And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son (1 John 5:11).
This is it. This is the Good News. This is why we are willing to plow our way through natural living—so we can have supernatural living. Eternal life! That’s why the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden had to be protected from guilty persons and saved for forgiven persons, because those who eat of this tree will live forever. Jesus is the life. He is the way, the truth, and the life. I used to wonder why God had to send us to earth in order to give us this eternal life. Couldn’t He just have created us up there and kept us there? It looks like He tried that one time with angels, and then one third of them rebelled, and God saw the benefits of choice. If He wants family, would He make robots? If He wants to live in harmony with this family, would He allow rebels in His door? He had to give us a choice. He doesn’t want to live for eternity with someone who did not choose Him. Can you imagine a marriage like that? Someone who is just there for the benefits? No, that’s not what God wanted. He wants a love relationship with us that has to start with us choosing Him because He already chose us. He will follow us to the ends of the earth trying to get us to love Him and choose Him as our own personal God. I, for one, will follow Him to the ends of the earth trying to learn how to love Him like He wants to be loved. I’m His. He’s mine.
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He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son (1 John 5:10).
Boy, I’d hate to be the one who called God a liar! I thank God daily that I have the Holy Spirit living in me. I have a living witness of the living God filling me completely. I am wall to wall Holy Ghost, and He points me to Jesus all the time. I have a great relationship with Jesus because of the witness of the Holy Spirit. One of the things I try to do as much as possible, as much as other things are not demanding my time, is to practice His Presence. I get myself still. A dove is a flighty bird, nervous; it will take off at the slightest off-movement, and since that is the symbol of the Holy Spirit, I take that measure of Him quite seriously. I get my body still; I calm my emotions and my mind as best I can, and then I look for Him. He will manifest Himself as Jesus. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son (1 John 5:9).
When I think of the Bible with its 7000 promises, its over 600 Old Testament laws, It’s hundreds of personages, it becomes unwieldy. But then I consider its simplicity. The absolute middle of the Bible, Psalm 118, verse 8, says, It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. That pretty much says it all, doesn’t it? What is God’s witness about His Son? That He sent Him to bring mankind back to their heavenly Father. The information is so simple; how can anyone miss the message? The whole purpose of life, the reason we are standing on terra firma, is so that we can receive Jesus as our Lord. Once that’s done, we become citizens of heaven, and the good life begins. Following Jesus, obeying God’s commands, is nothing more than an adventurous life, full of hilarity, joy, peace, and love. Do you want to know what real love is like? Follow Jesus. Go where He goes, do what He does, say what He thinks. We’ll never be the same again! But if we follow the witness of men, we will count all that joy to be nothing but dung. We’ll only see the underbelly of life, not the overcoming part. Jesus came to buy us back! He owns us now, and our obedience will take us on high adventure! And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one (1 John 5:8).
Here’s John with the same grouping of three as we found in verse 6, the Spirit, the water, and the blood. This time He explains that these three make one, just like the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit make one. The three just mentioned are referred to as from heaven, while these three (the Spirit, the water, and the blood) are witnesses on earth. The Holy Spirit is amazing to consider. He covers the earth, yet He lives in individual hearts. He hovers over the lost, wooing them, and meets all the needs and the desires of believers’ hearts. He’s the one who creates “Rhema” out of the Word—the Word springing off the pages of the Bible and into the heart of the reader as revelation. He’s the one who washes the reader with the water of the Word. Yet He is also the one who is the Sword in the armor of God, and He does not withhold His sword from shedding blood. Just as much as the Holy Spirit is a gentleman, He will never force His way with your life; He is also a warrior and fights battles for you. Just speak the Word and these three—the Holy Spirit, the Word you have just spoken, and the blood of the Lamb of God who speaks over you from heaven—will act as one and fulfill the Word. For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one (1 John 5:7).
We are still learning at the knee of the Holy Spirit. Here he comes up with another threesome, the last being the water, the blood, and the Holy Spirit, and now we have Father, Word, and Holy Spirit. In heaven, in that perfect place, we find the description of the Trinity, the three expressions of God, or three personalities. The Father speaks the Word, the Holy Spirit inspires the writing of the Word, and Jesus is the incarnation of the Word. So from heaven comes that handbook of spiritual reality, the Word of God. And to what do these three bear witness through their speaking, writing and being? The Truth. Interesting that Pilate asks Jesus, “What is truth?” when Truth was standing right in front of him. I often have little squabbles with unbelievers who want to tell me how outdated, or wrong the Bible is. I like to ask them if they have read the Bible, because I know they haven’t. When they admit they have not I ask how they can judge a book they haven’t read? It’s amazing how my question always stymies them. They are only quoting what Satan had to say. We, however, have the only true witness: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth (1 John 5:6).
John becomes poetic, in my opinion. He is so thrilled with the Deity of Jesus that he sometimes leaves us behind in his vague euphemism of Christ, probably not wanting to overwhelm us. In this and the next two verses, John refers to three items: water, blood, Spirit. What is the water? It could mean his natural birth, his mother’s water. The Word of God is sometimes symbolized as water because it refers to the way the Word washes us. And finally, the water could take us back to the soldier who thrust a lance into the side of Jesus, already dead on the cross, yet water and blood shot out from his side. If you have watched Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of Christ,” he has the water and blood spraying over everyone around. Blood can be His pure and precious Blood that paid for our sins on the altar in heaven, or simply the blood He dripped on the ground from the torture He endured. But the question is, what does all this mean? I like to look at this Scripture as indicating the Holy Spirit as the witness to all truth, and He will reveal the significance of the water and of the blood, as we are ready to receive all the revelation that John obviously knows. We, however, are still learning at the knee of the Holy Spirit. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God (1 John 5:5)?
Believing in something is not the same as thinking, concurring, being in agreement with, being persuaded, or giving assent to the idea that Jesus is the Son of God. I feel so sorry for the people who know so much about God, yet do not know Him personally. They think they’re on the right path, but that path does not lead them to the Throne Room of God. Believing in Jesus means He has stopped being an “idea” and has become someone more real, more genuine, more reliable than anyone or anything else in your life. Believing in Jesus takes you right into the Throne Room and makes you comfortable there. Believing in Jesus reveals your own position in the family of God: you, too, are His son or daughter. Jesus paid the price, extracted you from your place in slavery, and brought you Home. You know it, too. You know who you belong to. If you don’t know it, then you are not a believer. But if you are, act like it. Visit the Throne Room of God whenever you want, receive His counsel and advice, then go into the world and do what He said. In this way you will never fail. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith (1 John 5:4).
My goodness, all this talk about love and suddenly the word faith appears. Faith is probably the biggest concern of the Bible. Jesus asked if He would find faith when He came again. So let it be established that faith only works through love. Please don’t tell me you have faith if you don’t have love. It just cannot work that way. What is faith? It is absolute trust and confidence in God that He will do whatever He has said He will do. Faith is unshakeable, insurmountable, unmovable, it is the rock on which we stand, an unyielding position. First and foremost, it is total belief that Jesus bought us back from the enemy, and He conquered death, disease, and evil: basically, in a word—Satan. He accomplished everything we could ever need of Him, and He gave all His victory to us! Note that this verse talks about overcoming the world. Do you have things in your world that need to be overcome? I certainly do. No one lives a perfect life here on earth, no matter how pretentious they may be! So how do we get our faith to overcome our world? First love, then trust. In this state of being, no weapon formed against you will ever prosper. Through your love and faith you conquer your world! For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome (1 John 5:3).
There are so many things I do that I find to be burdensome. Such as housecleaning. Oh, how I hate cleaning house. But I put myself to the task, sometimes violently: “Marty! Get this place cleaned up! Now!” The really odd thing is, once I get started I find I like it a lot. I can see progress in my work. Having the place sparkle is a delight to me. I’m inspired. I’m a little embarrassed to admit this to you, but I don’t like taking showers. However, I know it is required of me, so with gritted teeth I get underneath the water, shudderingly getting myself wet, and then I realize how wonderful it is to be in a shower. I think to myself, “If only I could stand here all day with this lovely heat on my back.” By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments (1 John 5:2).
My favorite way of loving God is waiting on Him until He rushes in on me with all His love. I cannot help but respond to Him with all my love. Let me use some of the lyrics of Josh Grogan’s song “You Raise Me Up.” “Then I am still and wait here in the silence, until You come and sit awhile with me.” That is literally what I do. I sit someplace comfortable, and I wait. I don’t think about anything in particular; I simply await His arrival with great expectation. I did that last night and suddenly His Face filled the room I was in, and His enormous lips kissed mine. When we realize how much He loves us, how can we not love Him in return? When we love someone like that, we want to do what He wants us to do. What are His commandments? To love one another. Even our most wicked enemies. Only love will reach them, you know. So they don’t love us. So what? We have the greatest Father/Brother/Teacher ever known who loves us, what do we care if we’re not loved? Just sitting awhile with Him gives me great insight, great clarity. I couldn’t live without His love. Yes, I love the children of God, but only because His love for me overflows to His other children. I love them for Him. That kiss last night made me want to go out and kiss everybody— for Him. |
Marty
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