The prologue of John’s Gospel is one of the most beautiful statements on the Person and work of the Lord Jesus in the entire Bible. Indeed, there may be no more theologically significant statement in all of Scripture than, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” (vs. 14). John takes us into Trinitarian depths just far enough for us to know that we will never fully comprehend the entire mystery of the Godhead. And yet, God has spoken to us in intelligible language that we might comprehend, if only in part, the depths of our inscrutable Maker and Redeemer.

There is no mystery so deep as the incarnation. That God, in the Person of the eternal Son, took on flesh and became a man without, in anyway whatsoever, laying aside his deity, is truth upon which our salvation rests entirely. There is no more profound act of God’s self-revelation than the incarnation in which he became one of us. Herman Bavinck, the great 19th century Reformed theologian, wrote that “the incarnation is the central fact in special revelation, that fact that sheds light upon its whole domain.”

The Nicene Creed summarizes the biblical witness that Jesus is “begotten of the Father before all worlds: God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things are made.” There has never been a time when the Son was not. So, the Father has never been without the Son. In the Son incarnate, God reveals himself to humankind in a way in which he can be seen and comprehended. The forgiveness of sins depends entirely upon this stunning act of self-humiliation. The Son is “the true light which gives light to everyone” (vs. 9).