TUESDAY 14th
1 John 4:2–3
‘By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.’
Following on from our previous devotion, which was about the need to discern or to test the spirits to see if they were from God, John now introduces the most important test, the test on what an individual or group of individuals have to say about the Lord Jesus Christ. It is important that we see this as one test, not as the only test, for there will be other things that will help us to discern whether or not a spirit is from God.
You may remember that the first series of messages I brought to Emmanuel prior to my being called as the pastor here were based on this theme, that what we believe about Jesus is important. John says that it is essential that we believe that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. In believing this, ‘that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh’, we are also accepting that he already existed before he took on flesh, and that he was eternally with God, so that ‘In the beginning God’ means the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We not only believe that Jesus existed eternally before he came in the flesh with God, but he is also God, thus declaring our belief in the Deity of The Lord Jesus Christ. We affirm what John teaches in his gospel in John 1:1-2 and verse 14 ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God . . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.’ In his second letter 2 John 7, John writes ‘For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh.’ Just as this was a big problem in John’s day, so it is today as we have many cults and religions who hold to a distorted view concerning who Jesus really is.
It would be good for us to quote some examples, the distorted views held about Jesus which do not fit in with that which has been revealed to us in the word of God. These are just brief examples of what others say concerning Jesus.* When we consider the following that these cults and religions have, we can see how so many of the world’s population have been deceived. It is no wonder that John wanted his ‘beloved’ to test and to hold onto that which was truth rather than to fall into error.
Jehovah Witnesses – Jesus is not God. Before he lived on earth he was Michael the arch angel.
Mormonism – Jesus is a separate god from the Father, he was created as a spirit child by the father and Mother in heaven.
Unification Church – Jesus was a perfect man, not God. He is the son of Zechariah, not born of a virgin.
Christian Science – Jesus was not the Christ, but a man who displayed the Christ idea.
Scientology – Jesus is rarely mentioned in Scientology. Jesus was not the Creator, Jesus did not die for our sins.
New Age – Jesus is not the one true God. He is not a Saviour, but a spiritual model, a guru, and is now an ascended master.
Islam – Jesus (Isa in Arabic) is one of the most respected of over 124,000 prophets sent by Allah.
So you can see it important that we have a correct understanding on who Jesus really is.
* Taken from Rose Publishing Chart Christianity, Cults & Religions