What Is God Really Like?
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 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; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
“The Word became flesh” —
the Word that was in the beginning,
the Word that was with God,
the Word that was God,
the Word through whom all things were made —
that Word became flesh.
God became a man.
Eternal God in skin and bones. And he dwelt among us. Which means he was here, on this earth, rubbing shoulders with people like you and me, and John says, “we have seen his glory.”
John is talking about himself and his friends. He’s talking about the historical eye-witnesses of Jesus — these are the people who literally saw Jesus when he was here — They saw his nose; they saw his teeth when he smiled; they heard his voice; they touched his body — John and his friends, people like us — they saw Jesus in person.
But John doesn’t just say here that they saw Jesus, he says they saw his glory. Now the word “glory” is one we use a lot, and remember the glory of something is its weight and wonder. It’s the beauty or the radiance of a thing. And John says he saw that of Jesus. John saw the glory of Jesus.
That’s why he is writing this book! We’re reading the account of someone who saw the glory of Jesus — and so the question is: Do you wanna see it?
Does anybody here want to see the glory of Jesus?
Because that’s what John is gonna show us ... he wants to show us what he saw.
And I’ll be straight with you, if you read the words in verse 14 — “we have seen his glory” — and they mean nothing to you, that’s a problem … You either care (or come to care) about his glory or the Gospel of John (and Christianity as a whole) will make no sense to you. So I think this is something we gotta talk about. The plan today is pretty simple: God willing, I just want to answer two questions:
What do you most need to see?
How do you see it?
Father, by your Spirit, we pray: speak to us your Son, amen.
1. What do you most need to see?
Well, what do you think the answer is? When it comes to your life right now, what do you think you most need to see?
There’s no doubt that when John writes verse 14, he’s thinking about a story from the Old Testament. Any of the first readers who knew the Hebrew Bible, would have made the connection right away — and we can make the connection too. Because that word there for “dwelt” is actually the word used for “tabernacle” in the Greek Old Testament. John is saying literally that the Word, God, became a man, and “tabernacled” among us. He “set up his tent” among us.
This by itself reminds us of the Book of Exodus, where we read that in the Old Covenant the tabernacle was the place where God’s presence dwelt with his people. But then there’s more — The word “glory” in verse 14 — that John “saw his glory” — that also alludes back to the same time in the Book of Exodus, and it reminds us of Moses’s prayer in Exodus 33. This is one of the most important moments in the whole Old Testament — we gotta turn back there. Everyone, if you can, go to Exodus Chapter 33. Hold your spot in John 1, go back to Exodus 33.
The Exodus 33 Conversation
For context, the chapter right before 33, Exodus 32, is one of the lowest moments in Israel’s history. While Moses was up on Mount Sinai receiving the law, the people were rebelling against God and worshiping a golden calf. And God told Moses about it while he was on the mountain, and God said he’s done. The people are stiff-necked — they’re hard-hearted — and God says: I’m just going to wipe them all out and make a great nation out of you, Moses.
But Moses intercedes for the people. He goes back and forth with God, begging God not to destroy the people. And God relents. God sends judgment but he doesn’t wipe ‘em all out, and he tells Moses and the people to leave Sinai and go to the Promised Land — but here’s the thing: God says I’m not going with you. You’re such a sinful people that if I were near you, I’d consume you.
And Exodus 33:4 says this was a “disastrous word.”
The people are sinful, but they’re not completely stupid — they know that without God being with them they’re cooked, so they mourn. And Moses goes back to talk with God. And you can read this whole dialogue in Exodus 33, verses 12–23, and we are supposed to read it like a dialogue. Moses talked with God like a man talks with his friend (verse 11). So we’re supposed to hear this as a conversation:
Moses says,
God, I’m in a mess. You’ve told me to lead these people but you’ve not told me who’s gonna help me. You just said you’re not coming with me. But you’ve also said that you know me and I have favor with you. So, I’m stuck here. Help me.
And God says: Okay, Moses, my presence will go with you.
And Moses says: That’s the only way I can go! You going with us is what makes all the difference.
God says: I’ll be there, because you have found favor with me and I do know you.
Then Moses says, “Please show me your glory.”
And I want everybody to see this. Look at Chapter 33, verse 18,
“Please show me your glory.”
Just five words in English.
The Crisis We’re In
But I want you to see that this simple prayer has a profound context — and the context is not comfort but chaos. Moses is not having a great day and then he wants a little glory like it’s a cherry on top. This is not a Bible-verse-on-a-coffee-mug kind of moment. But Moses wants to see God’s glory like his life depends on it — and not just his life, but the life of an entire nation depends on it; and it’s not even just about the nation, but this is about God’s reputation in the world. Moses is desperate here. He’s in an absolute crisis. That’s why he prays the way he does.
So get this: how you understand your condition will determine what you think you most need.
That makes sense, right? Your assessment of ‘how you’re doing’ will shape what you think you most need to see.
And this is where too often it goes sideways for us, because too often we get this assessment wrong.
I was at the gym the other day, and like most gyms, there’s TVs mounted up on the wall — four of them in a row. There’s a bunch of treadmills in front of them, I guess in case people wanna watch TV while they’re walking. And on these TVs, in this moment I was looking …
The first screen was a daytime talkshow with some has-been celebrity
The second screen was a news story about how they’re now saying coffee is good for you
The third screen was a news story about how outdoor activities extend your biological clock
The fourth screen was a pharmaceutical commercial — which are all the same, somebody riding a bicycle and smiling …
And everybody, like hamsters, walking and watching, and what’s the message there?
Well, what’s being sold there is going to conform to what most people consider to be their biggest need — and in a word, it’s improvement.
That’s how a lot of people understand their condition: “I need to improve.” So we look to the influencers and we listen to hours of podcasts and we keep buying the stuff — just to make ourselves a little bit better, to make things a little bit easier, to make our lives a little bit more comfortable.
And look, there’s nothing inherently wrong with wanting to improve, but what if I told you our condition is a lot worse than the need for improvement? What if I told you that we’re actually in a crisis, all of us — and it’s a crisis not unlike the one Moses was in.
We Need God
See, Moses knew that without God, it’s over. Over! Moses cannot do life without God … and we can’t either. We can’t.
Now we live in a world that sells us the lie everyday, on every screen, that we can! We’re told to think that everything we need can be found here — from ourselves, by ourselves, for ourselves. But that’s not true. We need God. You need God.
And the crisis is: Where is he?
You ever felt that crisis before?
You need someone whom you have never seen, someone you cannot find. The evidences of God are all around us, but he’s invisible. How do you know that when you pray you’re not just talking to air? Because sometimes it can feel like you’re talking to air. This is one of the reasons we have a world full of fillers, substitutes, idols. “We don’t know where he is.”
Moses knew he needed God (he knew God is real) — but he still needed the assurance from God that God would meet his need for him.
Moses is saying: I need you! How do I know I have you?
That’s why he prayed: Please show me your glory.
Show me your weight and wonder. I need to see who you are. I need to see your glory.
That is what we most need to see too. Whatever it is you’ve got going on — whatever pain you’re walking in, whatever uncertainty you’re navigating, whatever oblivion you’re scrolling through — what you think you most need to see might be wrong. Because what we all most need to see is the glory of God. We need God, and we need to know what he is like.
That’s the answer to question 1, What do we most need to see? Question 2 …
2. How do we see it?
“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.”
Look at those words at the end of verse 14: “full of grace and truth.” Grace and truth.
This again sends us back to Exodus 33, to see how God answered Moses’s prayer.
After Moses says, Please show me your glory, God says, Exodus 33:19,
“I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ …
So Moses is about to see God, except God tells him: You can’t see my face. It’s too radiant. But go here, in the cleft of the rock, in this little ditch I have for you, and wait for me there. I’ll pass by and let you see a little bit.
So Moses does that. And Exodus 33:5 says,
5 The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord.
This is God telling Moses his glory. Verse 6:
6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” …
And those words “abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” could be translated “full of grace and truth.”
Moses, that’s my glory, God says. I’m kind and merciful, and I always do what I say. I’m faithful. I am the God full of grace and truth. I’m telling you who I am …
That’s in the old covenant. But then, in the new covenant, when the Word became flesh — God himself in skin and bones, God the Son sent from God the Father — then God was showing us his glory. John saw it. He saw the glory of Jesus, full of grace and truth.
Look at Jesus Christ
All of the steadfast love of God, all of his faithfulness, all of his mercy and righteousness, his grace and truth — who God is for us — was manifest in Jesus. Verse 18 tells us that the God who cannot be seen was seen in Jesus. Jesus has made God known.
Look, you need God, but where is he?
You need to see his glory. You need to know what he is like, but how?
How do you see the glory of God?
You need God—where can he be?
You need his glory for eyes to see.
You long to know what he is like:
simply look at Jesus Christ.
All of who God is for us is made known in Jesus, and all of who Jesus is makes God known.
To see Jesus is to see God. And John has seen him. He wants to show us. So we’re for this. Our greatest need is met in Jesus.
Is He Really?
My favorite theological book on the incarnation is by a Scottish theologian named T. F. Torrance. Torrance served as a chaplain for the British army in World War II (Alister McGrath, his biographer, tells this story; Glen Scrivener does too). Torrance had a powerful experience on the battlefield that changed his life.
Torrance had received great theological training, his doctrinal ducks were in a row, and for most of his time as a chaplain, he could keep studying. He brought books with him everywhere he went. But there was one incident, October 17, 1944 — Torrance wrote about … His battalion was in Italy, and the Nazi army had strong defenses in this one city in the mountains, so the Allied Forces decided to launch a night attack.
Torrance, as a chaplain, had to carry a stretcher to go and find the wounded, and he was under fire most of the night, and then at dawn, just as the sun started to rise, he came across a young man, 19 years old, who had been shot during the night and was bleeding out. Torrance knew he was minutes away from death. He recounts this moment. He writes:
As I knelt down and bent over him, he [looked at me and] said: “Padre, is God really like Jesus Christ?”
Isn’t that an amazing question? The dying solider understood the crisis. He knew what he most needed to see. Is God really like Jesus?
And Torrance said,
“The only God there is, is the God who has come to us in Jesus. He has shown his face to us and poured out his love for us as our Savior.”
Do you believe that this morning?
Christian, do you know that’s true?
Maybe you would say, Yeah, I know that. I’ve looked to Jesus. I’m saved. But now I’ve got other things. I’ve got bills … broken relationships … besetting sins — boredom.
But see, this is where I want to say: looking to Jesus is not a one-time thing. We don’t just look to Jesus once and then its crisis averted. But we look and keep looking, because the real crisis behind every trial we walk through for the rest of our lives is to know and remember what God is like. That’s the question you’re asking in your pain, your confusion, your apathy — “God, what are you really like?”
Look to Jesus. Look to Jesus. Look to Jesus.
This is why we want to be a church that remembers the realness of Jesus in all of life.
My prayer this year is that we see Jesus afresh through the Gospel of John. I want us to refocus everything about our lives on him — I want us to see him and know him and love him more than anything else.
That’s what brings us to the Table.
The Table
One of the things that will be clear in the Gospel of John is where we see the glory of Jesus most vividly. If Jesus makes known the grace and truth of God, is there a highest point of that revelation? Yes, it’s the cross.
We see the glory of Jesus clearest when he is glorified, and Jesus being glorified in the Gospel of John is when he was lifted up on the cross. The glory of God made known in Jesus Christ is seen supremely in his death and resurrection — a God who stoops and serves and suffers for those he loves. Bleeding, arms stretched wide in sacrifice for us — that is our God. And that’s what we remember at this Table.
The bread and cup represent the broken body and shed blood of Jesus, and so today, when we hold the bread and cup, think Glory! This is what God is like. This is what grace and truth means.
And that’s why this Table is just for Christians. If you’re here this morning and you’re not a Christian, I’m glad you’re with us, and I’d love to talk with you and I would not embarrass you for anything in the world. I know what it’s like to be where you are, so after the service, I’m gonna stand right here and just be available. Come talk to me.
Now, if you trust in Jesus, if you’ve seen his glory and you believe in him, let’s eat and drink together.
