38. December 28.
Lord, let thy grace and truth
shine into our soul. Amen.
John 1, 14-18. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
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The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us; that is, the Son of God became man and lived, like one of us, here on earth. His divine nature assumed the human nature and was united with it in one person, without any commixture or transmutation of the natures. It is the Son of God, the true God, that is born of the Virgin Mary. It is the only begotten Son of God that grows to man’s estate in Nazareth, is baptized in the Jordan, goes about teaching and healing, is hated, and suffers, and dies. “God sent forth his Son, made of a woman,” says Paul (Galatians 4, 4); and again: “God has purchased a church with his own blood” (Acts 20, 28). And John declares that the blood of Jesus Christ is the blood of the Son of God (1 John 1, 7). Christ is true God and true man in one person. The Son of God reveals himself in the man Jesus Christ. On this point John says in our text: “We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” To this high and holy doctrine we must cling with unswerving fidelity; for it is the rock of our salvation. Thank God, this truth is too firmly grounded ever to be overthrown by the attacks of the devil and of false prophets!
Because of the fact that Jesus is God and man in one person, he owns all the fulness of grace. Consider this: The eternal God has made himself subject to the law and has fulfilled it for us. Consider, that the very God died as a man. What a stupendous consideration this is! What are your sins as compared with the greatness of his merit? What becomes of a spark of fire thrown into the ocean? — Here is a sufficiency of grace for all; here all men might receive healing and salvation. Here is forgiveness for all your trespasses, and here is all the life needed by your poor heart, now dead in sin. Come, then, every sinner that is needy and athirst; receive of his fulness grace for grace. But do not ask to see these things. Believe the testimony of John and the apostles! You believe the words of the law, and it confirms itself in your conscience; you believe Moses, though you have not seen him. Should you not, then, believe the gospel? Should you not believe Jesus, by whom grace and truth came? Note what the text says: “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” This by no means implies that the law is not truth. But the gospel, which declares that we lost sinners are saved by the grace of Jesus, is the truth that eclipses all other truths. Will you not believe the truth? Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. The truth, then, confirms itself in your conscience; you have the witness in yourself that God is true; and then you have learned to know God.
Merciful God, give us thy Holy Spirit, which thou hast promised to them that ask thee. Amen.*
Faith feels the Spirit’s kindly breath
In love and hope that conquer death;
Faith worketh joyfulness in God,
And trust that blesses e’en the rod.
We thank thee then, O God of heaven,
That thou to us this faith hast given;
Preserve to us thy Spirit’s grace
Till we shall see thee face to face.
* Here the head of the family says a short morning or evening prayer in his own words, and closes with the Lord’s Prayer and the Benediction. This is to be done every day. If the stanzas are not sung, they may be read in their proper place before the impromptu petition and the Lord’s Prayer.