Remember Malachi’s prophecy, in which a special messenger would prepare for God’s coming. Similarly, Isaiah predicted preparation for the Lord (YHWH, Isaiah40:3 cf. John 1:23). While Isaiah often confirmed the bedrock truth that there is only one God, he also foresaw the birth of the baby who is God (Isaiah 7:14; 9:6). Now, those prophecies came true. John the apostle began to tell the Good News in this way:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made…. 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…. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, He has made Him known. (John 1:1-3, 14, 18)
“HE HAS MADE HIM KNOWN.”
Thus, the eternal, the timeless, the unlimited God entered into the limited dimensions He invented: time and space. He took on flesh as the human, Jesus. He who is above the earth came down to earth. He who supervised earth’s history became part of that history. Why? To make Himself known to us.
[Jesus said,] “Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9)
He is the image of the invisible God. (Colossians 1:15)
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature. (Hebrews 1:3)
In the Old Testament, God had emphasized that there is only one God, only one Savior (Isaiah 43:11; 45:21). No one else can possibly compare. Therefore, the only one who can represent God properly is God Himself, living among us. As the only Savior, God could not delegate to another the task of rescuing us. Therefore, He came Himself to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). “From His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:16).
Much of the rest of history, then, becomes the story of our reaction to His visit, our response to His grace, our treatment of His truth.