14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John testified concerning him and exclaimed, “This was the one of whom I said, ‘The one coming after me ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’”) 16 Indeed, we have all received grace upon grace from his fullness, 17 for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side—he has revealed him.
Glory.
This simple word has become so dense with meaning and difficult for me to try to explain in recent years. A person’s glory is the honor due them because of who they are. It is their fame, their reputation, renown, splendor, and magnificence. It is the weightiness of a person’s presence. When you find yourself in the presence of someone of extreme importance, of extraordinary fame, someone held in high regard, the awe that is felt… the weightiness you experience, that is their glory.
The identity of God carries with it the fullness of glory. All the awe. All the fame. All the splendor. All the renown. Everything that is due God is wrapped up in his glory.
And the Word of God became flesh and dwelt with us, revealing the glory of God.
Yet when many looked upon him, all they saw was a man.
The Word “dwelt” comes from a word that is directly related to the tabernacle in the Old Testament. It is to stay in a tent, a temporary place of residence. The Word tabernacled among us. As with the tabernacle, the fullness of God will all His glory was hidden away within a temporary residence.
(It is worth mentioning for those whose heresy radars just went off, that Jesus’ resurrected body reveals the fullness of his glory; that is to say, the ‘temporary’ nature of this glory-containing tabernacling is not that he needed to shed the body as the Gnostics would have believed, but rather that the un-resurrected nature of His body during his sojourn between nativity and resurrection is the temporary moment of glory containment. That is to say, I believe with the orthodox tradition of the Church, that though the Son of God was unembodied prior to the nativity, he became embodied and is still embodied today in resurrected power.)
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The weightiness of the fullness of the presence of God is found in the tabernacling of the Word of God made man. Though it seems to be hidden, it is revealed through two very key realities: Grace and Truth. These themes will be unpacked more throughout the entirety of the book of John.
God’s glory is the fullness of grace and the fullness of truth. Let us practice resurrection in our lives as we experience more of God’s grace and truth, experiencing His glory.
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