THURSDAY 26th
1 John 1:3
‘that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.’
Our devotion today continues really from where we left off yesterday, John was proclaiming that which he and the disciples had seen. Who can blame them, they had seen the One who had been made manifest, the eternal Son of God who became flesh and lived as a man, and they had witnessed the most spectacular things during his earthly ministry and they had witnessed what I often refer to when I am speaking as the most important events in the history of the world, in particular the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the book of Acts, we recall John along with Peter making their way up to the temple for the hour of prayer, and they meet up with a lame man who is begging. They turn towards him and said, ‘I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk’. (3:6)
We know what happened, immediately the man stood up, leaping and walking and praising God. Because of what they had witnessed, they were shall I put it in this way, duty bound to proclaim! They could not help but speak Jesus, they could not help but speak about Jesus, they could not help but proclaim about Jesus. He had impacted them so much, they knew that he could impact the lives of those they came into contact with as well.
The same account continues to tell us that the local authority didn’t appreciate them talking about Jesus and so they were warned not to speak to anyone any more in this name, that is in the name of Jesus, to which Peter and John replied, ‘we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard’. (Acts 4:17-20)
Well, here in this epistle, John is still proclaiming Jesus, and he explains why, ‘so that you too may have fellowship with us’. I’ll put it this way, John wanted to proclaim Jesus so that others could come into the same place of relationship and fellowship with the triune God that he himself and the other disciples had been enjoying. He longed for others to come to know Jesus, to receive the eternal life that only Jesus can give and to be enjoined with Christian fellowship, which John continues to say is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
I must end this devotion with a challenge, to those who may read it or those who may listen to the audio version, have you come into the place of fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ? There is only one way in which you can come to this place of fellowship and that is by coming through the One who is both fully man and fully God, the Lord Jesus Christ, for he alone has done all that is necessary for man to be reconciled to God, and he did it by going to Calvary and becoming the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world. You need to come to believe by faith in him, to trust in him as your Saviour and Lord, only then can you enjoy the fellowship that John is proclaiming in this epistle.
Because I have mentioned that Peter and John were compelled to speak out in the name of Jesus I am going to end the audio version with a song. Speak Jesus.