1John 5:21 - Lastly, fare well in firstlies...

”Little children, guard yourselves from the idols.”

-This then is the last thing he says to them, to his readers, to us.  Not any kind of traditional leave-taking, which of course would have been customary (and still is), particularly if you had any kind of relationship with your reader(s).  So it would be safe to conclude (again) that John most likely does NOT know those to whom he is writing.  But he does care about them.  Again he calls them (and us) little children. this now the seventh time he calls us that in this letter.  Obviously he cares, he has a fond affection for us, he sees himself in some kind of a fatherly, protective, corrective role with us, his readers.  Our big brother, John, who’s watching out for us.

-Yes, he wants to protect us and guard us, his readers, his younger brothers and sisters in the faith, protect us from false teaching and from false teachers, from the value systems of the world, from the schemes of evil one, and really from anything which might distract us from simple and pure devotion to Christ (like Paul - cf 1Corinthians 7.35, 2Corinthians 11.3).  John certainly wants his readers to avoid slipping back into any kind of syncretistic devotion to pagan idols.  This would necessarily have included the cultural practice of idol worship.  All these are some of the forces from without, things outside us over which we often have no control.  We may not be able to control these outside influences, like our culture and how it devotes itself to various forms of godlessness.  But we do have control over the inside, over our heart, out of which flow the springs of life.  Long before John wrote to us, Solomon advised us to watch carefully over our heart (Proverbs 4.23).  As it turns out, the battle for our faith turns here, it is the fulcrum of our faith - to whom or to what do we (ultimately) give our heart?  And is this not the fundamental nature of an idol, something which we make ultimate instead of God, which we put in His rightful place?  John warns us against idols, and among the nations, they are wont to craft statues and images which represent (i.e. take the place of) deities and spirits.  These are the traditional idols to which John is certainly referring, at least in part.  Of course in the modern west we know that such an idol is no more than the wood or clay or metal out of which it is made (1Corinthians 8.4).  An image, or a statue, or anything else, is not an idol - UNTIL - we give it our heart in a way that supplants God from being utmost in our affections.  But as such, anything can (and indeed does) become an idol IF (and when) we give it our heart.  This is the one thing which only we can control, and this then is the heart of what John is warning against.  Because it is the one thing which has the most potential to trip us up in our walk with the Lord.  So, John says, guard yourselves, people.  It is an aorist command, which means we make a simple, once-and-for-all decision to stay away from any lesser affections and to (p)reserve our primary devotion for the God Who made us and loves us and Who alone can satisfy the deepest longings of our heart.  It’s not that we don’t find joy in another, in something lesser, but rather that we keep it and everything else in its proper place in the hierarchy of our affections.  We keep it in perspective.  In enjoying that which is fundamentally lesser, we recognize and affirm that any such joy and pleasure we may derive from the lesser is made possible by the greater, by our Great Joy-Maker and Giver Himself.  We (learn to) turn earthly joy into thanksgiving and worship, and channel that into even greater enjoyment of Him.  First things (or Thing) first.

-Not a farewell then, but an urging to fare well in this, in "firstlies", in keeping First Thing first.  Lastly, and firstly, and above all else, keep Him Who is the First and the Last first and last and above all else.  The last comand John gives us here reflects the heart of the Great Command, to love the Lord with ALL our heart and soul and strength.  It echoes the essence of the first (four) of the Ten Commands - you will have NO OTHER gods before Me.  In other words, set Me apart in your hearts and lives and keep Me first.  Nothing else in My place, He says.  We put nothing else, no thing, no person before Him.  First place.  Head of the table.  That is God’s place - and WE GET TO CHOOSE!  We are the ones who determine who (or what) sits in God’s place, first place - nobody else.  No one else can put anything else in God’s place in our hearts.  And they can’t make us.  The world can’t make us, our family can’t make us, the devil can’t make us, our boss can’t make us.  Our flesh can’t make us.  Now, these can (and do try to) make that choice extremely difficult.  Sometimes their efforts are overt and extreme.  Other times they are more subtle.  But in the end, and every moment of every day, I get to choose.  I do choose.  Choose now, John says, and choose wisely.  Choose the Lord, before anything or anyone else.  Once and for all.  Lock it in and rip off the knob.  What’s your pleasure?

1John 5:20 - Stalkers

”But we are having come to know that the Son of God is come and He has given to us understanding in order that we may be knowing the True, and we are in the True, in His Son Jesus Christ.  This is the True God and eternal life.” 

-We know who we are.  We know Whose we are.  And we know Him Whose we are.  We know the Son of God and He Who sent Him.  And we are His.  This One Who was in the beginning, God the Son, eternal almighty Creator, co-equal with the Father.  We know this One Who became flesh and walked among us, coming to seek and save the lost, bringing life abundant overflowing and eternal.

-We know Jesus, and God the Father.  He Who is true.  The one true God.  He is God, and there is no other (Deuteronomy 4.39, Isaiah 45.5).  There is no one like Him, Who is over all and in all and through all, from Whom and for Whom are all things (2Samuel 7.22, Ephesians 4.6, Romans 11.36, 1Corinthians 8.6).  He made all things (Isaiah 44.24, John 1.3, Acts 17.24-25), He can do all things (Job 42.2) - for Him all things are possible (Matthew 19.26).  Nothing is too difficult for Him (Jeremiah 32.27, Luke 1.37).  This is Who we know!  And we are IN Him (cf John 17.21).  This is not about dry detached knowledge.  It’s about identity - see who we are in v 18, permanently and forever forgiven and set apart, secure in His forever love.  But it’s more than that even.  It is intimate friendship (1John 1.3), fully and forever caught up into His love (1John 4.16), His Words and His ways (1John 2.5-6), into His very being.  We are so into Him, so IN to Him, focused on Him, becoming like Him, caught up and absorbed with Him, with the things of Him.  It can (and very well should) look like obsession.  Everything about us is all about Him, it all goes back to Him.  Stalkers - that’s what we are.  God-stalkers.  Stalking Jesus.  It is Count Zinzendorf exclaiming, “It is He!  It is He alone!”

-And why should we not be magnificently obsessed with this heavenly pearl?  Jesus is the true God.  God the Son, the only begotten God (John 1.18).  Make no mistake.  He left us no other option.  He truly did make Himself out to be God (John 10.10, 10.33).  John recorded it then, and he restates it for us now.  And this is Who we know!  Jesus is also eternal life.  There is no other source, no other way - He alone is the life (John 11.25, 14.6).  In Him alone is life (John 1.4).  He alone has the words of eternal life (John 6.68).  Yes, He is the Resurrection.  Raised by the Father to eternal life, never to perish or decay or break down.  Magnificently raised to unfading glory.  Breathtaking goodness forever and ever.  And when we come to know Him He gives this same resurrected eternal life to each of us, an unfading crown of glory which He reserves in heaven for you and for me (1Peter 1.4, 5.4) - whenever we hear His voice, and believe in and follow Him (John 10.28).  Knowing Him, and the one true God, and Jesus Christ Whom He sent - THIS is life, eternal life (John 17.3)!

1John 5:19 - The Wiley Wolf and His Wooly Blindfold

” We are having come to know that out of God we are and the whole world is lying down in the evil one.”

-We are of God.  John says, we are His.  We belong to Him.  We know who we are, and we know Whose we are.  We are out of God.  Out of this world.  And thus we know whose we are NOT.  Because the whole rest of the world belongs to the evil one.  He who is in the world, the prince of the power of the air, the ruler/god of this world (cf John 12.31, 14.30, 16.11; 2Corinthians 4.4; Ephesians 2.2).  He is no god, but for now, in this present age, he da man.  He goin’ down, but hedaman.  He’s sort of in charge, the quintessential flunky.  He’s been cast out of heaven down to earth, and is being allowed to run things for a season while the harvest is gathered, given not-entirely-free reign to wage his smear campaign on the breathtaking goodness of our heavenly Father, the true almighty Creator.  Doing his darndest to try and steal and kill and destroy as much as he can before he is finally thrown into the lake of fire, he and all his despicable minions with him.

-And yes, the whole world is literally lying down in him.  They bend over backwards to aid and abet his sinister schemes - often unknowingly.  They literally don’t know what they are doing, daily casting God out of mind and receiving an outcast mind in exchange.  They are exchanging the Truth and Glory of the Creator for that of the creature, giving their hearts and lives to and bowing down before whatever they suppose might fill the infinite abyss in their soul.  Resisting the promptings of God’s Spirit, and opposing and ridiculing His people at many a turn.  Their godlessness plays right into the nefarious plans of the evil one, but yes, this alliance is largely an unwitting one.  They know not what they do, said Jesus (Luke 23.34).  The evil one has them duped, blindfolded by the wool worn by this wiley wolf.  He has blinded their eyes (2Corinthians 4.4) and is holding them captive to carry out and consummate his desires (2Timothy 2.26), desperate as he is to take down with him to destruction as many would-be saints as demonically possible.

-Yes, the world is in lock step with the evil one, whether deliberately or duped, and together they will do their darndest to try and dissuade anyone from naming the name of Jesus, from aligning themselves with and following Him.  They are closing minds and hearts - and doors.  They disrespect and discourage.  Mislead and mistreat.  The body they may kill, but God’s Truth - and His people, those who are out of Him - abideth still.  We are His if we are in Christ, if we have placed our faith and trust in Jesus, we are destined for a heavenly home and to walk the streets of gold in that glorious city, and we will endure forever and a day.  Forever and always, amen. 

1John 5:18 - Who and Whose are you?

”We are having come to know that everyone having been begotten out of God is not sinning, but rather the [One] begotten out of God is guarding him and the evil one is not touching him.”

-Three know’s to close out this letter.  We know who we are.  We know Whose we are.  And we know Him Whose we are.

-First, we know who we are (and are not).  We are saints, not sinners.  Everyone begotten by God is not sinning.  In other words, God does not make sinners.  He makes saints.  Holy ones.  Ones who, like Jesus, always do the things which are pleasing to the Father (cf John 8.29).  That is what you and I are, IF we have truly trusted in Christ.  When He undertakes to regenerate any of us, we become an entirely new creation.  Totally brand new.  The old things have passed away (2Corinthians 5.17).  Old sinful habits, the me-first me-better old man - gone.  At least - that’s the idea.  For now, while we live in this tent of dying flesh, we clearly still stuggle against the old man, our should-be-crucified/fleshy/sin prone-nature.  But that’s the idea also, that we are able now to NOT sin and that we do indeed struggle AGAINST it.  We do not continue to live in it and constantly give in to it.  John here uses the present tense, as in an ongoing act in the present.  Ongoing sin in the present does not happen for the true child of God.  We do not go on sinning.  Occasional lapses - they will happen.  As long as we tarry in this mortal flesh, we will struggle with sin.  But the saint SHOULD BE (ongoingly) striving AGAINST sin, fighting against that dying, shrinking impulse to indulge the threefold self.  If you find yourself (or a supposed brother) giving in to disobedience, repeatedly, habitually, then it becomes fair game to question whether there HAS been a new birth.  This is what John has been getting at in this entire letter.  No one who as a general lifestyle closes their heart towards their brother, or who regularly fails to do any of the other things which God wants, has truly been born from above.  They are not a begotten child of God.  And this is not about attending a meeting - it is about my heart.  It is about a heart of love - for God and my neighbor.  Look at the product, and you can know where it was produced.

-The wonderful promise attached to this truth of the divine birth is that of divine protection (1Peter 1.5).  God guards His children.  Those who are truly His in their hearts, those whom He has adopted into His forever family and to whom He has imparted His eternal life - these He holds in His hand and ain’t nothing or nobody gonna touch them.  Least of all the evil one.  That deceiver of old, who comes to steal and kill and destroy - he can’t touch this.  Now there may be some divine purpose for which he is allowed to touch our body a la Job, but he can’t touch our soul.  He can’t take away our eternal life.  And he sure as heck can’t make us sin.  The true child of God has that Spirit-assisted power to overcome whatever the gathered forces of hell and the world may throw against him.  John actualy says it is Christ Who guards and keeps us (cf John 6.39, 17.12).  In Christ we are uber-victorious, and you can take that to the bank (Romans 8.37).  Now that doesn’t mean that our lives then are totally free from temptation and trouble.  In this world of brokenness and as-yet-unbended-kness we will and do, if necessary, experience various trials (1Peter 1.6).  For a little while.  For a season.  But joy always comes in the morning - or should, if these magnificent promises are true.  When - and IF - we lay hold of them.  Who are you?  And WHOSE are you?  Do you know?  Next verse?

1John 5:16-17 - Give life to a "brother", or "give life" to a brother?

”If any should see the brother of him sinning sin not toward death, he will ask and He will give to him life, to the [ones] sinning not toward death.  There is sin toward death.  Not about that one I am saying in order that he should ask.  All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not toward death.”

-Oh boy.  This short letter is full of teaching which is difficult to understand, and here we have a doozie.  Sin toward death.  What is that, exactly?  Are we talking physical death, or spiritual death (i.e. loss of salvation - is this brother-in-Christ no longer a brother?), or eternal death (lake of fire/second death)?  And what is the life God gives to the ones NOT sinning sin toward death?  This would of course have correspond to whatever death results from the sin toward death.  But if the sin is not toward death, why would the brother need life?  There is also a question of whether John is referring to a saved brother in Christ, or perhaps merely to a neighbor in the general sense of the brotherhood of humanity.

-Not surprisingly, there are many suggestions as to what might be this “sin-toward-death”.  So-called mortal sin.  There is even an ancient (albeit non-Scriptural) list of seven of them - the “seven deadly sins”: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth.  All of these happen to be forgivable, and none would appear to result in direct loss of life (note - forgivable by no means implies permissable).  Some suggest John has in mind sin against the Holy Spirit (i.e. the unpardonable sin referred to in Mark 3.29, Matthew 12.31-32)(this sin is typically assigned to and reserved for unbelievers, who are resisting the convicting activity of God’s Spirit in the soul, and who will ultimately in rejecting the truth about God will keep Him and His gift of eternal life thru Jesus at arm’s distance all the way to the grave and into eternity - the one thing which God can’t forgive)(which adopting this view would then require one to make the “brother” mentioned here to be an unbeliever - which is not at all how John uses the term in the rest of the letter).  Or perhaps it is some great and enormous sin (such as murder or idolatry), a sin which which was punishable by death in the law of Moses.  Possibly some spiritual sin which brought about the untimely death of the offender (as in the case of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5.1-10 and the abuse of the Lord’s Supper in 1Corinthians 11.30), or perhaps some capital crime committed against the state for which there was no hope of reprieve.

-Here’s truth - ALL sin leads toward eternal death - if unforgiven (Romans 6.23).  John here says there is sin NOT toward death, so he can’t be talking about eternal death.

-Let’s revisit this question - if the sin in mind is NOT toward death, why would the offender need prayer for life?  Seems like the one sinning toward death is the one who stands in need of life, and of prayer toward that end.  And why would John say we don’t need to pray for someone?

-One easy way out is to allow that John actually IS refering to a brotherhood-of-man brother, one who doesn’t have spiritual life, one who still has the possibility of being forgiven and receiving eternal life.  Such a brother, one who ostensibly is not sinning (blaspheming/resisting) against the Holy Spirit, is someone for whom we can indeed and should intercede.  We can pray for them and ask God to open their hearts to repent and believe in Jesus so that they can indeed be forgiven and receive eternal life.  The language vis a vis praying here is future indicative, by the way.  Future fact.  Bankable promise from God.  John says “he WILL ask” and “He WILL give” life.  Now the text does not say “God will give”, but of course we understand that only God can give life.  And so there is potentially a strengthened admonition here to pray for unbelievers, tied to an amazing promise.  Problem is, it requires a different use of brother.  And it requires us to say that all of this sin short of Holy Spirit blasphemy is not unto death, which it technically is.

-One thing we do have here is an immediate application of the truth about asking, that God hears us when we ask according to what He wants.  And He clearly wants us to be praying for people who are struggling with sin and disobedience and unbelief.

-What we may have here is the corporate side of 1John 1.9.  There John tells the reader that if we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  He uses the same phrase here in v. 17.  All unrighteousness is sin.  We understand that a believing brother doesn’t technically NEED to be forgiven or cleansed per se.  Nor does he NEED life (eternal), inasmuch as he already has it.  So what John could be talking about here is an experiential assurance of life and forgiveness for a truly saved brother.  OR, we could be looking at the playing out of a process of entering into eternal life for someone who is associating themselves with the family of God.  They are aligning themselves with God’s children - but the process of salvation is playing out in their life.  They are in our assembly, and are showing signs of following Jesus, which means we love them and lay our life down for them, but there is this possibility that the faith they appear to be demonstrating could fizzle before the finish (which could be true for any one of us - Hebrews 3.12 warns us to be careful that we don’t find ourselves with what is an unbelieving heart).  In which case it would have been faulty from the first.  But so we can be praying for members of our assembly, knowing that just because they assemble with us that they may not have truly trusted in Christ yet, knowing that all unrighteousness is sin and that all of it can be forgiven (unless what they are doing ultimately is resisting the Holy Spirit, i.e. sin unto death)(and note that John doesn’t say NOT to pray for those).  We can pray for this person with the utmost confidence that God wants them to repent and enter in to eternal life.  In this latter instance, we put “brother” in quotes.  In the case of the former, we put “give life” in quotes, since a truly saved brother while he may struggle with sin for a season already has life and forgiveness - he just needs to experience that reality in a deeper way.  So which do you think it is - experiential assurance of life and forgiveness for a truly saved brother, or actual repentance for an unsaved attender of our assembly?  Either explanation works, even in light of the following section.  Next verse...

1John 5:15 - When No Means Yes

"And if we are having come to know that He is hearing us whatever if we may be asking, we are having come to know that we are having the requests which we have asked from Him.”

-So, did Jesus in the Garden (cf Mark 14.36) HAVE the request which He asked of His Father?  What does that mean?  Did He get a YES answer, the exact thing for which He asked?  Surely He fulfilled the prerequisites.  He was filled with the knowledge of what the Lord wanted, surely (John 4.34).  Surely His heart was humble and He was seeking the Lord, totally turned from self.  Surely He always did the things which pleased His Father (John 8.29).  And yet, as far as we can tell, Jesus got nothing of what He asked.  Not any assurance that He had been heard in the least.  There is a possible exception in Luke’s account (Luke 22.42-44), where we do read that an angel did come to strengthen Him, ostensibly in response to His prayer.  Apparently there is some question as to whether the verse about the angel was originally included by Luke (and neither Matthew or Mark mention it).  Nevertheless, we can fairly ask, what knowledge did Jesus have exactly?  Surely God the Father heard His Son.  And He said no.  His heavenly Father, Who said He was well pleased with Him, very much so, said no to His Son.  So what is John talking about here?

-Clearly, what we are NOT talking about IS the ability to turn the Lord into some kind of an automated bank teller, where we zip up, whip out our card and enter the secret PIN to get whatever and as much of what we want.  God is not some heavenly vending machine where we stick in our quarter (well, more than that these days) and push the right button to get our snack or beverage of choice.  This is not Sam’s Choice (altho that soda might still be had for a quarter...?).  This is not about us - it’s about the Kingdom of God, extending the knowledge and celebration of His breathtaking goodness to the ends of the earth.  It's about what God wants.  And that's how Jesus ends His prayer in the garden.  Not what I want, but what You want, Father.  And in this sense, Jesus wound up having the request which He asked from His Father in the truest sense.  More than anything, and in the end, He wanted what His Father wanted, and that's what He asked for in the end, and He got that in spades.  The Father's no was a yes - but that was based on the nature of the ask.  Jesus didn't just ask for what He wanted - more than anything else He wanted what His Father wanted.  And that should be our goal - not to get what we want, but to want what the Father wants.  And when we get to that place, even a no can be a yes.

1John 5:14 - Our Divine ATM?

”And this the boldness is which we are having toward Him, that if anything we may be asking according to the desire of Him, He is hearing us.” 

-Certainty breeds boldness.  Confidence.  It grows and flows from a heart which is fully assured before the Lord.  When we know for sure that we are in the Son, that we are having trusted in Him and have entered into this eternal, ever-present relationship with Him, this inspires confidence.  It is the house built not on shifting sand but on the Rock, and this idea has been recurring throughout this letter (cf 1John 2.28, 3.19, 3.21, 4.17).  Confidence/boldness in judgment.  Confidence in His presence.  But the confidence John is thinking about here - while it is tied to assurance in our relationship with God - is not directly about being confident THAT we have a relationship with Him.  Specifically, knowing that God loves us and accepts us totally and forever through Christ gives us confidence in our praying.  The word John uses here in the Greek is “boldness”, and remember, boldness is for speaking.  In this case, we are speaking to God.  It is about our praying, asking of Him.  What do you think bold prayers would look like?

-”IF” we ask, John says.  If we ask.  Surely it begins here.  We do not have ‘cuz we do not ask, right (James 4.2)?  Surely the Lord is saddened by the dearth of our praying, a little dab’ll do ya, so much meat left on the bone.  We throw up a little dash of prayer for favor, praying not without ceasing but rather with much ceasing (1Thessalonians 5.17).  Without a doubt our shortcomings in this matter are in part due to the fact that we LACK confidence.  Surely the Lord is sitting there, our gracious generous heavenly Father, leaning forward in His chair, smiling and just waiting for us to come to Him with our request.  Dad, please do this.  Dad, You can do all things, nothing is too difficult for You - please do this.  If only we would start asking, do more asking, surely we would see more answers.  And answered prayer is contagious, isn’t it?  That alone inspires confidence and emboldens us to keep at it!

-And yes, bold prayers use the imperative.  Just like the prayers of God’s people in Scripture.  Look back at those (Acts 4.29-30, Matthew 6.11, 1Kings 18.36-37), look at the language they use.  They pray in the imperative.  Pretty much always.  Not, “Lord I just pray that You would do this.”  Think about that - first of all, who ever talks like that to a real person?  Who asks of anyone using words like that?  But secondly, suppose we get rid of the jargon and focus on the could and the would.  This is called the subjunctive mood, the mood of verbs expressing what is imagined or wished or hoped for.  It is tantamount to saying, “Lord, I hope You will do this.”  “Lord, I wish You would give us our daily bread.”  Uh uh.  That is not at all how Jesus taught us to pray, nor is it anything like how the early church prayed.  That is not how they rolled.  Lord, do this.  Lord, take note of their threats and extend Your hand.  Lord, give us our daily bread.  Lord, today let it be known and answer me.  They don’t even say please.  Bold.  They are asking, but it sounds more like telling.  The imperative is like that.  It is not forcing someone’s will - they can choose to say no.  Rather it is confidently appealing to their will.

-Now the confidence here specifically stems from a guarantee that God. Hears. Us.  He is hearing our prayers.  Heard in heaven (2Chronicles 6.38-40).  Have you ever prayed and felt like your prayer just bounced off the ceiling, that no one was listening?  Isn’t much of our lack of effort in this area due to the fact that we can easily feel like no one hears us?  That so many of our prayers go unanswered?  Being heard in heaven - I mean, that’s what we want, right (cf Deuteronomy 33.7, Psalm 27.7, Daniel 9.19)?  We want to make sure that our voice is heard on high by the Almighty (Isaiah 58.4).  Or do we?  ‘Cuz clearly this is no slam dunk (Isaiah 59.2).  But let’s assume that most of us would love to know that our Dad has heard us, that He is listening, don’t we ?  And Dad hearing us kind of implies a favorable response, right?  So, turns out there is a massive ‘if’ clause attached to the confidence here...

-Asking according to His will.  According to His desires, what He wants.  John says, IF we ask anything according to what God wants.  IF - we need to fulfill this condition, if we want to be sure that God hears us.  Paul points us in the right direction, asking the Lord to FILL the Colossians with a knowledge of what He wants (Colossians 1.9).  And of course, when you are filled with something, that thing controls you and changes your behavior.  We can do this too, ask the Lord to fill us (and others) with a knowledge of what He wants.  But this brings us to a place in our relationship with God where we not only know what He wants but we want what He wants.  What He wants so consumes us that it controls us and changes our behavior.  And what does God want, exactly?  What does He desire?  How about humble hearts (cf James 4.10) and seeking His face (Deuteronomy 4.29, Psalm 27.4) and turning from self (cf 2Chronicles 7.14)?  How about seeking and wanting what He wants (Matthew 6.33, 7.7)?  For starters.  But so we’re not simply praying and asking for and expecting to get what we want.  Things which we would spend on our selfish desires (James 4.3).  We can do this, of course, ask for things we want.  But let’s be perfectly clear that we’re not talking about some heavenly vending machine, where we just put in our quarter and push a button and out comes our snack.  God is not this divine ATM Who exists just to dole out cash and blessings and whatever we want just to make us happy.  To be sure, He IS doling out confidence, but in the end, it is and needs to be all about what He wants.  Mark 14.36 is instructive - Jesus there uses the imperative in asking the Lord for something which He clearly wants (to not have to be crucified), but affirms in the end that He wants what His Father wants.  More than anything.  Brothers and sisters, by all means, let us pray, but let us begin here, with setting our desires on more fully on Him...

1John 5:13 - kNOw doubts...?

”These I wrote to you in order that you may be having come to know that you are having life eternal, to the [ones] believing unto the Name of the Son of God.”

-Know.  It can describe the state of having a relationship with someone - you know them (and there is a Biblical sense of that which we won’t go into at this point).  Or you can have truth/fact about something or someone, you know this or that or the other.  Understanding.  Knowledge.  It’s certainty - you know.  It’s a funny sounding word, in English it sounds exactly like our negative - but that’s English for you.  In fact, it comes from the Greek - gignosko, or ginosko, meaning to know, and gnosis, meaning knowledge.  Agnostic, ignorant - these all derive from this same Greek root which speaks to this state of having accessed and acquired truth about something or someone.  But whereas in Greek, the ‘g’ before the ‘n’ is silent, in English we have a silent ‘k’.  Who knew?  Some kneehigh knave with a knot in his knickers and a knife in his knapsack telling knock knock jokes?  Knot likely.

-John knew, that’s who.  He talks about knowing, about accessing and embracing truth (AND about knowing the Father and the Son in relationship), more than any other writer in all of Scripture.  The word shows up 40 times in this little letter (132 times in his Gospel!).  John clearly values awareness and certainty about the Truth of God, knowing His truth AND knowing Him.  John wants his readers - US - to know the One True God, to have this eternal relationship with Him, and to be certain about that, to know for certain that we have eternal life.  This is why he has written this letter.  kNOw doubts about Jesus...

-Now you can possess facts about something, and let’s assume it is true, but to actually KNOW that something, you must trust in its truth.  Become persuaded that it is in fact true (which is the essence of faith).  Confidence.  You may have encountered facts about Jesus - that He is the Son of God - but you don’t KNOW that until you are having trusted in that truth.  Until you have allowed that truth to sink into your heart and mind and settle down as settled fact.  You KNOW it when you are fully and finally persuaded that it is true.  Elvis is dead.  You don’t KNOW that until you embrace that truth.  There are no more Cinnabons - someone ate the last one.  You don’t KNOW that until you accept it, embrace it.  Someone might try to convince you, but until and unless you become convinced of it, you don’t know it.  You must believe it in your heart.  That’s what we call faith.  It is trust.  You trust that it is in fact true.  Now one can become absolutely convinced of something which in fact is not true.  Belief, trust, conviction, sincere faith - does not make something true.  There is truth (and falsehood), and there is KNOWing, knowledge of truth.  John KNOWS.  He knows what - and WHO - is True, Who is Life, and Who is the true and only source of (eternal) life (John 1.4, 3.16, 5.39-40, 6.47-48, 10.10, 11.25, 14.6, 17.2-3).  John not only heard these words of life from the Life, he saw it and touched it.  He is an eyewitness.  Seeing is believing (KNOWing), right?  But he is concerned for those of us who did not have that same opportunity, and wants us to nevertheless have the same level of certainty which he himself has.  About Jesus.  And the eternal life which He alone offers.  Absolutely certain.  100%.  It’s a fair question - if you were to die tonite, God forbid, how certain are you that you would be with Jesus?

1John 5:12 - ABJ and The Way

”The [one] having the Son is having the life.  The [one] not having the Son of God the life is not having.”

-John makes it incredibly simple and straighforward for us.  He puts it in no uncertain terms - Jesus.  God’s Son.  If you have Him, you have eternal life.  And the inverse is also true - if you do not have the Son of God, you do not have the life.  And the order is important - you start with Jesus.  Jesus said it Himself: “Truly, truly, I say to you, the one hearing My Word and believing the One Who sent Me has eternal life, does not come into judgment but rather has passed out of death into life. (John 5.24)  This is eternal life, that they may know You, the One true God, and Jesus Christ Whom you have sent.” (John 17.3)  It is begins, and ends, and goes on forever, right here... with Jesus.

-You wanna live forever?  Jesus.  You wanna go to heaven?  Jesus.  Sorry, Virginia, there is no other way.  There is no other Name, there is eternal life in no one else (Acts 4.12).  The spirit of our age longs to find another way, doesn’t it?  Desperately insisting that there are many paths, many ways to find eternal life, all equally good and valid.  To each his own, right?  All paths lead to the same destination, don’t they?  There are no absolutes, right?  No one way, no one truth which is absolutely exclusively true, right?  Except for this truth, of course.  It is absolutely true that no one truth is absolutely true - that’s what they insist, don’t they?  As they contradict themselves all the way to the grave.  It’s generally not so much that they have found a better way - it is a fundamental reluctance to admit to God's way, to powerlessness and sinfulness, unwillingness to surrender to the God Who made them.  Refusal to bend the knee to Jesus.  ABJ - anything but Jesus.  Whose grave is empty, by the way.  But this is the way.  Jesus.  He is the ultimate fork in the road.  To the right, Jesus.  To the left, not Jesus.  You go right, towards Jesus, you get the life.  You go left, away from Jesus, you get nothing.  Got Jesus?

1John 5:11 - Got life? Go to the Source...

”And this is the witness, that eternal life gave us God, and this life in His Son is.”

-This is the testimony, the witness.  This is what God has said, this is John is stating (and restating) for us, this is what a believer believes, and this the reassurance that God’s Spirit puts inside the innermost being of every believer.  

-Two things, these two great overarching truths which form the core confession of the Christian faith: 1) God gave us eternal life, and 2) this life is in His Son (Jesus).  Eternal life - this is the very same eternal life which John has been proclaiming to us this entire letter.  The very same life which was with the Father, which He alone possesses, but which He manifested in His Son Jesus and has now promised to those who believe (1John 1.1-2, 2.25).  God gave us - fallen, finite, broken, selfish creatures, His mortal/dying enemies (Romans 5.10, Ephesians 2.3) - He gave us eternal life, and this life is IN His Son (Who IS eternal life).  He first gave us His Son - sent Him to planet earth, born into the humblest of circumstances and Who grew up one day to be the (only ever) Perfect Sacrifice for our sins.  Jesus paid the penatly we deserved so that we could have this eternal life, the life we always dreamed of but which we in no way deserve.  

-Yes, God gave us His Son, Who IS the Life, and through His Son gave us eternal life.  It is found in His Son - if/when you find Jesus, you find His life.  Eternal.  Abundant.  Overflowing.  Forever.  This life, while fully paid for, we only see in part in this life.  It’s sort of on layaway, laid up for us in heaven.  And yet in this here life we have this divine seed of life planted in our hearts from the moment we believe, the holy spark of this life eternal which begins as a tiny grain and which will sprout and gradually grow into something truly glorious.  Made in heaven, by almighty God, the Author of life, this One Who brought dust itself to life, life out of nothing.  That’s part of the emphasis here.  None other than God, the God of the universe - THAT is Who gave it.  He is the Source.  You know, if you want something, it makes sense to get it from the one who invented it and is the exclusive distributor of it.  Go to the source.  Copycats and knockoffs usually abound, but in this instance, when it comes to the gift of life, life eternal, there is only one Source.  No need to look anywhere else.  And the only place to find this life - is God’s Son...

1John 5:10 - All the way IN?

”The [one] trusting unto the Son of God is having the witness in him; the [one] not trusting God a liar has made Him, because he has not trusted unto the witness which God has witnessed about His Son.”

-We’re not talking about simply believing “about” Jesus, merely giving intellectual assent to certain facts about Him.  Even the demons do that.  No, something greater is in play here.  We are talking about believing IN Jesus.  Trusting INTO Him.  It is directional.  It is volitional.   We’re talking commitment - and surrender - of the will.  It is transferral, taking my wants and hopes and dreams and my trust and transferring them all INTO Jesus.  This is not mere head knowledge.  No heisman-like stiff arm where I keep Jesus at arms length, dabble in Him from a distance.  Nope, this is climbing on board and stowing away IN Him.  He is the Ark, God’s appointed means of getting throught the flood, but you gotta got on the boat.  Identifying the boat from a distance is not gonna cut it.  Are you IN?

-Now, for the one who puts their trust INTO Jesus, God puts His Spirit into them, a divine confirmation, supernatural assurance of the Truth and understanding of what God has said.  John says, it - this testimony of what God has said about His Son - is IN them, the one who believes IN Jesus.  You know that you know that you know it, in your heart of hearts, put there by God Himself.  It’s not some lofty ethereal truth, floating around out there, somethere in the cosmos or residing only in the minds of seminarians.  It’s in you.  But we’re not talking about gatorade.  This is living water (John 4.10), a mighty flowing river (John 7.38) fed by the Fountain of living waters (Psalm 36.9, Jeremiah 2.13), coursing through my innermost being, quenching my every thirst and flowing out of my life to give life to those around me.  Is it IN you?

-Sadly, there are those in whom it is not.  They have not yet believed, do not believe IN Jesus.  They may have heard about Him (altho many in our world have not).  They may know some things about Him.  To which John says, these ones who have heard and have not believed are calling God a liar.  To not believe what God has said about Jesus, that He is the Son of God, is to make God a liar.  Of course, it is impossible for God to lie (cf Numbers 23.19, Hebrews 6.18, Titus 1.2).  It is simply not in His nature.  Unthinkable.  Inconceivable.  I guess from a certain standpoint, one could say that disbelief in the 21st century is about calling John a liar.  Or the church, to whom the oracles of God were entrusted.  But John heard the theophony (so did other witnesses!), he heard the Voice, the words which God spoke - he knew there was no choice but to believe those words, to trust IN that truth.  And he wrote down what he heard and saw - so that we too could believe INTO Jesus (1John 1.3).  That’s why he wrote this letter.  But the simple fact remains that God by His Spirit still speaks to every human heart today, calling us home to Him, wooing us with His unending boundless love and with the truth about Jesus.  For any of us to stand away in disbelief, to not believe and trust IN Jesus, failure to commit ourselves INTO Him, is the proverbial unforgivable sin.  To do so is to make God a liar.  And He is the consummate gentleman.  He’s not going to force anyone to believe.  If we make Him a liar, we are the ones believing a lie.

1John 5:9 - THE Expert Witness

”If the witness of men we are receiving, the witness of God is greater.  Because this is the witness of God, that He has witnessed about His Son.”

-There is another witness.  John just told us that there are three who testify (the Spirit, the water and the blood), and that is plenty, but there is another (John 5.32) - the very Father Who sent Jesus in the first place (John 5.37).  He Himself testified at the Baptism about Who Jesus is (Matthew 3.17) - He literally spoke from heaven to an entire crowd and stated in no uncertain terms that Jesus is His Son.  Now what He has to say about Jesus and about anything, for that matter, is incontrovertible.  He is unimpeachable, faithful and true to the Nth degree.  He cannot lie.  But let us not underestimate the significance of that event, the Water, when Christ was baptized and came up out of the water and a voice out of the heavens declared, “This is My beloved Son...!”  Anytime God communicates, we would do well to listen, right?  You know how in a trial, when the lawyer produces an expert witness, whose testimony basically slams the door shut on the case?  No further questions, your honor?  Well, here we're talking about THE Expert Witness.  But this instance is noteworthy...

-Scripture records many instances of God speaking to individuals, through angels, in visions and dreams (Numbres 12.6), but it very rarely records any instances when God directly addresses a group.  Even today, there are believers who insist that they heard God tell them something, but essentially never does a group claim to hear God speaking audibly.  Out loud.  A public theophony - the voice of God.  Which He actually did not once but THREE times on behalf of Jesus (cf Matthew 17.5, John 12.28).  Three times means a point of emphasis (third time's the charm, right?).  Each time, the Father affirms for all to hear that Jesus is His Son.  This is no small thing.  He is clearly seriously intent on reinforcing this point, that Jesus IS His Son, in no uncertain terms.

-On the Mount of Transfiguration, we’re told that those who hear this voice of God are terrified and fall on their faces (Matthew 17.6).  Years later, Peter still recalls this as an incredibly moving experience (2Peter 1.16-18).  Majestic.  Holy.  Glorious.  We could reasonably expect that there would be a similar response at any such heavenly declaration.  Interestingly, in the scene in John 12, right on the heels of the triumphal entry, we do not read about such a response, only that it sounded like thunder.  No doubt the sheer size of the crowd and the commotion occasioned by Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem, not to mention the very nature of the feast itself, would have created a general sense of chaos, making it difficult for most bystanders other than those in close proximity to Jesus to get a good read on what exactly did happen when God spoke.  Curiously, neither do we see a dramatic response to the public theophony at the Baptism, where things were certainly less chaotic than at that Jerusalem Feast.  There would have been no mistaking the voice of God in that setting by the river Jordan, and Matthew, Mark and Luke all record the same thing.  To be fair, Mark and Luke record that God spoke more directly to Jesus (i.e. “YOU are My Son”, as opposed to “THIS is My Son”), perhaps indicating that the crowd did not hear anything.  It is also quite possible that NT writers like Luke and Peter and John and Matthew were not at the baptism to experience the Voice and record the response of the crowd the way it is recorded for the Mount of Transfiguration - perhaps what we read about the baptism is limited to second-hand accounts, bare bones testimony which these authors merely gathered from eyewitnesses without much added detail?

-Nevertheless, God (the Father) spoke repeatedly, AUDIBLY, about the nature of His relationship with Jesus, His Son.  He sent His Son, His only begotten Son, into the world to be the Savior of the world, to pay the penalty for our sins and so that we might have eternal life in His name, in the name of His Son, Jesus.  So to all the naysayers, to those militant monotheists, to the skeptics, no less authority than almighty God Himself has testified that Jesus - Jesus of Nazareth - is in fact His Son.  There is no greater source, no higher authority than this - to Him we would do well to pay attention.  Listen to Him... (AND to His Son - Mark 9.7)!  Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart...  Will you believe, and confess/agree with what God has said about Jesus?

1John 5:7-8 - On embracing our "finity" and closing the open-and-shut Case...

”Because three there are the [ones] witnessing...the Spirit and the water and the blood, and the three unto the one are.”

-Jewish law stipulated that facts were confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses - this was a long-standing, widely accepted cultural norm (Deuteronomy 19.15, cf Numbers 35.30, Matthew 18.16, 1Timothy 5.19, Hebrews 10.28).  We understand that this judicial process was put in place in order to help mitigate any violation of the 9th Command, which forbade bearing false witness.  One person could concoct a selfishly-motivated false story about something or someone.  But two or three independent witnesses who would agree about the circumstances surrounding a matter were a sound safeguard against unjust verdicts.  Jesus Himself appealed to this law, and Paul also validated it.  John here is channeling that same principle to further validate the truth about Jesus.  There’s not just one witness testifying about Jesus - there are in fact three.

-Now we have the Spirit, which is one witness.  You’d think that this one witness would be enough to verify the truth about Jesus - esp when the very same Spirit was producing all kinds of attesting signs and wonders and the like.  But John maintains that there are these two other witnesses - and the only potential problem is that they are not persons but rather metaphors for actual events.  The water and the blood.  We have already established that the water represents either the Incarnation or the Baptism of Jesus, take your pick.  Both were accompanied by rather miraculous manifestations and heavenly affirmations, and speak to the truth about Jesus.  The blood certainly speaks to the Crucifixion, which is rather inseparable from the Resurrection on the third day.  No one else has paid the penalty for our sins, and of course the grave couldn’t hold Him, this Son of God.  Both His Baptism and Crucifixion/Resurrection speak to the truth that Jesus is the Son of God and the Savior of the world.  He is the Way, God’s appointed Messiah.  He is the Truth on which we should stake our life.  Because He is the Life.

-It is possible that John is addressing a certain heresy which maintained that “the Christ” was not human and only came on the man Jesus at His baptism and was subsequently removed at the Crucifixion.  These insist that it would be impossible for God to die.  Obviously many a heretic got their start when they insisted on attempting to understand and fully explain one of the manifold mysteries of the Christian faith.  To bring one of these sublime truths down to a human level you run the risk of robbing it of its divine essence.  The truth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, fully God and fully man, is one of these.  Both facets of this mind-blowing truth are found in the Gospels and throughout the pages of Scripture.  To try to fully understand how Jesus could be both fully God and He fully human, how limitless power and perfection could somehow be mingled with frail and feeble flesh is far beyond the capacity of our finite minds, yet to deny either aspect is to strip away the power and majesty of the truth.  It is one of God’s glorious mysteries - and in fact the truth that Jesus is the Son of God touches on yet another glorious mystery.  We could fairly consider how God could be Father AND Son (AND Spirit)?  Son of God means God, but not the same person.  We have one God - something which God has affirmed about Himself from the very beginning (Deuteronomy 6.4) - and yet here we come to understand that He somehow exists in multiple persons.  Three to be exact - Father, Son and Spirit.  Here we thus also touch on what is called the Trinity, another one of God’s glorious mysteries.  How can God be one, yet three?  Again, heresies abound which try to exclude either aspect of this marvelous mystery.  Inexplicable, yet true.  To this Truth, these truths the Spirit and the water and the blood also attest (Matthew 3.16-17, Luke 23.46).  With these three witnesses we have an open and shut case.  Case closed, John says.

-The human mind is of course wired for truth, an innate drive to know and understand, to explore and explain, put there by our infinite Creator Who of course knows and understands all things.  And yet is not our “finity” that which allows us to awe?  There are things which we cannot fathom or fully explain, and that is entirely how it is supposed to be.  We reach the end of our ability to understand, we bump up against the infinite, against that which is beyond us, and we stand back in wonder, and hopefully fall on our knees in stunned silence, in rapture and awe and in wondrous worship at those things which are so far beyond us, at the One Who is beyond and above all things, beyond fully knowing or understanding.  At least, this is how God designed it.  Now, we know in part.  We can know and understand and explain some things.  To be sure, there are those who, rather than stand back and fall on their knees, choose instead to stand back and raise their fist and rail against heaven.  They insist on pursuing knowledge, on being able to fully explain the universe and its divine mysteries apart from the One Who made it and Who made them to know and worship Him.  To these, the Spirit and the water and the blood have something to say, to testify to the truth about Jesus, if they would only have ears to listen...

1John 5:6 - One Messiah, One Martyr

”This is the [One] having come through water and blood, Jesus Christ, not in the water only but rather in the water and in the blood.  And the Spirit is the [One] witnessing, because the Spirit is the Truth.”

-Jesus is the one, the Messiah sent by God.  And He is no angel.  He was flesh and blood, a man born of water, i.e. out of a woman.  He took on real human flesh - the Incarnation.  One of the most incredible, unbelievable Truths of all time.  God Himself stepped down out of eternity and into the womb of a young unwed Hebrew teenage girl, in some tiny unknown backwater in Palestine.  He was born in a filthy stable, cradled in a food trough, and while still an infant, He was hunted for extermination by the king.  He grew up in poverty, and three years after embarking on a teaching ministry, He was summarily betrayed by one of His followers, tried and convicted by His own religious leaders and tortured to death by the occupying Roman army.  And His blood SEALED THE DEAL!  It was victory, not defeat!  In the world’s eyes, He lost, yes, but no - His blood, the blood of the One born of water, this God-made-Man, fully paid the price to ransom US away from sin and death.  To pay the debt of all mankind.  Had to be a human, coming through water, with human blood in His veins, and had to be God, shedding divinely perfect blood.  He is the One.

-And the Spirit is the one.  He is the One Who testifies to the Truth.  The Witness.  The word in the Greek is martyr, which in English of course contains the idea of dying for what you believe to be true.  But this One cannot be killed (and of course you couldn’t see Him to begin with in order to even attempt it).  He is almighty God, God the Spirit - no blood to shed, only truth to disclose and power to show.  In fact, Jesus called Him the Spirit of Truth.  For us, we would consider Jesus to be the martyr, but for John it is the Spirit (and of course they are the same God, though they are different persons).  It is not about dying - it is about seeing and speaking up about it, even if it does cost you your life.  But this One, this Martyr -He saw.  He saw it all - and He is speaking.  He was there when Jesus came through water, at the beginning, at the Conception (Luke 1.35, Matthew 1.18 - He was even there at the baptism, Luke 3.22).  Certainly He was there at the Cross, when the blood poured out.  But now He comes, the Spirit of Truth, sent BY Jesus to testify to the Truth about Jesus (John 15.26, 16.13).  He will bear witness, Jesus said, and so will we, by the power of that same Spirit Who LIVES IN US (John 14.17, Acts 1.8).  Now WE can “martyr” for what we believe... Are you ready?

1John 5:5 - Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

”{But} who is the[one] conquering the world if not the [one] having faith that Jesus is the Son of God?”

-Conquering the world.  Sounds like an 8-hour board game.  World Conquest.  Few would aspire to such a feat, no?  Global domination.  But the aspirations here are not quite so grandiose, are they?  Here we are talking about a different kind of battle, not for power or territory or wealth, but rather for Truth.  Supremacy of truth.  John has already told (reminded) us that the world hates us (3.13), that the spirit of antichrist - that which is against Christ - is in the world (4.3), and is engaged in a desparate attempt to deceive us (2.26), to somehow persuade us to walk in the darkness of sin and dissuade us from believing in and following and loving Jesus, Who is the Truth (1.6).  Embracing truth.  Walking in truth.  Walking out and away from the darkness of the lie and into the Light.  Loving truth and this One Who is Truth.  The battleground is first and foremost in my own heart and mind.

-Today - am I going to believe the Truth?  Am I going to love the Truth, walk in the Light, whatever the cost, am I going to love the Lord with all my heart and love my brother?  Or am I going to cave, capitulate and surrender to the Lie, to sin, to darkness, to hate, to the world and its value system and to the devil and all that opposes God and Truth?   The liar is the one who denies that Jesus is the Son of God, the One He sent to be the Savior of the world.  Whereas the one who trusts that Jesus is Who He says He is, that He is the Messiah, the Son of God - this one is the winner, simply put.  That’s pretty much all there is to it, far more auspicious conditions for this victory.  Simply believing that Jesus is the Son of God - this is how one wins the game of world conquest.  Winner winner chicken dinner.  A spiritual version of Risk, perhaps?  Altho since most of us are not actually aiming for world domination, ours perhaps is better compared to the game of Life.  But there is much more at stake here than a question of who will have the most money and kids at the end of the game.  And this is no game in fact.  No 8 hour exercise of strategy and mental hijinks.  This is a desperate battle not only for my own heart and mind, my very soul, but also for the souls of those around me - my family, my friends and neighbors - a battle of which many of them are not aware, blinded to the spiritual realities all around them, blinded to the Light of the Truth and walking in darkness.  And like mindless minions they unwittingly (many of them) oppose the very Truth which would illuminate their souls and set them free.

-Jesus is the Son of God.  How does that statement set with you?  Victory begins right here.  It is within our grasp, if we would only believe...