That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.
1 John 1:1-4
The book of 1 John is written to encourage us and to show us the reality and certainty of the Christian life. If you had to pick one verse from the whole epistle that summed it up, it would be 1 John 5:13. ‘I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.’ John’s primary purpose of writing this letter is to show the living reality of a relationship with Jesus. John has realised that satisfaction is not found in things or experiences but in the person of Jesus Christ and John doesn’t waste any time in telling us about this living reality. He jumps straight into it in these first four verses of the epistle. 1 John 1:1-4 shows us three vital facts about life with Jesus Christ.
1) It is revealed
John says that not only is this life, which is found in Jesus, something which has been heard about from the beginning, but it is something they have seen with their own eyes. They have seen it and touched it. They walked and talked with Jesus. This life was not hidden and obscured so that they had to search hard for it, but God revealed this life in the person of Jesus who walked the earth as man. Life in Jesus was openly revealed when Jesus took on flesh and continues to be openly revealed through the Bible.
God doesn’t leave us in the dark about who He is, or how He wants us to live and enjoy Him. No! Instead He has revealed Himself in creation (Romans 1:20) and then reveals His great love for us through His Son, Jesus Christ (John 14:9). Since Jesus is God’s revelation of Himself, John calls Him the ‘Word of life’. These words may be familiar to you from the beginning of John’s gospel. Jesus has this name because just as our words reveal to others what we are thinking and feeling, Jesus is God’s revelation to us; the Son of God who came to earth to reveal God to humanity. To know Jesus is to know God.
2) It is experienced
Read the first 4 verses again and you will see that that apostle John had a personal encounter with Jesus. It was no second hand ‘religious experience’. He didn’t read it in a book or hear about Jesus from a friend. He had a personal, relational encounter with Jesus. John, along with the other disciples, had eaten with Jesus, heard Him speak, touched Him, learnt from Him. They knew first-hand that Jesus was real.
Some might say, “Well that’s great for the apostles, but Jesus is now back in heaven so I cannot experience Him in the same way.” True, but it is not the apostles’ physical nearness with Jesus which made them who they. Rather, it was their spiritual nearness. They had fully surrendered and submitted their whole lives to Jesus as their Saviour and King. In doing so, Jesus was real and exciting to John because of his trust in Jesus. He has experienced eternal life through being born again (a phrase John uses six times!). And he’s writing this letter to tell people how they can also be sure they really have been born again and experienced Jesus just like he did.
We may not be able to touch Jesus like the apostle John did, but we can spiritually draw near to Jesus in the same way and experience Jesus by putting our trust in Him. Have you experienced Jesus in your life?
3) It is shared
John isn’t just content to have seen and experienced Jesus. He wants to share it with others. Once you have experienced the joy and reality of following Jesus, you naturally want to share it with everyone. When we have or experience something good in our lives, we love and want to talk about it. That’s how we should be about the best thing in our lives - our faith and trust in Jesus. That’s what John means when he says, ‘We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us.’ Now, let’s be clear. John doesn’t mean that we shove the gospel down people’s throats! But we can demonstrate the life changing encounter that we’ve had with Jesus through the way we live and the words we say.
John through this letter is showing us God’s invitation to come and enjoy fellowship with Himself and His people. The offer is ‘come and share the life that is real’. Are you experiencing that life that is found in God and was revealed in Jesus? Do you share Jesus?
Prayer for today
Loving Heavenly Father,
We thank you for your word, the Bible. Thank you that through it you teach us about who you are. We thank you for Jesus, who became man and took on flesh to reveal God to us.
We thank you that through Jesus we can have real life in you - life that brings joy and satisfaction.
We ask that we will know you better and experience more of you each day as we grow in our trust and faith in you.
May you fill us with boldness to share Jesus with those around us.
In Jesus’ name we pray,
Amen
Song for today
You can listen and sing along here.
1. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
Refrain:
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Saviour all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Saviour all the day long.
2. Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels, descending, bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
3. Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Saviour am happy and blest,
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.
Photo by Thanos Pal on Unsplash
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