomon completed the temple, the glory of the Lord again filled the house of the Lord “so that the priests could not stand to minister.” God continues to show that when the glory of the Lord is present, man cannot come near.
      4. But we must ask, what message is God sending in this display of his glory? It is a picture of assurance based on God’s presence. If God is present, dwelling in our midst, then we have assurance that he has accepted us, will protect and provide for us, and eventually bring us to live forever in his presence. No fear! 
      5. In fact, in 2 Chron. 7:1-3, when the glory of the Lord filled the temple, the people fell on their faces and gave thanks saying, “For He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever.” The people understood the glory of the Lord filling the temple as an outpouring of God’s grace.
      6. Of course, the opposite was also true if God’s glory was not present. In the days of Ezekiel, when Israel had fallen into sin and the Babylonians are outside the gates of the city, Ezekiel pictures the glory of the Lord leaving the temple (9:3, 10:4, 10:18, 11:23)
      7. Finally, the fact that no one could come near when the glory of the Lord filled God’s house, also illustrated that God had not fully opened the way for man to come near to him.
   2. There is one more fact that prepares us for John’s message. After the Babylonians destroyed the temple in 586, Judah was commanded to build a new temple. But when that temple was completed in 516, the glory of the Lord did not fill the temple! Instead, Haggai 2:4-9 promised that His glory would again fill His house and the latter glory will be more than the former.
   3. Therefore, we can now see the connection. When John said, “The Word became flesh and ‘tabernacled’ among us, and we have seen his glory…” we have seen the fulfillment of what God had been foreshadowing from the sin of the Garden. God has returned to dwell with his people! Every day we should be keenly aware of living in his presence! No fear! The cloud by day and the fire by night are always present with us.
      In John 2, we will see that Jesus is our new Temple in which we can enter into the presence of God.
3. Main Point: We Have Seen His Glory…Full of Grace & Truth
   1. Notice the connections of verses 14c – 17:
      1. In the Son we see the glory of God…full of grace and truth
      2. Verse 15, the parenthetical, proclaims the reason – he was before John and ranks before him, thus truly God.
      3. Now leave out the parenthetical between 14 and 16: “full of grace and truth…from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.”
   2. Notice further connections: Verse 16 is explaining the last phrase of verse 14. The Word, the “only Son” is full of grace and truth…For from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. Then notice verse 17, For the law came through Moses. Verse 17 is explaining the phrase, “grace upon grace” and alerting us to the connection of the giving of the Law at the time of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt.
   3. Therefore, seeing the glory of the Son is the same as being able to access the one who is “full of grace and truth.” Then, from this fullness we have received “grace upon grace,” or the idea is, grace added to grace. NIV translates, “grace in place of grace already given.”
   4. Therefore, John is making reference to the grace God gave Israel when he delivered them out of Egypt and gave them the Law. To fully make the connection, we need a reminder of what happened at Mt. Sinai.
      1. You will remember that God made a covenant with Israel, spoke the 10 commandments with his own voice from heaven, and Israel promised to obey. The covenant relationship was then established and the tabernacle pattern was given so God could dwell in their midst.
      2. However, while Moses was on the mountain, Israel made a golden calf and turned to idolatry. The beginning of Exodus 33 informs us that the covenant relationship had been broken. God refused to go with them to Canaan lest he consume them on the way. Thus, God’s presence would no longer be with them. The tabernacle project was cancelled, the pillar of fire and the cloud was gone, and the covenantal tablets were broken.
   5. When Moses heard this disastrous word, he approached the Lord to make intercession (33:12–34:6).
      1. In verse 13, Moses’ first request: “show me know your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight.” In other words, if I’m going to intercede for this people, I have to know you and know how to find favor with you.
      2. In verse 14, God promises to have his presence with Moses alone. But Moses will not acquiesce to that and urges God to go with the nation (16).
      3. In verse 17, God promises to go with the people as well. At that point Moses said, “Show me your glory.” In other words, bring your glory back, show it to me in order to give assurance that you will be with us.
      4. God’s answer was, “I will make all my goodness pass before you…and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” In other words, I have a right to choose upon whom I will show mercy, and therefore I will show mercy to Israel.
      5. In verse 20, God follows up with, “But you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” When God showed Moses a part of his glory, he was expressing confirmation of his promise to show mercy and grace.
      6. Finally, in 34:5-6, God passes before Moses and proclaims his name: “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness…” 
      7. Once Moses saw and heard this, he appealed to God to go with his people and forgive them based on his steadfast love and faithfulness. Covenant renewed! Presence renewed! 
   6. Now, can you see the same scene happening in our text?
      1. Moses could not see the full glory of the Lord, else he would die. But now, we have seen his glory! We have seen his fullness! This is not a representation of God; some visual likeness of glory. “We have seen his glory!” 
      2. If that is not clear enough, John says “we beheld the glory as of the only Son from the Father.” Only Son (the one and only of his kind. Unique, special relationship (Cf. Heb. 11:17). Further, he is “who is at the Father’s side (in the bosom of the Father), and has made him known” (vs. 18). In other words, the Son is the Word, and the Word was with God and is God. As Jesus said to Philip, “when you have seen me, you have seen the Father.”
      3. This is the point of verse 18 is “No one has ever seen God” – but now that has all changed! The Son “has made him known.” And, “we have seen his glory.”
4. What This Means to Us
   1. When Moses was with God on the mountain, the Lord said, “Your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves…” Moses did everything he could to save the people, even offering that God would blot him out of his book of life. None of that worked. But then Moses asked, “Please show me know your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight,” everything changed. A measure of God’s glory passed before Moses and God’s name was proclaimed – “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness…” 
   2. We have struggled all our lives with how God could save us. Just like Israel, we have corrupted ourselves and deserve to be destroyed. Inside of us, we have that same desire as Moses, Lord, show us your glory that we may know you in order to find favor in your sight. 
      1. Therefore, the Word became flesh, and we saw his glory.
      2. He is “full of grace and truth (faithfulness).”
      3. And “from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.” Grace was given Israel, but now grace has been added on top of grace. We have received the fullness of God’s grace.
      4. How have we seen him? “The only one, who is God, the only Son, in the bosom of the Father, has made him known.” There is no one closer. There is no one else like him. He is the revelation of God because he is God.
   3. Why did God show his glory to Moses? To give him assurance of mercy, of covenant, of his faithfulness, of his presence with him and the people. That is why he has shown us his glory. 
   4. God’s personal revelation of himself has no parallel elsewhere, nor has it ever been repeated. This is the foolishness of thinking that God can be found in any of the religions of the world, in any of the human inventions. Mercy is found where God’s shows his glory! And only in the one and only Son is that glory seen and found.

Berry Kercheville