Eternal Life Manifested

Good day

We continue with the first Epistle of John.

1 John 1:1-4: “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, concerning the Word of life— ² the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us.”

This is really a mouthful. I had to read it a few times to grasp the reality of what John said here. What is it that the disciples, to whom John is referring here, have heard, seen and handled? John said it was concerning the Word of life, which he told us in the first chapter of his gospel, was Jesus.

We learn that it was from the beginning, was from the Father and was manifested to the disciples through the Word of life, namely Jesus Christ. Do you remember what happened right in the beginning in Genesis? Once Adam and Eve were created, the Lord gave them instructions and told them they were not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17). We know that they messed it up for all of us, and in His resulting dealings with them in Genesis 3:22 “the LORD God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reaches out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever…’”

It would have been nice to know what history would have been like if Adam did not sin. What was the Lord’s initial intention with the man He created and had spent such intimate time with? Why was the tree of life in the garden?

We get a glimpse of Father’s eternal intention in our passage above. He had planned internal life with man from the beginning. That was the reason Jesus, the Word of life, was manifested to the disciples. But they did not only look upon it from a distance. They heard it, saw it, felt it, and handled it – they had a good taste of what eternal life was like. I am confident that if we were to ask one of them what it was like, words to describe it would be lacking.

As we read further in 1 John 1:3-4 we see: “That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. ⁴ And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.”

What did John tell his readers of the time? He invited them to come and rub off from the disciples as they had rubbed off from Jesus, through whom eternal life from the Father had been manifested, and were still rubbing off from both Him and the Father through their constant fellowship. They tasted eternal life through the way Jesus lived and lived themselves like that, and everybody who followed their example tasted the same eternal life. The Father, by His grace, made the Holy Spirit and the living Word of God available to us, so we can rub off from them and have fellowship with them, and with those people we know who have discovered the same.

Dear reader, eternal life is not for one day. Eternal life is to live like Jesus lived. If you desire to know how He lived, simply read the New Testament asking the Holy Spirit for revelation.

Holy Spirit, please teach us eternal life, so our joy may be full?

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.