Christ's Presence in His Creation

Luther.
John 1:3
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

He is not a Master who, like a carpenter or builder, when he has prepared a house or
ship, leaves the house for its owner to dwell in, or commits the ship to the mariners that
they may traverse the sea in it, and he himself goes whither he may. No; God the Father
has begun. and finished all things by His Word, and preserves it also continually by the
same, and remains with His work until He wills that it shall no longer exist (John 5:13).
As we were made by Him without our assistance, so also we cannot be preserved of
ourselves. Thus here, were all to understand that all things created are preserved, in
being otherwise they would not long remain created.

(Luther.)

Parallel Verses
KJV: All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was
made.

WEB: All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has
been made.

Christ's Coming and Rejection

J. Benson.
John 1:10-11
He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.…

I. IN WHAT SENSE HE CAME TO HIS OWN, AND HIS OWN RECEIVED HIM
NOT. He came as the long-expected Messiah (Haggai 2:7; John 4:26), answering all the
characters given Him as such in the Old Testament.

1. He came as Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 9:6; Isaiah 35:4; Isaiah 40:9, 10). His
testimony to this effect was confirmed by exercising the authority of God —

(1) by forgiving sins (Matthew 9:2);

(2) by healing the sick (Matthew 8:3);

(3) by raising the dead (Mark 5:41; John 11:43),

(4) by calming the storm (Mark 4:39).But so far were His own from receiving Him that
they accounted Him a "sinner" (John 9:24), a "deceiver" (Matthew 27:63), "mad" and
possessed of the "devil" (John 10:20).

2. He came as the Prophet like unto Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15), whom He resembled
in many things. But they rejected Him because His doctrine contradicted their
prejudices, censured their vices, and laid a restraint on their dominant lusts.

3. He came as High Priest and Mediator between God and man, typified by Aaron; but
they, depending on being Abraham's seed, on circumcision, the priesthood, and
expiations of their law, received Him not.

4. He came as Redeemer and Saviour (Isaiah 59:20; Isaiah 42:6, 7), but not seeing their
want of redemption (chap. John 8:33), and having no desire for spiritual blessings, they
received Him not.

5. He came as King (Psalm 2:6; Jeremiah 23:5, 6; Zechariah 9:9), to rescue them from
their enemies, and govern them with good laws. But as His kingdom was not of this
world they rejected Him (John 19:13, 15; John 18:40, Luke 19:14).

II. IN WHAT SENSE IT IS NECESSARY THAT WE SHOULD RECEIVE HIM We

receive His name, and therefore receive Him by profession; the Scriptures, as declaring
His will; His ordinances: but do we receive Him in all the offices and characters He
sustains?

1. Acknowledging Him as a Divine Teacher, do we learn and practise His precepts?

2. Acknowledging that He is Mediator, do we rely on His atonement and intercession?

3. Confessing Him to be all-sufficient Redeemer, do we glorify Him in our body and

spirit, which are His?

4. Do we in reality as well as in profession receive Him as our King? It is implied in

these questions that we received

(1) His doctrine as the rule of our faith, experience, and practice;

(2) His merits as the ground of our confidence;

(3) His Spirit, without which we are none of His;

(4) His example as our pattern;

(5) His exaltation as the ultimate object of our desire.

III. THE GREAT PRIVILEGE THEY ATTAIN WHO RECEIVE HIM

1. They are unspeakably near to Him as made sons of God by regeneration (John 5:1).

2. They are dear to Him above all others. They are favoured with access to Him, taken
under His protection, and assured of a great reward.

(J. Benson.)

The Ingratitude of Man

C. H. Spurgeon.
John 1:10-11
He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.…

I. THE PEOPLE AMONGST WHOM OUR LORD DWELT WERE GUILTY OF

INGRATITUDE TOWARDS HIM.

1. It was an act of distinguished favour our that He should be born among them; yet
they rejected Him, which was a high-handed act of national ingratitude.

2. Special cases occurred involving still greater ingratitude.

(1) Among them were many whom our Lord healed. Strange ingratitude that a man
should owe his eyes to Him and yet refuse to see in Him the Saviour; should owe to
Christ his tongue and be silent in the great Physician's praise.

(2) He fed thousands of hungry persons: yet they followed Him, not for Himself, but for
what they could get out of Him.

(3) When He acted as a teacher they tried to murder Him.

3. The further our Lord went on in life the more ungratefully was He treated. He forgot
Himself and gave Himself away that He might seek and save the lost; and yet men
strove to take away His life which was more valuable to them than to Him.

4. At last that evil generation had its way with Him and crucified Him.

5. When He rose and tarried for forty days to minister blessing, they first doubted and
then invented an idle tale to account for it.

6. In this ingratitude those who were nearest to Him had a share. One denied Him, and
all forsook Him and fled.

II. WE ALSO HAVE BEEN UNGRATEFUL TO OUR LORD.

1. Those who are most indebted to Christ's love and grace — believers.

(1) Every sin is ingratitude since Christ suffered for it and came to destroy it.

(2) The setting up of any rival on His throne in the heart, when Christ is dethroned in
favour of wife, child, friend, ambition, pleasure, wealth, is base ingratitude.
(3) The same is true when we lose large measures of grace; when the Holy Spirit admits
us into peculiar nearness to God and we act inconsistently.

(4) And so the little service we render and our lukewarm love. Christ's love is like the
ancient furnace which was heated seven times hotter; ours like the solitary spark which
wonders within itself that it is yet alive.

(5) The rare consecration of our substance is another case in point. Our gifts to His
poor, His Church, missions, are an insult to Him.

(6) How base is our ingratitude when we neglect His commands and have to be driven
to obedience.

2. There are those whose ingratitude is even greater.

(1) Those who refuse to trust Him, in spite of gospel announcements, loving invitations,
the evident manifestation of Christ.

(2) Those who oppose Him, jest at His gospel, and treat His people with indignity. What
evil has He ever done you? When has He given you an ill word or look? It is to His
silence that you owe your life. There is no chivalry in such conduct as this.

3. Those from whom, above all others, such conduct ought not to have proceeded.

(1) Children of pious and sainted parents.

(2) The restored from sickness.

III. WHAT THEN? What comes out of all this?

1. Let us appreciate our Saviour's sufferings.

2. Admire our Saviour's love.

3. Apply the cleansing blood which can take away the scarlet sin of ingratitude.

4. Learn how to forgive. Christ loved men none the less for their ingratitude.

5. Judge how we ought to live in the light of this subject: devote ourselves entirely to
Him. In conclusion, what will become of the finally ungrateful?

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Glory of Christ Beheld

C. H. Spurgeon.
John 1:14
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelled among us, (and we beheld his glory…
The greatest glory of the Jewish Church was thai God tabernacled in its midst. The
greatest glory of the Tabernacle was the most holy place. The glory of the holy place
was the Shekinah. Jesus Christ was God's Tabernacle, and the surpassing excellence of
this Tabernacle is fulness of grace and truth.

I. A FAVOURED PEOPLE. Who are the we?

1. An elect company.

2. A called company. Special in the case of the apostles. General in the case of all
believers.

3. An illuminated company. Christ's glory not manifest to the rest of mankind.

II. THEIR EXALTED PRIVILEGE. "Beheld His glory": not heard or read of. Many
were the privileges of the disciples, but this excelled them all. How can we behold?

1. By faith.

2. Experience.

3. Communion.

III. A MOST BLESSED VISION.

1. Of Christ's complex person as God and man.

2. Of the motive for which He undertook His redeeming work.

3. Of His self-sacrifice.

4. Of His endurance and perseverance.

5. Of His triumph.

IV. THE TESTIMONY WHICH WE WHO HAVE SEEN HIS GLORY ARE SURE
TO BEAR. That He is —

1. The only-begotten of the Father.

2. Full of grace.

3. Full of truth.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)
 The True Tabernacle, and its Glory
of Grace and Peace
Charles Haddon Spurgeon
John 1:14
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelled among us, (and we beheld his glory…

A Sermon

(No.1862)

Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, September 27th, 1885, by

C. H. SPURGEON,

At [8]the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

"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.

"For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." -- John 1:
17.

THERE WAS A TIME when God freely communed with men. The voice of the Lord
God was heard walking in the garden in the cool of the day. With unfallen Adam the
great God dwelt in sweet and intimate fellowship; but sin came and not only destroyed
the garden, but destroyed the intercourse of God with His creature man. A great gulf
opened between man as evil, and God as infinitely pure; and had it not been for the
amazing goodness of the most High, we must all of us forever have been banished from
His presence, and from the glory of His power. The Lord God in infinite love resolved
that He Himself would bridge the distance, and would again dwell with man; and in
token of this He made Himself manifest to His chosen nation Israel when they were in
the wilderness. He was pleased to dwell in type and symbol among His people, in the
very center and heart of their camp. Do you see yonder tent with its curtains of goats'
hair in the center of the canvas city? You cannot see within it; but it was all glorious
within with precious wood, and pure gold, and tapestry of many colors. Within its most
sacred shrine shone forth a bright light between the wings of cherubim, which light was
the symbol of the presence of the Lord. But if you cannot see within, yet you can see
above the sacred tent a cloud, which arises from the top of the Holy of Holies, and then
expands like a vast tree so as to cover all the host, and protect the chosen of God from
the intense heat of the sun, so apt to make the traveler faint when passing over the
burning sand. If you will wait till the sun is down, that same cloud will become
Alimonies, and light up the whole camp. Thus it was both shade and light; and by its
means was enjoyed that safety which was afterwards set forth in the promise, "The sun
shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night." Over all the glory was a defense
and a comfort. The Lord dealt not so with any nation, save only His people Israel, of
whom He said, "I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and
they shall be my people."
The day of the type is over; we see no more a nation secluded from all others and made
to be as "the church in the wilderness." God doth not now confine His abode to one
people; for "The God of the whole earth shall he be called." There is now no spot on
earth where God dwells in preference to another. Did not our Lord say, at the well of
Sychar, "Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain,
nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father." "But . . . the true worshipers shall worship the
Father it spirit and in truth"? Wherever true hearts seek the Lord, He is found of them.
He is as much present on the lone mountain's side as in the aisles of yonder above, or in
the galleries of this tabernacle. "Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made
with hands; as saith the prophet, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool; what
house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?"

Yet there is a true house of, a real temple of the infinite, a living abode of the Godhead.
The epistle to the Hebrews speaks of "the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and
not man." There is still a trysting-place where God doth still meet with man, and hold
fellowship with him. That place is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, "in whom
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. "The manhood of Christ is become to us
the anti-type of that tent in the center of the camp. God is in Christ Jesus; Christ Jesus is
God; and in His blessed person God dwells in the midst of us as in a tent; for such is the
force of the original in our text. "The Word was made flesh, and tabernacled, or tented,
among us." That is to say, in Christ Jesus the Lord dwelt among men, as God of old
dwelt in His sanctuary in the midst of the tribes of Israel. This is very delightful and
hopeful for us: the Lord God doth dwell among us through the incarnation of His Son.

But the substance far excels the shadow; for in the wilderness the Lord only dwelt in the
abode of man, but now His approach to us is closer, for He dwells in the flesh of man.
"The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." Note that word "flesh." It doth not
say, "The Word was made man": it means that, but the use of the word "flesh brings the
Lord Jesus still closer to us, and shows that He took on Him the very nature and
substance of manhood: He did not merely assume the name and notion, and appearance,
of manhood, but the reality: the weakness, the suffering, the mortality of our manhood
He actually took into union with Himself. He was no phantom, or apparition, but He
had a human body and a human soul. "The Word was made flesh." When the Lord
became bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, His incarnation in a human body
brought Him far nearer to man than when He only abode within curtains, and occupied a
tent in the midst of Israel.

Moreover, it is to be noted that God does in the person of Jesus not merely dwell among
men; but He hath joined Himself unto men -- the Word not only dwelt in flesh, but "was
made flesh." It is impossible to use words which are exactly accurate to describe the
wonderful incarnation of the Son of God in human flesh; but these words are used to
show that our Lord is as truly and as really man as He is God. Not only does God dwell
in the body of man; but our Lord Jesus is God and man in one person. He is not
ashamed to speak of men as His brethren. "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers
of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same with us. This
approach to us is exceeding close. God was never one with the tabernacle, but in Christ
Jesus He is one with us. This union hath in it a sweetness of sympathy, a tenderness of
relationship, and a condensation of fellowship greatly to be admired. Now we listen to
the music of that blessed name Emmanuel, "God with its." In the person of the only
begotten, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we see God reconciling the world unto
Himself. Let us rejoice and be glad that we have in Jesus more than Israel had in the
holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. The ancient believer gazed upon the
sacred tent, he thought of the holy place of sacrifice, and the Holy of Holies, the inner
shrine of the Lord's indwelling; but we have unfeignedly more, we have God in our
nature, and in Him "truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus
Christ."

In and around the tent wherein the Lord dwelt in the center of the camp there was a
manifestation of the presence of God. This was the glory of that house: but how scanty
was the revelation! A bright light which I have already mentioned, the Shekinah, is said
to have shone over the mercy-seat; but the high priest only could see it, and he only saw
it once in the year when he entered with blood within the veil. Outside, above the holy
place, there was the manifest glory of the pillar of cloud by day, and of fire by night.
This sufficed to bear witness that God was there; but still, cloud and fire are but
physical appearances, and cannot convey a true appearance of God, who is a spirit. God
cannot be perceived by the senses; and yet the fiery, cloudy pillar could appeal to the
eyes only. The excellence of the indwelling of God in Christ is this -- that there is in
Him a glory as of the only begotten of the Father, the moral and spiritual glory of
Godhead. This is to be seen, but not with the eyes; this is to be perceived, but not by the
carnal senses: this is seen, and heard, and known, by spiritual men, whose mental
perceptions are keener than those of sight and hearing. In the person of the Lord there is
a glory which is seen by our faith, which is discerned of our renewed spirits, and is
made to operate upon our hearts. The glory of God in the sanctuary was seen only by
the priest of the house of Aaron; the glory of God in the face of Christ is seen by all
believers, who are all priests unto God. That glory the priest beheld but once in the year;
but we steadily behold that glory at all times, and are transformed by the sight. The
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ is not a thing of outward appearance, to be
beheld with the eyes, like the pillar of cloud and fire; but there is an abiding, steady
luster of holy, gracious, truthful character about our Lord Jesus Christ, which is best
seen by those who by reason of sanctification are made fit to discern it. Blessed are the
pure in heart, for they shall see God; yea, they do see Him in Christ Jesus. "No man hath
seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he
hath declared him." Many of us besides the apostles can say, "We beheld his glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." We have not seen
Jesus raise the dead; we have not seen I Jim cast out devils; we have not seen Him hush
the winds and calm the waves, but we do see, with our mind's eye, His spotless holiness,
His boundless love, His superlative love and truth, His wondrous heavenliness; in a
word, we have seen, and do see, His fullness of grace and truth; and we rejoice in the
fact that the tabernacling of God among, men in Christ Jesus is attended with a more
real glory than the mere brilliance of light and the glow of flame. The condescension of
Christ's love is to us more glorious than the pillar of cloud, and the zeal of our Lord's
self-sacrifice is more excellent than the pillar of fire. As we think of the divine
mysteries which meet in the person of the Lord, we do not envy Israel the gracious
manifestation vouchsafed her when "a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and
the glory of the Lord covered the tabernacle"; for we have all this and more in our
incarnate God, who is with us always, even to the end of the world.

As the Holy Spirit shall help me, I shall at this time say, first of all, Let us behold this
tabernacling of God; and secondly, Let us avail ourselves of this tabernacling of God in
all the ways for which it was intended.

1. First, then, LET US BEHOLD THIS 'TABERNACLING OF GOD WITH US. "We
beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
"In Jesus Christ all the attributes of God are to be seen; veiled, but yet verily there. You
have only to read the gospels, to look with willing eyes, and you shall behold in Christ
all that can possibly be seen of God. It is veiled in human flesh, as it must be; for the
glory of God is not to be seen by us absolutely; it is toned down to these dim eyes of
ours; but the Godhead is there, the perfect Godhead in union with the perfect manhood
of Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever and ever.

Two divine things are more clearly seen in Jesus than aught else. Upon these I would
speak at this time, considering the two together, and then each one separately -- "Full of
grace and truth."

Observe the two glorious qualities, joined inseparably -- grace and truth -- and observe
that they are spoken of in the concrete. The apostle says that the only begotten is "full of
grace and truth." He did not come to tell us about grace, but actually to bring us grace.
He is not full of the news of grace and truth, but of grace and truth themselves. Others
had been messengers of gracious tidings, but He came to bring grace. Others teach us
truth, but Jesus is the truth. He is that grace and truth whereof others spoke. Jesus is not
merely a teacher, an exhorter, a worker of grace and truth; but these heavenly things are
in Him: He is full of them. I want you to note this. It raises such a difference between
Christ and others: you go to others to hear of grace and truth, but you must go to Christ
to see them. There may be, there is, grace in other men; but not as it is in Christ: they
have take it as water flowing through a pipe, but He has it as water in its fountain and
source. He has grace to communicate to the sons of men, grace without measure, grace
essential and abiding. There is truth in others where God has wrought it, by His Spirit;
but it is not in them as it is in Christ. In Him dwell the depth, the substance, the essence
of the fact. Grace and truth come to us by Him, and yet they evermore abide in Him. I
say again, our Lord did not merely come to teach grace and truth, or to impress them
upon us; but He came to exhibit in His own person, life, and work, all the grace and
truth which we need. He has brought us grace in rivers and truth in streams: of these He
has an infinite fullness; of that fullness all His saints receive.

This grace and truth are blended. The "and" between the two words I would treat as
more than a common conjunction. The two rivers unite in one fullness -- "Full of grace
and truth": that is to say. The grace is truthful grace, grace not in fiction nor in fancy,
grace not to be hoped for and to be dreamed of, but grace every atom of which is fact;
redemption which does redeem, pardon which does blot out sin, renewal which actually
regenerates, salvation which completely saves. We have not here blessings which charm
the ear and cheat the soul; but real, substantial favors from God that cannot lie. Then
blend these things the other way. "Grace and truth": the Lord has come to bring us truth,
but it is not the kind of truth which censures, condemns, and punishes; it is gracious
truth, truth steeped in love, truth saturated with mercy. The truth which Jesus brings to
His people comes not from the judgment-seat, but from the mercy-seat; it hath a
gracious drift and aim about it, and ever tends unto salvation. His light is the life of
men. If thou art overshadowed with a dark truth which seems to deepen thy despair,
look thou to it again and thou wilt perceive within it a hidden light which is sown for
the righteous. The darkness of convincing and humbling truth maketh for light: by
engendering despair of self, heart-searching truth is meant to drive thee to the true hope.
There is grace to God's people in everything that falls from the lips of'.Jesus Christ. His
lips are like lilies dropping sweet smelling myrrh; myrrh in itself is bitter, but such is the
grace of our Lord Jesus that His lips impart sweetness to it. See how grace and truth
thus blend, and qualify each other! The grace all true, and the truth is all gracious, This
is a wondrous compound made according to the art of the divine Apothecary. Where
else is grace so true, or truth so gracious?

Furthermore, it is grace and truth balanced. I wish I were able to communicate my

thoughts this morning as they came to me when I was meditating upon this passage; but
this thought almost speaks for itself. The Lord Jesus Christ is full of grace; but then He
has not neglected the other quality which is somewhat sterner, namely, that of truth. I
have known many in this world very loving and affectionate, but they have not been
faithful: on the other hand, I have known men to be sternly honest and truthful, but they
have not been gentle and kind: but in the Lord Jesus Christ there is no defect either way.
He is full of grace which doth invite the publican and the sinner to Himself; but He is
full of truth which doth repel the hypocrite and Pharisee. He does not hide from man a
truth however terrible it may be, but He plainly declares the wrath of God against all
unrighteousness. But when He has spoken terrible truth, He has uttered it in such a
gracious and tender manner, with so many tears of compassion for the ignorant and
those that are out of the way, that you are much won by His grace as convinced by His
truth. Our Lord's ministry is not truth alone, nor grace alone; but it is a balanced, well-
ordered system of grace and truth. The Lord Himself is in His character "just and having
salvation." He is both King of righteousness and King of peace. He does not even save
unjustly, nor does He proclaim truth unlovingly. Grace and truth are equally
conspicuous in Him.

Beloved, notice here that these qualities in our Lord are at the full. He is "full of grace."
Who could be more so? In the person of Jesus Christ the immeasurable grace of God is
treasured up. God has done for us by Christ Jesus exceeding abundantly above all that
we ask, or even think. It is not possible even for imagination to conceive of any person
more gracious than God in Christ Jesus. You cannot desire, certainly you cannot
require, anything that should exceed what is found of grace in the person, offices, work,
and death of the only begotten. Come, ye that have large minds, and intellects that are
creative, and see if ye can devise anything that should be mentioned in the same day
with what God, in the infinite glory of His grace, has given us in the person of His Son.
And there is an equal fullness of truth about our Lord. He Himself, as He comes to us as
the revelation and manifestation of God, declares to us, not some truth, but all truth. All
of God is in Christ; and all of God means all that is true, and all that is right, and all that
is faithful, and all that is just, all that is according to righteousness arid holiness. Christ
Jesus has brought to us the justice, truth, and righteousness of God to the full: He is the
Lord our righteousness. There are no reserves of disagreeable faith in Christ. There is
nothing hidden from us of truth that might alarm us, nor anything that might have
shaken our confidence; nor, on the other hand, is any truth kept back which might have
increased our steadfastness. He says, "If it were not so I would have told you." Admire
the full-robed splendor of the Sun of Righteousness. Ask not with Pilate, "What is
truth?" but behold it in God's dear Son. Oh, I know not how to speak to you upon
themes so full and deep! How shall 1, that am but as a twinkling dewdrop on a blade of
grass, reflect the full glory of this Sun of Righteousness? But all truth and all grace
dwell in Christ in all their fullness beyond conception, and the two lie in each other's
bosoms forever, to bless us with boundless, endless joy and glory.

Thus have I taken the two together. Now I want to dwell briefly on each one by itself.

Grace is put first. "We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace." Jesus Christ is the Son of God; He is His only begotten Son. Others are
begotten of God, but no other was ever begotten of God as Christ was; consequently,
when He came into this world the glory that was about Him was a glory as of the only
begotten. A very singular, and very special, and incommunicable glory abides in the
person of our Lord. Part of this was the glory of His grace. Now, in the Old Testament,
in that thirty-fourth chapter of Exodus, which we read in part this morning, you notice
that the glory of God lay in His being "the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth." The glory of the only begotten of
the Father must lie in the same things as the glory of the Father, namely, in
longsuffering and truth. In Christ there is a wonderful gentleness,.patience, pity, mercy,
and love of God. Not merely did He teach the grace of God, and invite us to the grace of
God, but in Himself He displayed the grace of God.

This is seen, first, in His incarnation, It is a wonderful instance of divine grace that the
word should be made flesh and dwell among us, and reveal His glory to us. Apart from
anything that springs out of the incarnation of Christ, that incarnation itself is a
wondrous act of grace. There must be hope for men now that man is next akin to God
through Jesus Christ. The angels were not mistaken when they not only sang, "Glory to
God in the highest," but also, "on earth peace, goodwill towards men," because in
Bethlehem the Son of God was born of a virgin. God in our nature must mean God with
gracious thoughts towards us. If the Lord had meant to destroy the race, He never would
have espoused it and taken it into union with Himself. There is fullness of grace in the
fact of the Word made flesh tabernacling among us.

More than this, there is fullness of grace in the life of Christ when we consider that He
lived in order to perfect Himself as our High Priest. Was He not made perfect through
His sufferings, that He might sympathize with us in all our woes? He was compassed
with infirmities, and bore our sorrows, and endured those crosses of the human life
which press so heavily on our own shoulders; and all this to make Himself able to deal
graciously with us in a tender and brotherly way. Apart from that which comes
wonderful brotherhood, there is a bottomless depth of grace about the fellowship itself.
The Lord Jesus cannot curse me, for He has borne my curse: He cannot be unkind to
me, for He has shared my sorrows. If every pang that tends my heart has also rent His
heart, and if into all my woes He has descended even deeper than I have gone, it must
mean love to me, it cannot mean anything else; and it must mean truth, for Jesus did not
play at fellowship, His griefs were real. I say then that this manifestation of God in the
person of Christ Jesus is seen in His sorrowing life to be full of grace and truth.

Then think for a minute of what He did. He was so full of grace that when He spoke His
words dropped a fatness of grace, the dew of His own love was upon all His discourses;
and when He moved about and touched men here and there, virtue went out of Him,
because He was so full of it. At one time He spoke and pardoned a sinner, saying, "Thy
sins be forgiven thee"; at another moment He battled with the consequences of sin,
raising men from sickness and from death: He again He turned Himself and fought with
the prince of darkness himself, and cast him out from those whom he tormented. He
went about like a cloud which is big with rain, and therefore plentifully waters waste
places. His life was boundless compassion. There was a power of grace about His
garments, His voice, His look; and in all He was so true that none ever thought Him
capable of subterfuge. Everywhere He went He scattered grace among the children of
men; and He is just the same now; fullness of grace abides in Him still.

When it came to His death, which was the pouring out of His soul, then His fullness of
grace was seen. He was full of grace indeed, forasmuch as He emptied Himself to save
men. He was Himself not only man's Saviour, but his salvation. He gave Himself for us.
He was indeed full of grace when He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. His was
love at its height, since He died on the cross, "the just for the unjust, to bring us to
God," pronounce the word "Substitution, " and you cannot help feeling that the
Substitute fori guilty man was full of grace; or use that other word, " representative,"
and remember that whatever Jesus did, He did as the covenant Head of His people. If
He died, they died in Him; if He rose again, they rose in Him; if He ascended up on
high, they ascended in Him; and if He sits at the right hand of God, they also sit in the
heavenly places in Him. When He shall come a second time it shall be to claim the
kingdom for His chosen as well as for Himself; and all the glory of the future ages is for
them, and not for Himself alone. He saith, "Because I live, ye shall live also." Oh, the
richness of the grace and truth that dwell in our Lord as the representative of His
people! He will enjoy nothing unless His people enjoy it with Him. "Where I am, there
also shall my servant be." "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in Thy
throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."

There is yet another word higher than "substitution," higher than "representation," and
that is "union." We are one with Christ, joined to Him by a union that never can be
broken. Not only does He do what He does, representing us, but we are joined unto Him
in one spirit, members of His body, and partakers of His glory. Is it not a miracle of love
that worms of earth should ever be one with incarnate Deity, and so one that they never
can be separated throughout the ages?

Thus I have shown you that there is in our Lord a fullness of grace. Your own thoughts
will dig deeper than mine.

But then it is said there is in Him also a fullness of truth, by which I understand that in
Christ Himself, not merely in what He said, and did, and promised, there is a fullness of
truth. And this is true, first, in the fact that He is the fulfillment of all the promises that
went before concerning Him. God had promised great things by His prophets
concerning the coming Messiah, but all those predictions are absolutely matters of fact
in the person of the Well-beloved. "All the promises of God are yea and Amen in Christ
Jesus." Verily He hath bruised the serpent's head. Verily He hath borne our griefs, and
carried our sorrows. Verily He hath proclaimed liberty to the captives. Verily He hath
proved Himself a prophet like unto Moses.

According to my second text, in verse seventeen, I understand our Lord Jesus to be

"truth" in the sense of being the substance of all the types. The law that was given by
Moses was but symbolical and emblematical; but Jesus is the truth. He is really that
blood of sprinkling which speaketh better things than that of Abel; He is in very deed
the Paschal lamb of God's Passover: He is the burnt-offering, the sin-offering, and the
peace-offering -- all in one! He is the true scapegoat, the true morning and evening
Lamb; in fact, He is in truth what all the types and figures were in pattern. Blessed by
God, brethren, whenever you see great things in the Old Testament in the type, you see
the real truth of those things it the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Jew had nothing
that we have not; he had nothing even in outline and shadow which we have not
obtained in substance. The covenant in its fullness is in Christ: the prophecy is in
Moses, the fulfillment is in Jesus: the foreshadowing is in the law, the truth is in the
Word made flesh.

Further than that, our Lord Jesus Christ is said to be grace and truth in this sense, that
He truthfully deals with matters of fact in the case of our salvation. I know the notion of
the world is that the salvation of Christ is a pretty dream, a handsome piece of
sentiment. But there is nothing dreamy, about it: it is no fiction; it is fact upon fact. The
Lord Jesus Christ does not gloss over or conceal the condition of man in his salvation;
He finds man condemned, and takes him as condemned in the very worst sense,
condemned of a capital offense; and as man's substitute He endures the capital penalty,
and dies in the sinner's stead. The Lord Jesus views the sinner as depraved, yea, as dead
in trespasses and sins, and He quickens him by His resurrection life. He does not wink
at the result of the fall and of actual sin; but He comes to the dead sinner and quickens
him; He comes to the diseased heart and heals it. To me the gospel is a wonderful
embodiment of omnipotent wisdom and truth. If the gospel had said to men, "The law of
God is certainly righteous, but it is too stern, too, exacting, and therefore God will wink
it at many sins, and make provision for salvation by omitting to punish much of human
guilt," why, my brethren, we should always have been in jeopardy. If God could be
unjust to save us, He could also be changeable, and cast us away. If there was anything
rotten in the state of our salvation, we should fear that it would fail its at last. But our
foundation is sure, for the Lord has excavated down to the rock; He has taken away
every bit of mere sentiment and sham, and His salvation is real throughout. It is a
glorious salvation of grace and truth, in which God takes the sinner as God is, on the
principles of true righteousness; and yet saves him.

But it means more than that. The Lord deals with us in the way of grace, and that grace
encourages a great many hopes, but those hopes are all realized, for He deals with us in
truth. Our necessities demands great things, and grace actually supplies those great
things. The old law could never make the comers thereunto perfect as pertaining to the
conscience, but the grace of God makes believers perfect as pertaining to the
conscience. If I were to sit down and try to imagine a flaw in the ground of my salvation
by Christ, I could not do it. Believing as I do in Him who bore my sins in His own body
on the tree, I feet that by no possibility can His atonement fail me. I have not
imagination strong enough to feign a reason for distrust: I do not see hole or corner in
which any charge could lurk against the man that believes in Jesus Christ. My
conscience is satisfied, and more than satisfied. Sometimes it even seems to me that my
sins could not have deserved that the Son of God should die. The atonement is greater
than the sin. Speak of the vindication of the law! -- not the vindication even greater than
the dishonor? Does not the law of God shine out more lustrous in its indescribable glory
through the sacrifice of Christ as the penalty for sin, than it would have done had it
never been broken, or had all the race of law-breakers been swept into endless
destruction? O brothers in the salvation of Jesus there is a truth of grace unrivaled!
There is a deep verity, a substantiality, an inward soul-satisfaction in the sacrifice of
Christ, which makes us feel it is a full atonement -- a fountain of "grace and truth."
Nor have I yet quite brought out all the meaning, even if I have succeeded so far. Christ
has brought to us "grace and truth"; that is to say, He works in believers both grace and
truth. We want grace to rescue us from sin; He has brought it: we need truth in the
inward parts; He has wrought it. The system of salvation by atonement is calculated to
produce truthful men. The habit of looking for salvation through the great sacrifice
fosters the spirit of justice, begets in us a deep abhorrence of evil, and a love for that
which is right and true. By nature we are all liars, and either love or make a lie: for this
cause we are content t with refuges of ties, and we compass ourselves with deceit. In our
carnal state we are as full of guile as an egg is full of meat; but when the Lord comes to
us it Christ, no longer imputing our trespasses to us, then He takes out of our heart that
deceit and desperate wickedness which had else remained there. I say it, and dare avow
it, that the system of salvation by the indwelling of God in Christ and the atonement
offered by Him for men has a tendency in it to infuse grace into the soul and to produce
truth in the life. The Holy Ghost employs it to that end. I pray that you and I may prove
it so by the grace which causes us to love both God and man, Santa and the truthfulness
with which we deal in all the affairs of life.

Thus has our Lord displayed the glory of God in the grace and truth with which He is
filled. I am sorry have spoken so feebly on a theme so grand. May the Spirit bless you
even through the infirmities of my speech!

II. Now I want a few minutes to say to you, Come brothers and sisters, LET US AVAIL
OURSELVES OF THIS TABERNACLING OF GOD AMONG US.

First, then, if God has come to dwell among men by the Word made flesh let us pitch
our tent around this central tabernacle; do not let us live as if God were a long way off.
To the Israelites God was equally near from every near from every quarter of the camp.
The tabernacle was in the center, and the center is equally near to every point of the
circumference. No true Israelite could say, "I must go across the sea, or soar up into the
air, or dive into the depths to find my God." Every Israelite could say "He dwelleth
between the cherubim: I have but to go to His tabernacle to be in His presence and
speak with Him." Our God is not far from any one of His people this day. We are made
nigh by the blood of Christ. God is everywhere present, but there is a higher presence of
effectual grace in the person of the only begotten. Do not let us feel as if we worshiped
a far-off God. Let us not repine as if we were deserted. Let us not feel alone, for the
Father is with us.

God is near thee, therefore cheer the sad soul.

Open thy window towards Jerusalem, as Daniel did; pray, with thine eye upon Christ, in
whom all the fullness of the Godhead bodily the greatest nearness to us. God is never
far away since Christ has come to dwell among men.

Next, let us resort to this central tabernacle to obtain grace tto help in time of need. Let
us come to Christ without fear, for He hath grace to give, and He will give it to us
abundantly whenever we need it. I like to think of the wording if my text. Leave out the
parentheses, and it runs, "He dwelt among us full of grace." He could not have dwelt
among such provoking ones if he had not been full of grace." But if He dwells among us
full of grace, we need not fear that He will cast us away because of our sins and failings.
I invite you, therefore to come boldly to Him who is full of forgiving love. I beg you to
come and receive of His fullness, for grace is truly grace when it is communicated:
grace which is not distributed is grace in name only. "Alas!" you say, "I want so much
grace." Brother, it is treasured up in Christ for you without measure. It is placed in Him
that you may have it. Do we not try to persuade the sinner that there is life in a look?
Shall I need to persuade saints that grace is equally free to them? Do we tell the sinner
that God is not be sought for as far away, but that He is waiting to be gracious? Must I
tell the believer the same? You may at this moment obtain all the grace you need. The
door is open; enter and take what you will. Do not stop till you reach home and go
through a set of religious exercises; but here, and now, believe in Jesus to the full. In the
center of the camp is the incarnate God; Israel had but to go the central tent to find
present help in time of trouble. In the person of Christ, who hath said, "I am with you
always, even to the end of the world," there is, in truth, all the grace you can possibly
need. Come to this well and drink. Receive of His fullness, and go on your way
rejoicing.

What next shall we do? Brethren, since God in Christ is in the midst of us, let us abide
in joyful, peaceful confidence in Him who is grace and truth to us. Do not let us wander
to other sources. To whom should we go? Shall we leave our God? Shall we leave His
grace, His truth? Do not let us dream that He has changed, for He is God. Do not
imagine that He has removed, for He hath said. "This my rest forever; here will I dwell,
for I have desired it." Do not let us conceive that His grace and truth are exhausted; for
His fullness is eternal. Let us receive strong consolation, and remain steadfast,
unmovable. Let us quietly rest in the firm belief that all we can want between here and
heaven, all that we need this moment and in all moments yet to come, is treasured up in
Christ Jesus, who is abidingly the center of His church and the manifestation of God.

Once more: if this be so, and God really in Christ dwell in the midst of His people "full
of grace and truth," let us tell everybody of it. I am sure if I had been an Israelite in the
wilderness, and had met an Amalekite or an Edomite, I should have gloried in the
privileges which His presence secured me. We know that Amalekites and Edomites
could not have come into the house of the Lord: but nowadays, if we meet with one who
is a stranger, we can tell him of our privilege, with sweet persuasion that the stranger
can be brought nigh through the blood of the Lamb. Therefore let us abundantly speak
of the dwelling of God with men. Let us tell to all that the Lord has come to man, not in
wrath, not in judgment, but "full of grace and truth." O my unconverted hearer, come to
Jesus! He is able to save to the uttermost those that come unto God by Him. Draw night
to the meek and lowly Jesus, and you draw night to God. He saith, "He that hath seen
me hath seen the Father." Publish the invitation of grace to the four winds. Ring out
your silver trumpets, or if you have them not, sound your ram's horns; but somehow let
all people know that the tabernacle of God is with men, and He doth dwell among them.
Tell out his news in the far country, that the wandering prodigal son may hear it, and
cry, "I will arise, and go to my Father." God has come to men' will not come to receive
grace and truth?

One more lesson remains, And that is -- what manner of people ought we to be among
whom Jehovah dwells? It must have been a very solemn thing to be a member of that
great camp of two million in the wilderness of Sinai. God's presence in the midst of the
camp must have made every tent sacred. As we walked through the streets of that
canvas city, if we had been Israelites, and in our right minds, we should have said,
"These tents are none other than the house the house of God and the very gate of
heaven; for see, Jehovah is in the midst of us. Mark you not the bright light that shines
about His sanctuary?" We should have felt that in such in such a camp all should be
holy. The pollution of sin should be unknown there. In such a camp constant prayer and
praise should be presented to Him whose presence was its glory and defense. Today let
our congregation be a holy convocation; and as for ourselves, let us be holiness unto the
Lord. We are consecrated men and women, seeing the Lord has come so very near to us.
I spoke of solemnity; I meant not dread and sorrow, but a solemnity full of joy. It is a
solemn thing to have God so near, but the joy is equal to the solemnity. Glory be unto
God most high, for He is here! Let us spend our days and nights in gladness and delight.
God is reconciled to us in the person of His dear Son, and we have fellowship with God
in Christ Jesus; Wherefore let us rejoice evermore. Amen and amen.

PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE THE SERMON -- Exodus 34:1-8;

40:34-38; JOHN 1:1-18.

Why God Became Man

A. Maclaren, D. D.
John 1:14
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelled among us, (and we beheld his glory…

This Gospel contains no record of the Nativity like the others. They record the fact, this
the underlying principle of the fact. Unless you take John's point of view, you cannot
understand Luke's story.

I. THE FACT ITSELF. Three things:

1. The Word: personal, eternal, Divine, the active energy of the Divine Nature.

(1) The Author of creation.

(2) The Source of all life and light.

(3) The medium of all revelation.

2. With the audacity which is the true work of Divine revelation, the text draws together
the two discordant ideas "Word" and "flesh"; not this tremulous, feeble, mortal body
with its needs, weaknesses, pains, desires, corruption, not the whole humanity, body,
soul, spirit, the entire sweep and range of what a man is.

3. How He "became" it; which involves the willing transformation, by the energy of the
Person Himself. Became — not assumed. It was not a transcient manifestation such as
the Buddhist incarnation or Hindoo avatar; not God coming down in the likeness of men
for a moment or two; but so becoming us, He ceased to be the Word. So the living heart
of Christianity is supernatural. That round which it turns is the biggest of all miracles,
and if you take that all the rest is natural.

II. THE VARIOUS PURPOSES WHICH THIS MIGHTIEST OF ALL MIRACLES

SERVES IN THE WORLD. Here is a five-fold star, with five rays.

1. To show God. As the Shekinah glory abode in the Tabernacle, so God tabernacled in
Christ's flesh. Christ shows God as He was never seen before, full of grace and truth.
The mightiest and brightest light that makes God known, is that of gentleness,
tenderness, self-oblivlon, patience. If you want to know God, and not to guess Him, not
to shrink from Him, and not merely to see the fringe of brightness about the Infinite
heart, you must turn away from everything else to Christ.

2. To show what man ought to be. How perfect Christ's example is we may gather from
the admission of enemies, from our own hearts and consciences. Instead of being
handed over to a mere law "Do this and live," it means "Do as I do, because I love you
and you love Me."

3. That He might die. You cannot understand Christmas without Good Friday, the
meaning of the cradle unless we see the shadow of the Cross. Christ came to bear our
sins that we might be born again unto newness of life.

4. That He might have sympathy with us. He has trodden all the road before us, and is
near us to help us on.

5. That manhood might be glorified. He has stooped down that thereby He might befit
us to be like Him. Where He is, He will lead us. What He is, He will make us.

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Christ Pre-Eminent
Bp. Ryle.
John 1:15-18
John bore witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spoke, He that comes
after me is preferred before me…

I. IT IS CHRIST ALONE WHO SUPPLIES THE SPIRITUAL WANTS OF ALL

BELIEVERS (ver. 16).

1. The Spirit of Life is His special gift to the Church, and conveys from Him, as from a
great root, sap and vigour to all the believing branches.

2. He is rich in mercy, wisdom, righteousness, holiness.

3. Out of His fulness believers in every age have been supplied.

4. Every saint in glory will acknowledge that he is Christ's debtor for all he is.

II. THE VAST SUPERIORITY OF CHRIST TO MOSES AND THE GOSPEL TO

THE LAW (ver. 17).
1. Moses was employed as a servant to convey the moral and ceremonial law which
could not justify.

2. Christ as a Son came with the keys of God's treasury of grace and truth (Hebrews
3:6).

(1) Grace bringing salvation through faith.

(2) Truth fulfilling in His own Person the types of the Old Testament.

III. IT IS CHRIST ALONE WHO HAS REVEALED THE FATHER TO MAN (ver.
18).

1. No man could see God and live.

2. Yet all that man is capable of knowing of God the Father is revealed to us by God the
Son. In His words, deeds, life, and death we see the wisdom, love, and holiness of God.

IV. How GREAT THE HONOUR OF THE BAPTIST AND CHRISTIAN MINISTERS
in heralding such a Being.

(Bp. Ryle.)

All Fulness in Christ

A. Maclaren, D. D.
John 1:16
And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.

God cannot give you anything more than He gave you 1,800 years ago. It was all in
Christ. Take a very vulgar illustration, which is altogether inadequate for a great many
purposes, but which may serve. Suppose some man tells you that there was a thousand
pounds paid into your credit into a London bank, and that you were to get the use of it,
as you drew cheques against it. The money is there, is not it; the gift is given, and yet
for all that you may be half dead, a pauper. In the very last of the Arctic expeditions,
last year or the year before, they found an ammunition chest that Commander Parry had
left there fifty years ago, safe under a pile of stones, the provisions inside being
perfectly sweet and good and eatable. There it had lain all those years, and men had died
of starvation within arm's length of it. It was there all the same. And so, if I may venture
to vulgarise the great theme that I am trying to speak about, God has given us His Son,
and in Him all that pertains to life and all that pertains to godliness. My brothers, take
the things that are freely given to men of God.

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)