”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.
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