1

A Glorious Carol
John 1:1-14

Let’s take our Bibles and turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 1. What
wonderful music we have heard this morning. We’re so grateful to our
musicians for the way they lead us in giving glorious praise to our glorious
God. Last Sunday night’s music and testimonies were truly awesome;
there are really no words to describe how wonderful was that time of
worship. This afternoon at three we’ll have four concert pianists playing
here on four grand pianos. I’ll miss this afternoon because I’ll be at a
wedding, but if you come I know you’ll be blessed; I attended the concert
last night and it was fantastic. Also, this afternoon we’ll have AWANA
and youth worship, and at six is our adult worship service. Dr. Harper will
preach God’s Word and we’ll sing some Christmas carols together.

Speaking of Christmas carols, that’s the title of our series of Christmas

sermons on Sunday mornings. A carol is a song of joy, and we’re looking
at four joyful songs, or poems about Christ in the New Testament. The
first is Mary’s Magnificat, her song of praise when she learned that she
would give birth to the Messiah. The second poem is Zechariah’s
Benedictus, in which Zechariah gave thanks for the salvation that would
come through the Messiah and the birth of Zechariah’s son John, who was
the forerunner of the Messiah.

Today we’ll look at a passage of Scripture that is one of the mountain

peaks of revelation about Christ in the New Testament. We’ll look at the
prologue to John’s gospel. That great poem is about the nature and
incarnation of Jesus Christ. If you’re familiar with these verses, you know
that in 30 or 40 minutes we cannot begin to express the fullness of their
meaning for our lives. Alexander MacLaren wrote that the prologue to the
Gospel of John is “the profoundest page in the New Testament.” The
Roman orator Quintilian has been quoted as saying that these words are
worthy of being written in gold letters 100 feet high. In these verses we
see Jesus identified as God Himself in all His glory – eternal, all-powerful,
personal, gracious, and incarnate. Let’s read, beginning in John chapter 1,
verse 1.

Read John 1:1-14

 2

John (Ion) Keith-Falconer was born in Edinburgh, Great Britain into an

aristocratic family. He was the son of an Earl. He attended Cambridge
University, where he studied Hebrew and Arabic, and he became a
professor of Arabic at Cambridge. Falconer was also a renowned athlete.
He excelled at cycling, and won the world championship in 1878. In 1886
he and his wife left his professorship at Cambridge and left his athletic
career behind to travel to Yemen as missionaries. It was there that John
Keith-Falconer contracted malaria and died. He was 32 years old, and had
been married for only 3 years. But this is what he said before he died: “I
have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn it out in a land
filled with darkness than in a land flooded with light.”

He spoke of his life as a light, a candle, and he chose to burn it where it

was needed – in the darkness. What was true of John Keith-Falconer is
infinitely true of Jesus. Jesus is not merely aristocracy; He is God. He’s
not merely a light; He is perfect light. And Jesus chose to shine that light
where it was needed most – in a world darkened by sin. That’s the reality
John described in the first 14 verses of his gospel.

First, John declared the deity of Jesus. He is God. Since we’re calling our
Christmas messages “Christmas Carols,” I’m expressing the big truths of
these verses with words from Christmas carols. The first point borrows
phrases from “O Come, All Ye Faithful” and “Hark! The Herald Angels
Sing” – Word of the Father, the Incarnate Deity. That’s what John
wrote in the first three verses of his gospel. He called Jesus “the Word.”
The Greek word is logos. The ancient Greek philosophers debated among
themselves about the nature of ultimate reality – is it singular or plural, is
it physical or spiritual? They searched for some universal, eternal
principle that unites the vast diversity of ideas and experiences. Various
Greek philosophers used the word logos, or word, to refer to an eternal,
unifying principle that gives order and coherence to everything.

The New Testament says that Jesus created all things, and all things were
created for Him. Jesus is the One who says, “I am the Alpha and the
Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Rev. 22:13). For
John, this word logos was a bridge between the truth about Jesus and
Greek philosophy. Jesus is the eternal, universal One who holds all things
together and from whom all things come; He’s the One for whom the
Greeks had been searching. He is the Word.
 3

John wrote, “In the beginning was the Word.” The word logos, or Word,
would appeal to John’s Greek readers, and the phrase “In the beginning”
would appeal to John’s Jewish readers. That’s the way the Jewish
Scriptures, the Old Testament, begins – “In the beginning, God created the
heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). That’s the way Genesis begins, and
from that point it moves forward into history. That’s also the way the
Gospel of John begins, but from that point it moves backward into eternity
past. John wrote about not what happened after the beginning, but what
was happening before the beginning.

He was writing about Jesus, and he declared His eternal pre-existence.

“In the beginning,” the Word was. The verb John used here is important.
In the beginning Jesus did not begin to be; in the beginning Jesus already
was. He existed as God the Son with God the Father. Theologians
express this by saying that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit are co-existent and co-eternal. One God in three Persons – no
Person more God than another, and no Person less God than another. “In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God.”

Second, John wrote of His creative power. Verse 3 says, “All things were
made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was
made.” John stated Jesus’ creative power positively and negatively – He
made everything, and nothing was made that He did not make. Colossians
1:16 says the same thing about Jesus. It says, “By him all things were
created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or
dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through him
and for him.” God created all that exists, and Jesus is God.

That’s not an idea that’s commonly promoted during the Christmas

season. We see Jesus as a little baby, we see Mary cradling Jesus in her
arms, we see Santa and the elves, Ebenezer Scrooge, the Grinch, and
Cindy Lu Who. We don’t see Jesus speaking the universe into existence,
but that’s one way the New Testament introduces us to Jesus. Matthew
recorded the genealogy of Jesus, the experiences of Joseph, and the visit of
the magi. Luke recorded the miraculous circumstances of the births of
John the Baptist and Jesus. John began His gospel by reminding us of
who Jesus is. Jesus is God the Son, part of the Godhead who spoke the
world into existence. He spoke, and where there was nothingness, there
was something, and that something consists of trillions of stars, billions of
 4

galaxies. That’s the power Jesus possesses. This is important to hear

because if that is who Jesus is then He and He alone has the power and
authority to forgive our sin, give us eternal life, and make us new by
residing in us. This Jesus is eternally pre-existent and all-powerful. When
we see Jesus in the manger, we should sing “Hail, the incarnate deity;”
this is the “Word of the Father.”

Second, John wrote this about Jesus – Light and Life to All He Brings.
Those words are from the carol “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” and that
truth comes from God’s Word. In verse 4, John wrote this about Jesus:
“In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” Jesus Himself said, “I
am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness,
but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). John wrote, “In him was life,
and the life was the light of men.”

Light is one of John’s favorite words. In 1 John 1:5 John wrote that “God
is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” God is light, and here John 1
states that Jesus is the light. That’s another affirmation that Jesus is God
Himself. It’s also a metaphor, symbolic language. John used the word
“light” to say something about the nature of Jesus. What does it mean that
Jesus is the light?

First, as the light Jesus brings revelation. Darkness conceals, but light
reveals. Jesus, as the light, brings revelation. In verse 9, John wrote of
Jesus, “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the
world.” We need to be enlightened, don’t we? Much of the time we’re in
the dark; we need somebody to shed light on things for us. First
Corinthians 13:12 puts it this way: “We see through a glass darkly” (KJV).
We muddle along with a mixture of understanding and ignorance. We see,
but through a glass darkly. Jesus turns the light on for us.

Jesus reveals the truth about God, and the truth about us. Jesus shows us
what God is like. John 14:9 says that Jesus said to Philip, “Whoever has
seen me has seen the Father.” Colossians 1:15 says that Jesus is “the
image of the invisible God.” Here in John 1, verse 18 says, “No one has
ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him
known.” Jesus makes God known. We don't have a photograph of God
that we can carry around in our wallets or frame and hang on a wall in our
homes, but if you want to know what God is like look at Jesus. He is “the
image of the invisible God;” “He has made him known.” When Jesus was
 5

born in Bethlehem He was “the true light...coming into the world” (v. 9),
and that light reveals the truth about God.

Jesus also reveals the truth about us. Nothing in us is hidden from God.
There may be places in our hearts that are hidden from the view of other
people and even from ourselves, but nothing is hidden from God. Verse 5
says, “The light shines in the darkness.” God sees everything that’s in our
hearts. In George Orwell's book 1984, the main character Winston
thought he had placed his diary in a place that was hidden from the
government’s cameras. But actually the government knew all about his
“secret” diary and had been reading it all along.

A lot of people are going to reach the end of life and be surprised that not
one of their thoughts was hidden from God. His light shines in every
corner of every mind. Every thought is in God's full view.
What if all of our thoughts during this worship service could be displayed
on a screen for everybody here to see? Maybe some of us would be
embarrassed. Maybe a lot of us would want to say, “I usually don't have
thoughts like that.” Our thoughts are displayed before God every
moment. If it embarrasses us that other people know about our thoughts,
we should feel really ashamed that God knows about them. At least other
people would say, “I confess that I’ve had some unholy thoughts too,” and
we’re not going to stand before other people in the final judgment. But
God has never had an unholy thought, and we are going to stand before
Him in judgment.

But thank God, Jesus is not only the light; He’s also life. When we know
Jesus we can say to Him, “Jesus, You know what’s in my heart. Shine
Your light in the dark corners of my heart and show me my sin so I can
confess sin to You and get it out of my heart.” That may not be an easy
experience, but it is necessary for us to be clean before the Lord. And the
good news is that when we confess, He forgives and cleanses. Jesus, as
the light, brings revelation.

Second, Jesus brings direction. Jesus, who is the light, shows us the way
to go. When Jesus made that statement, “I am the light of the world,” He
was in Jerusalem at the Feast of Booths. During that feast the Jews
remembered the 40 years they wandered in the wilderness and they
celebrated God’s provision for them in the wilderness. In the wilderness
God provided direction for His people. God led them from place to place
 6

with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. To celebrate

God’s miraculous direction in the wilderness, during the Feast of Booths
the Jews observed a ceremony called the Illumination of the Temple.
They would gather in the Court of Women after sunset, and when it was
dark four great lampstands were lit to commemorate the light by which
God had led them through the wilderness. In that context Jesus stood and
declared, “I am the light of the world.” In the wilderness God provided
direction through the darkness with a pillar of fire. But today if we want
direction, we follow Jesus. He is the light not only for the Jews; He is the
light of the world. That’s good news. Jesus is our light in the darkness.
When we don't know which way to go He shows us. At every crossroads
of life He provides the light we need to take the next step. When He was
born that night in Bethlehem, He was the light coming into the world, and
light brings direction.

Third, Jesus defies destruction. John wrote in verse 5, “The light shines
in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” “The darkness has
not overcome it.” The word translated “overcome” or “comprehend”
means “to seize, or overtake, or grasp” something. We sometimes use the
word “grasp” to refer to understanding. The Greeks did the same thing.
When someone grasped something they understood it. The Bible says that
darkness cannot grasp the light who is Jesus. Darkness cannot overcome
or overtake Him.

When we’re in the darkness, we just turn on a light and the light dispels
the darkness. But when we’re in a lighted room, we can’t turn on the
darkness and dispel the light. Darkness does not overcome light; light
overcomes darkness. Thank God that the darkness of sin and Satan can
never put out the light of Jesus. But He can shine in the darkness and
dispel it. No place in our lives is so dark that Jesus cannot shine there and
bring His light and life. Our darkest circumstances and our deepest
sorrows are transformed when Jesus is with us, because He’s the light.
The darkness will never be able to overcome the light of the gospel of
Jesus. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not
overcome it.”

John wrote that Jesus is and always has been God, Jesus is the light that
reveals the truth, directs our lives, and cannot be overcome by darkness.
Here’s a third big truth about Jesus: Jesus is the Word of the Father,
Now in Flesh Appearing. Those words come from the carol “O Come
 7

All Ye Faithful,” and that’s exactly what John wrote in verse 14: “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.” James
Montgomery Boice wrote this about verse 14: “This was the great
sentence for which the Gospel of John was written. It tells us –
inexplicable as it may be – that God became man.”

God became the baby Jesus. That is inexplicable. The almighty God of
the universe holds trillions of stars spread out over billions of light years
in the palm of His hand. The idea of that God being held inside the uterus
of a poor Palestinian teenager, kicking His way out until His bloody,
human skin felt the cold of the night and His tiny vocal chords cried out in
pain is inexplicable. God is resplendently glorious and perfectly holy, and
the idea of that God loving creatures who have never done anything
perfectly except sin is inexplicable. But inexplicable as it may be, that is
the fact of Christmas. Christmas is about this – God loves us, and He
loves us so much that He gave Himself, God the Son, for us. He loves us
so much that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” He became
flesh – He became tired, hungry, thirsty, His feelings were hurt, He felt
pain, and when they drove the nails through His hands He bled. Since
eternity past He had known the worship of angels, but He willingly
exchanged that to know persecution by evil men. The Word became flesh.

When God the Son was incarnated in human flesh, John’s testimony was
“We have seen his glory.” His incarnation embodied His glory. God’s
glory is His divine character revealed, displayed. God loves us, and when
Jesus was incarnated in human flesh His love for us was displayed. God is
perfectly holy, and when Jesus lived without sin His holiness was
displayed. God is perfectly just, and when His righteous wrath against sin
was poured out on Jesus, on Himself on the cross, His justice was
displayed. John wrote, “I saw that; we have seen his glory.” When John
preached and wrote about the good news of Jesus as God and Savior, he
was preaching about something that he had seen with his own eyes (c.f. 1
John 1:1-2). He knew it was the truth because he had witnessed it. The
character and power of God had been expressed in the life of Jesus, the
God-man. His incarnation embodied His glory, “glory as of the only Son
from the Father.”

Last, His incarnation requires a decision. Verse 11 says that Jesus “came
to his own, and his own people did not receive him.” His own people
 8

were the Jews, and in large measure they “did not receive him.” Before
we single out the Jews of Jesus’ time for condemnation, let’s admit that it
seems characteristic of human nature to be slow to believe anything that’s
not compatible with what we’re accustomed to experiencing.

Sharon and I remember a Christmas years ago when we had only one
child. Our son Jonathan was 2 ½ years old, and it was going to be the first
Christmas that he understood that he was getting presents on this special
day celebrating the birth of Jesus. We kept telling him that Christmas Day
was coming, he kept asking, “Is today Christmas?” and every day we told
him “No, it’s not, but it’s coming.” Finally, when Christmas morning
arrived I woke him up and told him that it was Christmas Day. He said,
“No it isn’t.” He had been told so often that Christmas was in the future
out there that when it finally happened he didn’t believe it.

God promised the Jews that Christmas was coming, the Messiah was on
His way. The Jews waited so long and were told “Not today” so many
times that when the day finally arrived they didn’t believe it. It’s one
thing to believe in theory that something could happen; it’s something else
to believe that it’s happening right now. It’s one thing to believe in theory
that God could incarnate Himself in human flesh, live a sinless life,
perform miracles, die as the sacrifice for our sins, rise from the dead, and
give eternal life to all who put their faith in Him. It’s not too hard to
acknowledge that as a theoretical possibility. But it’s different to believe
that it has happened and He can come into your life right now, forgive
your sins, make you new, and give you eternal life.

But it has happened. Now what’s necessary is to receive Jesus and put our
faith in Him. “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive
him.” But verse 12 says, “To all who did receive him, who believed in his
name, he gave the right to become children of God.” The choice is clear
for every person. We receive Him or reject Him. Receiving Jesus means
turning from sin and trusting Jesus with our lives. If you have never
received Him, will you receive Him today? You have to decide between
receiving and rejecting.

Maybe you’re thinking, “I didn’t come to church today to make that

decision.” Have you considered the possibility that that’s exactly the
reason God brought you here? Rejecting Jesus is a foolish choice; it’s
forfeiting abundant life, a relationship with God, and eternity in heaven.
 9

One of those Harrison Ford action movies is about a search for the holy
grail – the cup Jesus used at the last supper. Near the end of the movie
they find the holy grail, but when a woman removes it from its location
the ground opens up, the cup falls into the crevice, and then woman falls
in. Harrison Ford reaches to pull her to safety. He has her hand in his, but
she is also reaching in the other direction for the holy grail. Instead of
moving toward her rescue, she strained toward the grail, and she pulled
herself away from her savior’s hand and fell to her death. It’s a tragic
moment in the movie, but it’s just a movie. It’s infinitely more tragic that
it happens in real life all the time. People turn away from Christ to reach
for something else, and they fall to their eternal doom. Don’t let that
happen to you. Jesus is God. He is light and life. He became a man and
died on the cross for your sins because He loves you. Receive Him.