Jn.1:14 – And the Word became 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 used an interesting phrase in these introductory thoughts of his gospel. The word ‘dwelt’

In our translations is the word ‘skenoo’ in John’s epistle. This word literally means to pitch a tent or to tabernacle among us. What is John trying to say? To the Jew this would immediately remind them of the tabernacle of Moses during their exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land. What made the tabernacle special was that God’s visible presence, His glory, would dwell visibly in that tabernacle. What was just a tent became the dwelling place of God. What John is saying in this verse is that the glory of God came and dwelt among us in Jesus of Nazareth. The tabernacle in the wilderness was just pointing to the true tabernacle which is Christ Himself. In other words the very Shekinah Glory of the Lord is dwelling in Jesus Christ. Here is how the Christ Centered Expository Commentary describes this amazing truth.

“One could not think of the tabernacle in the OT without being reminded of the glory of God. As Israel marched through the wilderness on the way to the promised land, the glory of the Lord appearing like a cloud went with them, regularly descending on the tabernacle. In the Old Testament the glory of the Lord was the “visible manifestation of the excellence of God’s character”. In other words, the glory of God was the greatness of God seen visibly. When Jews looked at the tabernacle, they would see a partial and incomplete picture of the glory of God (this visible display of his goodness, greatness, and holiness) emanating from it. John’s point in verse 14 is that when Jesus came to earth as a man to dwell with men, the glory of God was seen in its fullness.”

Now this is where this gets quite overwhelming, the glory of the Lord was in the tabernacle in the wilderness and also in Solomon’s temple. Ezekiel was caught up in the Spirit during the exile and saw the glory leave the temple in Jerusalem. The second temple was built when the Jews were allowed back in their land being completed around 516 B.C., the tragedy was that the manifest glory never reappeared. Fast forward the 516 years until Christ was born and the glory had now returned. The glory wasn’t in a temple of stone built by human hands, the glory was now in Christ, the cornerstone (first stone) of God’s new dwelling place. This is what Christmas celebration is all about, the Lord has come and tabernacles among and within us.