Read John 1:1-3. How great is Jesus? How much of the universe did he create? How much of it does he maintain? (See Heb. 1:3.) What has the Hubble telescope revealed about the immensity of the macrocosm? What have electron microscopes revealed about the intricacies of the microcosm? (Let the scientists in your class elaborate.) This is the universe over which Jesus presides!

Does God clutter his mind with awareness of what is going on in all his universe, or does he run it on autopilot? For instance, given the magnitude of his backyard, could he possibly be aware of the thoughts of all his creatures? Check out Psalms 139:1-6.

Now read John 1:14. We must not miss the extreme contrast between this verse and the introduction above. The view of Jesus as Creator/Sustainer of everything couldn’t be more opposite than the Word become flesh. For God to become flesh, how small did he have to become?

He was reduced to the size of an ovum in the womb of a virgin. To save a lost world Jesus submitted to "the unconsciousness of the womb and the tomb." God went into temporary oblivion.

Read John 1:9-11. Why did the world fail to recognize Jesus when he came? "He came to his own home, and his own people [we might say his own family] received him not" (RSV). Why didn’t his own people recognize him, since the time and place of his coming had been predicted (Dan. 9:25; Micah 5:2) along with many other details? Why did he disguise himself in poverty and obscurity? Was he making things hard for his people? Would it have been better if he had come wrapped in the accoutrements of royalty and honor?

The King of glory stooped low to take humanity. Rude and forbidding were His earthly surroundings. His glory was veiled, that the majesty of His outward form might not become an object of attraction. He shunned all outward display. Riches, worldly honor, and human greatness can never save a soul from death; Jesus purposed that no attraction of an earthly nature should call men to His side. Only the beauty of heavenly truth must draw those who would follow Him."1

Jesus’ glory was to give up glory. He left behind the adoration of the heavenly hosts to subject himself to human hatred and rejection. But the humiliation of the cattle shed was only the beginning. John’s Gospel reveals that his whole life on earth was directed toward his supreme "hour to be glorified," the hour when he would be "lifted up" in agony upon a cross. The sacrifice made there is so glorious that it will be the science and song of God’s creation throughout the ages of eternity.

Centuries before, Moses had begged to see the glory of God. Read about the incident in Exodus 33:18-23 and 34:4-7. What kind of glory did Moses encounter?

Note: Moses didn’t see much of God. The significant revelation was in what he heard: God describing his character, the greatest revelation of his glory. What kind of character do you see there? Is there wrath as well as love?

Read John 1:14-17 carefully. God had told Moses he was "abundant in goodness and truth" (KJV) or "abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness" (RSV). These two concepts come from the powerful Hebrew words hesed and emeth. John translated these into the Greek charis and aletheia, "grace and truth" (v. 14). God had already revealed himself to Moses as "abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness." So what did John see of the glory of God that was different from what Moses saw?

John is not setting Moses and Jesus in contrast to each other (v. 17)—that is, Moses knew only law, whereas grace came through Christ. John is contrasting the partial revelation of grace and truth with the full revelation as seen in Jesus. Jesus is "full of grace and truth" (v. 14). "Of his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace," that is, grace piled on top of grace!

What is new about the revelation of God through Jesus that could have not been imagined before the incarnation?

The extent of God’s mercy—the lengths to which he would go to and the depths he would plumb in his efforts to redeem a race of rebels—could not have been imagined until Jesus revealed it at Bethlehem and Calvary.

Now read John 1:18. John says that Jesus came from intimate contact with the Father to make him known to the world. Jesus is called "the Word" because words are for communicating, and he came to reveal God to humanity. He said, "He who has seen me has seen the Father" (14:9). Do you think the Father and the Son are the same or different in character? Is there a difference between "the God of the Old Testament" and the God of the New? If Jesus is a revelation of the Father, what is the Father like? Did the Father make as great a sacrifice as the Son to save us (3:16)? When a child is dying, who suffers more, the parent or the child?

Perhaps the greatest revelation of a father’s suffering is found in the story of Abraham’s sacrifice of his son (Gen. 22). He went so far as to lift up the knife to plunge it into the jugular of his beloved son. But Abraham’s hand was stayed. There was no relief for the Father who had to slay his own Son (Isa. 53:4, 6 and 10) by withdrawing from him in his hour of supreme need.

John’s Gospel is a marvelous revelation of God in human flesh, showing the glory of Jesus’ life as he interacted with fallen humanity. Notice how the glory increases as the book progresses.

Notes and References

1. Ellen White, Desire of Ages (Oakland, Calif.: Pacific Press, 1898), 43.

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