The Word Became Flesh and Dwelt Among Us

[This devotion is taken from one section of the sermon on John 1:14-18 preached December 16, 2018.]

The Word was with God. The Word was God. Nothing was created apart from the Word.

That Word became flesh, became baby Jesus laid in a manger. And that Word dwelt among us.

The Greek word translated “dwelt” is interesting; it has the same root as “tent” or “tabernacle.” Thus, one literal translation renders this clause, “the Word became flesh and did tabernacle among us.”

Any person familiar with Hebrew Scriptures reading this text in Greek would see the connection. John is telling us that Jesus is like the ancient Israelite tabernacle that accompanied them through the wilderness and was the center of their religion until Solomon built the temple about 400 years later. The tabernacle and the temple both always pictured God dwelling with His people, God being in the midst of His people, leading them, loving them, interacting with them.

This idea is right at the center of God’s promises, whether under the Old Covenant or the New. Let’s survey some of the key passages that highlight this promise:

In Exodus 29, after describing how the Israelites are to construct the tabernacle, God says:

There I will meet with the people of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by my glory…. I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God. (From Exodus 29:43-46).

Then multiple times in Deuteronomy, God speaks of “the place that the LORD will choose, to make his name dwell there.”

In Deuteronomy we also see the image flipped for the first time. Instead of God dwelling in the midst of His people, in Deuteronomy 33:27 we read, “The eternal God is your dwelling place.”

So He dwells with us – and we dwell in Him. Jesus will later use both of these images in one verse:

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. (John 15:5)

Many psalms expand on this image of God’s dwelling. For example, in Psalm 84 we read:

How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. … For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

The prophets look forward to a time when God will dwell yet more intimately with His people. And they see that in that day, God’s people will consist of those from many different nations:

Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the LORD. And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst. (Zechariah 2:10-11).

Ezekiel 37 is a well known passage that highlights a number of New Covenant promises, including the removal of our hearts of stone and replacement with hearts of flesh. In the midst of those promises, God states:

I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

We today do not have the picture of the tabernacle or the temple. But if we are in Christ Jesus, God is dwelling in us today.

How? In at least two different and complementary ways. First, your individual body is a temple, a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, as the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:19.

Second, all of God’s people together constitute a temple in which God dwells. As the Apostle says in Ephesians 2 when speaking particularly to non-Jewish believers:

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22, emphasis added)

So now each of our bodies individually is a temple of the Holy Spirit; now, together we are members of the household of God and are being built into a dwelling place for God by the Holy Spirit.

That dwelling place will be completed in the new heavens and earth:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, 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. (Revelation 21:3)

So do you see the flow of all of Scripture?

The Word Became flesh in part so that He might dwell with you, with His people, for all eternity – so that – flipping the image – He could be your dwelling place for all eternity, so that He could:

  • Shelter you under His tent
  • Invite you into His home
  • Show You His hospitality
  • Welcome you into His family
  • And thus so that you could know Him and love Him and delight in Him
  • So that He could be your God and you could be His people.

So “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” is not only a great theological truth about incarnation, stating that God became man. It is much more. It is both a partial fulfillment of God’s great promise of dwelling with His people, and the means by which that great promise will come to complete fruition.

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

He continues to dwell among us.

And He will be our dwelling place forever and ever.

 

Who Am I?

“Who am I?”

Many people spend years trying to answer that question.

We Americans in particular spend time and energy trying to discover ourselves. So we take personality tests and, in evangelical circles, spiritual gift inventories. We want to know who we are.

At the beginning of Exodus 3, Moses thinks he has answered that question. He had an extraordinary childhood:

  • Hidden in the Nile River to escape Pharaoh’s edict that all Hebrew baby boys should be killed
  • Found by Pharaoh’s daughter
  • Brought into the palace and raised as her son
  • Given the best upbringing, the best education
  • He became “mighty in words and deeds” (Acts 7:22)

As a young man, he rightly identifies himself with God’s people rather than with the Egyptians. He turns his back on riches and power. He seems to have seen himself as the logical vessel through whom God would rescue His people from Egypt.

But then Moses acts in his own power, not God’s. Thinking he is the key actor in this drama, he kills an Egyptian who is beating a Hebrew. His own people reject him as leader (Exodus 2:11-14). So the highly-educated and talented Moses leaves Egypt, and becomes a shepherd out in the sticks. He stays there for forty years.

Initially Moses seems to miss Egypt; he gives his first son a name that laments his exile. But over time that lamentation turns to contentment. Moses hadn’t taken a Myers-Briggs test or a spiritual gift inventory, but after all these decades, he has decided who he is. “Who am I? A shepherd. Nothing more.”

Then one day Moses sees a bush burning, but not consumed by the fire. As Moses approaches, God speaks to him: “Go! I’m sending you to Pharaoh! Bring my people out of Egypt!”

Moses is flabbergasted. God challenges his self-assessment. Who is he?

So he asks:

”Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11)

God answers in two ways – two ways that are absolutely key for Moses as well as for us.

The first answer is in Exodus 3:12:

God’s first answer: Surely I will be with you.

God is saying: “What matters is not your personality, your experience, your education, or your preparation. What matters is that I am with you! What defines you is that I work through you!”

Do you see? This is why Moses failed before! He was in the prime of life, well-connected, energetic, mighty in speech. And he blew it. He blew it because God was not with him in the actions he took.

For all of us: This is the most important aspect of who we are. Not our personalities. Not our education or life experiences. Not our family or ethnic backgrounds.

Instead: Is God with you? Are you stepping out in God’s power for His glory? As you seek to help others – are you leaning on Him? Depending on Him? Trusting Him?

Moses tells God: “Who am I? I’m inadequate for this task.” God tells him: “Yes, you are – by yourself. You proved that 40 years ago. But you’re the one that I am with! And if I’m with you – my grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in your weakness.”

Now look at the rest of Exodus 3:12:

“And this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

God’s second answer: You shall worship God

Many commentators struggle over this sentence. We normally think of a “sign” in such a context as something that encourages us, something that shows us we’re able to complete a task, or something that gives us direction in a task.

But Moses thinks he is inadequate for bringing the Israelites out of Egypt. How does the fact that they will worship God after they are already out of Egypt help or guide Moses now?

This is a key point. God is here answering not only the question: Who is Moses. He’s also answering the question: Who are the people of Israel? His answer is: “You all are the ones who may worship Me. This defines you. This is who you are.”

Remember, God is holy. Left to ourselves, we are repugnant to him. Defiled. Unholy. Stained. In this state, we cannot approach Him to worship Him – except on His terms. He – and only He – can tell us how we may worship and who may worship.

So understand: Who we are is a result of our relationship to Him. That is: Our identity is defined by this relationship to God.

  • Those who reject Him forever ultimately become irrelevant and unimportant. Their only purpose in eternity is displaying God’s justice.
  • Those who are His spend eternity fulfilling the purpose of their creation: Worshiping Him, giving praise, honor, and glory to Him, delighting in Him and they learn more and more of His inexhaustible goodness forever and ever. This defines them.

So as Moses showed us through his earlier failure, we will do nothing for God apart from His working in us. Indeed, we have nothing to offer others. We are inadequate. But if He is with us – we can offer everything pertaining to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). Indeed, God has promised to work in us and through us to bring about the filling of the earth with the knowledge of His glory. God has promised to bring about worship through us.

So, ask yourself: “Who am I?”

Scripture tells us: “I am by nature an object of God’s wrath. I am a rebel against my rightful King’s purpose for me.  I am one who will not submit to God. I am one who wants to be god of my life.”

But through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, we rebels, like Moses, can have a new identity. We can be forgiven. We can become children of God. We can become ambassadors of God, God making His appeal through us. We can become worshipers.

Therefore: “Who am I?”

May we all be able to say truly:

“I am the one whom God is with.  And I am the one who worships God.”

(Parts of this devotion are taken from a sermon, “I Am Who I Am” on Exodus 3:11-22, preached December 27, 2009. Audio of that sermon is available online.)