Beholding the Lord through His word, part III

We're in the third week of a series that we've been starting on this month, Beholding the Lord Through His Word. And the point here is seeing the living Word of God in the written Word of God. We have been through 2 Corinthians 3.18 and John 1.1-18.

And today we'll step into 1 John 1.1-4 that Gene just read for us here. And one of the points that we brought out the first week is it is important to be, as we look at scripture, it is important to be seeing things clearly. Paul makes the point to Timothy in his very last letter to him that we have anyway.

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. And so it matters that we see the Lord clearly. We see the Lord clearly and not in some blurred or distorted fashion.

And one of the things that we also point out in the midst of that is the sequence. How do we go about looking at God's Word to make sure we're getting the right picture? We observe. We examine the passage. We then interpret, once we've done with our observing, not just read it, what do I think it says, but what's really there in the passage. Then to look at application, the appropriation of it is something that in fact takes time. Each of those steps is something that the Holy Spirit is involved in. One of the things we pointed out is in the observing, there's looking at language in the literary context, those aspects. the historical and the sequential context, and the cultural context.

We'll make note of some of those things as we go through the passage here this morning. We look at those three things in order to arrive at the true meaning of the text of God's Word. So here we are at 1 John 1-4, the beginning of his larger of three epistles. We'll approach it by looking first at the first verse, then at the second verse, and then verses three and four together. One of the things, and if you're visiting with us this morning, this will be the page number on your handout over in the lower corner of the slide there.

One of the first things we've come to is what John uses repeatedly in this passage, we. We have heard, we have seen, we have looked at and touched. We have seen, we have seen, and we have heard. John's repetitive, by the way, and that's one of the ways that he makes himself very clear. The next slide here says what we did in response. That is, what the ones who are saying we, what did they do? We testify, we proclaim, we proclaim and we write. We communicate. And finally, why? He says in two separate sections, why did we do this? So that you may have fellowship with us and so that our joy may be made complete. Now, who is we? Who is we? We're not going to answer that yet, but we'll get there.

Here's the first verse, 1 John 1. What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands concerning the Word of Life. Last week we looked at John 1. This is the Gospel of John. And we notice that there and Genesis 1. Both have in the beginning. And that was the time God spoke the present creation. through Jesus Christ spoke the present creation into existence. Here there is a difference.

Even though we see the words the beginning, it points to the beginning of the introduction of the gospel. It isn't in the beginning, it's from the beginning. From what beginning? What we find out is six times in this short epistle, he uses this phrase from the beginning.

And it points to, as we look at the context of each of those, it points to the beginning of the introduction of the Gospel, from the time that the Gospel was introduced. That's what he's talking about here. One of the things to look at, too, is John is writing to believers.

He makes that abundantly clear at various places, but one of them that's very clear, 1 John 5.13. He writes to those who already believe. Remember the Gospel of John, written so that you might believe. 1 John, written to those who already believe.

This is the form of this verse here, and we notice a pattern, what was from the beginning, and then he goes with a series of what we have heard, what we have seen, and then with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life.

Now, one of the things we notice there is a we, and guess what? We're going to answer the question. The ones called we here are the ones who had heard and seen and looked at and touched the things concerning the word of life. These were the apostles, the ones who walked with our Lord day by day over a period of about three years. So that's who the we is. Then we see these words heard and seen.

The Greek words translated heard and seen here are in the perfect tense. Now, I don't mean by that that you ought to be perfectly tense. OK, not necessary. But we do want to explain here. This is. Having heard and seen those things were completed. They're done seeing them and hearing them, but the results are ongoing on into the future Okay, so get this about the perfect tense. It's a completed past action ongoing results of the future. Okay, can you do that? I don't want you to hit anybody next to you But it's a completed past action, ongoing results into the future. So when you walk out of the church, you go, it's a completed past action, ongoing results into the future. If you walk out, people wonder, what are those people doing?

It's a karate. Ah! Ah! No. It's completed past action, ongoing results into the future. It's not karate, it's a cooking school. Cutting off the top of the carrot and throwing the top away. No. Okay? That's what a perfect tense is. A completed past action, ongoing results into the future. Okay, we'll see if we get any results from throwing the carrot top away.

Alright, John was saying what? Jesus had already spoken. He'd been done speaking in His first coming. That was done. But the results are ongoing. And, he puts it two ways. It's still ringing in our ears. I can still hear Christ speaking. And, the things that He said, and the things that he did, I can still remember it in my mind's eye.

Have you ever had anything like that happen to you? It may have happened long ago, but it's just like it's yesterday, and you can just kind of in your mind roll the camera. Ever have that happen? That's what John is saying about being with Jesus Christ. He says, the things that he said, the things that he did, I couldn't possibly forget them, nor would I want to.

They're still right in front of me. They're still very present with me. Notice this next part here. John refers to three senses. Hearing, seeing, touching. And then he gets real specific with a couple of them. With our eyes, and with our hands. This seeing is hara'o.

It means to view, to gain insight. It isn't, oh, did you see it? Yeah, I saw it. No. It's to view so as to get some insight, to gain insight from the viewing. We have seen with our eyes and we gain insight from the doing so. It goes beyond that. Looked at here is this word, and we saw it last week in the first chapter of John. It means to behold, to look closely, understanding the significance of what's seen. Isn't that something? Insight. Understanding. That's what John is pointing to. He isn't just saying, hey we got it and it's now down on our hard drives. He says, it sunk in. We understand and gained insight from what he said and what he did.

Here in John 1.14 we looked at last week, and the Word became one flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw, we had understanding of His glory. Glory as of the only begotten from the Father.

It's the same word that he used there in John 1.14. And finally at the end of that is the Word of Life. John again and again as John wrote his major writings, referred to Christ as the Word, and he only varied what words went around it, but consistently referred to Jesus Christ as the Word, the expression of God. In the various contexts in which John saw Christ, he continued to see this is God's expression, this is God's message. We looked at a number of verses and showed this last week.

John 1.1, the Word was God.

In John 1.14, the Word became flesh in our passage today. The Word of Life, and we'll of course look at that more closely. And finally, Revelation 19, His name is called the Word of God. So here, the Word of Life, John's very clear about the character of this word of life here.

He describes it, John and the others are in close company with Christ. Remember, they're hearing and seeing, looking, not just sort of recording it, but gaining insight, gaining understanding for what they saw of Jesus Christ as he walked and talked. John, we're quite clear, even witness, Christ's death and his resurrection and his ascension. John is emphatic as he writes this. This is very real. He talks about seeing Christ with three senses.

He talks about confirming it. We've touched. We've seen. We've heard. The Greek word here in verse 1 actually has the literal meaning, the word of the life. Very specific. The word of the life. Now what does he mean by that? What does that tell us? John understood Jesus Christ in this way. He was the one with whom he and the other apostles walked and lived and talked and ate. They spent lots of time together. Jesus Christ is the singular expression of God's very being, God Himself. He was also the one true source of life, true life, real life. Think about this. What was John talking about when he wrote that they touched the Word of Life?

Can you think of instances when they touched Christ? Usually you find Christ touching others. As a matter of fact, one of them that comes to mind for me is when Jesus washed all the disciples' feet. Did He not touch them all? Can you imagine that? Here is someone you look at, here's the Word of Life. Here's the Lord Himself, and He's washing my feet. I want to gain a little bit of cultural insight here, it's not in your handout.

Among the rabbis of the time, there was a tradition that a rabbi could ask the students under him to do various things, but there were certain rules about you couldn't ask them to go too far. You could ask them to do lots of things, but not everything. One of the rules was you do not, as a rabbi, ask your students, your disciples, to wash your feet. So Jesus, who is referred to eight times in the book of John, the Gospel of John, They started off, the disciples started off a sentence calling him rabbi, teacher. So here, their rabbi went way beyond the rule where the rabbi is not allowed to ask the disciples to wash his feet. And he says, no, we're going way beyond that. I will wash yours. There's no rule against that. Isn't that amazing?

He touched every one of them. He most certainly did. And John could clearly claim, yes, we touched him. Because, in fact, he touched each one of us. But there's another instance. And this one, I think, grabbed them even more. Here is Christ after he was resurrected. The Gospel of John, chapter 20, records it this way. But Thomas, called Didymus, and you know him as the doubter, was not with them when Jesus came. Resurrected. So the other disciples were saying to him, to Thomas, we've seen the Lord! Now Thomas says, yeah, that's cool, I believe you. Right? Not so much. But he said to them, unless I see in his hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger on the place of the nails and put my hand in his side, I will not believe." So what happened?

After eight days, a little bit more than a week, his disciples were again inside, Thomas with them this time. Jesus came and the doors were shut. He stood in their midst, not needing the doors open. said, peace be with you. And so Thomas gave him a high five, right? Yeah. No. Then he said to Thomas, knowing what Thomas had said, reach here with your finger. Touch. And see my hands, reach here with your hand. Put it into my sight. Do not be believing, but unbelieving. Now wouldn't that grab you? Wouldn't that get your attention? Wouldn't you remember that? Wouldn't that be like the perfect tense? It's a completed past action, but man, we can't get it out of our minds. We still see it in our mind's eye. My Lord and my God. Thomas' response. Oh, he's overwhelmed.

Jesus said to him, because you have seen me, have you believed? Blessed are they who do not see and yet believed. Luke 24, 36-43 adds to that that Christ also invited others to look. See the marks? See my sign? It's me. I'm the one who died for you. but I've been raised to life. You're not going to forget that, are you? If you're the one seeing that, definitely not.

Verse 2, And the life was manifested when we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us. Now this is actually kind of a parenthetical statement. This translation uses dashes to set it off. Some translations use parentheses. But it's an inserted set of words, and yet repeats some of the ideas and introduces others.

John 21.1, right after the account we just read of Thomas. Notice we have the word manifested here twice.

And what happened? Right after the account, this is where Peter says, I'm going fishing. And the rest of them say, we're going fishing with you, right? That's when Jesus showed himself. That's when they had fished all night. Of course, they're professional fishermen, very proud of it, right? Caught nothing. Some amateur over on the shore says, put the nets on the other side.

They recognize it's the Lord. especially when the nets were so full that he could hardly pull them into the boat. He manifested himself again, twice, just like in 1 John 1-2. The Lord Jesus manifested himself, made himself visible and known. We have the words here, testify and proclaim.

Now, you might be wondering here, This guy's been wondering too long, there's no hair left. Why both testify and proclaim? Why do you have both of them in there? Well, it's because there's a difference between the two. Both are certainly verbal or written expressions. You could do it either way.

But to testify is to tell the truth about something. And that's one thing that we've noted previously. When John writes, he often uses some sort of a declaration, this is the truth. We made the point, the first eight verses of the book of Revelation are in the form of his day, in John's day, a legal certification, this is true testimony. So to testify is to tell the truth, having legal validity. It's the kind of validity that stands up if challenged in court.

To proclaim is to make a message quite public. not just nominally, but very. That is exactly what the apostles did. They testified, they told the truth, even when they were told not to. They were ordered by the Jewish leaders, don't talk about this anymore. The response, we must tell the truth. They also proclaimed, telling everybody they can about this truth.

Something else shows up, in this verse, actually twice. The life, the eternal life. The Greek text at the end of this second line actually says, the life, the eternal. Having this idea, the life that is the eternal one. The life that is the eternal one. And the question we might ask is, why would he do that? John wrote about life over a dozen times in this letter. He's really big on it. But he recognized the character of this life. Amazing life. Unique life. Phenomenal life.

When he says that Christ is eternal, the life, the eternal one, he's going beyond just saying, well, this is sort of infinite in time. It has other things. It means enduring, continuing. It means changeless. It's a life that doesn't change. And it's also a life that's a certain hope. Real life, genuine life, not I hope so kind of life.

Let's look at here, and you have this on page 3 of your handout. If we look at the first couple of verses, here's the way it comes across. What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands concerning the Word of the Life. And the Life was manifested and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the Life that is the Eternal One, which was with the Father and manifested to us.

Imagine, as they saw Christ in the places they saw Him. Sometimes fairly normal kinds of things. They've been fishing all their lives. They saw Him right along the lake, the Sea of Galilee. When we lived in Carson City, well that was six years ago. When we lived in Carson City, I used to make reference to Lake Tahoe, because Lake Tahoe is similar in shape, to the Sea of Galilee, but the Sea of Galilee is two-thirds the size. It's not a huge lake, but it was a time the Lord and the disciples spent a lot together.

Imagine along those shores in the course of the things that you do all the time. Here is one who is so remarkable. Yeah, we've been fishing and we've been on these shores. We've seen lots of people come and go. But this is the life. This is the eternal one.

Paul agrees with John. Christ who is the life of us, in Colossians 3, 3 and 4. For you have died, and the way Paul puts it, coming across in the Greek, and the life of you is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is the life of us, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Christ is specifically life. He is uniquely life. He is uniquely the Eternal One.

Now, I'm going to ask a question. Of course I ask lots of questions, right? Would you like to worry a while? Do you enjoy that? Just a really nice worry, right? Do you like worrying? There's different kinds. You can have different flavors if you like. Different sorts of worry. You can pick your kind. Whatever's your favorite, you know.

Here Christ, here's the Gospel of John. Here's John writing again. Christ starts off in chapter 14. Do not let your heart be troubled. Instead what? Believe in God. Believe also in me. And he tells them that he's going to prepare a place for them. And he gets a question out of who? Thomas, the one who's doubting. Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going. How do we know the way?

And Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. The Greek also has the definite article. No one comes to the Father but by me. He is the unique life, the only life. Have you discovered that? You can look for life all kinds of places. And in reality, you look at, do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. You want to deal with the worries? Go to the life. His life. That's the way to deal with a troubled heart. His life.

You could put it, verse 6, this way. I am, because that's ego, a me, which as we pointed out in the past, is a statement uniquely claiming, I am God. I, being in fact God, am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.

Now, we want to point something out here, and begin, oh, I'm asking a question again. Ever wish somebody posted a warning sign? Or even some kind of a sign? Driving down the road and you're supposed to take that turn off, but the sign wasn't there? or conditions in the road that you'd wish you'd had some sort of a warning about. You know, like if there's a bridge out, you want to know about that, you know, before you get there, right? Now, you know, if you're starting driving on a road and you notice it's going off in the mountains and the road's precarious, you want to know before you get there, right? And if the road ahead of you is in really bad shape, you want to know before you get to the road.

Warning signs are really good. All kinds of signs. They're warning you of different things. It's really good to have a warning. So what is John doing here? In part, he's also giving some warnings here. Like this one. Dead end, stop, and there's good reason. It's good to have a sign there and not discover why they should have had one. John is issuing a critical warning. You have this on page 3 of your handout here.

Saying that Christ is not actual and real is a spiritual dead end. Notice how emphatic John is. We heard, we saw, we touched. ears, hands, real, very real. Saying that Christ is only spiritually or mystically true is a spiritual dead end. Saying that Christ didn't actually die and resurrect physically in a real body is also a spiritual dead end. By the way, that's the Muslim teaching. Somebody else died. Saying that we can find life in anyone or anything else is a spiritual dead end.

John is emphatic. The life, the life, the life, the eternal one. That kind of life. Now, let's go into verses 3 and 4 here. Here's the form of that, if you look at the pattern that's there. What we have seen and heard, John summarizes next, farther down in those two verses, as simply these things.

We proclaim, we write. He expresses verbally and he expresses in writing here. What we have seen and what we have heard, we proclaim to you also. And these things we write. These words are actually summarizing the first two verses. He's given us detail and even redundancy in the first two verses to make sure we really get the point. Here he summarizes them. Those things we've seen and heard.

Those are the things we're telling you about. Whether verbally or in writing. And then you have the so that's. There's a so that. And there's a so that. You've got them on your handout too. These are the really big becauses. John is one who is famous when he writes to tell you why he's writing. And he does that here as well.

So that Our joy may be made complete. Now, just so we got that here, he's not doing this Clint Eastwood thing, go ahead, make my joy complete. That's not what it's about. Alright, what is he saying? John's purpose here is to tell us for the purpose of fellowship. Got that? To tell us for the purpose of fellowship among us who believe. And, our fellowship with Christ and the Father. That's where he's getting with this. And finally, for full and total joy. You ever think, just kind of ponder, what's a complete joy, or an ultimate joy, or a total joy? That's what John is aiming at here. So that you too may have fellowship with us. John is inviting us with these words into fellowship.

It's a fellowship that the Apostles have been having with each other because they know Jesus Christ. It's something that they share together because of Jesus Christ. The next two lines there, Indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. It's not just fellowship with other believers. that he's talking about here. But with the Father and with Jesus Christ His Son, in whom we are. One of the things we pointed out in the past is, if we have put our trust in the Lord, if we have put our trust in Jesus Christ for salvation, then we have guaranteed irreversibly a relationship with the Lord.

What John is introducing here, because remember the Gospel of John is written so that you might believe. He is writing to people here who already believe and therefore have the relationship. He is writing about fellowship. Fellowship. Day-to-day. Intimacy with Christ. Day-to-day, one day at a time, one moment at a time. The relationship is not in question. That's already a done deal. It's the fellowship he's talking about here. Fellowship among believers. Fellowship with the Lord. And finally, so that our joy may be made complete here. This is the joy that John has called us to.

And it's not just some sort of improvement. Years ago, My dad, who was one of these early Silicon Valley executives, moved the family up to this farm. And the first thing that we lived in was a shack about the size of a trailer, only it had been there for many, many decades, maybe a hundred years.

This thing was really old. And, I mean, it was bad. If you look out the knot holes, you could see the chickens go by. It was that kind of thing. And, of course, when we moved into this thing, there was no shower. It didn't have that. So, we made one.

Shower on the outside. Inside, there was a sink. And so you'd hook up a hose to the sink, and you'd have somebody on the inside, you know, adjusting the water temperature. But the water was always cold unless you started the wood stove. And then when it got hot, boy was it hot. And so here you are, you're outside, and you've got this plastic sheeting around you, so you're not going anywhere. And somebody on the inside is listening to your muffled voice, you know, hotter, hotter, You know, that kind of thing.

And so it was really hard to say what's better. This isn't just a modest improvement. But this is like our visit to the optometrist. Ever have that? Which is better, this or this? And you're hoping that he doesn't prescribe those glasses for you. The Lord is not looking for some slight improvement. Sometimes the optometrist will switch the lenses. Which is better? I don't know. I can't tell. It's not like that.

He says this is full-on, full-out joy. This is a joy that's independent of the circumstances. It's total. It's full. It's complete. And it doesn't come from how things stand right here. Somebody asked me earlier, you know, how was your week? Well, what they're asking about is what were the circumstances like? This is a joy that doesn't, thank the Lord, doesn't depend on my earthly circumstances.

So, why are we doing this? What's the point? Paul wrote, as we pointed out two weeks ago, that as we behold the Lord through his written word, We are transformed from glory to glory. What it amounts to is that God's written word is His glory growth tool in our lives.

John wrote, as we saw last week, that when Christ walked this earth, John and the other apostles, did behold the Lord's glory, looked at and understood the significance of it. We, as we pointed out last week, are changed from glory to glory as we read about John's beholding the glory of the Lord. Isn't that something? John beheld the glory of the Lord. When we read about that, we are changed, transformed from glory to glory by the Lord's acknowledgement.

So, where does this end? In this passage here we find that John is certainly beholding, but he is also touching and hearing Christ, the life, the singular life, the unique life, the eternal one, in this open invitation constantly before us to join in a fellowship, a fellowship that the apostles enjoyed, a fellowship that they had with the Father and with the Son.

They shared it with each other. They shared it with the Father of Glory and with His glorious Son. It's not a kind of a wimpy joy. It's not an almost got there kind of joy. But it's full, complete and total. Eternal, the life, the eternal one. Let's pray. Lord, as we look at this passage, what immense privilege we have to behold you. What immense privilege we have, Lord, to look upon you, the life, and to continue to be invited to that fellowship and being able to count upon that relationship that's established for eternity, never in question. We thank you for what John has shared with us, Lord, and we thank you that we can have and look forward to a complete and total joy, a joy that does not disappoint, a joy that is centered upon intimate fellowship with you for now and for eternity. We give you thanks for all of that. In Jesus' name, Amen.