He Is Who They Say He Is
“And the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and
proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested
to us—what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may
have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with
His Son Jesus Christ.” 1 John 1:2-3 NASB
John, the Beloved Apostle, repeats and
rephrases in verse two and verse three pretty much what he already said in
verse one. This may seem redundant, but how many of us do that when we feel we
need to get a point across? How many of us do this with our kids when we want
to be sure that they understood what we were saying before we let them go off with friends, or to employees before we cut them loose to go handle a job?
Before we dismiss this as John simply
repeating himself, we have to ask why is he repeating himself? What is his point for doing
this? I think that we would be right if we said that his point was to be clear
that Jesus manifested in the flesh, among the physical, material world, after having
stepped down from outside of time, from that eternal life that He had always
known with the Father, to ensure that we may have a relationship with God by
believing and having faith in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. That is what John
is saying. Most definitely. However, I think that his point in rephrasing this
and saying it again also goes back to who John was in his
fellowship with Christ.
Think about it. Like I shared in The Word
of Life, John was with Jesus from pretty much the beginning of our Savior’s
ministry. What John is sharing is NOT speculation, conjecture, or mere
hyperbole, he’s not saying this while being all smiley gladhands with a donation
bucket in our faces. No. His words are based on what he experienced in his
fellowship with Christ through it all; and by through it all—I mean through the
ministerial Life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In fact, when John says: ‘testify
and proclaim eternal life’, we know that John saw Jesus as a living,
breathing, eating man. We also know that he saw Jesus in His eternal state, as
well, after being resurrected from the dead. So, when John repeats and
rephrases this, I think that it is safe to conclude the Apostle wanted to make
it very clear to his readers, both then and now, for God knew and spoke through
John’s writings to that generation and everyone who has read the Word since,
that Jesus is exactly who Jesus claimed to be and that all of the Apostles letters likewise testify Him to be.
So, for me, I think that he is trying to
stress to us that Jesus is the real deal. As I have read and reread this, it’s
made me think of what Jesus had to say to Thomas in John’s Gospel: “Thomas
answered, ‘My Lord, and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Because you have seen Me,
have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see me, and yet believed.” (John
20:28-29 NASB). Thomas and John both got to see, firsthand, all that Jesus did and fulfilled,
we get to read about it and have faith. We are among those that Jesus was referring to when speaking to Thomas. Makes me wonder, in the Infinite Glory of our God, did our faces cross His mind when He said those words?
What about you? Do you struggle as
Thomas did before he touched Jesus’ wounds? Can you read John’s words and know
that God is reiterating that Jesus is who they and the Bible claim Him to be? Do
you know that faith in the atoning blood of Christ is what gets you into the
Kingdom? Read 1 John 1:1-3 and let the Apostle’s words sink in! How blessed are
we?!
Until Next Time,
God Bless
Comments
Post a Comment