The Infinite Became an Infant
"And the Word was made 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 (KJV)
"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." - John 1:14 (NIV)
At the beginning of history, God spoke the universe and the earth into being. Through the power of His word, everything was created from nothing. At the beginning of John’s Gospel, Jesus is called “the Word” (Logos in Greek, the language of the New Testament).
Jesus is the Word that was with the Father at the beginning of time. Jesus is the Word who is God from eternity to eternity. The one born as a baby in Bethlehem is therefore no ordinary mortal. He is not just the greatest of all prophets and teachers. He is the Word of the Father made flesh. He is God with skin on. He is the infinite become an infant. In Jesus, Yahweh has come to camp out among us. John (the writer of the Gospel), and those with him, lived and walked with Jesus-the-Word, and they saw God’s glory in His human flesh. They knew that Jesus is the only Son by nature; that He is one of our kind, and that He is also one of a kind. Without Jesus, we would still be spiritual orphans, separated from the Father’s love. But now, thanks to Jesus stepping down from heaven and entering the dust of the earth, we are orphans no more. We can become the adopted children of God!
Mark Stibbe
