The Gospel of John emphatically speaks of Jesus Christ, who is called "the Word", as the Maker of the world (John 1:3, 10). It categorically declares that He was in the world, though the world refused to acknowledge Him as such. John wrote in John 1:10, "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not." He immediately reiterated Jesus’ coming to earth in the next verse – "He came unto his own, and his own received him not" (John 1:11).
The greatest wonder that this world has ever experienced is that "He was in the world". Christ, the Word, the Creator, was in the world (cf. John 1:1-3)! But wasn’t He here on earth before? Did He not visit and commune with certain individuals and people since the time of Creation? Yes, He did. Such appearance of the Lord is known as "Christophany" (i.e. a visible appearance of Christ in the Old Testament period). However, they were mere manifestations of Christ. Now, what John speaks to us is His incarnation – "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). Christ, the Son of God, took on a human body and a human nature. Thus, forever He will be God-man (Theanthropos) – truly and fully God, truly and fully man! In the Person of Christ, since His virgin birth, both divine and human natures co-exist without confusion, without change, without division, and without separation.
Is it not most amazing that He who made all things (cf. John 1:3, 10; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:2, 10) would become a Man? He who was with God in the beginning, and was God, and has created all things, was in the world as a man living among people! It is so great a mystery that we are moved to ask of the birth of Christ in wonder: "How can these things be?" It is a great and wondrous mystery that God "was made flesh and dwelt among us". Indeed, "without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory" (1 Timothy 3:16). So wonderful is this revealed truth that Christ’s incarnation has engaged the interest and attention of good men of all ages, and even of angels (cf. 1 Peter 1:10-12)!
He came to this earth as the true revelation ("the Word") of God to man, and that He might fulfil the divine plan for the salvation of sinners. He came to the earth as the Divine Saviour. His glory as the Son of God was evident in His miraculous virgin birth, His life, His ministry, His preaching and His miracles. His death and resurrection also unmistakably pointed to His divinity. The divine attributes that He exhibited testified of His deity. As John testified about Him in John 1:14, "(and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." What a privilege it had been for those who were around Jesus, that they could experience the physical presence of the great Creator among them!
But thousands and thousands of Jews, who had the privilege to see, hear and even interact with the incarnated Son of God, rejected Him. John, who had communed with Christ and recognised Him as the Divine Saviour, tells us of the tragic rejection of Him by the Jews: "He came unto his own, and his own received him not" (John 1:11). This was the kind of situation that was described in the Old Testament Scriptures – "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider" (Isaiah 1:3). Sadly, the very people to whom He had revealed (through His prophets) concerning His incarnation and redemptive sufferings, death and resurrection, rejected Him! The Old Testament prophecies concerning His first coming provided plenty of evidence that He, who was born in Bethlehem as the son of the virgin Mary, was the Son of God. Yet, thousands and thousands of men, who met Him just as we meet with each other, refused to acknowledge His divinity.
Will you also turn your back on Him? Or will you in repentance and faith come to Him as your Divine Saviour? If you sincerely trust Him, then adore and worship Him, and yield in obedient service to His praise.
Let the words of the great hymn, "All hail the pow’r of Jesus’ Name!", ring in our hearts as we approach the Christmas season:
All hail the pow’r of Jesus’ Name!
Let angels prostrate fall;
Bring forth the royal diadem,
And crown Him Lord of all;
Bring forth the royal diadem,
And crown Him Lord of all!
Ye chosen seed of Israel’s race,
Ye ransomed from the fall,
Hail Him Who saves you by His grace,
And crown Him Lord of all;
Hail Him Who saves you by His grace,
And crown Him Lord of all!
Let every kindred, every tribe,
On this terrestrial ball,
To Him all majesty ascribe,
And crown Him Lord of all;
To Him all majesty ascribe,
And crown Him Lord of all!
O that with yonder sacred throng
We at His feet may fall!
We’ll join the everlasting song,
And crown Him Lord of all;
We’ll join the everlasting song,
And crown Him Lord of all!
– Edward Perronet (1726–1792)
[adapted by John Rippon (1751–1836)]