1 John 1:1-3 – 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. 2 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. 3 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. 4 We write this to make our joy complete.
It is such a blessing that John wrote these words at the beginning of his letter. It aligns with Peter who wrote in 2 Peter 1:16 “For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” The apostles did not hear stories about Jesus and then relate what they heard. John relates “we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched.” Family it is important to remember this. As in the day of John, there are so many lies being presented by people who present themselves as intellectuals. Their degrees are paraded before us as cause for us to believe them. They speak to us in so called documentaries that seem so scholarly. They write their books. Phooey, a waste of our time to even watch or read the lies they write. They are today’s representations of the Gnostics of John’s time. They want to discuss if Jesus actually lived and they want to make themselves judges of the Word of God. In doing so they will find that it they are in fact being judged by it. Family, those who wrote the scriptures personally knew Jesus (let’s not quibble about an amanuensis who wrote as dictated by an apostle). We must remember that the degrees only mean something is they know Jesus as their Savior and so have the Holy Spirit within. The Holy Spirit is the one who enables us to understand the Word of God (1 Corinthians 2:13-15).
There are cults and false religions that claim that what we now have as the Bible has been changed often during history and has been adulterated. For any that would like to take an unbiased look into the documents that verify the Bible, there is plenty of evidence to show that what we read is what was originally written. The Bible is the most authenticated and well supported of all books of antiquity. I suggest reading Lee Strobel’s “The Case for Christ”, or Josh McDowell’s “More Than A Carpenter” and “Evidence That Demands A Verdict.” Another great Christian apologist is J. Warner Wallace who wrote “Cold Case Christianity.” Adding to the power of their testimony that two were avowed atheists and one a skeptic and mocker of Christians. When these men looked into the evidence, they saw that the evidence pointed to the reliability of the scriptures we have. What we have is what was written. Written by men who walked with Jesus and by those whom the Holy Spirit gave the Words to write. Wow, oh wow! Praise God! How exciting! Family, we can have absolute trust in the Word of God that we read in the Bible!
In V4 John tells us that he, and the other authors of the book, wrote these words that our joy would be complete. In 1 John 5:13 John wrote “ 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.” Knowing that I have eternal life give a very complete joy! John, who personally knew Jesus wrote these words so that we might know the Word that we have is true and that the Gospel of our Lord Jesus truly brings us eternal life.
Every morning we should take a moment to look into the mirror and say “Wow, you are a child of God! You are a disciple of the risen Savior! You are protected by God Almighty and are surely, beyond a doubt going to heaven! Whom, or what, shall you fear?” That may sound silly, but it is powerful. We need to stop and consider who we are in Christ. We are the Chosen, the Redeemed of God whom He loves and zealously watches over. Because the victory of Jesus has been imputed onto us, we need only keep our eyes on the goal and smile. Life has its tough spots, but that is like getting a flat tire on the road to the dream vacation one always wanted. We put up with the trouble and when we are at the vacation, the flat tire becomes a distant memory no longer worth considering. Family, we are going to heaven…really! We need to jump and shout about that! Try to remember to, every day, remind ourselves who we are because of the love of God expressed to the world through Jesus! Thank you Jesus! Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.