1 John 1

Today we begin the Epistles of John. John, the one that Jesus loved, not only wrote the Gospel of John but also the great book of Revelations. An awesome orator, he would be the only one of the Apostles that died after a long and peaceful life. Or was he? After his trial, he was thrown into a vat of boiling oil, after that he was brought back to life before their very eyes, then sentenced to Patmos where he wrote the book of Revelations, and only after serving his time on Patmos, did they release him. He then went into today’s modern- day Turkey where only then did he live the rest of his life in peace. In these Epistles John brings us a very deep study, only in the way John could ever tell, with that, 1John 1 and verse 1 reads.

1John 1:1] That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;

Notice that Word is uppercase, this is Jesus Christ. John walked with Jesus and Jesus called him “The one that I loved”. Jesus loved John, and John will give a great testimony of Jesus in these epistles.

1John 1:2] (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)

Manifested means “To make known”. To show us eternal life, that he (John) and others would witness and give their account. Now this was better said in John 1:14 and it reads.

John 1:14] And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Now, going back to 1John 1:2 we see this word witness, G3140 Matureo in the Greek, you can see our word Martyr comes from this word, and it means; 1. to be a witness, to bear witness, i.e. to affirm that one has seen or heard or experienced something, or that he knows it because taught by divine revelation or inspiration. Back to 1John 1 and verse 3 reads.

1John 1:3] That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

That by their witness and writings unto us that we also might fellowship with them and believe in Jesus Christ that he was indeed the Son of God.

1John 1:4] And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

He is saying, it is our desire for you to know what we know.

1John 1:5] This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

John wrote this in his gospel, John 1:1-5 and it reads.

John 1:1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Notice that John started this epistle where he began his gospel, beginning with the Word, this is so important for us to understand that Jesus Christ is the Living Word.

John 1:2] The same was in the beginning with God.

Telling us that Jesus and God are one in the same.

John 1:3] All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

All things made in the beginning were made with Jesus because Jesus was God.

John 1:4] In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
[5] And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

Jesus is that light, and we are the children of that light. This is why we came here, to show that we are the children of God. There are others that are not of God, these are Kenites, children of that wicked one. Mat.13 the parable of the tares tells us this. Back to 1John 1 and verse 6 reads.

1John 1:6] If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

“If” is conditional, pay attention to this he says it often, when he does it means it comes with a condition.

1John 1:7] But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

This was his answer to the condition, his blood cleanses all sins, to believe in him being the Son of God. John 3:16, whomsoever.

1John 1:8] If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If you say you have no sin you are a liar. Notice the “If” again, repentance came at a high cost, Jesus on the cross.

1John 1:9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

We confess to the LORD, not to other men, and we are forgiven.

1John 1:10] If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Without confession, our sins remain. His word is not in us, Jesus is the Living Word, and if he isn’t in us, then we die because of our sins. Let’s go to his throne.

Father, we thank you for your word and ask that you bless all that love you in Jesus’s precious name, Amen.

KJV along with The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of The Bible