Now for that verse again:
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14
A fellow Bible translator wrote to me yesterday in response to my Bible Gem on John 1:14 and wrote,
“I think about the split second of the downsizing of our Lord. Before that moment, Jesus had total power and knew what was happening on every inch of every star and planet. Then at that second, his home changed from all of creation to one of the smallest imaginable homes – an egg inside the womb of a woman.”
Robin Farnsworth
Wow cool thought Robin. I have now retweeted you around the world. Such is the power of the Internet. But phooey on the power of the Internet; the power of God is IMMENSE in comparison.
“Dwelt among us” is a deep, highly significant word. Some versions have “tabernacled” among us. In the MSG Eugene Peterson translated it “moved into the neighbourhood”. I think if I wrote an English version of the Scriptures, the Ian Vail Version (IVV) would read “pitched His tent among us”. This word is taken out of the tradition of the Feast of Tabernacles from the Old Testament and is the one used for them “tabernacling in the fields”. They built their lean to, their bivy, their pondok in the fields to celebrate the Lord’s provision. Wow, what about the provision of His Son. The Son of God, the Son of Man come to earth. He dwelt among us. Why? So that we might see His glory. So that we might have Him near. He is the God Who came near. Who came to show Himself.
It makes me think of when Tania and I were home in New Zealand and Riss and Josh’s house was too crowded for us to spread out on the lounge floor, especially so for a whole month. So we hired a caravan and made that our bedroom for the duration. Jaeden and Vaeh were so excited. (The grandkids – for those of you who don’t really know us yet. You can see photos on Facebook. Kyla had not been born at that stage) They were busting themselves to come out in the mornings and bring story books and lie in bed with Gran and Poppa and snuggle. We were in the neighbourhood. We had pitched our “tent” in their front yard. Wow the excitement. Transfer that excitement to human kind in response to God coming close. We ought to be ecstatic but John said some of his creatures rejected him.
I used to think the significance of this verse was in the temporariness of the coming. Like the temporary dwellings in the fields during the Feast of Tabernacles. No! The significance and the excitement is in the availability of Creator God among us. Sensational ! The Creator God came close and moved into our neighbourhood. But there is more to this verse. Ahh tomorrow lah. And the next day and the next day. No I won’t handle the grace and truth element this time around. I will be on this verse for a week if I did that. That’s all for today folks.
[Editors Note: These Bible Gems are live as I write them. So what comes to mind is what I share. I will do a first today when I preach at JPCC 4th and 5th services – I will Retweet a sermon. I will preach on what I have been sharing in the Gems. I have been thinking I should make a website and post all sorts of stuff on it, like articles I write, sermon CDs etc. Dunno, will think about that one.]That aforementioned website it what you see before you now. It has been a long time coming and a mammoth effort but the fruit of the efforts of many people is what you are looking at now.
Our days are happier when we give people a bit of our heart rather than a piece of our mind.
Ian Vail