WORD OF LIFE

When we consider that this epistle was one of the last to be written, it is all the more remarkable to see that John has not lost his sense of wonder at the truth he records in the opening verse. Sixty years may have elapsed. Many events may have passed into history, and some trials continue, but John’s enthusiasm remains. Should this be surprising?

The eternal God, the One who is the source of physical and spiritual life, the One who is light, was manifest in flesh. This, in itself, is a momentous truth, one that Paul describes as a great mystery, 1 Tim. 3.16. We cannot understand the detail of ‘how’, although God has revealed to us ‘why’.

John, in his gospel, tells us that the Word not only became flesh but that He also ‘tabernacled among us’, John 1. 14 RV margin. For the brief span of His earthly life the Lord did not choose the palace or the pomp of men. He was found in despised Nazareth and was associated with publicans and sinners. How remarkable!

John remembers. We, His disciples, heard Him! And what an impression His words left upon their minds and hearts. Truly, ‘Never man spake like this man’, John 7. 46. We saw Him! ‘Behold ‘tis Jesus. Jesus fills thy wondering eyes’, J. Denham Smith. ‘We have looked upon’ Him, v. 1. Transfixed by their vision of Him, they watched him intently ‘with a contemplation that was a mingling of wonder, awe, and admiration’, Kenneth Wuest. We handled Him! From one who leaned upon the Saviour’s breast, there could be no greater testimony to the reality and wonder of the Lord’s humanity.

What a privilege to have been in the company of the Word of Life, God’s revelation to man! To have stood with the one who spoke, ‘and it was done’, who ‘commanded, and it stood fast’, Ps. 33. 9. To have seen His power demonstrated at the coffin of the son of the widow of Nain, Luke 7.14, in the house of Jairus, Luke 8.54, and at the grave ofLazarus,John11.43.ButJohncan testify of a greater power that has transformed guilty sinners into ‘the sons of God’, 1 John 3. 1, that has made alive those ‘who were dead in … sins’, Eph. 2.1.