What Christ the Lord is really like in knowledge, power, love, generosity, majesty and glory. How He compares with the greatest human beings, and how we may come to experience His friendly and powerful involvement in our lives.
And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
And our subject is very simply ‘seeing Christ’, to see Christ Jesus. Oh, that we would come to see Christ Jesus with real sight in the time to come. Well, this is about the glory of Jesus Christ. ‘And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we, the disciples, the apostles, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.’ Glory. What does the word mean? His glory. Well, it refers broadly, it isn’t the meaning of the Greek, but it refers broadly to Christ’s worth, his honour, his dignity.
It is actually a difficult word to translate. When spoken of Christ, it means something like this. His reality, his appearance, meaning implying his worth. You could look at him, and when he lived on earth, he was the eternal second person of the Godhead, and he became incarnate, entered into time, into a human body and personality. But when he was on earth, you could look at him, and it is quite likely, quite possible, that you would see in him nothing remarkable. You would see a man who wore simple garments. He had been brought up as a carpenter.
Of course, when you heard him speak and preach, you would soon be saying, as they did, never a man spake like this man. Why, his words were amazing and remarkable. There has never been any orator in the world equal with our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. And not only was his manner remarkable, but his words were so profound. We have the record of them. Nobody ever spoke so simply and yet so profoundly at the same time. Remarkable words. But to look at him in appearance, you might not have been impressed at all.