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The opening of John’s Gospel contains some of the most epic words that have ever been written. The language in John 1:1–14 is beautiful and profound, and the main subject—the Word—concerns the one for whom and by whom all things were made.
In John 1:1–14, we learn that the Word always was, that the Word was before everything else, and that the Word came into the world like light—divine light. God’s speaking was at the same time a shining, and this light was revelation, the revelation of the incarnate Word.
When John tells us about what we call the incarnation, he says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
That whole verse is dense with wonderful things, but I only want to focus on one of them. The Word dwelt among us. Let’s think about that.
The verb dwelt is ἐσκήνωσεν, which is from the verb σκηνόω, and it means to dwell or encamp. This is why the Greek translation of the Old Testament uses the word σκηνη for tent or tabernacle. In the Old Testament, the presence of the tabernacle signaled the presence of Yahweh drawing near to the Israelites in their camp.
The Old Testament tabernacle revealed the glory of God because its innermost room (the Most Holy Place) housed the ark of the covenant behind a veil, and in this room the glory of God would be manifested above the lid of the ark. God’s presence in the tabernacle caused it to be holy and sacred.
When John tells us about the Son’s advent, every word matters. Regarding the part of John 1:14 that we’re considering, he doesn’t say the Word lived or came or appeared. He says the Word dwelt among us—dwelt like a tabernacle.
The incarnation was the tabernacling of God. The Old Testament tabernacle dwelt among the Israelites, and the Son of God tabernacled among sinners. The tabernacle was portable so that it could be moved from Sinai (where it was first constructed) through the wilderness and to the promised land. Like a portable tabernacle, Jesus moved. He traveled around the land of promise, he sailed on the Sea of Galilee, and occasionally he even crossed the Jordan River.
John 1:1–14 is full of Old Testament imagery and allusions. We are right to see, as many scholars have seen, that John 1:14 invokes the tabernacle with the verb dwelt. In the miracle of the incarnation, God had come to speak and to dwell. The Word became flesh and dwelt. And this dwelling surpassed the glory of the Old Testament tabernacle. The Jerusalem temple eventually replaced the tabernacle, yet the dwelling in John 1:14 surpasses the Jerusalem temple as well.
A greater tabernacle, a greater temple, had come. The glory of God was veiled in flesh. Consider these lyrics from “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing”:
veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
hail th' incarnate Deity,
pleased as man with men to dwell,
Jesus, our Immanuel
The word “Immanuel” means “God with us.” That reality is what the tabernacle meant in Israel’s camp. When the Old Testament Israelites traveled with the tabernacle, and when they camped around it, they could rightly say, “God is with us.”
But the tabernacle was a shadow, a type, of something greater—Someone greater. Jesus is the true and greater tabernacle who came to dwell among sinners. He is Immanuel, God with us.