December 8, 2025 • 29 mins
What if the most decisive truth about God is not hidden in the clouds but walking our roads with dust on His feet? We open John 1:14-18 to explore the incarnation, the moment the eternal Word became flesh, and why John skips manger details to confront the meaning behind them: God’s glory, now visible, full of grace and truth.
We walk through the biblical meaning of flesh from 1 Corinthians 15, corruption, dishonor, and weakness, and show why Jesus had to enter that condition without sin. Along the way, we dismantle the spirit-only myth that haunted the early church, pointing to eyewitness language “we beheld” and to the Shekinah thread running from the tabernacle to the Mount of Transfiguration. This isn’t an abstraction. The law could diagnose sin but couldn’t heal it; the flesh was too weak. So God sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to condemn sin in the flesh, to break the fear of death, and to begin a new creation by His Spirit.
From the last Adam to the promise of a spiritual body, we connect the cross and resurrection to your present hope. Colossians 2:9 says the fullness of Deity dwelt bodily in Christ; James calls Him the Lord of glory. If all flesh is as grass, then every human triumph fades—but the Word who took on our frailty will raise our mortal bodies. That means your future isn’t escape, but transformation, and your present is held by grace and truth you can trust.
If this conversation stirred your curiosity or strengthened your faith, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs hope today, and leave a review to help others find it. What does “the Word became flesh” mean for you this week?
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:19):
Today's message is from the Epic series of God with
God.
Here's Pastor Timothy Mannteaching the word.
SPEAKER_00 (00:26):
What the Bible, what Bible teachers call the
incarnation.
Open it up to the New Testamentbook of John.
Turning your Bibles to John,John chapter 1.
John chapter 1.
And we're going to read verse 14down through verse 18.
John 1, 14 through 18.
Now, of course, the Bible says,and the word became flesh and
(00:52):
dwelt among us.
And we beheld his glory.
The glory as of the onlybegotten of the Father, full of
grace and truth.
John, meaning John the Baptist,not John the writer of this
gospel, John the Baptist, Johnbore witness of him and cried
(01:13):
out, saying, This is he of whomI said.
And here's the quote (01:18):
He who comes after me is preferred
before me, for he was before me.
And of his fullness we have allreceived.
And grace for grace.
For the law was given throughMoses, but grace and truth came
(01:38):
through Jesus Christ.
No one has seen God at any time.
The only begotten Son, who is inthe bosom of the Father, he has
declared him.
And we'll stop here.
And this is God's word thatwe've read.
And so through December 25th,we're going to focus on what
Bible teachers call theincarnation.
(01:58):
Now that word incarnation, itmeans literally, the word
incarnation literally means theact of becoming flesh.
The act of becoming flesh.
It comes from the Latin versionof the New Testament, John 1.14,
which in English reads, the wordbecame flesh and dwelt among us.
(02:21):
But because of the, just alittle bit of background for
you, because of the nearexclusive use of what's called
the Latin Vulgate, which was a400 AD Latin translation of the
New Testament.
Because of that, because of thisnear exclusive use of the Latin
Vulgate in the church all theway through the Middle Ages, the
(02:42):
Latin term then, incarnate,became standard.
It was the word incarnate anddwelt among us.
And so that kind of stuck, thatword incarnate or incarnation.
And so when we say the wordincarnation, we're talking about
a literal term in Latin that wastranslated from the Greek, which
means became flesh, but we'realso talking about a
(03:06):
foundational doctrinal truth, atheological truth, that God
became flesh.
Jesus came and became flesh.
And so what's interesting to meis the Apostle John, when he's
writing his gospel here, andmost Bible scholars believe it
was the last gospel to bewritten.
(03:28):
It was later.
It was probably some 60 years orso after Jesus died and was
buried and was raised again andascended back to the Father.
It was probably at least 60years, and John is an old man at
this point.
He's near the end of his life.
He's probably in his late 80swhen he wrote this.
And so the other gospels werealready around at this time.
(03:51):
Most Bible scholars believe thatMark was the first gospel that
was written.
Most Bible scholars believe thatMark was actually the nephew of
Peter.
And so Mark, while he wasprobably a young man when Jesus
was born, was alive, he hadfirsthand account from Peter.
And he wrote his account.
Matthew, of course, we know wasone of the disciples of Jesus.
(04:14):
And so he wrote his accountshortly thereafter.
Luke is probably written in the60s.
That's not the 1960s, that's the60s, literally.
And then John, probably some 25years later, writes his gospel
when he's in Ephesus.
He was the bishop in Asia Minorover all those churches in
(04:36):
Ephesus.
And so what's interesting to meis John the Apostle, John
ignores the wonderful accountsof the Lord's birth recounted by
Matthew and Luke, and he tellsus instead of the mysterious
significance of Jesus' birth.
He doesn't give us any of thedetails.
(04:58):
He doesn't tell us about theshepherds.
He doesn't tell us about thewhat we call the wise men, the
magi coming up to two yearslater.
He doesn't tell us about angelsand telling Mary and Joseph his
name should be called Jesusbecause he'll save his people
from their sins.
No, he doesn't do any of that.
He doesn't tell the account.
(05:19):
He just simply says the wordbecame flesh and dwelt among us.
He gets right to the theologicalsignificance of Jesus' birth.
And we're going to dig in.
What do we see here in this textthat we've read?
Well, first of all, we noticethat Christ, Jesus, Christ as we
(05:40):
know him, that's the Messiah.
We say Christ often becausethat's sort of the Gentile
version of that word.
Both Messiah from Hebrew andChrist from Greek mean the word
anointed.
The anointed one, the deliverer.
And so the Messiah, Christ,became flesh.
That's what this says.
Really very straightforward.
(06:01):
So the incarnation did takeplace.
The Son of God, and the wordincarnation means what?
The act of becoming flesh.
That's right.
Let's try it again.
I want to teach you something.
The word incarnation means what?
The act of becoming flesh,right?
And incarnation is an Englishword that's actually taken from
(06:21):
what language?
Latin, which was not theoriginal language that the Bible
was written in.
It was actually translatedaround 400 A.D., which is about
400 years almost, after theoriginal Gospels were written.
And a dude named Jerome is theone who originally wrote it,
this Latin translation, and it'scalled the Latin Vulgate,
(06:43):
because at the time it was aform of Latin that was used
among the common people.
It had surpassed Greek as thecommon language of the day.
And then eventually peoplebecame illiterate throughout the
Middle Ages, and uh theycouldn't read or write.
Anyway, that's another story.
And the priests basically said,we're the only ones who can
(07:03):
understand it, and they chainedthe Bible to the pulpit and
wouldn't let anybody else readit.
Why?
Because they didn't want you toknow what it said.
They could tell you what to doand what to say when you
couldn't understand it, right?
When you couldn't read it.
And so that's what happened.
That's where a lot of corruptioncame in.
Anyway, so the word incarnationis actually what kind of word?
(07:24):
A Latin word.
Right?
A Latin word, and it means what?
The act of becoming flesh.
So when we talk about theincarnation as a theological
doctrine, we're talking aboutwhat specifically?
God in the flesh.
God in the flesh.
Jesus, God's Son, becomingflesh.
The Son of God actually was madeflesh.
(07:48):
Was made.
It's not the best translation.
That's actually one way the wordcan be translated, but became is
the idea.
He came to earth in the personof Jesus, the Christ.
There's no doubt here aboutJohn's meaning at all.
There's no doubt about it.
Now the word flesh is actuallythe same word.
I spent some time the lastcouple days digging into this a
(08:08):
little bit.
The word flesh is actually thevery same Greek word that the
Apostle Paul used to describeman's nature with all of its
weakness and tendency to sin.
That's an interesting thing.
We'll talk about that in just asecond.
It's really a staggeringthought, though.
That Jesus Christ is God, fullyGod, and yet Jesus Christ is
(08:30):
man, fully man.
John says, we beheld the secondphrase, we beheld his glory.
The word became flesh and dweltamong us, and we beheld.
This word beheld means actuallyseeing with the human eye.
I am beholding you right now.
You're beholding me.
We together are beheld.
(08:53):
We've beheld each other.
We're seeing each other with thehuman eye.
That's what John is saying.
This word is actually beheld, isactually used about 20 times in
the New Testament.
So is there any room here forJohn saying, well, God, God
became a man was merely a visionof some man's mind or
imagination.
(09:14):
He was merely a phantom.
He was merely a spirit.
Could that even be remotelyclose to what John is saying?
No.
And that's important.
I'll tell you why that'simportant.
Because if you read the littleletter of 1 John, you'll see
John deals with this.
Because by the time he writesthose letters, by the time he's
writing this gospel, there'salready false teaching in the
(09:34):
church that is embracing thisGreek dualism, which taught that
flesh is sinful and wicked.
Everything material is sinfuland wicked, and only that which
is spirit is good.
And so they adopt this Greekphilosophy, this dualism, that
they applied it then to Jesus.
(09:56):
And so you had these guys goingaround teaching and saying,
well, he really didn't come as aman.
He didn't come in the flesh.
It was merely a spirit.
Because otherwise he would havebeen evil.
And so he's teaching, they'reteaching this false doctrine.
You read 1 John, and John says,if anyone, if anyone does not
believe or say that Christ iscome in the flesh, then he
(10:19):
cannot be born of God.
John is essentially, as a matterof fact, he has the spirit of
Antichrist, he says.
And so anyone who says, no,Jesus didn't really, he wasn't
really a man, John, under theinspiration of the Holy Spirit,
would say, that person is notborn again.
That person is not saved.
Because it's only by the Spiritof God that you can say, John
(10:43):
says this in his first letter,that Jesus was the Son of God,
the real, fully God, fully manperson.
So there's no room here,whatever, for saying that God's
becoming a man was merely avision or something, sort of
phantom or spirit only.
John was saying that he andothers, when he says, we beheld
(11:03):
his glory, he and othersactually saw the word made
flesh.
Jesus Christ was beyond questionGod Himself, who became man, and
who partook of the very sameflesh as all other men.
Now the question here is whatdoes the Bible mean by flesh?
That's a good word to dig into alittle bit.
(11:24):
Why did Jesus have to becomeflesh?
That's a good question, too.
So I think as I was doing somecross-referencing in Bible
studies and I was thinking aboutthe physical body that we live
in, maybe the best descriptionof this body we live in, this
flesh that we have, is probablyfound in 1 Corinthians 15.
I want you to turn there in yourBibles.
If you have an app on yourphone, 1 Corinthians 15.
(11:47):
This is a really gooddescription of the flesh you and
I live in.
1 Corinthians 15, verse 42through 46.
Of course, the discussion hereis all about the resurrection
from the dead.
And the Apostle Paul is talkingabout how those who are saved
are going to be resurrected fromthe dead.
(12:08):
Okay?
And verse 42 he says, so also isthe resurrection from the dead.
But now look, the body, or wecould use the word the flesh, is
sown, that is to say, planted,right, in corruption.
So think about that word,corruption.
But it's raised in incorruption.
It is sown in dishonor.
(12:31):
So here we have corruption, wehave dishonor, it is raised in
glory.
It is sown in weakness, but itis raised in power.
So here we have corruption,dishonor, weakness.
It is sown a natural body, it israised a spiritual body.
There's a natural body andthere's a spiritual body.
And he goes on to say, it'sinteresting here, and we'll
(12:53):
touch on it.
And so it was written, the firstman became a living being.
The first man Adam became aliving being.
The last Adam, capital A there,that's referring to Jesus,
became a life-giving spirit.
And so this flesh, now, now,what I need to say is this.
Now the Bible would attest thatJesus, even though he had man's
(13:16):
physical being, he had no sinwithin him, like we do.
So why?
He had man's physical being, buthe had no sin within him, so
that he could restore everythingthat Adam failed in, and then
when Adam failed, and Evefailed, everything that Adam
failed in, he brought the curseof sin upon mankind.
(13:39):
Jesus was in the flesh, though,to be able to ultimately reverse
that curse.
Well, what about the flesh?
Our flesh.
Well, this text right here in 1Corinthians, there's a lot we
could say, but 1 Corinthians 15tells us this flesh is
corruptible.
It's sown in corruption.
It's corruptible, it is tainted,it is debased, it is ruined, it
(14:04):
is depraved by sin.
There is a seed of corruptionwithin the human flesh, and you
can't do anything about it.
And because of that, the fleshsins, lusts, and thereby ages
and dies and deteriorates anddecays.
It does not live.
This flesh does not live beyonda few years on this earth.
(14:29):
2 Peter 1.4 says, the corruptionwhich is in the this is the
corruption which is in the worldthrough lust.
Galatians 6.8 says, For he thatsows to his flesh shall of the
flesh reap corruption.
Some other translations saydestruction.
1 Corinthians 15 50, we'rereminded, flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of God,neither doth corruption inherit
(14:53):
incorruption.
And so Christ, Jesus, the Word,became flesh to correct and
counteract the corruption of theflesh.
The Bible says, 2 Peter 1.4, byChrist are given unto us
exceeding great and preciouspromises, that by these, by
these promises, you might bepartakers of the divine nature,
(15:17):
having escaped the corruptionthat is in the world through
lust.
He goes on to say, 1 Peter 1,verse 18, all the way down
through 25.
He says, For as much as you knowthat you were not redeemed with
corruptible things, as silverand gold, from your vain
conversation, your vainbehavior, which was received by
tradition from your fathers, butyou're redeemed with the
(15:38):
precious blood of Christ, as ofa lamb without blemish and
without spot, being born again,not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible, by the word ofGod, which lives and abides
forever.
For all flesh, it says, is asgrass, and the glory of man adds
the flower of grass.
Why?
The grass withers, the flowertherefore falls away, but the
(15:58):
word of the Lord enduresforever.
And this is the word which bythe gospel is preached unto you.
So the flesh is corruptible.
1 Corinthians 15 also says theflesh is dishonorable.
Hey, this flesh that you haveand I have is not what God
created it to be originally.
(16:21):
It does not exist in the imageof God that God intended.
You do exist in the image ofGod, but it is very much a
fractured, flawed image.
This flesh doesn't hold theglory, it doesn't hold the honor
or the prestige that it once didwhen God first created it with
Adam.
(16:41):
It is disgraced, it is shamed,it is reproached by sin and
lust.
It's held, this flesh is held inthe grip of sin and fear, and
it's subject to being held inbondage all the way through to
the bondage of death, which theBible says is our last enemy.
Paul said in Romans 7.18, hesaid, In me, and he explains it,
(17:05):
that is in my flesh, dwells nogood thing.
No good thing in my flesh.
Romans 8, 5 and 6 says, Theythat are after the flesh do
mind, they obey the things ofthe flesh.
For to be fleshly minded orcarnally minded is death.
(17:27):
Christ Jesus became flesh tocorrect and counteract the
dishonor of the flesh.
He says in uh Hebrews 2, 14through 15, he says, and this is
amazing, I love this.
He says, For as much then as thechildren are partakers of flesh
and blood, that's us, we're thechildren, we're partakers of
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flesh and blood, right?
And he said, just as much as youare partakers of flesh and
blood, he also, meaning Jesus,he also himself likewise took
part of the same.
In other words, of flesh andblood.
So that through death, he had todie, so that through death he
might destroy him that had thepower of death, that is the
(18:12):
devil, and deliver them who, thechildren, you and me, deliver
them who through fear of deathwere all were all their lifetime
subject to bondage.
He's saying, You don't have tobe afraid of death anymore.
He goes on to say in Romans 5, 8through 10.
But God commended his lovetoward us in that while we were
(18:33):
still sinners, Christ died forus.
Much more then, being nowjustified by his blood, we shall
be saved from wrath through him.
For if when we were enemies, wewere reconciled to God by the
death of his son, much more,much more being reconciled, we
shall be saved by his life.
This flesh is corruptible, it isdishonored, it's weak.
(18:55):
That's what this passage says.
It's weak.
The flesh is impotent, it isfeeble, it is frail, it is
fragile, it is infirm, it isdecrepit because of sin.
Because of sin.
It has no strength.
Your flesh has no strength toplease God nor to save itself.
(19:17):
You can't save yourself.
Romans 8.8 says, they that arein the flesh cannot please God.
Romans 3.20, there shall be noflesh justified in his sight.
John 6.63, Jesus is speakingthere.
He said, It's the Spirit thatquickeneth or makes life, brings
life.
The flesh profits nothing.
(19:38):
Jesus Christ became flesh tocorrect and counteract the
weakness of the flesh.
Romans 5 6 says, But when wewere yet without strength, in
due time Christ died for theungodly.
Romans 8 5.
I like this.
Listen.
For what the law could not do,in that it was weak through God.
(20:00):
The flesh.
God did, sending God sending hisown son in the likeness of
sinful flesh.
And for sin, he condemns sin inthe flesh.
Jesus did.
The flesh is also a naturalbody.
It's natural.
This flesh is of the earth.
(20:21):
It's a part of the earth.
You know, if you do a biologicalsampling of what you're made up
of, you are made up of thechemicals and the substances of
the earth.
Did you know that?
All the minerals that's in theearth, that's what you have.
Why?
What did God make Adam out of?
Interesting, isn't it?
(20:43):
It is physical, it is material.
The Bible in the New Testamentcalls it the earthly house, the
tabernacle, the tent, whichhouses the human soul and
spirit.
This is neither spirit norspiritual, and therefore it
cannot live beyond the strengthof the chemicals and substances
that form its flesh.
(21:03):
It cannot live beyond itsnatural life.
That's why 1 Corinthians 15, 50says, Now this I say, brethren,
that flesh and blood cannotinherit the kingdom of God.
Neither does corruption inheritincorruption.
He goes on to say in 1Corinthians 15, 44 and 49,
there's a natural body andthere's a spiritual body.
And we have borne the image ofthe earthly.
(21:26):
You right now are still bearingthe image of the earthly.
But the word of God says, weshall also bear the image of the
heavenly.
The heavenly body.
That's the promise.
I don't know about you, but theway I'm feeling tonight, I'm
ready for it.
I'm ready for that heavenlybody, that heavenly image.
Y'all hanging in here with me?
(21:47):
Is this interesting at all?
Alright, alright.
Just making sure.
Jesus Christ became flesh tocounteract the natural body of
the flesh.
And he became flesh in order to,and I quote 1 Corinthians 15,
45, in order to become aquickening spirit, a life-giving
spirit.
The spirit, the Savior, whocould quicken and make alive all
(22:12):
those who would trust in him.
The Bible says in 1 Peter 3.18,for Christ also has once
suffered for sins, the just forthe unjust.
That's him for me.
The just for the unjust.
That he might bring us to God,being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the Spirit,made alive by the Spirit.
(22:33):
Romans 8 11.
But if the Spirit of Him thatraised Jesus up from the dead
dwell in you, he that raised upChrist from the dead shall also
quicken, make alive your mortalbodies by his spirit that dwells
in you.
Ephesians 2, 4 and 5.
But God who is rich in mercy,for his great love, wherewith he
loved us, even when we were deadin sins, has quickened us, made
(22:55):
us alive together with Christ.
Thank God tonight that Jesus waseverything that you and I cannot
be because of the flesh.
He was everything in the fleshthat I can't be.
That's why I had to come in theflesh.
To undo everything the firstAdam messed up.
The last Adam makes it right.
(23:17):
Because he was perfect.
He never sinned.
The birth of the Lord Jesus wasunique.
When any other child is born inthe world, it's an amazing
thing.
It's the creation of a newpersonality.
A new life is created, one thatnever existed before.
But when Jesus was born, it wasnot the new, it was not the
(23:38):
creation of a new personality atall.
Or even a new person.
It was the coming into thisworld of a person who had
existed from all eternity.
This was something new in thehistory of the universe.
I mean, no wonder the angelswoke up everybody all over those
Judean hills that night withtheir shouts of praise.
(24:00):
So, back to John 1 14.
What does it say?
It says Christ became flesh.
The incarnation happened.
Well, what else?
Let's dig a little bit morehere.
The proof of the incarnation isthat Jesus dwelt visibly among
us.
God's glory was seen.
It says, and he dwelt among us,and we beheld his glory.
(24:21):
The glory as of the onlybegotten of the Father.
So God's the proof of theincarnation here is that God's
glory was seen, and that Jesusdwelt visibly among us.
God's glory was seen.
Now there's a couple of thingsmeant by the word glory here.
We beheld his glory.
That's an interesting word.
Actually, Michael Sunday gave apassing brief reference to it.
(24:44):
Christ was, to use the OldTestament Hebrew word, Christ
was the Shekinah of God.
That's the Old Testament word,Shekinah.
We would say, we would kind ofput two words together and say
Shekinah glory.
They didn't do that.
It was just Shekinah.
The word Shekinah means thatwhich dwells or dwelling.
It refers to, specifically, inthe Old Testament, you can read
(25:08):
about in Exodus 40.
It refers to that bright cloudthat God used to guide Israel
out of Egypt and that restedultimately upon the tabernacle
and above the mercy seat in theholy place in the tabernacle
during the Old Testament.
The cloud symbolized was aphysical manifestation of God's
(25:28):
presence, of God's glory.
And that is just what John wassaying.
He was saying, We beheld, weactually saw the Shekinah glory,
God's very presence dwellingamong us.
We saw that.
I think he saw it in a couple ofways.
He saw it in the moralexcellence of Jesus in every
way.
But then also he caught anunveiled glimpse upon that mount
(25:49):
of what we call Mount ofTransfiguration.
In James, Peter, and John.
He saw that.
Christ, this word glory alsoreally, I think means Christ was
the very embodiment of God.
He's all that God is and does.
John said, we beheld, we lookedat him, and we could tell he was
(26:10):
God.
All that Jesus was in his personand in his being, in his
character, and in his behaviorwas so enormously different from
everybody else.
From them.
He was human and expressed allthe human characteristics, the
positive side of humancharacteristics.
And all the emotions withoutsinning.
(26:32):
But in person and behavior, hiswork and his ministry was so
very different.
It was the very embodiment ofgrace and truth.
It was the perfect embodiment oflove and joy and peace and
long-suffering and gentlenessand goodness and faith and
meekness and self-control.
It was the absolute embodimentof all that God could be.
The glory of all that God was,stood right before them, right
(26:54):
in their very presence.
And they beheld him with theirvery own eyes.
Jesus Christ, the man who dweltamong them, could be none other
than the glory of God among men.
It was clearly seen.
So much so, Colossians 2.9 is abeautiful verse where Paul was
writing, and he says, In him,meaning Jesus, dwelt the
(27:14):
fullness of the Godhead bodily.
Colossians 2.9.
In him dwelt all the fullness ofthe Godhead bodily.
The glory of his being was thevery glory God himself would
possess.
It was the very glory God wouldgive to his only begotten Son.
Just as any father would givethe best of his glory in all
that he is to a son.
And you know what's a strikingfact?
(27:36):
I was thinking about his brotherJames, who wrote that little
letter back in the NewTestament.
Jesus' half-brother, James.
The striking fact is that James,his very brother, even called
Jesus the Lord of glory.
The Lord of glory.
I mean, just think.
James was reared with Jesus,beginning from the earliest
(27:56):
years of childhood, stretchingright on through the years of
adulthood.
I think if anyone ever had anopportunity to see and observe
Jesus, it was James.
I can't imagine how many timeshe was probably looking for
Jesus to mess up.
So he could tattle tail on himfinally.
He never could find anything.
There was nothing negative.
(28:17):
He had every chance to see someact of disobedience, some sin,
something contrary to the verynature of God.
However, James, Jesus' brotherin the flesh, his testimony is
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lordof glory.
The one in whom the verypresence of God dwelt among us.
SPEAKER_01 (28:37):
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Truth, the Bible teachingministry of Prophet Church,
Ormond Beach or you're invitedto join us on Sunday at 1151.
West could not afford servicetime.
(28:59):
Join us again at activity.
Today's message is from the Epic series of God with
God.
Here's Pastor Timothy Mannteaching the word.
SPEAKER_00 (00:26):
What the Bible, what Bible teachers call the
incarnation.
Open it up to the New Testamentbook of John.
Turning your Bibles to John,John chapter 1.
John chapter 1.
And we're going to read verse 14down through verse 18.
John 1, 14 through 18.
Now, of course, the Bible says,and the word became flesh and
(00:52):
dwelt among us.
And we beheld his glory.
The glory as of the onlybegotten of the Father, full of
grace and truth.
John, meaning John the Baptist,not John the writer of this
gospel, John the Baptist, Johnbore witness of him and cried
(01:13):
out, saying, This is he of whomI said.
And here's the quote (01:18):
He who comes after me is preferred
before me, for he was before me.
And of his fullness we have allreceived.
And grace for grace.
For the law was given throughMoses, but grace and truth came
(01:38):
through Jesus Christ.
No one has seen God at any time.
The only begotten Son, who is inthe bosom of the Father, he has
declared him.
And we'll stop here.
And this is God's word thatwe've read.
And so through December 25th,we're going to focus on what
Bible teachers call theincarnation.
(01:58):
Now that word incarnation, itmeans literally, the word
incarnation literally means theact of becoming flesh.
The act of becoming flesh.
It comes from the Latin versionof the New Testament, John 1.14,
which in English reads, the wordbecame flesh and dwelt among us.
(02:21):
But because of the, just alittle bit of background for
you, because of the nearexclusive use of what's called
the Latin Vulgate, which was a400 AD Latin translation of the
New Testament.
Because of that, because of thisnear exclusive use of the Latin
Vulgate in the church all theway through the Middle Ages, the
(02:42):
Latin term then, incarnate,became standard.
It was the word incarnate anddwelt among us.
And so that kind of stuck, thatword incarnate or incarnation.
And so when we say the wordincarnation, we're talking about
a literal term in Latin that wastranslated from the Greek, which
means became flesh, but we'realso talking about a
(03:06):
foundational doctrinal truth, atheological truth, that God
became flesh.
Jesus came and became flesh.
And so what's interesting to meis the Apostle John, when he's
writing his gospel here, andmost Bible scholars believe it
was the last gospel to bewritten.
(03:28):
It was later.
It was probably some 60 years orso after Jesus died and was
buried and was raised again andascended back to the Father.
It was probably at least 60years, and John is an old man at
this point.
He's near the end of his life.
He's probably in his late 80swhen he wrote this.
And so the other gospels werealready around at this time.
(03:51):
Most Bible scholars believe thatMark was the first gospel that
was written.
Most Bible scholars believe thatMark was actually the nephew of
Peter.
And so Mark, while he wasprobably a young man when Jesus
was born, was alive, he hadfirsthand account from Peter.
And he wrote his account.
Matthew, of course, we know wasone of the disciples of Jesus.
(04:14):
And so he wrote his accountshortly thereafter.
Luke is probably written in the60s.
That's not the 1960s, that's the60s, literally.
And then John, probably some 25years later, writes his gospel
when he's in Ephesus.
He was the bishop in Asia Minorover all those churches in
(04:36):
Ephesus.
And so what's interesting to meis John the Apostle, John
ignores the wonderful accountsof the Lord's birth recounted by
Matthew and Luke, and he tellsus instead of the mysterious
significance of Jesus' birth.
He doesn't give us any of thedetails.
(04:58):
He doesn't tell us about theshepherds.
He doesn't tell us about thewhat we call the wise men, the
magi coming up to two yearslater.
He doesn't tell us about angelsand telling Mary and Joseph his
name should be called Jesusbecause he'll save his people
from their sins.
No, he doesn't do any of that.
He doesn't tell the account.
(05:19):
He just simply says the wordbecame flesh and dwelt among us.
He gets right to the theologicalsignificance of Jesus' birth.
And we're going to dig in.
What do we see here in this textthat we've read?
Well, first of all, we noticethat Christ, Jesus, Christ as we
(05:40):
know him, that's the Messiah.
We say Christ often becausethat's sort of the Gentile
version of that word.
Both Messiah from Hebrew andChrist from Greek mean the word
anointed.
The anointed one, the deliverer.
And so the Messiah, Christ,became flesh.
That's what this says.
Really very straightforward.
(06:01):
So the incarnation did takeplace.
The Son of God, and the wordincarnation means what?
The act of becoming flesh.
That's right.
Let's try it again.
I want to teach you something.
The word incarnation means what?
The act of becoming flesh,right?
And incarnation is an Englishword that's actually taken from
(06:21):
what language?
Latin, which was not theoriginal language that the Bible
was written in.
It was actually translatedaround 400 A.D., which is about
400 years almost, after theoriginal Gospels were written.
And a dude named Jerome is theone who originally wrote it,
this Latin translation, and it'scalled the Latin Vulgate,
(06:43):
because at the time it was aform of Latin that was used
among the common people.
It had surpassed Greek as thecommon language of the day.
And then eventually peoplebecame illiterate throughout the
Middle Ages, and uh theycouldn't read or write.
Anyway, that's another story.
And the priests basically said,we're the only ones who can
(07:03):
understand it, and they chainedthe Bible to the pulpit and
wouldn't let anybody else readit.
Why?
Because they didn't want you toknow what it said.
They could tell you what to doand what to say when you
couldn't understand it, right?
When you couldn't read it.
And so that's what happened.
That's where a lot of corruptioncame in.
Anyway, so the word incarnationis actually what kind of word?
(07:24):
A Latin word.
Right?
A Latin word, and it means what?
The act of becoming flesh.
So when we talk about theincarnation as a theological
doctrine, we're talking aboutwhat specifically?
God in the flesh.
God in the flesh.
Jesus, God's Son, becomingflesh.
The Son of God actually was madeflesh.
(07:48):
Was made.
It's not the best translation.
That's actually one way the wordcan be translated, but became is
the idea.
He came to earth in the personof Jesus, the Christ.
There's no doubt here aboutJohn's meaning at all.
There's no doubt about it.
Now the word flesh is actuallythe same word.
I spent some time the lastcouple days digging into this a
(08:08):
little bit.
The word flesh is actually thevery same Greek word that the
Apostle Paul used to describeman's nature with all of its
weakness and tendency to sin.
That's an interesting thing.
We'll talk about that in just asecond.
It's really a staggeringthought, though.
That Jesus Christ is God, fullyGod, and yet Jesus Christ is
(08:30):
man, fully man.
John says, we beheld the secondphrase, we beheld his glory.
The word became flesh and dweltamong us, and we beheld.
This word beheld means actuallyseeing with the human eye.
I am beholding you right now.
You're beholding me.
We together are beheld.
(08:53):
We've beheld each other.
We're seeing each other with thehuman eye.
That's what John is saying.
This word is actually beheld, isactually used about 20 times in
the New Testament.
So is there any room here forJohn saying, well, God, God
became a man was merely a visionof some man's mind or
imagination.
(09:14):
He was merely a phantom.
He was merely a spirit.
Could that even be remotelyclose to what John is saying?
No.
And that's important.
I'll tell you why that'simportant.
Because if you read the littleletter of 1 John, you'll see
John deals with this.
Because by the time he writesthose letters, by the time he's
writing this gospel, there'salready false teaching in the
(09:34):
church that is embracing thisGreek dualism, which taught that
flesh is sinful and wicked.
Everything material is sinfuland wicked, and only that which
is spirit is good.
And so they adopt this Greekphilosophy, this dualism, that
they applied it then to Jesus.
(09:56):
And so you had these guys goingaround teaching and saying,
well, he really didn't come as aman.
He didn't come in the flesh.
It was merely a spirit.
Because otherwise he would havebeen evil.
And so he's teaching, they'reteaching this false doctrine.
You read 1 John, and John says,if anyone, if anyone does not
believe or say that Christ iscome in the flesh, then he
(10:19):
cannot be born of God.
John is essentially, as a matterof fact, he has the spirit of
Antichrist, he says.
And so anyone who says, no,Jesus didn't really, he wasn't
really a man, John, under theinspiration of the Holy Spirit,
would say, that person is notborn again.
That person is not saved.
Because it's only by the Spiritof God that you can say, John
(10:43):
says this in his first letter,that Jesus was the Son of God,
the real, fully God, fully manperson.
So there's no room here,whatever, for saying that God's
becoming a man was merely avision or something, sort of
phantom or spirit only.
John was saying that he andothers, when he says, we beheld
(11:03):
his glory, he and othersactually saw the word made
flesh.
Jesus Christ was beyond questionGod Himself, who became man, and
who partook of the very sameflesh as all other men.
Now the question here is whatdoes the Bible mean by flesh?
That's a good word to dig into alittle bit.
(11:24):
Why did Jesus have to becomeflesh?
That's a good question, too.
So I think as I was doing somecross-referencing in Bible
studies and I was thinking aboutthe physical body that we live
in, maybe the best descriptionof this body we live in, this
flesh that we have, is probablyfound in 1 Corinthians 15.
I want you to turn there in yourBibles.
If you have an app on yourphone, 1 Corinthians 15.
(11:47):
This is a really gooddescription of the flesh you and
I live in.
1 Corinthians 15, verse 42through 46.
Of course, the discussion hereis all about the resurrection
from the dead.
And the Apostle Paul is talkingabout how those who are saved
are going to be resurrected fromthe dead.
(12:08):
Okay?
And verse 42 he says, so also isthe resurrection from the dead.
But now look, the body, or wecould use the word the flesh, is
sown, that is to say, planted,right, in corruption.
So think about that word,corruption.
But it's raised in incorruption.
It is sown in dishonor.
(12:31):
So here we have corruption, wehave dishonor, it is raised in
glory.
It is sown in weakness, but itis raised in power.
So here we have corruption,dishonor, weakness.
It is sown a natural body, it israised a spiritual body.
There's a natural body andthere's a spiritual body.
And he goes on to say, it'sinteresting here, and we'll
(12:53):
touch on it.
And so it was written, the firstman became a living being.
The first man Adam became aliving being.
The last Adam, capital A there,that's referring to Jesus,
became a life-giving spirit.
And so this flesh, now, now,what I need to say is this.
Now the Bible would attest thatJesus, even though he had man's
(13:16):
physical being, he had no sinwithin him, like we do.
So why?
He had man's physical being, buthe had no sin within him, so
that he could restore everythingthat Adam failed in, and then
when Adam failed, and Evefailed, everything that Adam
failed in, he brought the curseof sin upon mankind.
(13:39):
Jesus was in the flesh, though,to be able to ultimately reverse
that curse.
Well, what about the flesh?
Our flesh.
Well, this text right here in 1Corinthians, there's a lot we
could say, but 1 Corinthians 15tells us this flesh is
corruptible.
It's sown in corruption.
It's corruptible, it is tainted,it is debased, it is ruined, it
(14:04):
is depraved by sin.
There is a seed of corruptionwithin the human flesh, and you
can't do anything about it.
And because of that, the fleshsins, lusts, and thereby ages
and dies and deteriorates anddecays.
It does not live.
This flesh does not live beyonda few years on this earth.
(14:29):
2 Peter 1.4 says, the corruptionwhich is in the this is the
corruption which is in the worldthrough lust.
Galatians 6.8 says, For he thatsows to his flesh shall of the
flesh reap corruption.
Some other translations saydestruction.
1 Corinthians 15 50, we'rereminded, flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of God,neither doth corruption inherit
(14:53):
incorruption.
And so Christ, Jesus, the Word,became flesh to correct and
counteract the corruption of theflesh.
The Bible says, 2 Peter 1.4, byChrist are given unto us
exceeding great and preciouspromises, that by these, by
these promises, you might bepartakers of the divine nature,
(15:17):
having escaped the corruptionthat is in the world through
lust.
He goes on to say, 1 Peter 1,verse 18, all the way down
through 25.
He says, For as much as you knowthat you were not redeemed with
corruptible things, as silverand gold, from your vain
conversation, your vainbehavior, which was received by
tradition from your fathers, butyou're redeemed with the
(15:38):
precious blood of Christ, as ofa lamb without blemish and
without spot, being born again,not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible, by the word ofGod, which lives and abides
forever.
For all flesh, it says, is asgrass, and the glory of man adds
the flower of grass.
Why?
The grass withers, the flowertherefore falls away, but the
(15:58):
word of the Lord enduresforever.
And this is the word which bythe gospel is preached unto you.
So the flesh is corruptible.
1 Corinthians 15 also says theflesh is dishonorable.
Hey, this flesh that you haveand I have is not what God
created it to be originally.
(16:21):
It does not exist in the imageof God that God intended.
You do exist in the image ofGod, but it is very much a
fractured, flawed image.
This flesh doesn't hold theglory, it doesn't hold the honor
or the prestige that it once didwhen God first created it with
Adam.
(16:41):
It is disgraced, it is shamed,it is reproached by sin and
lust.
It's held, this flesh is held inthe grip of sin and fear, and
it's subject to being held inbondage all the way through to
the bondage of death, which theBible says is our last enemy.
Paul said in Romans 7.18, hesaid, In me, and he explains it,
(17:05):
that is in my flesh, dwells nogood thing.
No good thing in my flesh.
Romans 8, 5 and 6 says, Theythat are after the flesh do
mind, they obey the things ofthe flesh.
For to be fleshly minded orcarnally minded is death.
(17:27):
Christ Jesus became flesh tocorrect and counteract the
dishonor of the flesh.
He says in uh Hebrews 2, 14through 15, he says, and this is
amazing, I love this.
He says, For as much then as thechildren are partakers of flesh
and blood, that's us, we're thechildren, we're partakers of
(17:49):
flesh and blood, right?
And he said, just as much as youare partakers of flesh and
blood, he also, meaning Jesus,he also himself likewise took
part of the same.
In other words, of flesh andblood.
So that through death, he had todie, so that through death he
might destroy him that had thepower of death, that is the
(18:12):
devil, and deliver them who, thechildren, you and me, deliver
them who through fear of deathwere all were all their lifetime
subject to bondage.
He's saying, You don't have tobe afraid of death anymore.
He goes on to say in Romans 5, 8through 10.
But God commended his lovetoward us in that while we were
(18:33):
still sinners, Christ died forus.
Much more then, being nowjustified by his blood, we shall
be saved from wrath through him.
For if when we were enemies, wewere reconciled to God by the
death of his son, much more,much more being reconciled, we
shall be saved by his life.
This flesh is corruptible, it isdishonored, it's weak.
(18:55):
That's what this passage says.
It's weak.
The flesh is impotent, it isfeeble, it is frail, it is
fragile, it is infirm, it isdecrepit because of sin.
Because of sin.
It has no strength.
Your flesh has no strength toplease God nor to save itself.
(19:17):
You can't save yourself.
Romans 8.8 says, they that arein the flesh cannot please God.
Romans 3.20, there shall be noflesh justified in his sight.
John 6.63, Jesus is speakingthere.
He said, It's the Spirit thatquickeneth or makes life, brings
life.
The flesh profits nothing.
(19:38):
Jesus Christ became flesh tocorrect and counteract the
weakness of the flesh.
Romans 5 6 says, But when wewere yet without strength, in
due time Christ died for theungodly.
Romans 8 5.
I like this.
Listen.
For what the law could not do,in that it was weak through God.
(20:00):
The flesh.
God did, sending God sending hisown son in the likeness of
sinful flesh.
And for sin, he condemns sin inthe flesh.
Jesus did.
The flesh is also a naturalbody.
It's natural.
This flesh is of the earth.
(20:21):
It's a part of the earth.
You know, if you do a biologicalsampling of what you're made up
of, you are made up of thechemicals and the substances of
the earth.
Did you know that?
All the minerals that's in theearth, that's what you have.
Why?
What did God make Adam out of?
Interesting, isn't it?
(20:43):
It is physical, it is material.
The Bible in the New Testamentcalls it the earthly house, the
tabernacle, the tent, whichhouses the human soul and
spirit.
This is neither spirit norspiritual, and therefore it
cannot live beyond the strengthof the chemicals and substances
that form its flesh.
(21:03):
It cannot live beyond itsnatural life.
That's why 1 Corinthians 15, 50says, Now this I say, brethren,
that flesh and blood cannotinherit the kingdom of God.
Neither does corruption inheritincorruption.
He goes on to say in 1Corinthians 15, 44 and 49,
there's a natural body andthere's a spiritual body.
And we have borne the image ofthe earthly.
(21:26):
You right now are still bearingthe image of the earthly.
But the word of God says, weshall also bear the image of the
heavenly.
The heavenly body.
That's the promise.
I don't know about you, but theway I'm feeling tonight, I'm
ready for it.
I'm ready for that heavenlybody, that heavenly image.
Y'all hanging in here with me?
(21:47):
Is this interesting at all?
Alright, alright.
Just making sure.
Jesus Christ became flesh tocounteract the natural body of
the flesh.
And he became flesh in order to,and I quote 1 Corinthians 15,
45, in order to become aquickening spirit, a life-giving
spirit.
The spirit, the Savior, whocould quicken and make alive all
(22:12):
those who would trust in him.
The Bible says in 1 Peter 3.18,for Christ also has once
suffered for sins, the just forthe unjust.
That's him for me.
The just for the unjust.
That he might bring us to God,being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the Spirit,made alive by the Spirit.
(22:33):
Romans 8 11.
But if the Spirit of Him thatraised Jesus up from the dead
dwell in you, he that raised upChrist from the dead shall also
quicken, make alive your mortalbodies by his spirit that dwells
in you.
Ephesians 2, 4 and 5.
But God who is rich in mercy,for his great love, wherewith he
loved us, even when we were deadin sins, has quickened us, made
(22:55):
us alive together with Christ.
Thank God tonight that Jesus waseverything that you and I cannot
be because of the flesh.
He was everything in the fleshthat I can't be.
That's why I had to come in theflesh.
To undo everything the firstAdam messed up.
The last Adam makes it right.
(23:17):
Because he was perfect.
He never sinned.
The birth of the Lord Jesus wasunique.
When any other child is born inthe world, it's an amazing
thing.
It's the creation of a newpersonality.
A new life is created, one thatnever existed before.
But when Jesus was born, it wasnot the new, it was not the
(23:38):
creation of a new personality atall.
Or even a new person.
It was the coming into thisworld of a person who had
existed from all eternity.
This was something new in thehistory of the universe.
I mean, no wonder the angelswoke up everybody all over those
Judean hills that night withtheir shouts of praise.
(24:00):
So, back to John 1 14.
What does it say?
It says Christ became flesh.
The incarnation happened.
Well, what else?
Let's dig a little bit morehere.
The proof of the incarnation isthat Jesus dwelt visibly among
us.
God's glory was seen.
It says, and he dwelt among us,and we beheld his glory.
(24:21):
The glory as of the onlybegotten of the Father.
So God's the proof of theincarnation here is that God's
glory was seen, and that Jesusdwelt visibly among us.
God's glory was seen.
Now there's a couple of thingsmeant by the word glory here.
We beheld his glory.
That's an interesting word.
Actually, Michael Sunday gave apassing brief reference to it.
(24:44):
Christ was, to use the OldTestament Hebrew word, Christ
was the Shekinah of God.
That's the Old Testament word,Shekinah.
We would say, we would kind ofput two words together and say
Shekinah glory.
They didn't do that.
It was just Shekinah.
The word Shekinah means thatwhich dwells or dwelling.
It refers to, specifically, inthe Old Testament, you can read
(25:08):
about in Exodus 40.
It refers to that bright cloudthat God used to guide Israel
out of Egypt and that restedultimately upon the tabernacle
and above the mercy seat in theholy place in the tabernacle
during the Old Testament.
The cloud symbolized was aphysical manifestation of God's
(25:28):
presence, of God's glory.
And that is just what John wassaying.
He was saying, We beheld, weactually saw the Shekinah glory,
God's very presence dwellingamong us.
We saw that.
I think he saw it in a couple ofways.
He saw it in the moralexcellence of Jesus in every
way.
But then also he caught anunveiled glimpse upon that mount
(25:49):
of what we call Mount ofTransfiguration.
In James, Peter, and John.
He saw that.
Christ, this word glory alsoreally, I think means Christ was
the very embodiment of God.
He's all that God is and does.
John said, we beheld, we lookedat him, and we could tell he was
(26:10):
God.
All that Jesus was in his personand in his being, in his
character, and in his behaviorwas so enormously different from
everybody else.
From them.
He was human and expressed allthe human characteristics, the
positive side of humancharacteristics.
And all the emotions withoutsinning.
(26:32):
But in person and behavior, hiswork and his ministry was so
very different.
It was the very embodiment ofgrace and truth.
It was the perfect embodiment oflove and joy and peace and
long-suffering and gentlenessand goodness and faith and
meekness and self-control.
It was the absolute embodimentof all that God could be.
The glory of all that God was,stood right before them, right
(26:54):
in their very presence.
And they beheld him with theirvery own eyes.
Jesus Christ, the man who dweltamong them, could be none other
than the glory of God among men.
It was clearly seen.
So much so, Colossians 2.9 is abeautiful verse where Paul was
writing, and he says, In him,meaning Jesus, dwelt the
(27:14):
fullness of the Godhead bodily.
Colossians 2.9.
In him dwelt all the fullness ofthe Godhead bodily.
The glory of his being was thevery glory God himself would
possess.
It was the very glory God wouldgive to his only begotten Son.
Just as any father would givethe best of his glory in all
that he is to a son.
And you know what's a strikingfact?
(27:36):
I was thinking about his brotherJames, who wrote that little
letter back in the NewTestament.
Jesus' half-brother, James.
The striking fact is that James,his very brother, even called
Jesus the Lord of glory.
The Lord of glory.
I mean, just think.
James was reared with Jesus,beginning from the earliest
(27:56):
years of childhood, stretchingright on through the years of
adulthood.
I think if anyone ever had anopportunity to see and observe
Jesus, it was James.
I can't imagine how many timeshe was probably looking for
Jesus to mess up.
So he could tattle tail on himfinally.
He never could find anything.
There was nothing negative.
(28:17):
He had every chance to see someact of disobedience, some sin,
something contrary to the verynature of God.
However, James, Jesus' brotherin the flesh, his testimony is
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lordof glory.
The one in whom the verypresence of God dwelt among us.
SPEAKER_01 (28:37):
You've been listening to Foundations of
Truth, the Bible teachingministry of Prophet Church,
Ormond Beach or you're invitedto join us on Sunday at 1151.
West could not afford servicetime.
(28:59):
Join us again at activity.
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