And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…
JOHN 1:14
Let me tell thee a strange story.
The God of power, as he did ride
In his majestic robes of glory,
Reserv’d to light; and so one day
He did descend, undressing all the way.
GEORGE HERBERT
Flesh. This word expresses his meaning more forcibly than if the evangelist had said that Christ was made man. He wanted to show to what a low and abject state the Son of God descended from the height of his heavenly glory, for our sake.
When Scripture speaks of man derogatorily it calls him “flesh.” How great is the distance between the spiritual glory of the Word of God and the stinking filth of our flesh! Yet the Son of God stooped so low that he took on himself that flesh which is subject to so many miseries… The Word born of God before all ages, and always dwelling with the Father, became man. JOHN CALVIN
The Incarnate Son
by Evan Bolton
It began with the Word
The first authority
An utterance calling forth
Light, order, beauty and life
A creation meant to reflect the divine
An eternal fellowship
A perfect unity
By the Word we were spoken into being
Created in the image of God
In the likeness of the Beloved
He created us knowing the ultimate cost
Understanding the fragility of our humanity
Our proneness to wander
Our desire to ascend above
Yet still, a breath of life was given
The calling of relationship set into motion
A relationship centered and sustained by the Word
For we were created lovely
Good and beautiful
Fearfully and wonderfully made were we
This is a truth we can claim
A declaration we can believe
An identity found in the Incarnate Son
The Word Tabernacled
The One and Only
Jesus, the servant, humble and lowly
He came as the prototype, the master plan
To restore, redeem and embrace
The exiled wanderer
The prodigal son
He came full of grace and truth
In Him we behold the Father’s glory
A desire to see man fully alive
This is the beauty of the Word
In Him all was made
And through Him all was redeemed
In His divinity He formed us from the dust
In the flesh He took on our very nature
Stooping into the rot and decay of our humanity
His heart set and purposed to restore
To lift out of the muck and the mire
To wash and make new
The image we were meant to carry
The image of a Son
A Son reflecting the glory of the Father
© Evan Bolton, 2013
The mystery of the Incarnation, of God becoming man, never stops eliciting wonder. Consider how the poet Richard Crashaw’s imagination (1613-1649) was enlarged as he pondered Mary’s newborn.
That he whom the sun serves, should faintly peep
Through clouds of infant flesh; that he the old
Eternal Word should be a child, and weep.
That he who made the fire, should fear the cold;
That Heavens high majesty his court should keep
In a clay cottage, but each blast controlled.
That glories self should serve our griefs and fears:
And free eternity, submit to years.
Be praying for Jackson Randall (with a newborn son of his own!) as he ponders the following John passage. Pray that he be giving insight in the text, and that he be able to preach it with power.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) JOHN 1:14-15
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