Day 7 – The Word Became Flesh

The God Who Came Near

In the first six days of The Open Gospel, we have been following the Gospel as it unfolds through Scripture.

Today we come to one of the most profound truths in all of Scripture:

“The Word became flesh.”

The God who created the universe entered His creation.

The One who was with God from the beginning came into the world as a man.

The eternal Son of God became flesh and lived among us.

This is the mystery and wonder of the incarnation.

The King who came near in Day 6 is now revealed more fully.

He is the eternal Word who became flesh.

In the Beginning Was the Word

John begins his Gospel with words that deliberately take us back to Genesis:

“In the beginning…”

Genesis begins:

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

John begins:

“In the beginning was the Word…”

John wants us to understand something immediately.

Jesus did not begin to exist when He was born in Bethlehem.

His human life began in Bethlehem.

But the Son of God existed before Bethlehem.

He is eternal.

John says:

“The Word was with God.”

And then he makes the statement even clearer:

“The Word was God.”

Jesus is not merely a messenger from God.

He is not merely a prophet.

He is not simply a great teacher.

He is not a created spiritual being.

He is the eternal Son of God.

The One who became flesh already existed before He entered human history.

This is why the Gospel is so much greater than the story of a remarkable man.

It is the story of God the Son coming into the world to accomplish salvation.

Who Is the Word?

John uses the expression “the Word.”

Why?

Because God’s Word reveals God.

God speaks, and creation comes into existence.

God speaks, and His will is revealed.

God speaks, and His truth is made known.

Throughout Scripture, God reveals Himself through His Word.

But John tells us something astonishing.

The ultimate revelation of God is not merely a written message.

It is a Person.

Jesus Christ.

The invisible God has made Himself known through His Son.

Jesus came so that humanity could know God.

He came to reveal the Father.

He came to reveal truth.

He came to bring light into darkness.

He came to accomplish redemption.

The Word is not merely information about God.

The Word is the eternal Son through whom God has made Himself known.

The Word Became Flesh

Then John gives us the astonishing statement:

“The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.”

The eternal Son entered human history.

He experienced hunger.

He experienced thirst.

He became tired.

He wept.

He suffered.

He was rejected.

He was tempted, yet without sin.

He entered the realities of human life without becoming sinful.

The Creator entered His creation.

The King came among His people.

The Shepherd came for His sheep.

The Lamb came to be sacrificed.

This is the humility of Christ.

Jesus Is Truly God and Truly Man

The incarnation is essential to the Gospel.

Jesus was not pretending to be human.

He became truly human.

At the same time, He did not stop being God.

The Christian faith therefore teaches that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man.

He is one Person, the eternal Son, who took upon Himself a true human nature.

This matters because only someone truly human could stand in the place of humanity.

Jesus could experience hunger, suffering, rejection, and death because He truly became human.

And only the divine Son could accomplish the salvation that God planned.

Jesus is uniquely qualified to reconcile humanity to God.

He is the mediator.

He is the Saviour.

He is the Lord.

And He is the One through whom God has accomplished our redemption.

God Came Near

Think about the message of the Gospel.

Humanity sinned and became separated from God.

Yet God did not remain distant.

He came near.

John says:

“The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.”

The God whom humanity could never know through human effort alone came near to us in Jesus Christ.

This is grace.

The Gospel is not primarily the story of humanity searching for God.

It is the story of God coming to humanity.

He came looking for the lost.

He came to save sinners.

He came to reveal the Father.

He came to bring us home.

Jesus Reveals the Father

John continues:

“No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son… has made Him known.”

Jesus reveals what the Father is like.

When we see Christ’s compassion, we see God’s compassion.

When we see Christ’s holiness, we see God’s holiness.

When we see Christ’s mercy, we see God’s mercy.

When we see Christ’s authority, we see God’s authority.

When we see Christ welcoming sinners who repent, we see the heart of God.

Jesus does not merely tell us about God.

He makes the Father known.

The Incarnation and the Cross Cannot Be Separated

If Jesus were merely a human teacher, His death could not accomplish what the Gospel declares.

But Jesus is the eternal Son who became flesh.

He came willingly to the cross.

He took our place.

He bore our sin.

He died.

And He rose again.

The incarnation and the cross cannot be separated.

The One who became flesh came to give Himself for sinners.

And because He rose from the dead, the Gospel does not end with the cross.

The One who became flesh conquered death.

The Word became flesh, gave Himself for sinners, rose from the dead, and lives forever.

That is the Gospel.

The Word Brings Light

John continues his opening chapter by describing Jesus as the light of humanity.

Darkness cannot overcome His light.

This is another picture of what Christ came to do.

Sin produces darkness.

Confusion produces darkness.

Deception produces darkness.

But Christ brings truth.

He reveals God.

He exposes sin.

He leads people out of darkness and into life.

This is why we must come to Christ rather than simply depend upon human wisdom.

Human beings can be sincerely mistaken.

Traditions can develop.

Cultures can change.

Opinions can differ.

But Christ is the light.

And His truth does not change.

The light of Christ exposes darkness so that we can leave darkness and walk in His truth.

The Word and Scripture

There is something especially important for us to understand.

Jesus is the living Word.

And Scripture is God’s written Word.

The written Word bears witness to the living Word.

The Bible continually points us toward Christ.

Jesus Himself taught that the Scriptures testify about Him.

Therefore, if we want to know Jesus, we must take Scripture seriously.

We should not replace Scripture with human opinion.

We should not place tradition above God’s revelation.

We should not allow our culture to become our final authority.

We return to Scripture as the authoritative written Word of God.

We listen to God’s Word.

And we look to Christ.

This is important because our understanding of Jesus must be shaped by the Jesus revealed in Scripture, not by our own imagination.

A Message for the East

This is particularly important when Christian faith has been passed down through generations.

Many people have inherited beautiful Christian traditions, sacred language, customs, religious practices, family memories, and cultural expressions of faith.

But the question of the Gospel goes deeper.

Who is Jesus to you?

Do you know Him through Scripture?

Do you trust Him?

Do you follow Him?

Have you trusted in Him as Lord and Saviour?

The Gospel is not asking us merely to preserve a Christian identity.

It is calling us to know the living Christ.

Tradition may tell us about our religious history.

Culture may tell us where we came from.

Family may have helped introduce us to Christianity.

But none of these things can substitute for faith in Jesus Christ.

Only Christ can save.

And God’s Word must always remain the standard by which we examine what we believe.

We should be willing to ask:

“What has God actually revealed in His Word?”

And then we should have the humility to bring our beliefs into submission to that truth.

The Word Became Flesh for Us

John says:

“We have seen His glory.”

The disciples saw Jesus.

They walked with Him.

They heard Him teach.

They saw His miracles.

They witnessed His death.

And they saw Him alive after the resurrection.

The Gospel is rooted in the real historical work of God.

Jesus entered real human history.

He lived.

He died.

He rose.

And He is alive.

The Gospel is therefore not simply an idea.

It is the announcement of what God has done through Jesus Christ.

What Does This Mean for Us?

If the eternal Word became flesh, then we should not remain indifferent.

God has revealed Himself.

He has come near.

He has spoken.

He has provided salvation.

The question is:

How will we respond?

We can reject Him.

We can ignore Him.

We can replace Him with our own ideas.

We can reduce Him to a religious symbol.

Or we can believe.

We can receive Him.

We can trust Him.

We can follow Him.

The incarnation demands a response because the One who came near is not merely a teacher asking for our admiration.

He is the King calling us to Himself.

The Invitation

Perhaps you have spent years around Christianity without truly knowing Christ.

Or you know the traditions.

Maybe you know the ceremonies.

Perhaps you know the language.

Or you know the stories.

But knowing about Jesus is not the same as knowing Him.

Today, the Gospel invites you to look beyond religious identity and look directly to Christ.

Ask yourself:

Who do I believe Jesus really is?

Do I believe the testimony of Scripture?

Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God who became flesh for our salvation.

Give glory to God for the One who came near to save us.