Though the Apostle John’s first general epistle is short, it is profound and gives to man an essential message from God. In the last program we learned why man needs a message from God. In this program we will learn how God gives his message to mankind.
Through the centuries God has sent his message to man in various ways. One way God speaks to man is through creation. When we behold the creation at any level we get a message from God. For example, if we think about our own bodies, as the Bible asks, “He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, shall he not see?” (Pslams 94:9) Or if we look at the universe, The Holy Bible tells us, “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament showeth his handiwork.” (Psalms 19:1) This is the form of revelation, which we call natural revelation. It is the revelation of God which comes to us through everything which God has created, that is through nature. This form of revelation reaches all people everywhere in all periods of human history. Because it communicates such a powerful message about God there are people who try to suppress this truth from and about God which is revealed in this way. They, “ …hinder the truth in unrighteousness; because that which is known of God is manifest in them; for God manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse…” (Romans 1:18-20)
While natural revelation is fundamental and does reveal God’s “invisible things” that is “his everlasting power and divinity” to man, it is not as complete a form of revelation as we need. The Bible, in the book of Job, reminds us that while natural revelation is a great blessing, we still need a more complete form of revelation. It tells us, “Lo, these are but the outskirts of his ways: And how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?” (Job 26:14)
To fill the need for a form of revelation which is more informative than natural revelation, God gave man verbal revelation. That means a form of revelation which is given through the use of words, that is by the use of human language. The Biblical book of Hebrews tells us, “ God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son …” (Hebrews 1:1-2) So, God used men to present his message in human language. The men whom God used are called prophets.
However, while revelation through prophecy can give man a more precise and , more complete and more detailed message than natural revelation can, there may be false prophets who would lead people in the wrong way for reasons of pride or profit. No one can imitate natural revelation, though many have tried to minimize it or disregard it, but many people have tried to imitate verbal revelation. Almost as soon as true prophets began to present God’s message to their fellow men, false prophets arose to draw people after themselves. However, God used two methods to authenticate those prophets who truly had been sent by him. Those two methods are miracles and predictive prophecy.
For example, God spoke to his prophet Moses and said, “When thou goest back into Egypt, see that thou do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in thy hand…” (Exodus 4:21) The message of Jesus Christ, the greatest of all prophets, was also corroborated by miracles. Jesus’ Apostle John wrote, “Many other signs therefore did Jesus in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in his name.” (John 20:30-31)
In the same way that a true prophet’s message is validated by miracles it is also confirmed by the fulfillment of predictive prophecy. Man in his own wisdom and only with his own intelligence cannot know the future. Only God can tell us the future. Therefore, a prophet who really fortells the future is working by the strength and command of God. For example, Moses teaches us, “And if thou say in thy heart, How shall we know the word which Jehovah hath not spoken? when a prophet speaketh in the name of Jehovah, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which Jehovah hath not spoken: the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously, thou shalt not be afraid of him.” (Deuteronomy 18:21-22)
The highest form of revelation, higher that natural revelation and higher than verbal revelation is personal revelation through example. Jesus Christ is not only the Messiah, he is the Word of God and the Spirit of God (See 2 Corinthians 3:17). We cannot separate God from his Word and from his Spirit. Therefore, whenever we are in the presence of the Word of God and the Spirit of God we are in the presence of God! That is why Jesus Christ was called Immanuel. That name means God With Us. So when Jesus came it was not God sending down as He did through the prophets but it was God coming down! It was not God revealing his word but God revealing himself! This, indeed, is the highest form of revelation!
This greatest revelation is the message of the apostle John’s short epistle which we are studying. John does not reveal something new about this message for he tells us, “Beloved, no new commandment write I unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning: the old commandment is the word which ye heard.” (1 John 2:7) So this epistle has no new message from God but that very message which came from and through Christ. It is the message “which was from the beginning” (1 John 1:1) There are two major purposes for which John writes. First of all, everyone of the the followers of the Messiah to whom John writes had received the message by hearing it. It was “the word which ye heard.” (1 John 2:7) Because of this short letter, along with the other writings in the New Testament, we now have the message in written form. In this way the message took the form of Scripture. Though no one after Jesus ascended back to God was able to listen to the oral message again and again, we can read the Scripture over and over till we understand even the depths of the message.
The second major reason John writes this short epistle is to show us the certainty of this highest revelation. It was not a message which came by hearsay but a message which was given in a way that permits the closest and most exacting scrutiny. Regarding that message he tells us, “that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld, and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life (and the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare unto you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us)” (1 John 1:1-2)
The way the message comes to us is that “…having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard” (Hebrews 2:3) Those hearers through whom we receive this highest of all revelations were a special group about whom Jesus said, “and ye also bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.” (John 15:27) However, the message was not transmitted only by the power of memory by those witnesses but Jesus promised them, “when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13)