1 John "That Your Joy May Be Full"
The greetings/introductions to each of the New Testament books reveal who Jesus is, His leaders are, and who the church is individually-collective, and this blog series is to help us understand how that allows God’s people to receive revelation into a deeper relational existence than they had prior to knowing this amazing map of our journey that He has given to us.
The greeting of the letter titled 1 John is, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.”
The first phrase that we will discuss today is, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;” This leaves no space for doubt if they had actually been with Jesus and knew who He was intimately.
The second statement I will touch on today is, “shew unto you that eternal life” In Titus it states in, “hope of eternal life,” but this is showing it to them. The reason John is sharing and attempting to show the eternal life is to allow them to have fellowship with them that have experienced it. Jesus is eternal life and gives eternal life because of who He is. People who receive eternal life, and the revelation of what it is, are transformed into different beings than they were before this relation was received. The transformation fills God’s people with joy.
God has this incredible map for His people, and He shares it with them as He knows they can receive it. Continue following the series and find out how amazing the journey can be.
Tomorrow’s blog is 2 John which states, “For the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever.”
