The One True Light Day 24: The one and only Son

“The one and only Son …
has made him known.” John 1 v 18

Have you ever wished you could see God? That’s what Philip wanted. In John 14 v 8 this disciple of Jesus says,“Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us”. Perhaps you share Philip’s feelings. Seeing God would make all the difference. You would have so much more confidence in the truth, so much more commitment to obedience. Or perhaps you’ve met people like Philip, who say to you, “Show us God. Give us some evidence.You talk about God. Well, show me your God.”

This is how Jesus replies: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (v 9).

To see Jesus is to see God the Father.When we introduce people to Jesus, we are introducing them to God. “The one and only Son ... has made him known.”

In Colossians 1 v 15, Paul says, “The Son is the image of the invisible God”. Jesus is the image of God. Jesus makes visible the God who is invisible. Jesus images God. He is a living photograph of God.

The writer of Hebrews says he is “the exact representation of his being” (1 v 3). Jesus exactly represents God. Think of Jesus as God’s self-portrait. If a great artist paints a self-portrait, then you might say, “It reflects his likeness and captures his personality”. God is the greatest artist. His self-portrait in Jesus perfectly reflects his likeness and exactly captures his personality. Indeed so exactly does Jesus image God that Jesus is God. There is no difference between them except that Jesus is the image and the Father is the imaged.

Jesus exactly represents God. Think of Jesus as God’s self-portrait.

What have we seen of Jesus in these opening verses of John’s Gospel? We have seen, as it were, various pieces of the portrait. Now, as we finish, we need to pause, step back, and appreciate what the whole picture looks like.

• Jesus is the true Adam, who has come to recreate our humanity.
• Jesus is the true God, the uncreated Creator God.
• Jesus is the Word, through whom we hear the voice of God.
• Jesus is the Word, through whom God created the world and through whom God is recreating the world.
• Jesus is the One who has been given life in himself so he can give life to his people.
• Jesus is the true light, who enlightens our minds and lights up our lives.
• Jesus is the point at which heaven and earth intersect.
• Jesus is God-in-the-flesh: deity squeezed into human form.
• Jesus is divine wisdom, love, holiness, justice, truth in human form.
• Jesus is God among us, God’s address on earth.
• Jesus is the glory of God, the embodiment of all his perfections.
• Jesus is God’s native language, the Word we encounter in the Bible.
• Jesus is the way home to God.
• Jesus is the King who cares for us, the Bread who satisfies us and the Light who guides us.
• Jesus is the radiance of God, whose glory transforms us as we gaze upon him.
• Jesus is the Son of God, in whom we experience the love of the Father.
• Jesus is the altogether lovely One who brings us into the loving arms of his Father.

We have seen that Jesus is the eternal Son of God—he was with God and was God. And, because Jesus is God, he perfectly reveals God the Father.And at the instigation of the Father,Jesus has come as the world’s Creator to be the beginning of the recreation of the world. Just as God gave life to the physical creation, so God now through Jesus brings life to those who are spiritually dead. God is rewriting the story of this world through Jesus.And he can rewrite our life stories, too.

We have seen, too, that Jesus connects earth and heaven. He is the bridge between God and humanity.Through Jesus we are introduced to the Father. We look at God and see not simply a terrifying Judge, but a loving Father. Indeed, we are loved with the same love that the Father has for his Son.We are born anew as God’s children.

We have seen that in Jesus God has come to live among us.And God’s presence among us in Jesus means we experience glory— radiant, transforming glory. We see divine perfections. We receive divine love. For a few moments, slowly read through the last two pages, from the first “Jesus is...” As you’re led to, pause and praise the God who has made himself known in his Son.Write down which of these truths has captured your heart as we have looked at John 1. Reflect on which of these truths is changing your life. Enjoy identifying how this Christmas will be more meaningful and more joyful for you because, in the middle of everything else that is going on, you have gazed at the One in the manger—the one and only Son.

Meditate

The one and only Son ... has made him known.

Good Christian men, rejoice
With heart and soul and voice!
Now ye need not fear the grave:
Peace! Peace!
Jesus Christ was born to save.
Calls you one and calls you all,
To gain his everlasting hall;
Christ was born to save!
Christ was born to save!
(Good Christian Men, Rejoice)

Prayer

Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessèd, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, thy great Name we praise ...
All laud we would render; O help us to see
Tis only the splendour of light hideth thee,
And so let thy glory, Almighty, impart,
Through Christ in his story, thy Christ to the heart.
(Walter Chalmers Smith, 1824-1908)