1 John 1:1-4

"That which was from the beginning which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched - This we proclaim concerning the Word of Life. 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 1:1-4

I can imagine what might be going through the mind of John as he is penning this onto papyrus paper. "I know what I am talking about! I have seen the life (that is the resurrected Christ)! I am proclaiming what I know to be true!" This reminds me of an illustration from a book that I read from Lee Strobel about faith, knowledge, and opinion. Two men were talking about this subject and one of the men, who secretly placed a penny in his right hand said with his fist clinched, "what do I have in my right hand?" The second man said nothing but admitted that he didn't know. He just made an opinion based on the fact that he didn't see the first man put anything in his hand. The first man said to the second, "What if I told you that I have a penny in my right hand, would you believe me?" The second man had to make a choice based on faith. Did he trust the man who knew what he had in his hand. That is called faith. The first man said to the second, "let me destroy your faith." He then opened his hand and revealed the penny to the second man. "This is now called knowledge because you know it to be true", said the first man. John is the first man and we are the second. He knows Jesus to be real because he has seen and touched the resurrected Christ and we are in a position to exercise faith in what he has said. Even if one doesn't believe John's testimony, it is still an exercise of faith. John is writting these things because he is passioate about others enjoying the kind of relationship he has with the Father and the Son. This brings him great joy! God desires to fellowship with us through His Son Jesus and made it possible through the death and resurrection of Jesus. I love how John refers to Jesus in this passage. He refers to him as "life" and "eternal life" for that is what he has been given by Jesus. John is proclaiming to us the same. Praise God for John's testimony and God's desire to fellowship with man. There is no better place to be than living in the center of God's will in unbroken fellowship. It brings life!

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