Tim has read the first 34 verses, so I won't read through the whole passage now, but we'll read through it as we go. So you might turn to John chapter 1, as we looked at verses 1 through 18. The three synoptic gospels, which would be Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they begin with accounts of Christ's earthly being and his earthly purposes. Luke records the birth announcements of both John and Jesus, Then the births of John and Jesus. Matthew records the genealogy and then the birth of Christ. Mark jumps up at least to the ministry of John the Baptist, who's making the way straight for the Lord. But then we see Jesus' baptism, his temptation, his ministry starts on earth. But in contrast, John's gospel begins with Christ's eternal, not earthly, but eternal being and purpose in the opening 18 verses of John chapter one. And those first 18 verses are often referred to as the prologue to the entire gospel. John starts, as Tim pointed out, and I appreciate that, he starts out with, in the beginning. That means before time and before creation, just as Moses starts out Genesis chapter one. And he does this to show Christ's fullness of being and his purpose in coming. And in doing so, we see not only the beginning and the creation of Genesis chapter one hinted at, but we also see the new beginning and the new creation of Christ as John's going to explain throughout the gospel of John. And these first 18 verses of John may very well have been adapted from an early church hymn. They may have been sung in the early church and they set the stage and the themes for the entire gospel of John. In these first 18 verses, we see the truths of Christ's eternality, his deity, his revealing of and his unity with the Father, his glory being presented. And we see the themes of life and light and darkness and witness and the world and rejection of Christ and the new birth that we have through Christ. These themes are repeated throughout the book of John. But most of all, these first 18 verses, we see the subject of this prologue. The subject is the word of God, who is the son of God. And the gospel of John is a gospel about the word, who is the son of God come to man. And so in your bulletins, I think you have a brief outline. We'll take these 18 verses in four parts. all based on the Word, because that is the subject. We'll see in the first five verses, who is this Word? The Word in the first five verses. But then we'll see the Word's witness, the witness to the Word, which will be John the Baptist in verses six through eight. Then we'll see the Word's world. The Word comes into the world that he created in verses nine through 13. And then those last five verses, verses 14 through 18, which could have a couple of sermons on their own, but we'll try to get all into one sermon today. The word is with us. The word with us in verses 14 through 18, which should cause us to worship him. So we'll look at the verses in that way. So let's look at those first five verses and the word. And here's, we've already said the contrast of these opening verses. It's a contrast to the other three gospels. And the contrast here is that John begins with one of the greatest expressions of the deity of Christ in all of scripture. And we'll see, in verses one and two, we'll see the word, his eternality, his unity, and his deity. And in verses three through five, we'll see he's the creator, who's the source of all life, and the source of all light. Let's read those first five verses. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was, in the beginning, with God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend or overcome it." So in the first two verses we see the words eternality is unity with the Father and his deity. This was already said that When you read the phrase, in the beginning, it's supposed to remind you of something. And I can ask for a show of hands, but I won't do that. When you see the phrase, in the beginning, it's supposed to remind you of Genesis chapter one, when Moses writes, in the beginning, that means in the beginning, before time, before creation, nothing existed except for God. And he created out of nothing, everything. Before creation and time, God existed and he created all things from nothing. And so the word was, in the beginning as God. He's eternal. He's self-existent. The Word, who we know as Christ, is the great I am Jehovah God of all the universe. And in fact, in John chapter 8, verse 58, Jesus is quoted as saying, before Abraham was, I am. And of course, as a result, the Jews picked up stones because they wanted to stone him because he's claiming to be God. The word is eternal, he's God. He wasn't just beginning in the manger, he'd already existed in eternity, but he takes on flesh to enter in his creation. And then we see his unity, it says, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God. And though the word is eternal and thus he's God, he's also a separate person from the father. And it's not completely explained here, but at least it's laid down as a foundation that He's God, but He's with God. There's a difference of persons within the Godhead. And the Scripture teaches throughout that there's one God in three persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And our catechism asks the question, are there more gods than one? And you could sing, there is but one only, the living and true God. But I'm going to ask for your help on this, young people. How many persons are there in the Godhead? There are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And these three are one God, the same in essence, equal in power and glory. And we see that at least hinted at, the foundation laid to here that the word is God, but he's with God. And we see Christ was with God, and it emphasizes His unity and His oneness with the Father, which is an ongoing theme in the book of John. In John chapter 10, Christ says, I and the Father are one. There's a perfect relationship in the Godhead of love with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. He's the begotten Son of God. He's the begotten God. He eternally proceeds from the Father. He's the unique. He's the only Son. And the third thing these first two verses is, it's already been mentioned that he's God. We see his eternality, we see his unity, but we see he's God, we see his deity, the word was God. And in verse two, all of that is summarized, he was, which means he was God in the beginning, he's eternal with God. But the son is a separate person than the father. So we see the eternity, the unity, and the deity of the Word of Christ. But then we look at verses 3 through 5 and we see that He's the Creator God who gives life and light because He is life and light. And in verse 3, all things were made through Him. Nothing was made without Him that was made. That's a lot of repetition. John likes repetition, but here you've got to get the point. He created all things. You got it? using that word made three times. And that word made has the idea of being brought into existence. It's not the idea of just taking some stuff off the ground and making something out of it, but bringing it into existence. So all things that were brought into existence were brought into existence through Christ, through the word. And everything owes its existence to him, to the word. And that word through, though, I think is important. The word through then has the idea that the Father is the source, but all things are made through the Son. We know from the rest of Scripture as well, even from Genesis chapter one, that the Spirit is hovering over the face of the earth, that all three persons of the Trinity are involved in creating all things. In fact, we can look at Colossians chapter one, verses 15 through 17 and see the majesty of this word. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn or the highest rank over all creation. For by him, by Christ, all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through Christ and for Christ. And he is before all things. And in him, all things consist. All things are held together. It goes on to say that because of that, Christ is the preeminent one over all things. as the creator over all things so we see the majesty and the glory of the word who is God who creates all things but then verse 4 in him was life and yes the source of all physical life is from the Sun but primarily in the book of John we have the idea of the eternal spiritual life that Christ gives through his spirits at least 36 times, over a quarter of the times of the whole scripture is the idea of eternal life, spiritual life mentioned in the book of John. It's one of the greatest themes. In John chapter three, verse 16, a verse that many of you may have heard of, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but what have everlasting life. In John chapter five, we read that as the father has life, the son has life in himself. and we must come to him to receive this life. In John chapter six, Jesus says, I am the bread of life who gives eternal life to those who feed upon him, on those who believe. In John chapter 10, Christ says he came and he laid down his own life that we might have abundant life, have eternal life in him, those who would confess and believe. In John chapter 11, he says, I am the resurrection and the life. And in John chapter 14, he says, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the father except through me. At the very end of the book of John, in John chapter 20, we see the whole purpose for writing the gospel of John is this, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. So in Him was life, the eternal life that we all need desperately because of our sin and our deadness towards Him. Man is dead in his sin. He must have life to even come to Him, and only Christ can give it. But notice in verse 4, in Him was life, and the life was the light of men. So you have that transition from light to life, and there's a lot of correlations between the two. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend, did not overcome it. That word can mean either comprehend or overcome, and John loves to use words with more than one meaning to get a breadth and a depth to what he writes. When we talk about the light of God, when we talk about the light, it usually has two aspects, morally and spiritually. Morally, when it talks about Christ being the light, it talks about his holiness, his purity, versus the darkness of sin. Spiritually, it talks about the truth that leads to salvation versus the darkness of error and blindness that leads to condemnation. And mankind is not only dead in his sin, but mankind is locked in his darkness of sin and of his mind. And the light of Christ must come. And one thing that's wonderful about here is that light of Christ says it shines. It means it's right now. It's still shining. Some of these things are things that have happened in the past, but the light shines in the darkness. It's shining even now. And Christ says in John chapter 8, I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. And in John chapter 3, Christ says, and this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed. You see why Christ was rejected and why he's being rejected even now? The light of Christ exposes the darkness of our sin. We don't like that. If you ever run upon a board in your yard or a large rock in your yard, it's been there for a while and you lift it up and all the critters that were there, you didn't know were there. There's a whole colony of things going on there. The critters just scatter. It's a picture of Christ's light and our sin. that in the darkness those critters are having a good time, but the board is picked up and the light shines on it and they don't like it, they don't want to be exposed, they run for cover. And I would ask you not to scatter. If there's a rock being picked up or there's a board being picked up even today and the light of Christ is being shining on who you are and your sin that separates you from Him, don't scatter. Christ says to come, come. And so in those first five verses, we see the Word. We see His eternality, His unity with the Father, His deity, He's the Creator, He's the source of life and light. Can there be anything more majestic than these opening five verses of who Christ is as the Word? But then we get to verses six through eight, and now we see the Word's witness. The Word's witness. And we have a contrast, I think, here. We have the contrast between the Word that we've just seen and now the witness to the Word, which is John the Baptist. And the contrast is going to be that the Word is deity, but the Witness is a man. The Word is eternal, but the Witness came, and it has the implication that He was made and He came. The Word has always existed, but the Witness was sent from God. The Word is God, and the Word is light, but yet this man, this Witness, testifies of the light. And the word is to be believed in, but the witness is excited when he can be used as a conduit through which those could actually believe in the light himself. And so there's a contrast between the word and this witness. And John writes, there was a man, it should remind you of John chapter three, when you have John chapter two speaks of Christ knew all the things in the hearts of men. But then we go to John chapter three, there's a man. named Nicodemus, there's a contrast between the deity of Christ and a mere man. And here he says, there was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man, repeated, came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe in him. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. This was John the Baptist, who is the prophet prophesied by Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 40, by Malachi in chapter 3 there. He was sent by God to be the voice of the one crying in the wilderness, to make straight the way of the Lord Jehovah, which is another implication that Christ is God, because John the Baptist was making straight the way for Jehovah. And John did this by calling Israel to repent and to be baptized in preparation for their personal Messiah. And he did this by testifying of the one who came after him, who was before him. That means he's greater than him, both in time and in preeminence. And John the Baptist baptized with water in preparation for the one who had baptized with the Spirit. Pointing ahead to what we see in John chapter three, the new birth that Christ comes and baptizes by the spirit. So a new birth is given. So the sinner is changed to be into God's child. And the greatest purpose and joy of John the Baptist was that through his witness, sinners would believe in the word. And he would proclaim the word was the lamb of God to take away the sins of the world. That this indeed was the son of God. We heard that from Tim's reading of the scripture this morning. But you ever wonder why, in the midst of this majestic presentation of who the Word is, then all of a sudden we have, but then there's this man who came to testify. Why would John put this into this section here? It almost seems out of place. I think there may be a couple reasons. Certainly one thing is that John was mentioning John the Baptist, the witness to the Word, to clarify to his readers of who John the Baptist was and who he was pointing to. John the Baptist was highly regarded. We don't think about him so much now, perhaps, but he's highly regarded as the greatest of the prophets. And there's still confusion even in that day. Do you remember when we were, and we'll get back to Acts, by the way, but when we were in Acts chapters 18 and 19, you had those disciples of John who didn't know the full teachings of who Christ was. And so there had to be some clarifying that, no, this is who John the Baptist was. And he was pointing towards the word, which is who you must know. But I also think, Part of the reason that John puts this here, by the inspiration of the Spirit, is to, again, to show Christ's greatness, the greatness of the Word, in contrast to the great man who is the witness to Him, who is nothing in comparison to Him. And it's interesting in explaining who John was, that he was a witness for Christ, even to this day. Even in the last five minutes, the witness of John continues to be a witness to the Light, and to the Word, and to Christ Himself. So we see the word, we see the word's witness, but then in verses nine through 13, we see the word's world, the world that the word created that he enters into. And I think, again, we see a contrast, that instead of the deserved reception and worship, the creating life-giving word should receive. In contrast, the world that he created and he came to redeem did not comprehend or know or receive him. And so I read, and I think in verse nine, if you're in the New King James like I am, I think the alternate reading is the right one, that the speaking of coming into the world makes the most sense in context, especially that it's the word that came into the world, not men coming into the world. And so I think it should read this way in verse nine, that was the true light, the word was the true light, which coming into the world, he gives light to every man. He was in the world and the world was made through Him and the world did not know Him. He came to His own and His own, I think it's His own people, did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." And so we see in the first three verses, that the word was rejected by the world. The last two verses, some were received, but because of the word, they were received, or they received him, I should say. So first of all, verses nine through 11, he was rejected by the world. This word, the one and true light that only can give light to men, he came into his world. Notice it's his world, but the world would not acknowledge him or receive him. And when we talk about the world, which is a word that's used often through the book of John, and you have to look at the context to see what John is trying to get at. And here, I think the word world in its largest sense is all of creation. The word took on human nature and he entered in his own creation. I think we hear that so often we lose the marvel of that. The word became flesh and he entered into his own creation with a full human nature. But then The word world narrows into the sinful and darkened mankind in general, and then narrows even farther to the people of Israel who are personally waiting for their Messiah to come. And as John writes these things, I think there's an increasing surprise and contrast in verses 10 and 11. In verse 10, he says, the world that was made through him did not even acknowledge him, did not know him. And you want to react, really? But then even greater in verse 11, he came to his own and his own, his family, it has the idea in the original language that he was coming home. I think it's speaking, yes, maybe the first own is speaking about all of mankind and the second own is speaking specifically about the people of Israel that he came personally. He was coming home and to his own family, so to speak. and they did not receive him. They did not embrace him. They rejected him. All mankind, again, is dead in his sin, blinded in his darkness, and when life and light comes, they want no part of it, even though that's the only thing that they can turn to for salvation and help. But in verse 5, in the previous section that we looked at, in verse 5 it's hinted that even though he's rejected, the light would win out over darkness to accomplish his purpose. Back in verse five, it says, darkness did not comprehend or overcome the light. And again, that can mean either one, and some of your versions will have overcome, some will say comprehend. They didn't comprehend, they didn't apprehend who he was, but it also means that the darkness will not overcome the light. Both of those things are true. The world would not grasp, The darkness would not overcome the light, why? Because Christ would come and save his people from their sin. So look at verses 12 and 13. It says, but as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name. There are those who did receive the word. those whom Christ gave light to by the Spirit so their darkness of sin and unbelief would be overcome and would comprehend and believe Christ gave that word forgave means a gift of grace the right to become children of God There's so much that can be said by those few words there. Christ gave our salvation and even our faith, we understand from all of scripture, that procures our justification. Even our faith is a gift from God. Look at John chapter three, look at Ephesians chapter two. And so he gave, what did he give? He gave the right. He gave the authority to be claimed or declared as God's own child now. I think when he says he gave them the right, it's speaking about our justification. And justification is a sense that Christ, he came as the God-man that he might fulfill the law of God perfectly, the law that we break daily and even moment by moment. And we deserve wrath because of it. But Christ, and only Christ, is the perfect God-man, fulfilled God's righteous law perfectly so that he could be the perfect sacrifice on the cross. that he can then endure the penalty of our sin in our place. So not only fulfill the law, but he'd fulfill the requirements and the penalty of breaking the law. So that when we come to Christ in repentance and faith, we're justified. We're given the right to be children of God at that very moment. Our sin is then placed on his shoulders and he suffers the eternal wrath of God for it on the cross. His righteousness is imputed to us that now we can stand before God justified with the right to be his child without fear, because God does not see our sin, but he sees the righteousness of Christ. I think it's subtle, but I think it's true that word gave the right to become children of God is important. To become children of God. I think at least that's hinting at sanctification. that when one is justified and declared right before God has the right to say, I'm one of God's people, then the process through the new birth of becoming God's child is carried out. It's interesting when you think of adoption, which is one of the key doctrines of Christianity, that you're adopted as God's son or daughter. That's something that's declared, but then becoming His child requires a new birth, and then becoming more and more like God's son in sanctification. I think that's what's being pointed there, the difference between giving the right to become, actually becoming God's child through sanctification. And that sanctification is guaranteed to be carried out to glorification when Christ returns. We'll see him as he is, and we'll be made like him without any sin. We can glory in him forever. John writes, as many as received him. What does received him mean? Well, if you look at the end of the verse, it means to believe in his name. To receive Christ is to believe in Christ's name and the word name doesn't mean so much to us now except for maybe stop in the name of the law. They still say it on TV now, I don't know, stop in the name of the law. But when we talk about the name of Christ it means everything about who he is and what he has done. And so to believe in Christ's name is to come before him and bow before him and trust in the entirety of who he is He's God who became man, who lived the perfect life and died the perfect death. And He reigns as King forever. And He's coming again to rule. It's believing and trusting in Him and His whole person and all of His works that He will save you. And then verse 13, those who have received Him, those who believe on His name, those who have been given the right and then become children of God, They are those who are not born of God, not born again because of their own human descent or their own will is basically what's being summed up in not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man. It's not by human descent. It's not because you're a child of Abraham. He would be saying to some of his audience here and young people, it's not because your parents are Christians. That doesn't give you any standing before God. It gives you many blessings. It doesn't give any right standing before God. It's not by your human descent or your human will, but you're born again by God. And so he gets all the glory and the praise and the honor, and we rejoice in it humbly. And so we see the words world where some reject, in fact many reject, but some receive by the gift of grace of Christ and the new birth that he gives through his spirits. Now we look at the last five verses, verses 14 through 18. We see the word is with us. The word is with us. This is a marvelous section of scripture. As I said earlier, there could be multiple sermons to this, but we have like 15 minutes, so we'll see what we can do. But I think there's a final contrast here that the contrast is we've seen the divine, eternal, create your word of life and light, the one who is fully God. But now we contrast that with the humble entering of the word into his creation, who took on a human nature as well. What a contrast that is. Divine word would then become flesh to reveal the father and his glory and his grace. God has come in Christ to be with us. in a way that we can know, in a way that saves, and to be worshiped. So there's two main things I want us to see in this final passage is the incarnation of Christ, but then the fact that he tabernacled with us. And in verse 14, John writes, and the word became flesh. and dwelt among us. Let me read the rest of this last passage. And we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, This was He of whom I said, He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me. and of his fullness we have all received and grace for grace or grace upon grace that's a marvelous phrase grace upon grace for the law was given through Moses but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ no one has seen God at any time when we think of of Moses in Exodus saying, I want to see your face. But no one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son or the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father with a face-to-face relationship with the Father. He has declared Him. If you see Christ, you've seen God. And He's revealed God to us. Which is one of the key meanings behind the word, Word. He reveals the person and the will of the Father as the Word of God. But back in verse 14, The Word became flesh. Three words, but an amazing three words. The Word became flesh. The Word who is God became flesh. And John doesn't say He took on a body. He doesn't even say He became man, which would have been fine, but he makes it about as base and clear as he possibly can. To say that the Word became flesh, it means that He took on a full human nature. Nothing describes man more than flesh. So the Word became flesh. Not just took on a body, became flesh. And now God is fully united to be fully man in the person of Jesus Christ. His taking on flesh did not affect His deity. He's fully God and fully man in one person. John the Baptist came as a man. He was a man with a finite beginning. He's created by the Word. But the eternal word of God became flesh at a point in time in history, and he is even to this day, and he will be for eternity. And again, looking to our catechism, who is the redeemer of God's elect? This is one of my, it might be my favorite catechism question to sing. Who is the redeemer of God's elect? The only redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ. who being the eternal Son of God became man, and so was and continueth to be God, and man in two distinct natures, and one person forever. The Son is still one person, but now he's in two distinct natures, 100% man, 100% God. If you can explain that fully and completely, then I'd like to write a book with you. But we know it's true because the scripture teaches it. And the only contradiction is in our mind that we cannot fathom the greatness and the majesty of our God. He had to come as man because a man had to be a substitute for sinful man. But he had to be deity because nothing other than deity could do what Christ did to fulfill the law and how he's done it. But look at the next section, the next three words, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. This is a rich three words as well, dwelt among us. Literally what this means is he tabernacled among us. He pitched his tent among us, but he tabernacled among us. Why is this so significant? Well, John is clearly referring to the tabernacle of Israel in the wilderness. We just got done reading providential. We just got done reading the book of Exodus in our scripture reading. And how many times did we see the details of the tabernacle and all the things in it and the courtyard around it. I think at least three times you see the details going through. It's described and it's described and then it's put all together and it's described again. And it gets kind of boring perhaps. It's just over and over and over again. But the point is this is important. And the worship of God is important. And the tabernacle is important. So we want you to understand it by giving you all these details repeatedly. And John's now referring to the tabernacle as what Christ has fulfilled. The tabernacle represented God with his people, God's glory among his people, and God's grace evident to his people. It was God and his glory and his grace in the midst of his people. It was painstakingly detailed in Exodus. And when the temple was finally put together, what was said at that last chapter, the very last of the last chapter, what entered in? God's glory. You almost get the end of Psalm 29, where the people in his temple saying, glory, because now the glory is entered in the temples there. Now the presence of God is in and it's rejoicing. It's just a marvelous point of scripture. And so God's glory was beheld at the completion of the tabernacle when he enters into his presence. And John is saying that Christ, the word became flesh is the fulfillment of the tabernacle. Christ, the word is God with us. God in his glory revealed to bring the grace of salvation to us. And therefore the word then is to be received and worshiped. And since the word became flesh is the fulfillment and the reality to the purposes of the tabernacle, it makes some sense to briefly look at the details of the tabernacle to understand then how Christ fulfills this in truth and grace. Inside your bulletins, there should be an insert. And I gave you two pictures. You can pick whichever one you like, but there's two diagrams or descriptions there of the tabernacle. So you can just have a picture of what it was. So depending on your background, understanding what the tabernacle was, this may help you to see. And the tabernacle represented both God in the midst of his people, but also God's holiness in the midst of his people. It shows us the way to God, but also shows us separation from God. God is with us, but he's separate from us. Why? Because we're sinful and he is holy, and we cannot approach him directly lest we die. And so we see that with the tabernacle. And first of all, you have the courtyard on the outside, which is approximately 150 by 75 feet of fencing off of a courtyard. And there is one door to enter into the courtyard, only one door that could be entered into, and only Jews could enter into it. The Gentiles had to stay outside. So you see separation. And then when you get into the courtyard, you can see there's a bronze altar for the burnt offerings of sin there at the beginning of the courtyard. You can see it in your pictures, perhaps. That's the largest part of all of these things outside of the tapernacle itself, perhaps a seven by seven altar. It was meant for sacrifice for sin because you cannot approach God unless there's something done about your sin. And then entering in past the altar, there's the laver, the cleansing basin for the cleansing with water, representing the cleansing of sin that must be necessary. And the priests had to wash their hands and their feet before entering into the tabernacle or they would die. Do you see how we get closer and closer to the presence of God? It's more serious and more serious. And then when you see the tabernacle itself, it's a 45 by 15 foot tent. divided with the Holy of Holies on the far end that takes up the smallest place, but the holy place at the beginning. And only priests could enter in by the one door into the tabernacle. As you enter into the holy place, you see on one side, there's the golden lamp stand. It would be a center shaft with three branches off of each side. And it was made to look like a tree with buds and blooms and fruit on it, even showing all stages of life on this lamp stand. And since the tabernacle was four layers thick, plus with a leather tarp over the outside of it, it was dark. It was very dark inside the tabernacle, so you needed the light to expose and to shed away the darkness, the light of the golden lamp stand. And the presence of the light would continually shine in the darkness, and it would even show the life on the lamp stand itself inside. Then on the other side, as you entered into the tabernacle, would be the show bread or the bread of the presence. There would be a table with bread out there on the table. And the bread, the show bread, was showing man's dependence upon and his need for communion with God, his daily bread for life. And as you go to the far end of the holy place, There's the altar of incense burning with the smoke and the smell wafting up into the nostrils of God, showing the perpetual prayer to God. And that was as close as one could get to the Holy of Holies, which was on the other side of the veil. And that veil that would separate the holy place from the most holy place was at least six inches thick. You couldn't rip the thing. It was showing that there's separation between God and man. God is holy is on the other side of the veil. You cannot enter lest you die. Man is sinful, he has to be on this side of the veil. And only the high priest, only one man, the high priest, and only on one day, on the day of atonement, could he go, then pass the veil into where the holy of holies was, the most holy place. In the most holy place, that's where the presence, the glory of God would reside. And there's the Ark of the Covenant, a rectangular box that was overlaid with gold. And that Ark of the Covenant was the exact place where God would ascend and dwell with His people. And there were rings on the bottom of it with poles. You couldn't touch the Ark lest you would die. And we have accounts of that in Scripture where that happened. There's only special ways to move that Ark. And inside of the Ark of the Covenant was the testimony, the law of God, the Ten Commandments in the Ark of the Covenant. God's righteous and holy law. The law that His people had broken. His righteous holy standards, but it was the broken law because the people would sinned and they break as laws we do. And over the top of the Ark of the Covenant was what was called the mercy seats or the mercy covering is all it means. It's a covering over that broken law so that God would not be able to see the sin of his people. And then over the mercy seat, there was these large golden cherubim angels, just like the cherubim with the flaming swords guarding sinful man from coming back into Eden. Here you had the cherubim guarding over the Ark of the Covenant with the law of God inside. And once a year on the Day of Atonement, the high priest only would first sacrifice for his own sins because he was a sinner himself. We need a high priest who has no sins. And once a year, that high priest would then have another sacrifice, an atoning sacrifice. And you can picture him doing that in the altar on the outside, the sacrifice. then cleansing himself in the laver in the basin as he walks in through the tabernacle in across on the other side of the veil. And he comes back into the presence of God with all of those boundaries, all those separations. He's there in the presence of God and the blood of Atonement was sprinkled on the mercy seat, symbolizing the covering by the propitiation of an innocent one, the covering of blood. to then satisfy God's wrath and to bring forgiveness for the broken law that was underneath the mercy seat in the Ark of the Covenant. So when God would come down to dwell, he would not see the broken law, but he'd see the saving blood of the sacrifice and his wrath would be satisfied. So the question then is, how is Christ, the word become flesh, how is Christ then a fulfillment of the tabernacle? How did he tabernacle among us? We understand that man's sin had separated him from God. He deserved wrath and judgment, eternal judgment. And so a man had to come both to fulfill the requirements of the law with a perfect life, but also the penalty of the law, because it was broken by his people. And Christ, and only Christ could, came and he did that very thing. And we see it symbolized here at the tabernacle. First of all, there's one door in that outer courtyard. Christ is that one door. He's the only way. The one way to God. And all may go in, whether you're Jew or Gentile. There's no Gentiles kept outside. But there's the one door of Christ. And Christ says, I am the door in John 10. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. And John records that Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And no one comes to the Father except through Me. So Christ is the door. And when we get inside the courtyard, there's the burnt offering altar. Well, Christ is the only sacrifice for sin to justify. He's the only one who's fulfilled the law perfectly and then fulfilled the punishment of the law perfectly. And so John the Baptist can say, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And then after the burnt offering altar, you have the laver, the cleansing basin, and Christ is the only cleansing from sin to sanctify. He provides the washing of water by the word that we read about in Ephesians chapter five and even Titus chapter three. We have a symbolism of that in John chapter 13, when Christ washes the feet of his disciples. And he says, if I did not wash you, you don't have any part of me. So Christ is the cleansing. Then we get inside the tabernacle, we have the light stand on one side, and Christ is the light and the life of the world. We've seen that already. He has the moral holiness and the spiritual truth to save and to chase away the darkness of sin. And he says, I am the light of the world, and he who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. And on the other side of the tabernacle there is the showbread, and Christ is the bread of life. He provides the life of God in communion with God. Christ says in John chapter 6, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world." We get to the end of the holy place, and you have the incense that's burning, and Christ is the only means of access to pray to the Father, and He continually offers prayers on behalf of His people. In John chapter 16 it says, You must pray to the Father in My name, and in John chapter 17 He does pray for His people. But then we get into the Holy of Holies, the most holy place, and there's the Ark of the Covenant, And Christ alone by his perfect life and death gives us access to God, atonement from our sin and propitiation of God's wrath. In Hebrews chapter 10, we read that with confidence we can enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain that is his body. We know that when he cried out, it is finished. At the end of his suffering, the wrath of God, he says, it is finished. At that point, that curtain was torn from the top to the bottom. God himself ripping the curtain open so that now the symbol is that we can now enter into the holy place, the holy of holies, because Christ, by his body being broken, the curtain being torn, we now have access to God because of the sacrifice and the propitiation offered by Christ. Christ fulfilled the perfect law that we broke for perfect righteousness. Christ is the mercy seat. He's the curtain. He's also the mercy seat as his blood covers our sin before the presence of God. And so those who confess their sins and come before Christ in faith, God no longer sees their sin and their lack of righteousness, but he sees the blood of Christ and his wrath is satisfied. And he sees the righteousness of Christ and we received by holy God. And so the word, the only begotten son, the unique and only son who proceeds from the father, he reveals the glory and the grace and the truth of God. John says that Moses gave the law, but Christ's grace and truth. Christ is full of truth in that he fulfills the truths of the law and the tabernacle. Christ is full of grace in that he fulfills the requirements of the law and the tabernacle. So that grace upon grace, that means as one giving of grace would run out, so to speak, then another is given, that you never run out of the grace of Christ. So grace upon grace of his atonement, his cleansing, his light, his life, our communion now with God, our prayer to God in his name, our access to God, the grace of propitiation and justification and sanctification, all of these graces are freely and permanently giving. And Christ is called the Word because He communicates or reveals the Father to the world, and He communicates or reveals the Father's will and grace and truth and glory with power, so that if you see or know the Son, you see or know God. Because as John writes in verse 18, the only begotten Son, or I think even better, the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him, He has made God known, and how we can come to Him known as well. And so if you're outside of Christ this morning, you're separated from Holy God. You have no access to God. You have no communion with God. You have no life. You have no light. All you have is condemnation due to your sin. But for those who believe in His name and receive Him, the Word of God, Christ, as the God, man, Lord, and Savior, believing who He is and confessing what He has done to redeem sinners, For those, there is no separation. There's no Gentile left in the courtyard. There's no Jew outside of the holy place. There's no priest who can't get into the holy of holy place. There's no separation from God in Christ. And there's no condemnation because God sees Christ's blood of atonement as satisfaction for your sin. And he sees Christ's perfect righteousness as satisfaction for his law. And so we urge you, if you're outside of Christ this morning, to come to the word who became flesh, to come in our midst, and receive Him who is God with us, that you might be with Him and be made like Him for all eternity, worshiping Him in glory. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, what a glorious section of Scripture, and what a glorious God and Savior. Lord, we thank You for the Word became flesh. We thank You for the great cost that You paid in sending Your Son and the great cost of Christ the power of the spirit that redeems us through him. Lord, we pray that those who are outside of Christ this morning would hear their separation from God and their condemnation deserved by God, but that access and righteousness and communion with God can be known through Christ, the word of God become flesh. Please, Lord, by your spirit, bring confession and faith and new hearts and new birth in our midst. as a result of your word preached, as a result of Christ himself. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.