‘Full of Grace and Truth’

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:14

Christ is the Sum of All Perfections. We have contemplated the Miracle of His Incarnation, the Wonder of His Habitation, and the Glory of His Revelation. As we conclude the third portion of our meditation, we arrive at the phrase ‘full of grace and truth.’ Christ is, in every way, the Perfect Human. If there is grace, He has it to the nth degree. If there is truth, He possesses it ultimately. Hence, for us to ‘behold His Glory,’ is for us to see all that God intends to show us of Himself. Christ is ‘the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person.’ Therefore, when John speaks of Christ as, ‘the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth,’ he is drawing our undivided attention to the Grand Object of our adoration.  We set our full attention upon Him. He is, not only the sum of all perfections, but the sole Anchor of all our hopes and all our expectations. This is why, as we arrive at this time of year, we focus upon Him as we do. It is impossible for us to overestimate or overstate the value of Christ. In Him, we find the Beauty of Holiness, the Grace of Divinity, the Truth of the Infinite God, and the Perfection of Humanity. No star shines more brightly than He does. Today, let us bathe in the Light of ‘the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.’ Let His Perfections hold our gaze, and His Beauty captivate our hearts. ‘O, Come, let us adore Him.’

Our Great and Gracious God,
we rejoice in Christ Who shows us all there is to see of You.
We praise You, that He is full of grace and truth,
and that we are complete in Him.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

‘The Only Begotten of the Father’

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:14

As we continue our consideration of the glory of Christ’s Revelation, we come today to consider that His Glory is utterly unique. That is so, because He is Himself unique. He is, according to our text, the only ‘begotten of the Father.’ To translate that perhaps more exactly, He is the ‘only-one-of-a-kind,’ Son of God. There are many other ‘sons of God,’ but they are either angels, and therefore, ‘sons’ of a lesser order, or the redeemed, who are the ‘sons’ of God by adoption. Christ is ‘the only begotten of the Father;’ therefore, He has a glory that is unique to Him Alone. Because that is so, we must gaze upon His Glory with a unique perspective.  John declares boldly, ‘we beheld His glory.’  Because they did ‘behold’ it, and wrote of it, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we can now say that we can, ‘behold His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.’ John, and the other writers of Scripture give to us a beautiful mosaic of the Son of God which justifies our captivation with Him. We have every reason and right to center our attention upon this, ‘only begotten of the Father.’ He is the Divine Representative; ‘the Way, the Truth, and the Life.’  His is the Glory that, once we have seen it, completely transforms us and our life forever. Today, we have the privilege to dwell upon Him in this Role as ‘the only begotten of the Father.’ He is our ‘one-of-a-kind,’ with the Glory that is all His Own.

Our Gracious God and Loving Heavenly Father,
we praise You, for Your ‘only begotten Son,’
We rejoice, that He has come for our eternal good,
and that we are satisfied, in every way, with Him.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

‘And We Beheld His Glory’

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:14

From considering the miracle of Christ’s Incarnation, to the wonder of His habitation with us, we come today to consider the glory of His Revelation. Our text declares, ‘we beheld His glory.’ What is remarkable is that John, in writing, is about to detail the earthly ministry of Christ. Here is the work of Divinity robed in the cloak of humanity.  This is not the glory of the Resplendent Monarch which John would describe later in Revelation. This is the work of the Carpenter of Galilee. What was the ‘glory’ that they would see?  It would be the ‘glory’ of water turned into wine. It would be the ‘glory’ of a fallen woman transformed into an ardent missionary for Christ. It would be the ‘glory’ of ‘gracious words’ that would proceed out of His mouth. It would be the ‘glory’ of the healing of the lame man at the pool of Bethesda, of the feeding of the 5,000; of the walking on the water; of the exposure of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees; of the healing of the man born blind, and of the raising of Lazarus from the dead. These revelations were so glorious that John would declare that, ‘these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His Name.’  If this glorious revelation was so great, how much greater must the Glory of His Exaltation be. It is our high privilege, in looking into His Word to say, ‘we beheld His Glory.’

Our most Wonderful and Wise God,
we praise You, for Your revelations of Glory,
through the Person of Christ our Savior.
We praise You, that even in the most mundane affairs of life,
where He intercedes, we may still behold His Glory.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

‘And Dwelt Among Us’

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:14

We go from considering the miracle of Christ’s incarnation to dwelling upon the wonder of His habitation with us. For God to visit humanity from time to time would be cause enough for wonder; but for God to robe Himself in human flesh and to actually dwell upon earth is more wonderful than anything of which we could conceive. It is true, for more than one reason. Philosophers have sought the ‘summum bonum’ or ‘highest good’ for centuries. They have cogitated diligently upon what is ‘the good life.’ In the Life of Christ, we behold the ‘summum bonum’ on full display. Here He lives in utterly selfless fashion, going about ‘doing good;’ living the irreproachable virtuous life. From the theological perspective, we understand that by that Life He was perfectly satisfying all of the demands of the Law of God. The death of Christ causes us even greater wonder. From an undeniably virtuous Life we see Him die a Substitutionary Atoning Death. This He accomplished absolutely and completely for the sake of others. Here is the wonderful result of God making His habitation with humanity. Here is ‘the Word’ becoming ‘flesh’ and ‘dwelling among us.’ Today, let us meditate upon the wonder of it, and of the Grace of Christ which made it so.

Our Gracious and Loving God,
we rejoice that Christ is our Immanuel.
We praise You, that He has dwelt among us,
for our eternal good,
and that because He has, we shall eternally dwell with Him.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

‘God With Us’

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:14

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

Isaiah 7:14

To extend our discussion of the miracle of Christ’s Incarnation, we draw together two texts which enable us to consider His Virgin Birth. We stand unapologetically upon the miracle of that Virgin Birth. For Christ, being God, to become human, He must as the old theologians put it, ‘take unto Himself a true Body and a reasonable soul.’ In order for His Humanity to be a sinless humanity, He must arrive upon the scene of human history by extraordinary means. Hence, we see God ordering and arranging the Virgin Birth through Mary, the chosen vessel. By this means, ‘the Word became flesh.’ Mary, herself was cognizant of her peculiar position when she said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.  For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.’ Mary was keenly aware of her own need of saving grace. Having said that, God selected her to accomplish His larger Purpose to bring into the world the utterly unique Individual Who would be ‘the Only Redeemer of God’s Elect.’ This Virgin Birth is part and parcel of all that we hold dear. It is a non-negotiable of the faith ‘once delivered to the saints.’ As we continue to mediate upon the miracle of Christ’s Incarnation, we dwell today upon the human instrument whom He used to bring into the world Him Who is ‘very God of very God, and also truly man.’ O, Come let us adore Him.

Our most Holy and Good God,
we praise You, that You have come to presence Yourself with us
in the Person of Jesus Christ.
We rejoice that He is, in every way, Emmanuel, ‘God with us.’

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning