We have Seen His Glory

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
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14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) 16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

Many Christians have sung praise to Jesus for his beauty in these words by Joseph A. Seiss: “Beautiful Savior! King of creation! Son of God and Son of Man! Truly I’d love thee, truly I’d serve thee, Light of my soul, my joy, my crown.”

Jesus is the King of creation. He was present at the beginning of time, and he now rules over all things. And when Jesus came to live among us, to die for our sin, and to rise again in victory over death, we saw his beauty and his glory. We saw the beauty and glory of God revealed to us in Jesus.

The gospel of John begins by telling us about “the Word,” which is how John describes Jesus. “The Word became flesh,” says John—and this means that we can know the glory and beauty of God because we know Jesus, who became human like us.

John states that “no one has ever seen God.” But John also explains that God’s perfect beauty doesn’t have to be just a distant concept or an unreachable mystery to us. In Jesus, God offers us his beauty. In Jesus, we are invited into the beauty of God forever. We can respond just as the hymn says, by promising to our beautiful Savior that we will truly love him and truly serve him.

“Beautiful Savior! Lord of the nations! Son of God and Son of Man! Glory and honor, praise, adoration, now and forevermore be thine!”

Jesus, our Savior, Word-made-flesh, hear our thanks, we pray, and receive our praise. Amen.