God Became a Human Being
John 1:1-18
To start, lets look at the scripture that God inspired John to write. Note: All of the scripture references used here are from the New King James.
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not (1)comprehend it. 6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 8He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9That (2) <steplinkto1 0000034534>was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11He came to His (3)own, and His (4)own did not receive Him. 12But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14And 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. 15John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.'" 16(5)And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has seen God at any time. (6)The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. (1)Or overcome (2)Or That was the true Light which, coming into the world, gives light to every man. (3)That is, His own things or domain (4)That is, His own people (5)NU-Text reads For. ( Of His fullness. (nkjv) The Greek word for fullness is pleroma; it indicates superabundance and completeness. John used a root form in verse 14 , "full (pleres) of grace and truth" (nkjv). John stretched the language to its very limit in attempting to capture the facts about Jesus and, at the same time, the lasting impact Jesus had on those who followed him. When John spoke of Jesus' "fullness," he was affirming that he had never found Jesus lacking in any way. John's description conveys a subtle invitation for us to trust Jesus' ability to meet our needs.) (6)NU-Text reads only begotten God.
John starts with the first eighteen verses of John, which many consider the opening to this Gospel, as it provides an overview of the entire Gospel. John's goal and guiding purpose in writing is found in almost every phrase of his work. The opening highlights most of the insights and truths that we find in the rest of His Gospel. John introduced key terms: the Word, God, life, light, darkness, witness, the world, rejection/reception, belief, regeneration (becoming a child of God), incarnation (the Word become flesh), the one and only Son of the Father, glory, grace, truth, fullness. In the rest of the Gospel, John expands and illustrates each of these from Jesus' life and ministry.
Jesus revealed his nature to us in what he taught and did. Johns' writings show Jesus as being fully human and fully God. While Jesus took humanity upon himself with all its limitations, he never ceased being the eternal God, the Creator and Sustainer of all things, and the source of eternal life. John's God inspired Gospel tells the truth about Jesus, (the foundation of all truth). If you can't or don't believe in Jesus' true identity, you will not be able to trust your destiny to him. Johns' Gospel was inspired to build our faith and confidence in Jesus Christ so that we might believe that Jesus truly was and is the Son of God (John 20:30-31 "30And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31but 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".)
"God Became a Human Being", why did I choose this topic for this teaching? Because it screams at me, Jesus is who he claimed to be. How do we know this, because he is the fulfillment of prophecy? Isaiah is the Prophet who told us of his coming in Isaiah 7:10-14:
10Moreover the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying, 11"Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above."
12But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord!"
13Then he said, "Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? 14Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. This prophecy is given to us through the Prophet Isaiah as a sign from God Himself; the sign is that our Redeemer will be a human male child born of a virgin, and shall call His name Immanuel. Only Jesus fits this description. Easton's Bible Dictionary has this to say about Immanuel:
God with us. In the Old Testament it occurs only in Isa. 7:14 and Isa. 8:8 . Most Christian interpreters have regarded these words as directly and exclusively a prophecy of our Savior, an interpretation borne out by the words of the evangelist Matthew (Matt. 1:23 ).
18Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. 19Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. 20But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."
22So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23"Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us." Easton's Bible Dictionary has this to say about Jesus:
(1.) Joshua, the son of Nun (Acts 7:45; Heb. 4:8 ; R.V., "Joshua").
(2.) A Jewish Christian surnamed Justus (Col. 4:11 ).
(3.) THE PROPER, AS CHRIST IS THE OFFICIAL, NAME OF OUR LORD. TO DISTINGUISH HIM FROM OTHERS SO CALLED, HE IS SPOKEN OF AS "JESUS OF NAZARETH" (John 18:7) , and "Jesus the son of Joseph" (John 6:42).This is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua, which was originally Hoshea (Num. 13:8 , 16 ), but changed by Moses into Jehoshua (Num. 13:16; 1 Chr. 7:27 ), or Joshua. After the Exile it assumed the form Jeshua, whence the Greek form Jesus. It was given to our Lord to denote the object of his mission, to save (Matt. 1:21 ).The life of Jesus on earth may be divided into two great periods,
(a.) that of his private life, till he was about thirty years of age; and
(b.) that of his public life, which lasted about three years.
In the "fullness of time" he was born at Bethlehem, in the reign of the emperor Augustus, of Mary, who was betrothed to Joseph, a carpenter (Matt. 1:1 ; Luke 3:23 ; compare John 7:42 . His birth was announced to the shepherds (Luke 2:8-20 ). Wise men from the east came to Bethlehem to see him who was born "King of the Jews," bringing gifts with them (Matt. 2:1-12). Herod's cruel jealousy led to Joseph's flight into Egypt with Mary and the infant Jesus, where they tarried till the death of this king (Matt. 2:13-23 ), when they returned and settled in Nazareth, in Lower Galilee (Matt. 2:23 ; compare Luke 4:16 ; John 1:46 , etc.). At the age of twelve years he went up to Jerusalem to the Passover with his parents. There, in the temple, "in the midst of the doctors," all that heard him were "astonished at his understanding and answers" (Luke 2:41 , etc.).Eighteen years pass, of which we have no record beyond this that he returned to Nazareth and "increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man" (Luke 2:52).He entered on his public ministry when he was about thirty years of age. It is generally reckoned to have extended to about three years. "Each of these years had peculiar features of its own.
(a.) The first year may be called the year of obscurity, both because the records of it which we possess are very scanty, and because he seems during it to have been only slowly emerging into public notice. It was spent for the most part in Judea.
(b.) The second year was the year of public favor, during which the country had become thoroughly aware of him; his activity was incessant, and his frame rang through the length and breadth of the land. It was almost wholly passed in Galilee.
(c.) The third was the year of opposition, when the public favor ebbed away. His enemies multiplied and assailed him with more and more pertinacity, and at last he fell a victim to their hatred. The first six months of this final year were passed in Galilee, and the last six in other parts of the land." Stalker's Life of Jesus Christ, p. 45.
The only reliable sources of information regarding the life of Christ on earth are the Gospels, which present in historical detail the words and the work of Christ in so many different aspects.
Christ
ANOINTED, THE GREEK TRANSLATION OF THE HEBREW WORD RENDERED "Messiah " (q.v.), the official title of our Lord, occurring five hundred and fourteen times in the New Testament. It denotes that he was anointed or consecrated to his great redemptive work as Prophet, Priest, and King of his people. He is Jesus the Christ (Acts 17:3 ; Matt. 22:42 <the Anointed One. He is thus spoken of by Isaiah (Isa. 61:1 ), and by Daniel (Dan. 9:24-26 ), who styles him "Messiah the Prince."
The Messiah is the same person as "the seed of the woman" (Gen. 3:15 ), "the seed of Abraham" (Gen. 22:18 ), the "Prophet like unto Moses" (Deut. 18:15 ), "the priest after the order of Melchizedek" (Ps. 110:4 ), "the rod out of the stem of Jesse" (Isa. 11:1, 10 ), the "Immanuel," the virgin's son (Isa. 7:14 ), "the branch of Jehovah" (Isa. 4:2 ), and "the messenger of the covenant" (Mal. 3:1 ). This is he "of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write." The Old Testament Scripture is full of prophetic declarations regarding the Great Deliverer and the work he was to accomplish. Jesus the Christ is Jesus the Great Deliverer, the Anointed One, the Savior of men.
This name denotes that Jesus was divinely appointed, commissioned, and accredited as the Savior of men (Heb. 5:4 ; Isa. 11:2-4 ; 49:6 ; John 5:37 ; Acts 2:22).
To believe that "Jesus is the Christ" is to believe that he is the Anointed; the Messiah of the prophets, the Savior sent of God, that he was, in a word, what he claimed to be. This is to believe the gospel, by the faith of which alone men can be brought unto God. That Jesus is the Christ is the testimony of God, and the faith of this constitutes a Christian (1 Cor. 12:3 1 John 5:
Conclusion
Jesus is God with us, Immanuel, the Truth the Light, the Wonderful, the Prince of Peace, the Word of God, the Savior, the Lord of Lords, the Friend, the SON of GOD, the High Priest, the Bright Morning Star, the King of Kings, the Holy, the Lamb of God, the Good Shepherd, the ROCK, the A & the W, the Messiah, the Way, the I Am, the Bread of Life, the Cornerstone, the Deliverer, the Wonderful Counselor, the promised one, the final sacrifice, whose blood covers the original sin for all of mankind if only we accept and acknowledge him as such.
My Prayer
Almighty God I am so thankful for your love, you are so awesome Father, sending your only son as the redeemer for mankind; the only human worthy of going to the cross (his alter) where his blood was offered to cover our sins. Father you are a great and awesome God; loving us the way you do, how can we not accept this free gift of salvation Father? Your Word (John 3:16-21) 16For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18"He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God." I believe Father and I accept the Blood shed to cover my sins. I love not the darkness but the light Father, my sweet Jesus (Immanuel) and I long to serve you Father and always do your will. I ask that this teaching touch the hearts of those who receive it, that they may grow in their personal faith, that they may come to know You Father and build their personal relationships with You Father and be empowered to do Your will Father. Use me Father that I may bring You the glory You so richly deserve. I ask these things Father in the name of my redeemer, your son Jesus Christ, Amen.
