Jesus tells a story about two men who die. One, a heartless rich man, and the other, a poor man named Lazarus who in life suffered as a beggar at this rich man’s gate. Lazarus, upon his death, is escorted by angels to the presence of Abraham to be comforted. The rich man, in contrast, suffers fiery torment in hell. The rich man pleads with Abraham calling across the chasm that separates them, begging to have Abraham send someone to warn his brothers of the hellish fate that awaits them after death. Abraham replies, “If they do not believe Moses and the Prophets, then they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” (Luke 16:31)
The irony is that Jesus did rise from the dead and, as he stated prophetically in this story, still many people, both then and today, do not accept his testimony.
But let’s make the question personal: what testimony would you require to convince you that this life is not all that there is, and that your eternal fate, without the pardon of God, will be the same fiery hell experienced by this rich man?
Jesus came to testify about spiritual realities. He told the pharisee Nicodemus: “If you do not believe when I tell you of earthly things, how then will you believe when I testify of spiritual things?” (John 3:12)
Clearly God needs to establish the authority of Jesus so that people will listen to him. This is where our passage in 1 John starts:
- 1 John 5:6 This is the one who came by water and blood – Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is truth.
Water, blood and Spirit are the three that all testify to the eternal life of the Son of God, Jesus.
What does it mean to come by water and blood? Jesus came in the flesh, as a human being. When Mary’s water broke, and Jesus was born a natural birth, he came through the water and the blood of Mary.
For Jews they will see parallels to the rebirth of the nation of Israel, when it was born out of the captivity of Egypt, because the people came through the blood of the Paschal lamb, a sacrifice to spare their first born sons, painted on their doorposts, and through the waters of the Red sea.
We too, in order for us to be born again to eternal life must come through the blood of Jesus, the sacrifice of the only Son of God shed for us, and through the waters of baptism.
How does the Spirit testify? The Holy Spirit of God is a living guide who communicates directly with our spirit. One essential role of the Spirit is to lead us into all truth, see John 16:13. It is comforting to know that we have help in discerning the truth and in recognizing the folly of sins like lust, hatred, and pride and the benefits of virtues like forgiveness, generosity and integrity.
- 1 John 5:7-8 For there are three that testify:[1] the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.
All three testify to Jesus at his baptism, when he starts his ministry. John the Baptist, a blood relative of Jesus, preached a water baptism of repentance. The water cleansed, purified and sanctified the repentant soul setting them apart for God’s purposes. Jesus insisted that John baptize him, to fulfill all righteousness. The Spirit bore testimony to Jesus being the messiah at his baptism, alighting upon him as a dove. John gave testimony from the Spirit: “behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (see John 1:29-36). Jesus, shed his life blood on the cross, as the Paschal lamb, and fulfilled this prophesy. When the soldier’s spear pierced his side both water and blood flowed forth testifying to Jesus’ death for our sins (see John 19:34).
- 1 John 5:9 We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his son.
The Father also spoke from heaven and testified at the water baptism of Jesus: “This is my son with whom I am well pleased”. (Luke 3:21-22) Truly all of these testify together to the eternal preeminent nature of Jesus!
God is willing to testify to the truth of his Son. If a seeker is willing to ask God honestly about Jesus, my experience shows that God is willing to confirm the truth about Jesus. When I, in prayer as an earnest seeker, asked God about Jesus, He said to me, “You may call me by that name.”
- 1 John 5:10 Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.
It is hard to imagine someone ignoring the words of God himself. But we can read about those who called Jesus demon possessed (See John 8). It is good to remember that we too, in our sinful pride, were lost in rebellion against our Creator and that He loved us and reached down with grace toward us. He is not like us. He never lies. He is completely trustworthy. What God is saying here is that you cannot believe in God without Christ, otherwise, because of God’s gift and proclamation, you are making him out to be a liar. The simple uncomfortable truth is that you cannot be reconciled to God if you reject Jesus, his Christ.
- 1 John 5:11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
John wants us to know that this is the word of God himself! From the mouth of Adonai, Yehuwah, the Great I Am: Jesus is the source of eternal life, the spring of living water, a gift to us. As he said to the woman at the well: “you would ask me and I would give you living water, whoever drinks this water will never thirst again. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (See John 4:10-14)
This life that Jesus offers is not only talking about physical life after we die, but about an eternal quality of life, a spiritual life, that is joyous and peace filled, that we can access and live now in fellowship with His Spirit living in us. Jesus is the source of true peace and joy, not just happiness.
- 1 John 5:12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
There are many counterfeits to true eternal life. People can be extremely moral do-gooders appearing “good” but spiritually dead.
People like JWs can be extremely religious putting effort into all the spiritual things like attending worship services faithfully, doing charity work, even reading devotions from their holy books and evangelizing others, but themselves be lost. People can isolate themselves in monasteries, or like the Amish, separate from the world and still be deceived. Eternal life comes only from having Jesus.
Got Jesus? Get life! No Jesus? No life!
Religion, morality, and effort are useless without Him. Religious people, some claiming to be “Christian”, can easily become focused on all the aspects of their religious observance without seeking to know Jesus and be in a relationship with him, becoming focused purely upon themselves. There are many pious Jews, Muslims, Hindis too, sincere folks, who desire to live a good moral life and please their concept of God. Without Jesus they are all utterly lost:
“There is no other name under heaven given to men by which they are saved.” (Acts 4:12)
Without being purified and forgiven, without His righteousness covering us (by his shed blood) we cannot live in the presence of God. Only in the presence of God does one have eternal life. Life without the presence of God ultimately leads only to death.
- 1 John 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
What does it mean to “believe in the name of the Son of God”? Jesus name in Hebrew means “yah saves” or “God is my salvation”. Believing in His name is trusting that He has done everything necessary to pay for our sins, or as he said on the cross: “paid in full” or “it is finished” (tetelestai) in John 19:30.
This verse is such a key verse that it needs to be memorized. Satan deceives so many people into believing that they cannot know if they are saved. It usually is based upon a misunderstanding of the role of works. For example, many Roman Catholics I have talked with will say: “you can’t know if you’ve done enough good to go to heaven, only God knows”. This mindset is tragic and completely false. You will never do enough good to merit salvation! Salvation is a gift of God, that comes through faith in Jesus alone. (see Ephesians 2:8-9). Just take this verse at face value and believe. What a gift it is to know that we have eternal life!!! We do not need to fear physical death; for a follower of Jesus, it is merely a transition from this world to our eternal dwelling that Jesus has prepared for us in heaven (see John 14:1-6).
Let’s read this verse again:
- 1 John 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
Eternal life is a funny thing. If it were in this world with everything remaining the way it is, then I don’t think many people would want it, or at least they would weary of it eventually after they had received it. But the life Jesus talks about is in heaven, not in a broken world corrupted and driven by sin and subject to decay. Eternal life in that context is something we can barely imagine. In perfect bodies, free from pain and sorrow, having been transformed into the image of Jesus, free from selfishness and the temptations of sin, living in a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness and peace, a world that is no longer cursed and fallen…
Yeah, that sounds pretty good.
Come quickly, Lord Jesus.
[1] “in heaven, The Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit and these three are one.” The Latin Vulgate includes this addition, which I put in quotes. Apparently, it was a later addition in the Latin translation of the scriptures to help explain the translators understanding of the “three”. If this were accurate, it is certainly the clearest reference to the trinity to be found in the scriptures, but in my estimation is probably not really what John was saying in context.
Atheist to Elder 