The Word Made Flesh

In John 1:14, the blessed Lord Jesus is spoken of as the "Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us... full of grace and truth." The Apostle writing these words with his heart taken up in worship and thanksgiving says, "We beheld His glory." He did not mean with his physical eyes; he meant that by faith he had beheld the loveliness of that Man now at God's right hand. It was the expression not only of what God looked for in man, but the presentation to us of God in all the grace of His heart. God in all the righteousness of His nature, His holiness and His truth is made known to us in this blessed One. It all comes to us by revelation, God acting in the power of the Spirit of God. Only God Himself can give us to know this, but it is the cherished treasure of the souls of the saints collectively. It is the knowledge of this which makes for true godliness in us.
It is wonderful that God Himself should take this place of a man in His own world, and come as a lowly Stranger "manifest in the flesh." Elsewhere we are told more fully that Christ came "in the likeness of sinful flesh," known only to those whose eyes could see divinely. "His visage was so marred," yet He "is over all, God blessed forever.”
We find in succeeding verses that the Spirit of God presents these different pictures of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that we can dwell on Him personally for adoration and praise.