January 24 – The Word of Life

January 24 – The Word of Life

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 at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.

Instead of a regular salutation, John looks back to his gospel as well as Genesis. He looks back to the beginning.

The wonderful thing when you identify a beginning is that there is probably an end.  In Genesis, the fact that God was there when the beginning started, means that he will also be there when the end arrives.  Now, in the Gospel of John, we discover that Jesus was also there … at the beginning.  Jesus will also be there when the end comes.

We learn something new in this first letter of John.  The person who was there in the beginning is the same person that many people saw with their own eyes, and who were able to touch them with their own hands.  These people, and John is one of them, testify to the fact that the Messiah, Jesus Christ, was actually in their presence.

That is a pretty amazing statement, especially when we realize the profound implications of a human being, albeit God made flesh, was there when everything began.  A man, Jesus Christ, participated in creation of the universe from chaos.  Then, when the time was right, He chose to come to earth as an infant and grow into manhood so the relationship between us and God could be made whole.

I was reading a commentary today which talked about how the creation passages in Genesis set the scene for the relationship of God and humanity throughout the rest of eternity.  God wants to have a relationship with each of us.  John says that his fellowship is with the Father and the Son and that he tells us about Jesus so that we can also be in that fellowship.

That’s the point of it all and that’s a point we shouldn't miss.