Letters to the Family of God

Dear friends.

John chapter one says Jesus Christ, the Word, who became flesh tabernacled among us. It is in verse 14 that John uses that unique word. He does not say Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became human and dwelled among us, as most English translations say. Rather, it says the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.

John was saying Jesus is the Tabernacle. Jesus is the bridge between heaven and earth. Jesus is the final sacrifice for all of our sins. Jesus is the reason why we can be received into God’s heaven. Jesus is the reason why we are perfectly acceptable before God. Jesus is the New Temple where we meet God.

By the time Jesus came to earth, the temple was more often than not like a theater where the religious put on heirs. Whether it was their pride or insecurity, it was in essence the two sides of the same self-centered coin. Both were driven by comparison, fear, shame, control, and panic or pride over performance.

However, the Gospel says the only place to go is to Jesus. He is the one who truly knows what you're like in every way and still gives more grace and still invites you to draw near to Him because He wants to draw near to you.

Consequently, here's how you can know that no matter what you do, God will not forsake you. Even though your parents might forsake you, your friends might forsake you. Your spouse might forsake you. God will not forsake you because on the cross, Jesus Christ said, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It is there, on the cross, Jesus was standing (hanging) in your place. Jesus was taking the forsakenness we deserve. Therefore, if you believe in God through Jesus Christ, you can know that no matter what you do, God will open Himself up to you. God will receive you. God will not forsake you. God will care for you, help you, love you.

Tim Keller once said, if you want to see the beauty of God, you will need to look way beyond the abstract. If we are going to think about the beauty of God, look at Jesus Christ, the eternally beautiful One who came from heaven to earth and emptied Himself of His glory.

As Isaiah said, He had no beauty with which we should desire Him. Why? The eternally beautiful One became beaten to a pulp, having His beauty taken from Him so we could be holy, blameless, and beautiful in God's sight—which is true beauty.

He came to dwell among us, knowing He was our only hope in life and death. His attraction to us was His love for us. Humans look for something lovely about a person to love them. Christ creates what is lovely by becoming flesh, dwelling among us, and dying for us. Nothing like this anywhere.