And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

– John 1:14 (ESV)

I don’t think I’ll be able to do justice to this passage, because the majesty of this truth is something that I can only grasp for short periods of time, if at all. I still look through a glass darkly. And even what I can grasp of this passage is too large for me, too breathtaking.

The Gospel of John starts with the following famous sentence, stated so simply, and already we are in waters that are too deep:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

This remarkable statement is followed closely by

“All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

The Word that was with God and was God. Through Him all things were created, and (with the characteristic Hebrew rephrasing of important truths) “without him was not any thing made that was made.”

How mysterious, how awesome is this Word that John refers to. The Word of God – the great Logos through which He created the universe. The Word that was with God in the beginning, and was God. In here we begin to glimpse the amazing eternal relationship of Father and Son, of the One who speaks all things into existence and the One who is the very Word of God, through which

all things were made.

These are deep waters and high heavenly spaces which we are attempting to navigate. These words, written in the straightforward style of John the beloved disciple, contain a mystery, one that believers will have all eternity to enjoy. Because “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

To have received the very words of God in revelation, as the Hebrews did from the beginnings of their history, was in itself an awesome thing. But who would have expected the Word of God to actually come and live with us? What an audacious act our Lord committed! No wonder Jesus was such an enigma to the religious leaders of His day. No wonder He confounded their preset ideas of how God would fulfill the prophecies of the Old Testament.

But much wonder when we think of His revolutionary act of love, humility, and sacrifice. The grace and truth of God, embodied in a tabernacle of flesh, able to touch, to heal, to laugh and cry with His followers. Able to kneel and pray, to be tired, to be hungry. Able to suffer, beyond anything we can imagine.

This is the glory of God. I’m learning more and more that, when you break the universe down to its basic truth, the glory of God is all that matters, and it is what all things point to. And we have beheld His glory.

In Jesus.