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Who Jesus Really Is: Jesus is the Eternal God (Part 3)

God is made known fully in the person of Jesus. Christianity is about grace alone, faith alone, and Christ alone because there is absolutely nothing that we can do to meet the standard or measurement of God’s holiness, righteousness, and godliness.

 

John 1:14-18 - 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16 For rom his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

 

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where someone asked you a question about God and you felt that you didn’t have a good answer? Questions such as these, “What does God look like?”  “Why would a loving God allow suffering?” and “If God is real, why doesn’t He just show Himself?” In such moments, if your knowledge felt too small, if your confidence too thin, and if your understanding too limited, our text today teaches that by knowing Jesus fully, we know the fullness of God.

 

The problem is, many feel inadequate when they sense there are answers, but they don’t know how to reach them. They need to know that God never intended for us to live in the dark about who He is, what He’s like, and how He works.

 

In revealing that Jesus is God, John 1:1-18 has described who He is, what He is like, and how He works. As we come to the end of the prologue, John 1:14–18 shifts the focus from who Jesus really is to why did Jesus come? The timing for this shift couldn't be more divine because next Sunday, we begin the Advent season and our text shows the purpose for which Jesus came in the first place.  

 

The big idea is, if we want to know who God is, what He’s like, and how He works, then we need to know who Jesus really is. Do we really know Jesus— not intellectually nor theologically, but personally? Our passage says that only Jesus made God known. It is in Him that the presence of God is experienced, the person of God is exhibited, and the purpose of God is expressed. Previously, we studied the first two; today we explore how in Jesus, the purpose of God is expressed. 

 

The Purpose of God is Expressed (John 1:16-18)

 

John 1:16-18 reads, “16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.” Notice the shift from the revelation of who Jesus really is to why He came. The purpose of His coming was indeed to make God known. This purpose of God is expressed in three divine steps.

 

Grace is Supplied (John 1:16)

 

John 1:16 reads, “ For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” The verse teaches Christ is the fullness of God’s grace, which is God's unmerited favor. It has three aspects:

 

In Jesus, the fullness is supplied. The Greek root word for fullness is plērōma, which is both “that which fills” and “with which a thing is filled.” The word plērōma refers to both content and the container. Christ is both. He is the content and the container. He is that which fills believers with what He is filled with. Jesus is filled with everything that makes God God, His attributes and attitudes. For example, Colossians 1:19 uses plērōma and says, “ For in him [Jesus] all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” and Colossians 2:9 uses  plērōma and says, “For in him [Jesus] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” Another meaning of plērōma is superabundance. Jesus is filled with everything God is, and He fills us with a superabundance of Himself.

 

In Jesus, grace is stacked. That means an overflow of grace. Literally, the phrase “grace upon grace” means “grace in place of grace.” The idea is, wave after wave of grace. This makes the grace not only an unmerited favor but an unlimited favor. Not only can we not earn it, but we cannot run out of it. The image here is, just as the waves don’t stop rushing toward the shore, grace does not stop rushing toward sinners, even after they are turned saints in Jesus because in Jesus we receive grace freely, richly, and liberally, that is super abundance.

 

In Jesus, sufficiency is satisfied. The sum total of the verse is the sufficiency of Christ that satisfies all standards and measurements of godliness and holiness. The Bible teaches we are born in sin (Romans 5:5:12; Ephesians 2:1, 2:3,) and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and that the wages of sin is death, and death eternal (Romans 6:23) because God is Holy and His standard is His holiness. Habakkuk 1:13 teaches that God is so holy that He cannot see sin. The problem is no one born of flesh is born sinless except Jesus, therefore, the Bible, 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake he [God] made him [the Son of God, Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” The Greek word here for “righteousness,” dikaisonune, means both righteousness and justice, and it refers to what is deemed right by God after His divine examination. 

 

A great illustration of that is how the priests examined the sacrifices in the temple and declared them either right before God or unacceptable. Those sacrifices foreshadow the ultimate sacrifice that would satisfy all standards and measurements of God. Jesus was examined by man and God and was proven without blemish, thus an acceptable sacrifice.

 

Application

 

No matter what we do, nothing will ever satisfy God’s standards of godliness and holiness; only God can meet God’s requirements. This is why we are saved by grace alone, faith alone, in Christ alone. Only Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was examined by God and was deemed sufficient payment to redeem our souls, and in His resurrection, we are promised that our bodies will be redeemed on the day of resurrection.

 

Glory is Shown (John 1:17)


John 1:17 tells us, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Some in this verse see a contrast between Moses and Jesus, the Law and grace, and others see a fulfillment and progression of grace because Moses gave the law that showed what righteousness looks like, but the law could not make anyone righteous; that is, right with God. It diagnosed the disease but couldn’t cure it. Nevertheless, it was still out of God’s grace that He lavished His people with the law to expose sin, even if God’s glory remained hidden behind the veil. Grace is the means, but glory is the goal. Only through grace in Jesus can we behold God’s glory.

 

As an illustration, see Exodus 33:18-20, “18 Moses said, ‘Please show me your glory.” 19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’... 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” If Moses, with whom God spoke directly, could not see God, how could anyone else see His glory and live?

 

Application

 

While the law only signaled the glory of God, Jesus gave the grace that enables us to live and behold the glory of God every day in our thoughts, hearts, and actions.

 

God is Seen (John 1:18)

 

John 1:18 says, “No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.”  We will come back to this section for Christmas, but let me highlight three essential truths that express the purpose of God in the incarnation of Jesus:

 

Jesus made the invisible visible. Jesus has seen God and is at the Father’s side. The NASB translation gives us a better understanding. It reads: “No one has seen God at any time; God the only Son, who is in the arms of the Father, He has explained Him.” Moses could only see the back of God’s glory, but Jesus was in the arms of the Father. It reveals an intimate relationship that only exists between God the Father and God the Son. This is why Jesus is the only one who could say, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” Today, many see God but from behind because they do not know the only Son, Jesus, who is in the arms of the Father.

 

Jesus made the unknowable knowable. The phrase, “made Him known,” is exēgēsato— from which we get “exegesis,” which simply means to explain. Only Jesus is the perfect exegesis of God. Only Jesus explains God completely; nothing else does, no philosophy nor religion.

 

Jesus made the inaccessible accessible. The whole purpose of the incarnation was to make God accessible. If we have Jesus, God is as close to us as our breath. No more veils, priests, rights, and rituals; Jesus gives us access to God because He is the eternal God.

 

As an illustration, contrast three major religions in the world today, Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism. What is common in those religions? They all demand sacrifices, rituals, and rites in an attempt to know who God is, what He is like, and how He works. Yet, they can never know Him fully because only the Son has shown Him fully. In Christianity, God is made known fully in the person of Jesus. This is why, unlike other faith systems, Christianity is about grace alone, faith alone, and Christ alone because there is absolutely nothing that we can do to meet the standard or measurement of God’s holiness, righteousness, and godliness.

 

Application

 

Every time you think you’ve exhausted God’s grace, remember another wave of His grace comes to cover your sins.

 

Closing Thought

 

If you ask an average churchgoer what the purpose of Jesus' coming into the world is, what do you think they will say? I am fairly sure that the answer is going to be something like, to save us, to pay for our sins, or redeem us. Those are not bad answers.

 

In the church, we focus so much on ourselves that we forget we are not the focus of the universe; God is. We have even turned the Bible into a problem-solving book. Yes, the Bible offers solutions to our problems, but the primary purpose of the Bible is to reveal God. There is nothing that God does which is not, first and foremost, for His own glory. It is also true as to why Jesus came into this world. His primary purpose was to make God known. Not just theologically or spiritually but personally so that the invisible becomes visible, the inaccessible becomes accessible, and the incomprehensible becomes comprehensible. 

 

Action Step

 

Stop trying to interpret God through your pain, disappointment, or religion. Interpret God through Jesus Christ. He alone explains the Father perfectly. When you need assurance, remember His presence. When you need understanding, remember His person.  When you need forgiveness, remember His purpose.

 

Appeal

 

Stop striving to be good and do good through your own efforts and start resting in the revelation of Jesus Christ. He is God’s greatest gift and Jesus’ greatest gift is His grace. Whatever you do, do not ignore Jesus, full of grace upon grace, the only God who has seen the Father and came to make Him known. The question is: are you living in “grace upon grace?”

 

Inductive Bible Study: Observation, Interpretation, Application

 

 

Observation: What Does the Text Say?

 

  1. What repeated words or themes do you notice in John 1:16-18 (e.g., grace, truth, fullness, the Father, the Son)?

     

  2. How does John describe what believers receive from Christ in John 1:16?

     

  3. What contrast does John make between Moses and Christ in John 1:17?

     

  4. What does John 1:18 say about humanity’s ability to see God?

     

  5. How is Jesus described in John 1:18? What does that reveal about His relationship to the Father?

 

Interpretation: What Does It Mean?

 

  1. What does the phrase “grace upon grace” (or “grace in place of grace”) in John 1:16 suggest about the nature of God’s generosity?

     

  2. What should we understand about the relationship between “the law given through Moses” and “grace and truth coming through Jesus Christ” in John 1:17? Is this a contrast, a fulfillment, a progression, or something else?

     

  3. Why is it important that “no one has ever seen God,” yet “the One and Only Son… has made Him known” in John 1:18? What does this teach about revelation and the incarnation?


  4. What does John 1:16-18 teach about the uniqueness of Jesus in revealing God? How does it underscore His deity, His intimacy with the Father, and His mission?


  5. How does John 1:18 reinforce the idea that Jesus is the perfect and final revelation of the Father?

 

Application: How Should We Respond?

 

  1. Where in your life right now do you need to experience “grace upon grace”? How might recognizing Christ’s fullness change your posture toward that area?

     

  2. How does understanding Jesus as the full embodiment of “grace and truth” shape how you interact with others— especially difficult people?


  3. In what ways can you lean more intentionally into Jesus as the One who “makes the Father known?” What practices help you know God more deeply through Christ?

     

  4. Where are you tempted to rely on law-keeping, performance, or self-effort rather than on the grace given through Christ?

     

  5. What is one specific action you can take this week to reflect Christ’s “grace and truth” to others? 


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