John 1:14-18

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 96:1-13
• Hymn — Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Sin — Daniel 9:4-9
• Assurance of Pardon — Proverbs 28:13
• Scripture Reading — Micah 5:1-6
• Hymn — God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Hymn — Angels We Have Heard on High
• Sermon
• Hymn — Infant Holy, Infant Lowly
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: The Incarnate Son of the New Creation

Scripture: John 1:14-18

I. The Son of God

A. Jesus is the only Son from the Father — not son by adoption or covenant, but by nature and eternal being

1. Other "sons" in the Old Testament: Adam (Luke 3:38), Israel (Exodus 4:22), and the Davidic kings (Psalm 2:7)
2. These sons were made sons by God's covenantal adoption; Christ is Son by his very nature and being
3. Hebrews 1:3 — he is the exact imprint of God's nature; eternally begotten of the Father

B. Sonship in ancient Jewish culture carried the idea of function — to be a son of God is to act like God, to image God

1. Adam as image-bearer (tselem) was to function like God and fill the earth with image-bearers pointing to God's sovereign rule
2. 2 Samuel 7:14 — discipline marks legitimate sonship; failing to act like the Father invites correction (Hebrews 12)
3. Christ is the perfect image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15; 2 Corinthians 4:4) — as the gospel spreads, believers are conformed to his image, becoming living signposts of God's sovereign rule over new creation

II. The Son of Glory

A. John 1:14 — the Son's glory is described as "full of grace and truth," echoing Exodus 34:6 where God reveals his glory to Moses as merciful, gracious, and abounding in steadfast love (hesed)

1. The Hebrew hesed (covenant love and faithfulness) is captured in Greek by the pairing of "grace and truth"
2. Moses could only see God's back — the fullness of glory was held back (Exodus 33)
3. The glory shown through Moses was fleeting and veiled (2 Corinthians 3); Christ brings a permanent and eternal glory

B. The glory of God's hesed could not be seen in fullness while the law remained unfulfilled and sin remained undealt with

1. Moses could only bring the law to law-breakers — resulting in a ministry of condemnation (2 Corinthians 3:9)
2. Hebrews 3:3 — Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, as a builder has more honor than the house
3. Christ is both law-giver and law-fulfiller on behalf of law-breakers; in him the fullness of God's covenantal faithfulness shines forth

C. John 1:18 — the Son exegetes the Father; he interprets, exposes, and reveals the Father

1. The Greek word behind "made him known" is the root of exegesis
2. Matthew 11:27 — no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son reveals him
3. To look into the face of Jesus is to look into the face of God — a face full of hesed, grace, and truth

III. The Son of Grace

A. John 1:16 — "grace in place of grace": a comparison of two administrations of God's covenant grace

1. The law given through Moses was itself a manifestation of grace — God condescending to fallen sinners to reveal his character and steer them toward life (Psalm 119)
2. The sacrificial system under the law was a gracious, temporary provision pointing forward to Christ as the true sacrifice
3. 1 Corinthians 10:3-4 — Israel in the wilderness ate and drank of Christ; the old covenant was always dispensing grace through the Son

B. The old covenant manifestations of grace gave way to covenant grace in its fullest and most glorious form in the incarnate Son

1. God's law, his word, his light and presence, the manna — all were foretastes of the Word made flesh, the Light incarnate, the true Bread from heaven
2. The New Testament is not a shift from law to grace; both testaments are ages of God's hesed — the new covenant simply displays it in its most magnificent form

C. The Father himself is the fountainhead of grace — Christ's coming does not appease a different God but reveals who the Father has always been

1. The God of Scripture is full to the brim with love, grace, and steadfast covenant faithfulness
2. Application: Do you know this God — not merely know about him? Is he the God you pray to, serve, and proclaim?
3. A grasp of John's prologue grounds the perseverance of the saints — knowing God in the face of the Son, we count all things as loss (Philippians 3:8)