The Word became flesh

A TASTE OF ETERNITY (John 1:14, 18)

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Dr. Paul Manuel—Christmas 1996

One of the most conspicuous elements of the holiday season is food, often an abundance of it and in great variety. This poses something of a threat to those who try to regulate what they eat. The temptation to consume that which is too sweet, too high in fat or salt, and invariably too much is often overwhelming. So much so that—for you Star Trek fans—many people take a "Borg" approach to all this food—"Resistance is futile!"—and they just set their diets aside for a few days.

There is another aspect of Christmas that is neither high in calories nor cholesterol, one to which the apostle John alludes in the first chapter of his gospel, because Christmas is a taste of eternity.

John 1:14 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.... 18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.

Moses once asked God to reveal Himself, but God replied, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live" (Exod 33:20). Paul calls God the one "who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see" (1 Tim 6:16). In his Revelation, though, John says that those who have a part in the new heaven and new earth God will create for His people will do what no one else has ever done: "They will see his face" (Rev 22:4a; cf. Matt 5:8).

The significance of Christmas is that it gives us a taste of that future reality. John says, "No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known." Jesus has revealed what we would not, what we could not see this side of eternity—the embodiment of the attributes of God, those qualities that describe who and what God is. So what do we see in Jesus?

• Faithfulness to the promise of a Savior
• Compassion to heal the sick
• Wisdom in teaching
• Glory at the transfiguration
• Power to raise the dead
• Love at Calvary

All these and more help us to visualize God. They offer us a partial glimpse now of what no one has ever seen or could see, a flash of what we may see fully later.

"May see" sounds pretty tentative. How can we be sure of securing a place in eternity with God? John tells us that too, as he describes another reason for Christmas.

John 3:16 God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.... 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in... God's one and only Son.

Our sin has separated us from God, and Jesus came to repair that breach by suffering the penalty in our place.

1 John 4:9b [God] sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

The benefit of his sacrifice, though, only comes to those who believe, who appropriate what he has done for them. It is in this way that we ensure what was once impossible will become a reality, forever.

As you contemplate all the extra food this season, remember what else Christmas offers: a taste of eternity—of what it will be like to see God and of what it takes to live with God.

For a pdf see here.