John 1:9-18 (ESV)

⁹ The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. ¹¹ He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. ¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) ¹⁶ For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

John’s biography of Jesus is different from the biographies of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In fact, Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called the “synoptic” Gospels because they are very similar. “Syn” means “together with,” and “optic” means “seeing,” so “synoptic” means “seeing together.” John focuses more on the themes of life, light, and the Holy Spirit. The Word, the Creator, or the Light came into the world. Even though he was the one who made the world and gave life to all who inhabit it, the world rejected him. And worse, his own people, the nation of Israel, rejected him too. Yet some received him. Not only did they receive him, but also they believed in his name. They embraced who the Word was as a person, his message, and who he claimed to be. These people were given the right to be the children of God. Only those who have trusted in Christ and turned from their sin are adopted into the family of God. And that privilege actually results from an act of God. Verse 14 is astonishing. “The Word became flesh” and lived with humans. The second person of the triune God put on flesh and became a human being. And John, along with the other apostles, beheld his glory as he lived, taught, and worked miracles among them.

Verse 18 declares that “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” The Word of God who took on flesh, Jesus, who was at the side of and co-equal with the Father as a member of the triune Godhead, broke through the wall between God and man by becoming one of us. In an Old Testament encounter with God, even though his glory was veiled, there was a terror associated with viewing his splendor. But God has made himself known to us in Jesus. The Greek verb used for “made known” is exegeomai, from which we get “exegete.” Jesus has revealed the Father to us. Don’t let anyone ever convince you that the Son is not equal to the Father. If you want to see the Father, then look at the Son. If you want to please the Father, then please the Son. If you want to be like the Father, then be like the Son.