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The incarnation is John's new Tabernacle. John opens with an astonishing claim. "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). The Greek verb literally means "pitched his tent" or "tabernacled."

John deliberately echoes Israel's wilderness Tabernacle where God's glory dwelled among his people. This means the incarnation is more than God becoming human. It is God choosing a new dwelling place. The glory once associated with the Tabernacle and later the Temple. This glory is now encountered in Jesus himself.

Notice what John does not say. He never claims the Temple was a mistake. He claims its deepest purpose has reached its fullest expression. The building pointed beyond itself to a Person. From the opening chapter onward, readers are invited to recognize Jesus as the living place where heaven and earth meet. The story has already begun moving. Not away from Israel. But deeper into Israel's own theology of divine presence.

 If Jesus is the new dwelling place, why does John spend so much time talking about Jewish festivals and the Temple courts?

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