Psalm 13:1
A God Who Hides
1 How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
Isaiah 45:15
God Hides Himself
15 Truly you are a God who has been hiding himself, the God and Savior of Israel.
John 1:1-14
The Word Becomes Flesh
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
God sometimes remains silent for hundreds of years...When God's people were captive in Egypt, they wondered when He would speak again after hundreds of years waiting for Him...The Psalmist and the Great Prophet Isaiah tell us that God is a God who hides...But that changes...When Jesus was born, God, in a sense, came out of hiding...
So the world and Israel had been used to a God being mostly silent and hidden...The people of the world and Israel had heard little from Him again for hundreds of years...And now this has changed...St. John writes that Jesus is the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word is God...And that the Word would come to dwell among us...One who would come to save us and be our Savior...And the Word is the One who is full of Grace and Truth...Jesus was now here to dwell among us...
God has broken His silence and He sends His Son to teach us about both His Son and Himself...So God no longer remains hidden as we read the four gospels...For now in the life and teachings of Jesus, God has broken His silence, and hidden attributes...God would speak to us through His Son...And this story starts in a most unusual way, as Jesus is born to a virgin in Bethlehem and then grows in stature and wisdom among the men of Israel...And starts a ministry with Twelve Disciples, and these Twelve would know Him best...And the story finds death on a cross...But the story does not end there...Jesus is resurrected by His Father...He has risen...He lives...
Jesus is the the Word and the Word was with God in the beginning...And the Word is God...God is no longer hidden, no longer silent, God has spoken...He has spoken through His Son...God is no longer hidden...The One who is full of Grace and Truth has spoken and has saved us...