John tells us three things about the “Word” in John 1.14: he became flesh, dwelt among us, and we saw his glory.

To understand the true significance of “The Word became flesh,” we must remember, “the Word was God.”  God became a man!  This is what theologians call the incarnation, and we can hardly overstate its significance.

On the one hand, if Jesus, the Word, is not God, then he is not holy.  If Jesus is not holy, then his death is deserved and therefore powerless to save sinners.  If Jesus’ death is powerless to save sinners, then we have no hope in Christ.  In short, if Jesus is not God, then his work holds no sway with God.

On the other hand, if Jesus did not become flesh, then he cannot stand in our place.  The Old Testament sacrifices of bulls and goats were not able to redeem people.  An amoral creature cannot die in the place of an immoral creature in order to satisfy a moral God.  In short, if Jesus did not become flesh, then his work holds no sway with God.

Paul makes this point in Romans 8.1-4,

1There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.  By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

We often focus on the fact that Jesus can identify with us in our weakness because he became flesh and was tempted.  While the idea that Jesus can identify with us in our weakness is true (see Hebrews 4.14-15), there is more to the incarnation than the therapeutic application to which we often turn.  We do not need mere therapy; we need to be regenerated.  We are dead in sin, held under bondage to the law of sin and death, and we need to be freed.  We need one like us, yet without sin, to fulfill the law for us, die in our place, and rise victoriously.  The Word became flesh to do precisely that.  Apart from the incarnation, the Word becoming flesh, there is no salvation.

Rejoice!  The Word became flesh!