INCARNATION | The Word Became FLESH

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The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent word.

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Welcome to the Sunday Sermon on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee. I’m Steve Schwetz, and I’m so glad you’re here with us. You know, when we think of Christmas, the world tells us to shop early, plan early, and mail early. But you know, Dr. McGee had a different kind of reminder. Do your Christmas preaching early. Why? Because Christmas isn’t really about a season on the calendar. It’s about a truth that changes everything. John 1.14 says, “‘The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.'” That’s the heart of Christmas, God himself stepping into our world so that we could know him. Before we get to our study, I want to remind you that it’s Letter Month, and that’s a special time of year for us that we set aside to share your letters and to celebrate what God’s doing in our hearts as we study his word together. Now, this isn’t a letter, but let’s rejoice in this voicemail that we received from a listener named Dorothy.

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My name is Dorothy, and I’ll be 95 years old in one month. And I love to tell a story about how I’ve been blessed by Dr. McGee’s teaching. And I love the fact that he teaches no holds barred Bible, just teaching it the way that God put it in the word. Because nowadays, so many ministers don’t declare the whole truth of the word of God. So thank you for letting me share this. And by the way, I’ve been sending a little bit of money for the gas to put in the bus. So thank you for letting me share this. So I don’t know how long I’m going to be on this earth. And I just want to let you know that I love Dr. Mia’s teaching. Thank you.

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It’s so great to hear from you, Dorothy. Thanks for studying God’s Word with us and for investing so that the Bible Bus can keep on delivering God’s Word today in more than 250 languages. I’ll keep saving a seat for you. And then here’s a quick note. This is from a pastor who shares through the Bible with his flock in the language of Zulu. Your programs have not only inspired us, but also ignited a desire to learn and grow in our faith. We’re eagerly sharing these enlightening teachings with friends, spreading the light of wisdom further and further. I have no formal training, and yet as we study God’s Word together, our numbers are growing week by week. Surely the most rewarding part is that our hearts are expanding farther than we ever had anticipated. Well, is God working in your life as we study His Word? You know we’d love to hear from you. You can drop us a note in our app. You can email us at biblebus at ttb.org or write to Box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109. In Canada, Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1. And like Dorothy, you can also leave a message at 1-800-65-BIBLE. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your Son into the world, not just as a child in a manger, but as our Savior and Redeemer. Open our hearts, Lord, as we listen today. In Jesus’ name, amen. And now here’s Dr. J. Vernon McGee with the Sunday Sermon on Through the Bible.

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have been urging us for years to do our Christmas shopping early, and we, I think, have begun to fall into line in that program, and they certainly practice what they preach. They put out their displays earlier and earlier each year. Formerly, they waited until after Thanksgiving to put up their decorations, and even then we thought they were rushing the season. Now they begin before Thanksgiving, and I never was so shocked as in Chicago this summer in July, and one store had a pre-Christmas sale, and they had it with Santa Claus and Bunning and all the trappings of a materialistic Christmas. And it’s now rather confusing. You never know when you see the Christmas decorations whether the store was delayed in taking them down from last Christmas or whether they got them up early for next Christmas. Now today, the post office also urges us to do our Christmas mailing early. And certainly in times like these, we should do our Christmas preaching early. And I do believe that we have some justification for doing our Christmas preaching early. Christ was actually not born in December and certainly not on December the 25th. We’re almost certain of that. May I say there’s no reason to get excited about that and want to change the date because we don’t know what date to change it to. But because of the fact that he did not ask us to remember his birth. In fact, you find no injunction to remember his birth at all. It makes no particular difference when or if we remember his birth. But he did ask us to remember his death. And this table this morning is here not to remember his birth, but to remember his death. And 12 times a year, this table is here to remember his death. And it’s all right once a year for us to remember his birth. Now it’s not the day of his birth that is significant. It’s the fact and the manner of his birth that is meaningful today to the believer in Christ. Now our difficulty is that we are apt to limit the Christmas story to Bethlehem, to a baby in a manger, Shepherds in the field, angels on the hillside, wise men from the east. And when we’ve gone over that, we feel like that that’s the Christmas story. Well, my beloved, there is a beauty about this story that holds a strange fascination for the world. And this year again, there will be thousands of replicas of the manger scene, and they’ll be constructed. You’ll see them in department stores. They’ll be in churches. They’ll be in front of homes. They’ll be everywhere. May I say that there’s nothing wrong with that? Certainly not. And this year, again, we’ll sing, O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie, but it’ll be noisy. And then we’ll follow it by singing Silent Night, Holy Night, and it’ll be anything but a holy night as the world celebrates Christmas. Back of the birth of that baby in Bethlehem, there is a profound truth and an eternal fact. That’s what’s important. It’s bigger than Bethlehem. No wonder there was no room for them in the inn. There wasn’t room in the inn for him. There’s not room in Bethlehem. There is not room in Palestine. There was not room in the Roman Empire. Why, there wasn’t room in this world to contain the great truth and fact of Christmas. What is it? May I say that this morning, I want us to look at that manger from the vantage point of heaven. I want us to get God’s perspective. of the birth of that baby. And the only good I can see in going into outer space is to look back here at what happened 1,900 years ago. And this morning, we ought to go into spiritual orbit in order to look back at Bethlehem and see what really happened and get God’s perspective and to see this great eternal truth. And that great eternal truth is the fact of the incarnation. And the birth of that baby is merely the fruition of that fact, and it can be stated in the language of Scripture, God was manifest in the flesh. May I say that’s the most profound fact that can be stated concerning his birth. It’s stated three times in Scripture for emphasis, and each time it’s stated, it’s with an added emphasis that this great truth might not escape us after 1900 years. Shall we this morning look at these three statements? The first is found in John 1, 14, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Or let’s narrow it down and put it like this. The word was made flesh. The Lord Jesus Christ, before he came to Bethlehem, was the creator. He also is the judge. He was then. He is today. He shall be in the future. We also saw that even before he came to Bethlehem and they called his name Jesus… that he was the Savior. Now, 1900 years ago, he came to this earth and took upon himself human flesh, and this is John’s account of the Christmas story. The Word was made flesh. That’s John’s way of recording the virgin birth for the purpose of his gospel. The Word became flesh. In the Greek, there are three words, ho, logos, sarx, egenito. There are three simple words. May I say that I have taken several classes in Greek, And after three months in studying Machen’s Greek grammar, they were able to turn to this first chapter of John’s gospel, and they could read. You would be able, after three months, to read this first chapter easily, and you’d be able to read, The word became flesh. Simple. and yet the most profound statement that you can possibly find. Three little words that are very simple words. You can take them apart and a child in the sixth grade would be able to give you the full meaning. Word, flesh, became. Two nouns and a verb. That’s all. Very simple. But may I say to you that it’s profound to begin with the word means God. John’s made that very clear. We saw that last Sunday in verse 1. In the beginning was the word, the Logos. And the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God. That one is Christ. He’s God. And the next stage, and may I say that here is where the world has had its difficulty. Greek philosophy would have followed John in his first three verses. They would have left him after that. And here is where today a majority in the church leave him. May I say he says, and the word, God became flesh. God became. Yes. Became. May I say that that word became is a very important word. It is the word you find back in verse 3 here. It says that all things were made by him. And it’s the genital. All things became by him. Will you listen for just a moment? He became… what he had made. Someone has put it like this. He became that which first became through him. Flesh. The word is sarx. It doesn’t mean the meat, and it doesn’t mean the bones and the blood. It means more than that. It means actually human nature. Or we have an expression today, it means the total personality. Body, mind, and spirit. Or body, soul, and spirit. Any way you want to have it. He became flesh. A total personality. A human being, if you please. Not temporarily. Permanently and eternally he took upon himself flesh. God became flesh, a human being. My friends, I don’t know anything more profound than that today. He came down 1,900 years ago. And those of you that are going with us again through the book of Revelation, notice that we’ve just been looking at the throne of God in heaven. I want you to notice that again because, honestly, we look at the throne in heaven and we’re told God’s on it, but when we look, we don’t see anybody. Will you notice? And he that sat… was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone. Now, I want to confess to you that I still don’t know how he looked. John says, I was caught up to heaven, and the first thing that impressed me was the throne, and on that throne was God. I looked. Did you see John? I’m interested. But you must remember, no man hath seen God at any time. All I saw was a jasper stone of brightness, jasper like a diamond. All I saw was a brightness, and around that brightness, like a sardine stone red, speaking of judgment. That’s all I saw, just the glory. It’s just the same as if you go outside. You can’t see the sun with the naked eye. You merely see its brightness. You know it’s there, but you haven’t seen it. You can’t see it with the naked eye. You know it’s there. John says, all I saw was a brightness that blinded me. That’s all I saw. No man hath seen God at any time. Will you notice something here? For John now in verse 18 is saying something quite profound. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, the love heart of God, he hath declared him. How did he declare him? He left that throne of glory up there, and he came down to this earth, and he became a man. The Word was made flesh. The Word became flesh, a human being. My beloved, that’s the only way I’m going to know God, is to know him, Jesus Christ. This is life eternal. that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” Now, this Christmas, our decorating committee may be yielding to pressure. I don’t know, but they say they’re not going to have our customary trees. I have a suggestion now to make. And it’s the suggestion that is here in the first chapter of John. I would put up at the top a throne just barely outlined. I would put no one on that throne. It’s the throne of God, and you can’t see him. But I would have a brightness there. I would have the brightness coming out the flashing of that diamond and of that red. Then I’d have the Greek word logos. And then I would have those rays coming down. And then down at the bottom, I’d just have just this. Just a little cradle. And so, the word became flesh. God left heaven’s glory, became a man. So that Vernon McGee might know God. And my friend, that’s the only way that this boy’s going to know him. And that’s the only way you are going to know him. This is life eternal to know him. How Jesus Christ, who became a human being. My friend, this is profound Let me move on to the next statement, and Paul made the next statement. And this morning, I’m turning to the Amplified translation, for it’s particularly good in this place here. Will you listen to this second statement in Philippians, the second chapter? And I begin reading at verse 5, and will you notice these steps? Let this same attitude and purpose and humble mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus. Let him be your example in humility. Now, seven steps down. We’ll take them. Seven steps from the throne of heaven. to a manger in a stable, to a carpenter shop in Nazareth, to a cross on Golgotha, to a new tomb in a beautiful garden. Seven steps from heaven down here. Big steps. Steps that only God could take. And today, a missile to the moon. Why, a hundred years ago, that would be incredible. But if you’ve ever gone up yonder and have seen the problem that God had, not of getting from here to the moon, but of getting from heaven down here, that’s a bigger problem. Now, that’s a difficulty. How to get from heaven back to this earth? And frankly, I don’t know about you, but the thing about getting to the moon is not worrying me. If I took the trip, I’d want to make sure I had a return ticket. I would want to make it a round trip, not to go to the moon, but to go and return. It’d be bad to get up there and have a flat tire. Who are you going to call? It’d be bad to get up there and run out of gas. Who’s going to bring you gas? May I say to you, friends, the coming of Christ from heaven’s glory down here is a lot bigger miracle than going from here to the moon, I can assure you. Let’s take these steps now. As Paul gives them to us, he says, who, this is the first step, who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God, did not think this equality with God was to be eagerly clung to or retained. First step. He was God. And he was not God, Paul is saying, by struggle or by an effort. He didn’t go to school and study this, and he didn’t go to work and get promoted to this position. And he didn’t put this in his mind. Now, if I go down and become a man, somebody might get my place. That’ll be true down here on this earth. But that wasn’t true of him. It’s not something to hold on to. It’s his. And though he would leave heaven’s glory and become a man, he’d still be God. He was God. But he didn’t have to hold on to it. He could become a man. Years ago, I bought a Ford. And that year’s model apparently was not very good. That’s the only one, I guess, I’ve ever had that wasn’t any good. But that year’s wasn’t. I broke down going into Jackson, Tennessee. A man came along. I’d never seen a man as excited as he was. He said, I’ll get a trailer out for you immediately. I’ll take you into the dealer. And he did. And when I got into the dealer, I found out he was the dealer. He said, and he never charged me a penny. He says, we cannot afford to have a forward break down on the highway around Jackson. May I say to you, friends, he could afford to leave heaven and come to this earth and become a man. He didn’t lose out by doing that. He’s not any less God because he became a man. Let’s take these steps. That’s the first one. Second one. But on the contrary, emptied himself. That, by the way, is the correct translation. This is where the kenosis theory has arisen. This is where the theologians have argued now for, well, almost 1,900 years. But on the contrary, he emptied himself. stripped himself of the powers that would not be consistent with his humanity. That’s the second step. He laid aside something. He emptied himself. The question has been, what did he empty himself of? And one of the first heresies was he emptied himself of his deity, which would mean he actually emptied himself of his person, who he was. But he didn’t do that. That little baby that you see in that manger, that little baby can speak this universe out of existence. Although he’s helpless in Mary’s arms, he’s God. So God became a human being. May I say that what did he empty himself of? He emptied himself of something. When he left heaven’s glory, angels fell down and worshipped him. When he was born in Bethlehem, there wasn’t even room for him. Rome took no notice. The religious rulers took no notice. What was it he left behind? He left his prerogatives of deity. He left his glory behind. That which he could claim because he was God, he did not claim. And he came down to this earth. and laid that aside. That’s the reason you hear him praying in his great high priestly prayer, Father, glorify thou me with the glory that I had with thee before the foundation of the world. I’m coming back now. Return my glory. And that, my friend, when he comes again, he’s coming, and that glory will be visible. The sign, when you see the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, that signs his glory. May I say, when he came 1,900 years ago, we have built up this Christmas story and we have made that the cleanest stable and the nicest cows and the loveliest spot where he was born. But my friend, where he was born was a filthy place. Have you ever been in the country? Were you ever raised in the country? Did you ever milk cows? Did you ever have sheep? Did you ever see a clean stable? There’s a country girl for you. She knows what I’m talking about. Let’s take the third step. So as to assume the guise and form of a servant in that he became like man. He was born among a subject people. The iron heel of Rome was on the neck of his people. He was born a peasant. He wore a peasant’s robe. He was poor. He was a carpenter. He had pawns on his hands. And the day he walked into the temple and drove the money changers out, they didn’t run because they thought he was God. They ran because he was man enough to put them out. He was a man. He became a human being. That’s the third step. Let’s take the fourth step. He was born a human being. Now, that’s the meaning of Bethlehem. You can argue the virgin birth all you want to. But if you’re arguing the virgin birth, you need to get off and get a perspective of Bethlehem. God became a human being. And may I say that if you tell me how he could have become a human being other than being virgin born, I’d like to know your explanation. He became a human being and all that implied. Let’s take the fifth step, for we must move along. And after he had appeared in human form, he abased and humbled himself still further. Now, it was humbling for him to become a human being. I’ve heard it played up a great deal about the fact there was no room for him in the inn and how humbling it was to be born in that stable. May I say to you, that was nothing. Did you know it was humbling for him to be born a human being? To be born in a race that the curse was upon it and the judgment of God was upon it? Did you know it was humbling for him to leave heaven’s glory and even come to this earth and become a human being? He could have been born in the palace yonder in Rome. He could have been born any place he wanted to. And he chose this place because he purposely humbled himself. And you never see him when he’s walking here on this earth asserting his priorities. You never hear him saying, now wait just a minute. Let me go first because I’m God. Never. He took the last place. He took the humble place. He went to a dinner, and you remember how these Pharisees, they elbowed him to get the first place? Where do you think he sat at the dinner? He sat in the lowest place. He humbled himself. Christians don’t know much about that today, and yet we’re told to let that mind be in us. Let’s take the next step, if you please. the sixth step, will you notice, and carried his obedience to the extreme of death. Now he didn’t have to die. He made that clear again and again. He didn’t have to die. No man taketh my life from me. After all, the curse of sin is upon us. In Adam all die, for in Adam all of us sin. Death is written on all of us, but death is not written on him. He didn’t have to die. He’s holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, born of a virgin with our humanity, but not that curse of sin, for he had no sin within him. Which of you convinced me of sin? He had none. He didn’t have to die. And death is an awful thing. I get a little provoked today at the Undertaker’s Forrest Lawn’s making death a very nice affair. And my friend, may I say to you this morning that death is a horrible, awful thing to go through. I don’t like this morbid talk today. I want to die. I don’t want to die. I hope the Lord will come before I have to pull my feet up in the bed and die. Not pretty. Not pretty to die. Where did this word get around, it’s nice, and go look? Doesn’t he look natural? Natural, of course he doesn’t. He’s just been painted up by the undertaker. You’ll never look natural till you’re in his likeness someday. Oh, my beloved, death is a terrible thing, but he died. He went all the way with us. He died. That’s not all. The seventh step. The last one. Even the death of the cross. Cross? Yes. That same as the gas chamber in California. The electric chair. The hangman’s noose. Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. I sat with a mother in Tennessee years ago while her boy was dying in the penitentiary. He says, I’m disgraced. May I say he died on a cross, the gibbet of the Roman Empire, bearing all the curse and ignominy of sin. He did that for you and for me. May I put it again, God became a human being. At Bethlehem, the mystery touched the misery. Glory covered the commonplace. The extraordinary was colored. The ordinary, the supernatural reached down to the natural. And he took a walk, a Christmas walk. He walked out of heaven into a stable. Heaven stepped. You have to have seven-league boots to take those steps. Only God can take them. On Christmas Day, it’s been my practice for years. I find myself restless. I always want to do something on Christmas Day. That’s the day my car gets polished. I like to take a walk. I like to drive out in the country on the desert and take a walk and think of the walk he took 1900 years ago in the form of God. Why leave the glory of heaven and the adoration of God’s created intelligences? Why go down to that manger? Why? Well, he did it. He did it. And he did it for you. And he did it for me. It’s a long walk from heaven, by a manger, through a carpenter shop, and onto a cross. But he did it. George Herbert expressed it like this in this lovely poem. Hast thou not heard that my Lord Jesus died? Then let me tell thee a strange story. The God of power, as he did ride in his majestic robes of glory, resolved to light, and so one day he did descend, undressing all the way. The stars his tire of light and rings obtained, the clouds his bow, the fire his spear, the sky his azure mantle gained, and when they asked what he would wear, he smiled and said as he did go, He had new clothes for making here below. God became a human being. Now the last, 1 Timothy 3, 16. Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. Somebody says, I don’t understand the virgin birth. Well, now, isn’t that too bad? Great is the mystery of godliness. Did you expect with your little brain to understand that the God of this universe became a human being? Did you? And my friend, if you did understand it, it would confuse me a great deal. I’d begin to doubt it. Because this is the mystery of godliness. Listen. God was manifest in the flesh. That’s far enough. One translation has it like this, God was made visible in human flesh. You see, each time we’ve advanced farther and farther, somebody has said that Paul did not teach the virgin birth. I disagree with that. I think he taught it in several places. I think the passage in Philippians makes it clear. I believe that here he teaches it. But if you mean by the virgin birth that he gives you the facts of life, no. If you mean by the virgin birth that he gave you a course in obstetrics, you’re wrong. Now, he had a friend by the name of Dr. Luke, who was a physician. And if you want the obstetrics of the virgin birth, read what Luke has to say. And I’m confident that since Luke, Dr. Luke was the constant companion of the apostle Paul, and even when he was in prison, at this time he could write and say, only Luke is with me. Dr. Luke is with me. What do you think Paul and Luke talked about? You think they ever talked about Jesus? Do you? Do you suppose they ever discussed the virgin birth? I think Dr. Luke went over this many times with the apostle Paul. So when Paul wrote, Paul says, God was manifest in the flesh. Our God was made visible in human flesh. You see, Paul never knew the Lord Jesus in the days of his flesh. And I say that with a reservation. I’m confident he saw him. He was a student in Jerusalem under Gamaliel. He was a Pharisee. The Pharisees hated Jesus. Paul hated Jesus. Saul of Tarsus is very much opposed to him. I cannot prove this. This is an argument I recognize that’s by inference. But that young Pharisee who was in Jerusalem at the time of the crucifixion of Christ, when all of the other Pharisees went out to Golgotha and shot out the lip and ridiculed Christ, I don’t believe this young man stayed home that day. I think he went out. I think he’s one that stood beneath the cross, shot out his lip. I think he ridiculed him. He said, you raised others. Let’s see you come down from the cross. Paul later on says, I did all this ignorantly. I really didn’t know him at that time. Later on, when I met him on the Damascus Road, I knew him as the man in the glory. And when I knew him as the man in the glory… He said, I could go back and stand beneath that cross and I can see that young Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus, cursing, shooting out the lip, ridiculing. And I see him now saying, I’m the chief of sinners. Because at that very moment, he loved me and he gave himself for me. God was manifest in the flesh. Let him tell you about it now, and I close. Over in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 16, Wherefore, henceforth, know we no man after the flesh. Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Paul says, I’m not interested in giving you the details of the virgin birth. You go back and read what my friend Dr. Luke wrote about it if you want the details. But I want to say to you, because I know him as the glorified Christ, God was manifest in the flesh. That’s what I want to tell you. And since that is true, He says, I want to tell you my experience and experience of those, my companions around me, 2 Corinthians 4, 6, for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. God who back yonder at the beginning when darkness covered the face of the deep God said, let there be light, and light broke on this earth. The Holy Spirit was there brooding over the face of the deep when man sinned, and there settled down over this earth as there is today a spiritual darkness. The Holy Spirit is again here, Paul says, and now he commands the light to shine out of darkness, and he shined in our hearts to give us the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Do you know him today? Do you know him today? Is he just a historical person who lived 1900 years ago? And these are wonderful things about him, but this morning, is he the one that has shined into your heart? Listen, have you chosen him? Have you made a decision concerning him? Years ago in an eastern city, a cold night, spitting snow, A little boy and a little girl, brother and sister, came from the slums. In their rags, they stood beside a brightly lighted department store window filled with lovely and expensive gifts. There they stood shivering, looking in. Those are gifts they could never have. They were playing the game that only boys and girls can play. And he’d say, I choose that one. And she’d move down and she’d say, I choose that one. And he’d say, but I choose this one. And then she’d say, I choose this one over here. My friend, I choose Jesus. What about you?

SPEAKER 01 : 43:26

What a message. The Word became flesh. God Himself stepped into our world so that we could know Him. If you’d like to share this Christmas sermon with a friend, you’ll find it at ttb.org or in our app. And while you’re there, why don’t you download Dr. McGee’s booklet, The Christmas Story, a simple scripture-filled reminder of why Jesus really came to earth. And if you’d like to be in touch, you can call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE. Now, as we go, I’m Steve Schwetz, praying 1 Thessalonians 5, verses 23 and 24, asking the God of peace himself to sanctify you completely so that your whole spirit, soul, and body may be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our story on the Bible Bus today is just one step in a five-year journey through the entire Word of God. Come along for the ride, and you’ll study both the Old Testament and New Testament, discovering God’s great redemption story. Is this your story too?