Week 6 Thursday — Walking with the Word
Thursday: The Word Unfolded - John 1:14-18 & Matthew 5:3-6
Thursday: The Word Unfolded
John 1:14-18 & Matthew 5:3-6
Introduction
Pe means “mouth” — and Wednesday we saw the psalmist’s mouth open wide in hunger, panting for God’s Word the way an animal gasps for air. Today we see what that hunger was always reaching toward.
Not just words on a page. The Word in person.
What God did in the Incarnation is, by any measure, the most astonishing thing in human history. He clothed Himself in humanity. Came as a baby — dependent in every way, vulnerable, willing to risk rejection. He set aside His divine prerogatives — not His divinity, but the independent exercise of it — and entered the world the way we all do: small, helpless, held in someone’s arms.
All so we could know Him. Not know about Him — know Him. Trust Him. See His face and understand, finally, what God is actually like.
The law given through Moses was real and true and life-giving. The psalmist loved it with everything he had. But it was an unfolding, not the completion. Grace and truth — the full weight of both, together, without compromise — came through Jesus Christ. The mouth of God, open at last in the most complete way possible.
John said it best: “We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Scripture
¹⁴ 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. ¹⁵ (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) ¹⁶ For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
— John 1:14-18 (ESV)
³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. ⁵ Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. ⁶ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
— Matthew 5:3-6 (ESV)
Reflection
Grace Upon Grace
John opens his gospel the way Genesis opens the Bible: “In the beginning.” He wants us to feel the connection immediately. The Word who was with God in the beginning, through whom everything was made — that Word has now entered what He made. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (v. 14). The Greek word for “dwelt” is the word for pitching a tent — tabernacling, the way God’s presence filled the tabernacle in the wilderness. The glory that once rested on the mercy seat has now taken up residence in a human body.
And from that fullness, John says, “we have all received grace upon grace” (v. 16). The image is of waves arriving on a shore — one after another, each one complete, each one followed by another. The unfolding of God’s Word has always been like this. Each revelation more complete than the last. The law given through Moses was real, true, and life-giving — the psalmist staked his life on it. But it was always pointing forward, always leaning toward the One who would fulfill it. “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (v. 17).
This is not a replacement. It is a completion. The psalmist who loved God’s law with everything he had was loving the shadow of the substance that has now arrived. What he panted for, what his eye of faith strained to see on the horizon — it came. In flesh. In Bethlehem. In a manger.
No One Has Ever Seen God
“No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (v. 18). This verse carries the full weight of everything John has been building toward. Every vision, every theophany, every burning bush and pillar of fire and voice from the cloud — as real and glorious as those encounters were, they were glimpses. Partial unfoldings. No one had seen God fully, completely, face to face.
Until now.
Jesus doesn’t just tell us about God. He makes Him known — the Greek word is exegetes, the word we get “exegesis” from. Jesus exegetes the Father. He is the living interpretation, the complete and final unfolding of who God is. When Philip says in John 14, “Lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us,” Jesus answers: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”
The psalmist prayed on Monday: “Deal with your servant according to your steadfast love.” He was praying to a God whose character he had come to know through His Word. Thursday shows us that the steadfast love the psalmist clung to has a face. It walked dusty roads in Galilee. It touched lepers and wept at tombs and fed thousands on a hillside. It went to a cross. The God whose Word the psalmist loved has shown us, in Jesus, exactly what that love looks like with skin on.
Blessed Are Those Who Hunger
Matthew 5 opens on a hillside with Jesus sitting down to teach — the posture of a rabbi, the signal that something authoritative is coming. And the first words out of His mouth turn everything upside down. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the meek. And then — directly to the psalmist who opened his mouth and panted: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (v. 6).
The hunger itself is blessed. Not the arrival. Not the satisfaction — though the satisfaction is promised. The hunger. The open-mouthed, can’t-get-enough longing that Wednesday described as visceral and urgent — Jesus pronounces that blessed. He doesn’t say blessed are those who have arrived or blessed are those who have it all together. He says blessed are the ones who know they are empty and cannot stop reaching for what will fill them.
This is the person the psalmist has been describing across 119 verses. Not someone who has achieved spiritual mastery but someone who has never stopped hungering. Who meditates all the day. Who pants and longs. Who watches the horizon with the eye of faith. Who weeps for those who don’t keep the law. Who holds God’s Word above gold because he has tasted it and cannot imagine settling for less.
Jesus looks at that person — at the psalmist, at you, at anyone who has ever ached for something more than this world can provide — and says: blessed. The hunger is not a sign that something is wrong. It is a sign that something is very, very right. And the One who pronounces the hunger blessed is the same One who has promised to satisfy it.
The Word unfolded. Grace upon grace. The Father made known. The hunger declared blessed and the filling guaranteed.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” — This is the way.
Prayer Prompt
Lord, I stand in front of what John described and I am undone. That You would leave the glory of heaven, clothe Yourself in humanity, enter the world You made as a helpless infant — vulnerable, dependent, willing to be rejected — is beyond my ability to fully comprehend. And yet You did it. Not as a demonstration of power but as an act of love. All so I could know You. Not know about You — know You. See Your face. Trust You with my eternity.
Thank You that the law the psalmist loved was never the destination — it was always the road leading to You. That every promise, every precept, every glimpse of Your character across the pages of the Old Testament was an unfolding that pointed forward to the moment the Word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood. Grace upon grace. Each wave more complete than the last.
Forgive me for the times I have settled for knowing about You when You have made knowing You fully possible. You have exegeted the Father — shown me exactly what God is like with skin on. Open my eyes today to see You clearly. Not a theological category. Not a distant deity. The One who touched lepers, wept at tombs, and went to a cross with my name in mind.
And Lord — I bring You my hunger today. The open-mouthed, can’t-get-enough longing that has not yet been fully satisfied. You have declared that hunger blessed. You have promised that it will be filled. I receive both of those things right now — the blessing on the longing, and the promise of the filling. Come, Lord Jesus. Satisfy what only You can satisfy. Amen.
Response
Grace Upon Grace: John tells us that the unfolding of God’s Word has always been progressive — each wave more complete than the last, all of it culminating in Jesus. Take a few minutes today to trace that unfolding in your own life. Where has God’s revelation of Himself been progressive — a truth you glimpsed early that has deepened over time, a promise that pointed forward to something you only understood later? Write it down. Thank Him specifically for the grace upon grace He has poured into your particular story.
No One Has Ever Seen God: Jesus is the complete and final exegesis of the Father — whoever has seen Him has seen God. Read John 14:8-11 alongside today’s passage. Then sit with this question: what does Jesus reveal about the Father that you most need to see clearly right now? Not a theological answer — a personal one. Where do you need to see the face of God’s steadfast love today? Tell Him specifically. Then look for it.
Blessed Are Those Who Hunger: Jesus pronounces the hunger itself blessed — not the arrival, not the achievement, but the reaching. The open-mouthed longing that never stops. Honestly assess your hunger today. Not where you think it should be — where it actually is. Then bring that honest assessment to Jesus, the One who declared it blessed and promised to satisfy it. Ask Him to deepen the hunger before He fills it. That is not a dangerous prayer. It is exactly the prayer He is waiting to answer.
To read all the posts in this devotional series, visit: Walking with the Word — Psalm 119
© Steve Peschke / This Is The Way