The Sixth Sunday in Easter

1 John 1:1-10

He Really Was Here with Us

I suppose we might say that we are now over the hump of the Easter season.  It might seem a bit anticlimactic to take up another book of Scripture after reading through Revelation, but the remaining epistles of John are prescribed.  I think that this is good.  After all, though Revelation tells us how things are going to turn out in the end, we are still here in the meantime.  We still must live our lives in the here and now, before our Lord’s coming.  How then shall we live?  The epistles of John are excellent for instructing us in the way, so let us apply our minds to them.

The first four verses are intended to drive home a particular point – emphatically.  These verses are repetitive in what they say.  What John wants to make clear in this paragraph of some one hundred words is that “the life” was heard, seen, looked upon, touched, and made manifest – with seen, heard, and made manifest repeated again a few lines down.  Of course, “the life” is God’s Son, Jesus Christ.  John wants us to make no mistake: the Son of God was here on earth and lived a real life.  He took our flesh and assumed our humanity.  John and the rest of the disciples saw, heard, touched, and lived with him.  There were some heretics in that day who were saying that Christ just “seemed” to be among us, that God really could not take our humanity and flesh upon Himself.  That would be beneath God.  These were called “docetics.”

This isn’t a history lesson.  John was not arguing over trivialities.  If God has not come in the flesh, then He did not become one of us; if He did not become one of us, then He did not live our life; if He did not live our life, then He did not die in our place and rise for our justification; if He did not die in our place and rise again, then we are yet in our sins; and if we are yet in our sins, then we are lost and without hope in this world.  Our faith proclaims that a real God became a real man (while remaining God) and died a real death for our sins.  He really rose from the dead (body and soul) and really ascended up into heaven (body and soul, again), and will one day really return on the clouds to gather His Church from all over the earth.  And this God who became man is called Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity.  And he shall one day really sit (he has a body, remember) on a real throne and really judge the real world.  And those who really believe in him and walk according to the truth will be rewarded eternal life in a real heaven.  And those who do not shall be rewarded with eternal death in a real hell.  And this is what the Bible and the Church teaches, and what John would have us know.  Really!

Author: The Reformed Baptist

My name is Stephen Taylor, ordained Baptist minister of eighteen years pastoral experience with a Ph.D. in Historical Theology from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Better than that, I am married to a godly woman, Karla, who has been very patient with me since 1989. I have two daughters, both of whom I homeschooled for extended periods of time, who became godly young women, and who ran off and married godly young men, all of which is very proper. The oldest daughter has even seen fit to bless me with a grandson and a granddaughter, and my youngest daughter with a grandson, all three of whom are bundles of exceeding joy. As you can see, I am quite blessed. This website is dedicated to helping people grow in the wisdom and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ through the gift of writing that the Lord has given to me. It is specifically about helping His people grow in godliness, the theme you see repeated above. I write devotions with this aim and hope that they might be of some help to God’s people. Full disclosure: I am of a Reformed bent, meaning that my understanding of Scripture is primarily informed by the Reformers and their successors of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. However, as a student of church history and theology, I strive to remain true to that teaching handed down once for all unto the saints through every age of the Church. I like to think of myself as a “catholic” Christian, as the Reformers thought of themselves. At any rate, feel free to read, pray, and contact me if you wish, or correct me if need be. As you can see, I tend to follow the church year. Of course, I make no special claims about these devotions. I know very well that others have written better and plumbed the depths of God’s word with greater insight. But if my musings help someone draw closer to the Lord, well then, I have my reward. Blessings to you and may the God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ speak to you that word which He knows you especially need to hear. Grace & peace, Stephen Taylor View all posts by The Reformed Baptist