Last time John dropped one of the most profound truths in all of Christianity: the glorious infinite God Who always WAS came to earth. He took on finite human flesh and camped out among us. Emmanuel, God WITH us. And John is saying, I had a front row seat. I saw it all - hung out with Him, touched Him. We saw His glory.
[14] And so as John is reflecting on the breathtaking goodness he beheld, the glory of the Father on display in Jesus, he describes this glory he saw as, full of grace and truth. That’s what you see when you get a full frontal look at Jesus. God’s glory is full of grace AND truth.
Grace: we’re talking unconditional love, come-just-as-you-are-warts-and-all acceptance, compassion, mercy. Grace means we get what we don’t deserve, could never deserve. And it doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done. It doesn’t matter where you’ve been. FULL of grace. We saw His glory, glory enough to floor ya, to bring you to your knees in awe and wonder - but you could still approach. Because that’s what you get with Jesus. Often times, important people can be intimidating. You might be hesitant to talk to them. But not Jesus. He says, c’mere. C’mon over. Over and over: "Come to Me..." AND He has even made the first move. HE has come to US. And whoever receives Him hits the motherlode jackpot of grace. Come just as you are. Grace: He's so full of it!
AND full of truth. Truth that says, I love you so much I came all the way to you, I love you just as you are, BUT I love you too much to let you stay that way. Truth tells me what’s right, AND what’s not right. Truth points out the stuff the Lord wants to cut out of my life. The messiness and the brokenness that hurts others AND hurts me.
Grace AND truth. It’s love that loves us too much to let us stay in the pigpen. Let Me help you out of that. In fact, let Me help you cast off these old filthy rags, and dress you in a white robe of My righteousness. Let Me take out your old selfish unbelieving heart, and put Mine in its place. This might hurt a little bit… Heart transplants are like that. It might take a while for that new heart to get up to full speed. But it’ll be worth it - cuz we’re going for glory. [2Cor. 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.]. God’s glory on display - in me!!?? Not to notice me. To notice Christ in me. [Gal 2.20]. FoG&T.
THIS is why Jesus is THE God•send. Cuz we desperately need grace AND truth, and He’s full of it. And what do we get with the world (that does not know Him)? [Rom. 1:25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator…]. The world prefers the lie. About God. About life. Most places in the world, you can’t trust your neighbor cuz everybody lies. The world lies to get ahead. The world lies to get what they want. You don’t get truth. AND you don’t get grace. The default position of the world is works. You get what you deserve, what you've earned (altho maybe not even that?). But, "Survival of the fittest"? That’s works. Getting what you deserve. And when it comes to the most important issue in life - where I will spend eternity - the world gets it SO wrong. The world - assuming you get what you deserve - tries to earn its way into eternal life. Every religion in the world (except for one: true Christianity). Working your way into heaven. The problem is, heaven is a perfect place, and you and I have to be perfect to get in. And no matter how hard we try, we will never work our way into perfection. The truth is, we all need grace.
We saw His glory, we noticed - and He was FULL of grace and truth. How full of grace is Jesus? [16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.] Literally, grace against grace. It means, when one supply of grace is exhausted, another is readily available. It is inexhaustible. We will never run out of grace in Jesus. God’s fullness supplies all we need, and then some. Enough for sharing. He’s so full of it! We saw it - abounding, amazing everlasting love in the flesh, with skin on: we saw -> and we received. WE understood the truth about Him, and we believed in Him, John says. The Word of glory, so full of it - we received Him, and now we’re sharing Him with you. And if you’ve believed in Jesus, you’ve received fullness of grace and truth as well. Of His fullness we’ve all received, John says. If you’ve received Jesus, if you’ve believed in Him, trusted in Him as your Savior, you received of His fullness. [2Pet. 1:3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.] Grace upon grace. Everything that we need. [Phil. 4:19 And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.] Grace. Glory. Inexhaustible breathtaking goodness that we could never ever deserve. That’s what we behold in Jesus, and that’s what we receive when we receive Him.
One thing we don’t receive is a bunch of do’s and don’ts. [17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came to be through Jesus Christ.] The law gives us a bunch of do’s and don’ts. But it doesn’t give us grace, nor does it give us the whole truth. It says do this, that, and the 630+ other things. But the fine print is, we are on our own, and oh by the way, we’re doomed to fall short. We’ll never be able to keep all of it. We will never be able to make ourselves perfect enough to be accepted by a holy God. At which point the law gives us what we deserve - just punishment. But the real point of the law is to point us to Jesus. (First mention of Jesus right here in this verse, btw!) And He is the only Source of grace and truth. Law says, I need to do in order to be blessed. Grace says, I can do because I am blessed, I have been blessed in Christ, by Christ. Full of it!
Grace and truth came to be through Jesus. It’s not that the Law was not true - but it was only part of the truth. AND there was no grace. But when Jesus came, when the Word became flesh and showed up in our midst, we finally saw the grace and the truth we so desperately needed. FULL of bottomless grace and truth. Free refills for everyone!
We beheld Him. Jesus. [18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.] God the Father - no one has ever seen Him, John says. He’s invisible [Col. 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God] Not simply image-BEARERS, like Adam/Eve and all their descendants. But Jesus, the begotten God, now in flesh appearing, is as close to the heart of God as you can get - He exegetes God. Jesus “explains" the Father in a way that helps us understand Him better. [He WAS, WITH God, IS God, the exact same essence]. Again, no mistaking what John is telling us here. [John 14:7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.”] You know Him - IF you know Me. [Phil. 3:8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord,]. Do you know Him yet? This is the goal of all of life…
John says, Jesus was in the world, but the world did not know Him. Even the so-called chosen people, His own didn’t receive Him. But as many as receive Him, to them He gives the right to become children of God. If you haven’t yet received Him, why wait? What is holding you back? Why would you NOT want to receive this One Who offers this inexhaustible supply of grace and truth. So full of IT. In our dog-eat-dog world, you mostly don’t get those. You get lies. Half-truths. Deception. You don’t get grace. You get three strikes and you’re out (and maybe not even three? You get try harder. You get the prospect of a cotton candy existence that promises satisfaction but will never ever fill the hole in your heart. Come to Me, He says. Will you receive Him today?
