WEDNESDAY 25th
1 John 1:2
‘the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us’
That which was from the beginning, that is the One who we sing about in the well-known song, ‘Thou art the everlasting Word, the Father’s only Son’, stepped into time, he was born as a baby, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, ‘Unto us a Son is given, unto us a child is born’, and this Son, this child, grew up to become a man.
In this epistle John calls him in verse 1 ‘the word of life’, and here in verse 2, ‘the life’, which is something he had heard Jesus call himself in John 14:6, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’, here John says about Jesus, ‘the life was made manifest’. In his gospel John puts it this way, ‘and the Word became flesh’. The eternal Son of God was revealed to the world, and John declares ‘we (the disciples) saw it, and because of what we saw and witnessed we proclaim to you eternal life’.
What did they see that convinced them? They saw (and heard) all that Jesus did and taught, but more importantly they witnessed what happened at Calvary and subsequently the tomb. They witnessed that the One who said he was the life, not only gave up his life, but three days later was raised from the dead. They witnessed that he really was who he said he was and had done what he said he would do.
They heard Jesus tell Martha that he was the resurrection and the life, they would have heard him when he said, ‘I lay down my life that I may take it up again’, they heard him say this immediately after he had said that he was the good shepherd and that the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. They may not have fully understood it all at the time, but after the events of his death and resurrection had taken place they ‘remembered his words’ (Luke 24:8) and in his post resurrection appearances to them Jesus opened up the Scriptures to them, so that they could understand more fully. (Luke 24:45-48)
Therefore John could say, ‘I know what I am talking about. I saw Jesus, the eternal Son of God, the One who is the Word of God, the One who himself is God, the One who is life, I saw him because he was made manifest, he really did become a man, consisting of bone and flesh, and as a man, he died, but three days later he rose again. He is himself eternal life and he grants eternal life to all who believe on him.’
Remember in the previous devotion I quoted the following, ‘right thinking about Jesus Christ is the fulcrum on which right theology is balanced’. Well, within this right thinking is the vital truth or doctrine that we need to keep to the forefront of all we teach, that Jesus was not only fully God, eternally, but that he also took on flesh, he became fully man. The deity of the Lord Jesus Christ is essential to what all the message of the gospel is all about.
In the words of the well-known carol we sing at Christmas, combining two of the verses,
God of God,
Light of Light,
Lo, he abhors not the Virgin’s womb;
Very God,
Begotten, not created:
Yea, Lord, we greet thee,
Born this happy morning;
Jesus, to thee be glory given!
Word of the Father,
Now in flesh appearing!
It is no wonder that we want to follow this with the words,
O come let us adore him, Christ the Lord
For he alone is worthy, Christ the Lord,
We’ll give him all the glory, Christ the Lord.
And it is no wonder that John wanted to record all that he has about Jesus.
Have you come yet to believe on him? For whoever believes has life, eternal life which cannot be obtained through any other means, except by coming to Jesus.