Maria Merian (1647-1717)

The beauty of Christmas is that we get to visit a lowly manger with not much comfort for the couple who are there and see a baby who is said to be the Son of God being carried by his young mother and watch the glory in that scene. This is as glorious as it gets. It really is. And if you can’t see how glorious this is, you are missing it. Think about it. Christ,

“Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” Philippians 2:7

Yes, the beauty of the incarnation of Christ is that He could be born in the most humble place and still retain His deity. He didn’t have to prove a thing. He was glorious anywhere. Today, we see that Christ’s fullness is glorious. John 1:16 tells us:

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father…

Indeed, Christ came in all His glory. Full of glory. Glory that only God has. No one else can match it. No one else can compare it. This glory that Jesus has is only a glory that can be had by God. God Himself was showing the fullness of His glory in Jesus Christ. In times past, God had temporarily revealed Himself partially to His people. In the past, Moses had seen God’s glory pass (Exodus 33:22-23). In the past, the people of Israel had seen God’s glory after they complained about being in the wilderness (Exodus 14:10). But now, God’s full glory had arrived in Jesus Christ.

Do you see His glory? Has the glory of Christ’s incarnation been fogged up by things? Does His glory weigh on you? Today, you can behold God’s glory. Just like the shepherds saw His glory the night Christ was born, you can see it too. You can look at Christ and see His uniqueness that no other human being has had or will ever have. Christ, the only Son from the Father is letting us see the fullness of His glory. If you see His fullness, you will see that Christ is full of glory, and with the angels on that one night, ascribe glory to God, singing,

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased.” (Luke 2:14)

Pray with me:

God, I give you glory as I acknowledge your Son full of glory. You are full of glory. And, we get to behold you in Christ. Although we may not comprehend your glory or understand your ways fully because of our finiteness, we know that Christ came full of glory, glory that only you have, God. Today, we remember your the north of Jesus and behold His glory, as we are amazed that you would reveal it to us. Thank you Father for your Son, full of glory!”

As we continue to remember Christ’s birth, we are filled with joy that God so loved us that He gave His only Son for us. So many implications come from that. There is freedom, deliverance, joy, peace, hope! We could write thousands of blog posts, articles, books about what Christ’s birth has brought us and what it all means, but one thing I always remember is that when Christ came, He came full of grace and truth. Grace and truth. What a paradox, we might say. This is a contradiction, others may say. How can it be that there can be truth but at the same time grace? How can I be corrected (truth) of some fault but at the same time with love and be granted forgiveness (grace)? Christ is our best example of how this happens. John 1:14 tells us,

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.

The law of God had come. The truth of God had been in effect for a while now. God had spoken through His prophet Moses and had revealed His character to His people. There was a standard that God expected from His people. Time and time again, Israel had failed and rebelled against God’s truth, His law. When Jesus was born, He came full of truth, but also full of grace. Christ’s coming and arrival was full of grace. God in the flesh, clothing His deity with humanity was an act of grace. Christ was full of grace. He was grace personified. He was God’s Word of grace to people like you and me. John 1:16 says,

For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

The “riches of His grace” that Paul talks about in Ephesians has come! It was God’s plan to show us the super-abundance of His grace. He lavished it upon us. He gave us enough grace and gave us some more on top of that. But, before we think that this grace is something abstract and something out there in the sky, let’s remember that this grace is Christ Himself. After all, what other grace would we want more than Christ Himself being poured out for us, in us, and working through us?! Yes, God has called us by His grace, saved us by His grace, and is sanctifying us by His grace. This grace is Jesus Christ!

So, when something irks you this Christmas season, when something bothers you, remember God’s Word of grace to you. He has given us (because we have “all received”) grace upon grace.  There is no need to perform perfection in this season. There is grace at the Christmas family dinner. There is grace when opening presents. There is grace when expectations for this year have not been met. There is grace! Christ is here and He is full of grace! May we remember that God dishes out grace upon grace this Christmas. Christ is God’s grace for us.

Pray with me:

“God, thank you for your truth. Thank you for revealing your holiness, perfection, and righteousness through your Son, Jesus. When we have sinned against you, we look at the Truth you gave us and recognize that we have sinned. At the same time, when we have offended your holiness, we look at that same Truth and see that it is full of Grace. Today, remind us that you have lavished your grace upon us and let us swim in it. We have received it. We have received Christ. Thank you Father, for grace personified who was Jesus in the flesh. You so loved us that you gave us grace upon grace. Christ, you have filled us. Amen.”

As children who have disobeyed their own parents, we sometimes are when we disobey God. I remember the shame, embarrassment, and sometimes fear that I felt when I was a kid and had done something that my parents did not approve of. Sure, I knew my parents loved me and would not disown me, but there was this hiding from them and not wanting to broach the subject of my disobedience. I remember one time I had disobeyed them and they did not know it yet. There was this guilt inside of me that prompted me to even tell them outright that I had disobeyed them because the weight of guilt was so strong. I would hide from them when I got home, sneak into my room without trying to talk with them, and go on as if I had not done anything wrong. As children who have disobeyed their own parents, we sometimes are when we disobey God.

The good news of the gospel is that what Jesus’ incarnation does, what Jesus’ arrival as a baby does, what Jesus’ coming as God in the flesh does, what Jesus’ being born of a virgin does… is that it gives us accessibility to Him. John Piper writes:

“…This word became flesh and so was one of us and was pursuing us with his fullness – so it is an accessible fullness.”

When John, the gospel writer, writes in John 1:16 that, “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace,” he means to also imply that because Christ came into this world and lived among us, He became an accessible God. Yesterday, we established the fact that Jesus, the Word, is God. John 1:1 tells us He was in the beginning with God and that He is God. John 1:14 tells us that, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” Yes, God dwelt among us. God, in Jesus, lived among us.

God made himself accessible to His creation by being born as a human. We can go into the how of that great event or we can receive God’s word as truth and stand in awe of Christ’s incarnation. Let’s choose the latter today. God made himself accessible to us when he became like us. Without ever sinning, we have One that knows every temptation that we will ever go through and He sympathizes with our weaknesses. This is why God is accessible. He knows and sympathizes. Christ with all his fullness is here for you. That is what the birth of Christ gives us: accessibility to His fullness!

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” -Hebrews 4:15-16

Pray with me:

God, I recognize my sinfulness as a limited, finite creature. But, with this recognition, I also believe that you made yourself accessible through the incarnation. You entered our finite realm, stooped to our world and pursued us. What accessibility. We saw your glory. We see it even now. Glimpses of your glory full of grace and truth. Now, we can come close to you because you came close to us. We don’t shy away from you because of our sin. Recognizing that we have sinned against you, we come with a confidence that only your incarnation could afford and we receive mercy and grace. Lord, thank you for your grace in time of need. I have received grace upon grace upon grace. Thank you for making yourself accessible to us. Amen”

“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. (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.’”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” -John 1:14-16

Have you ever felt the weight of something intangible on you shoulders? It is as if you are carrying something, but in reality you are not. Maybe you just learned of some bad news or got a lot of work put in front of you and now you feel this mental weight on top of you. That is how I can describe verse 16… “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” Of course, this fullness is something positive. This is not bad news you’ve received or a load of work you just got. No, this is good news… very good news.

As you meditate on this verse, be honest with yourself and ask yourself if you have felt (really felt) his fullness… Christ’s fullness. I sometimes read a passage of Scripture or a Bible verse that makes me grunt. It is so good that I feel it down deep and have to shake my head and stop to think about the tremendous weight of truth I just read. That is the result of experiencing some aspect of Christ’s fullness.

For the next few blog posts, my aim is to write about Christ’s fullness. I pray that Christ’s fullness may be weighty on you and come over you often, if not all the time. Why does something that we cannot see weigh us down, makes us stop what we are doing and affects us in such a way that brings praise to God from our hearts? John Piper in his book, The Dawning of Indestructible Joy, lets us know that this is so because:

“…The one from whose fullness I am being drenched with grace is the Word that was with God and was God, so that his fullness is the fullness of God – a divine fullness, an infinite fullness.“

The reason why this fullness affects us so much is because his fullness is God Himself coming into our daily life. Think about that for a second. The first 2 verses of John tell us that this Word was in the beginning… that this Word was with God… that this Word was God. And, we all know that this is Christ who John is talking about. So, when we receive Christ’s fullness, we are actually receiving a fullness that is divine, infinite, unsearchable, too much to comprehend, and far greater than anything else that we may experience. This fullness of Christ, because it is a divine fullness, makes you stop your ill-intentioned work, as good as that work may be, and lets you sigh with relief that you don’t have to be perfect because his fullness fills it all. His fullness makes you at ease and you can be yourself, as real as you are, knowing that your weakness and insufficiencies will be filled with Christ’s fullness. Why is Christ’s fullness powerful enough and sufficient for us? Because it is divine. Because it is God’s fullness. Yes, Christ is God’s fullness. In Christ, the whole fullness of God dwells (Colossians 2:9).

So, today, in this Christmas season, are you filled? You may have a long list of tasks you need to get done or a conflict you must resolve with someone before the New Year. But, are you filled with Christ’s fullness? Is Christ’s fullness… is this divine fullness filling you up? If you are being filled with this divine fullness, you will be able to deal with any challenge that may come your way today.

Be filled with Christ’s fullness. It is divine, infinite, and powerful… and fills all. Rest well on the fact that because you have Christ, you have God Himself. Grace upon grace.

Pray this with me:

“God, I am in awe of you because, through Christ, you fill all. Christ wrapped in human flesh and now glorified fills all. What grace I have received. Today, I don’t have to be perfect. I don’t have to do certain things to get a sense of accomplishment. No. Today, fill me with your divine fullness. Let me do whatever I have to do today in light of your divine fullness. Thank you that I can experience your fullness right now. Let me live filled up. I don’t need anything else. You, Christ, fill all.”

The season to rejoice and remember with more intentionality (as we should every season) the incarnation of Christ is here. My wife and I make it a goal to read an Advent devotional in this season to focus our minds on the true meaning of Christmas. With all the shopping, traffic, decisions on gifts, etc., it is always a good thing to have our minds and hearts filled with God’s peace, joy, and love that the Christmas season is all about. Christ is our peace, love and joy.

Having said that, we always tend to get behind on our reading and have to play catch-up every few days. It always happens. Recognizing our failure to take a moment and pause everything, we end up taking up whatever book we are reading together, and pick up where we left off. This year, we decided to read John Piper’s daily readings for advent, “The Dawning of Indestructible Joy.” 1-2 page reminders of Christ’s incarnation and his purpose for it has always set our hearts in the right direction. After each reading, my wife and I talk for a few minutes about what our minds were stirred up to think and we pray for us to be changed by God’s word.

The purpose of this 4 part blog series is to relate some of the highlights that I am learning in our Advent devotional readings so that you may also have a chance to meditate for a few minutes about God’s love towards us in sending us His son.

So, I invite you to join me in these next few days, as we play catch-up in our devotional reading and reflect on the true meaning of Christmas: the God man, Jesus, being born of a woman to redeem His people by His life, death, and resurrection and save them from their sins.

We’ll start tomorrow. I hope you join me.

“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.” -John 1:14-16