Marlin, Leo: And Received Up Into Glory ~ John 1

Would you turn to John's Gospel, chapter one. Remember that John's now going to speak about the Lord Jesus, and he says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. Verse fourteen: and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Your translation might have he tabernacled among us, or he pitched his tent among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. John would never forget that night when he beheld the glory of the Lord on what we call the Mount of Transfiguration. When the Lord Jesus was manifest to him and to Peter and to James. He will never forget it, and neither would Peter, for Peter says, and we were eyewitnesses of his majesty, eyewitnesses of his majesty. And John says, and we beheld his glory. What a tremendous sight that must have been. And yet one of these days we're going to see the Lord in his beauty. We're going to behold the Lord in his glory, just as they did on that mount. And then he says, we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Verse eighteen: No man hath seen God, that is the triune God, God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as one. No man has seen God in the flesh, in his triune character and nature at all. No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, that is Christ, which is in the bosom of the Father. That's a strange statement, isn't it? Because when it was written, Christ was on earth. How could he be in the bosom of the Father? We often speak of him as having left his Father's bosom and come down to earth to die on Calvary for us. But there was a sense, another sense when the Lord Jesus never ever left the bosom of the Father. He was always there from the very beginning. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. Your Bible might say he hath shown him forth, or he hath led him forth. He hath declared him. Now, First Timothy chapter three. First Timothy chapter three. Verse sixteen. That's the last verse. And without controversy, no argument about this, 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. And I just want to pick out two of those, uh, statements that were made concerning the Lord, and they are the first one and the last. God was manifest in the flesh, received up into glory. The John three sixteen s are very precious to us, aren't they? I suppose your mind goes back to John three and sixteen, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. What a tremendous gift. Paul calls it an unspeakable gift. God gave his only son, his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. I want to tell you this morning that if you've never believed in the Lord Jesus, if you've never received him as your savior, you're perishing. You're perishing, and you're in danger of perishing for all eternity. But if this morning you were to believe in your heart that Jesus is the Son of God, the Word of God, who was in the beginning, who came to earth and died on Calvary for a sinner like you, if you really believe it, you'll have everlasting life. I suppose there have been more men and women and boys and girls saved, converted to God through the preaching of this verse than any other verse in the Bible. For God so loved the world, how much he loved it, I do not know, but he so loved it that he gave his only begotten son. What a tremendous gift, what a tremendous sacrifice on the part of God the Father to give for sinners lost and ruined by the fall, his only begotten son, that whosoever, and that surely means you, doesn't it? That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. So thank God for John three and sixteen. There's another one in second, uh, uh, in second Timothy three and sixteen, and it says, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. And this is a very precious three and sixteen. Did I say they were all John's? If I did, I was mistaken. One is John's and the other are, uh, two are Paul's. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. Every word of it is inspired of God and is profitable for doctrine. And doctrine, you know, tells us what is right. Doctrine tells us what is right. For reproof, and that tells me what's not right. For correction, and that tells me how to get right. And for instruction in righteousness, and that tells me how to keep right. So there's two three and sixteens, and the other one is the one we read without controversy. Great is the mystery of godliness or piety. God was manifest in the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh. We've been dwelling a little upon that this morning. God was manifest in the flesh. We must never forget that the man that walked the dusty streets of Palestine, the man that went about doing good, healing all manner of sicknesses, giving sight to the blind, raising the dead, cleansing the leper, making the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak, the one who raised the dead was none other than God. God. Every attribute of God as a triune person was inherent in the Lord Jesus. He was omnipotent, all powerful. He was omniscient. He knew all things. He was omnipresent. He can be in more than two places at the one and the same time. He's been with us this morning. He's been with every other two or three gathered throughout the length and breadth of this world. And that man whom men despised and slighted, that man whom men crucified on Calvary, was none other than God manifest in the flesh. No man has seen God, John said, at any time, but the only begotten Son, he hath declared. And as men and women looked at the Lord, and as they came into contact with him during his earthly life, they were coming into contact with God, for God was manifest in the flesh. It's often been said, and uh, we've heard it many times, that when the Lord became a man, he never ceased to be what he was throughout the countless ages of eternity. God over all and blessed forever. And yet at the same time, he became something that he never was in eternity past. He became a man. I quoted those words in thanksgiving. Though he were God, yet he thought it not a thing to be grasped at, to be equal with God, but he made himself of no reputation. He took upon him the form of a servant. He was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. So Paul says here to Timothy that God was manifest in the flesh. His birth in Bethlehem just wasn't a birth, it was an incarnation. God became man. He who was the eternal Word, who in a bygone eternity was ever with God, daily his delight, and rejoicing always before him, became a man. I wonder why. I wonder why it was. It was because of you and I. He saw us in all our need, in all our sin. He looked down through the ages of time, and he knew that if he didn't send his son, if Christ did not come, we'd be in hell for all eternity. We often hear it said, uh, that the Lord Jesus said to his father that sometime or other, here am I, send me. I don't think he ever said that, because I believe, I believe that, uh, uh, that was said by who? Here am I, send me. It was never said by the Lord Jesus. To me, if the Lord Jesus ever said that, it would mean that God was taken as unawares when man sinned. But the Lord Jesus was always the coming one. Lo, I come. And the Greek scholars, of which I'm not one of, of one, uh, says that that, uh, word come means that, uh, he was always coming. Lo, I come. There never was a time in eternity past when the Lord wasn't coming. Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it is written of me. I delight to do thy will, oh my God. And so he came. God was manifest in the flesh. Now you just think about that. God was manifest in the flesh. Why? Well, first of all, in order that he might be lifted up. John chapter twelve says that he was lifted up, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. The Lord Jesus said, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. And lifted up he was on that Roman gibbet at Calvary for sinners such as you and I. It's humbling, isn't it? It's humbling, isn't it? Oh yes, you know, some of us are full of pride. Some of us, uh, put ourselves on a pedestal, and we think, you know, that we're someone. We're more educated or something. We've got more money than somebody. We've got a better home than somebody else. But, you know, when you think that Christ was lifted up on Calvary for us, it humbles us. It humbles us. He was lifted up. Well, the other phrase that I was thinking of, which I think is in keeping with our theme, was not only was he lifted up, but he was received up into glory. And this was the glorious climax of his finished work on the cross. He was received up into glory. Your Bible might have he was received up in glory, in glory. There are different phrases used to, uh, tell us about his ascension. One of them is that in Acts, uh, chapter thirteen that he was raised up. God raised him up. In Mark chapter sixteen he was received up, just as it is here. In Luke chapter twenty four, he was carried up. In Acts chapter one, he was taken up. And in Acts chapter one again, he was, he went up. And Ephesians chapter four says, he ascended up. He ascended up. So he was lifted up. He died. He was buried, but then he rose again from among the dead, and forty days afterwards he was received up into glory. What a wonderful savior he is. The Lord just bless those few thoughts to us.