The Appearing (1 John 1:2)

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.

 ~1 John 1:2-4~

 

 

 

The life was hidden. Not hiding, but hidden. Hidden through all of humanity's sin and drifting. Hidden thorough our spiritual blindness. Hidden by our stubbornness and pride. Hidden by the obstacles and objects of religion. But the invisible became visible. Jesus became the visual representation, the Father's exact likeness, the seen manifestation of the unseen God. He had always been present, even before everything, and he allowed himself to be hidden until exactly the right time and then he stepped out of heaven onto the stage of the world and into the pages of scriptures and further still written on the hearts of those who have encountered him. Not least of those was John and his friends, who spent 3 miraculous years in his company, eating, breathing and sleeping Jesus. The life appeared, and it was seen and those who saw testified to it.

Everything that follows in this epistle is an extension of that testimony. This they proclaim concerning the word of life and the purpose of this proclamation? That we may have fellowship with them and their fellowship is with the Father and the Son. And for us to share in this fellowship will make their joy complete! This is the nature of those that have been touched by the word of life, that they want to spread his word, and they want others to know him, for his glory and for our salvation. Nothing makes a believer happier than God's glory and sinners being saved.

It was the purpose for which Jesus came.

And this is how the pattern is to be followed.

1. He appears to us.
2. He appears in us.


Lord, by your mercy and to the glory of Jesus
Open my eyes (to see your glory) and then open my mouth (to speak of it).

Amen.