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. (1 John 1:1-3)
Sometimes life seems unreal. All of us have had days where we felt like we were in a fog. We may have felt like we were in a dream world. At those times nothing seems real.
How do we know what’s real anyway? How do we know that this is not all a dream? How do we know that we weren’t created five minutes ago with all of the memories of a lifetime? People have been asking these kinds of questions for years. Perhaps you have played these kind of mind games yourself. Everyone wants to believe that they know what is real, but often we doubt our own perception of reality.
This is compounded by the fact that we live in an age of doubt. Skepticism, speculation, and differing opinions all characterize our age. We live in a time where it’s hard to know what to believe. It’s hard to know what is true, what is real.
Now, this is nothing new. In every age there have been the skeptics, doubters, speculators, philosophers, and debaters of opinions. Perhaps in our age we have refined it a bit with the appearance of the television talk show where totally ignorant people can share their preposterous opinions and where gullible viewers believe them! We should not be surprised that people have no idea what is real.
But even in the day in which John wrote this letter, opinions concerning reality abounded. First John was written in a climate of uncertainty. Skeptics, then as now, had their theories about God. John wanted to share what he had experienced personally. He wanted to share what was real. John, and others like him, had experienced the ultimate reality of God. This was not just a theory to him. This was a certainty. He had encountered the eternal.
Many people live their entire lives without thinking very much about unseen realities. A lot of people are more concerned with the material world than the spiritual world. And when they do begin to think about the spiritual realm they are often easily duped by the so-called psychics, who are in fact charlatans pretending to be psychics in order to take your money. Because most people have no knowledge and experience of the true eternal God, they are easy prey for many of the new age gurus who are ready and waiting to help them – help them out of their money, that is! We need to know what is really real. We need a personal encounter with the eternal and a personal experience of the life of God. What about you? Have you encountered the eternal and experienced the life of God?
Consider with me the realities that John puts forth in this opening section of his letter.
It is interesting that there is no introduction to this letter. John does not start with a greeting, or even an explanation of who is writing the letter. It seems as if he is more interested in getting right to the point. He does not want to waste any time with introductions. He has something to say and he wants to say it. He has a message about the God who is there.
In the very first verse he speaks of that which was from the beginning. He invites us to look back to a beginning. But what beginning?
We are all familiar with beginnings. All of us have experienced many beginnings. I’m sure our parents remember when we began to walk. We may remember when we began school. We remember beginning high school, beginning college, beginning our first job, beginning our career, beginning our family, and some may be looking forward to beginning their retirement. These are all significant beginnings.
But I have not yet mentioned two of the most important beginnings. There was the moment when we began to live in the world outside our mother. We call this birth. That is the second most important beginning. The most important beginning was the time when we began our relationship with Jesus. We call that the new birth.
You might be wondering why I consider our first birth to be the second most important beginning in our lives. You may argue that unless the first birth happened the second birth could not have happened. And you would be right. But I contend that without the second birth the first birth is a tragedy.
You see, the Bible teaches that there are two possible births and two possible deaths. Everyone experiences the first birth – the natural birth. Some experience the second birth – the spiritual rebirth. When the Scriptures speak of the first death they are referring to physical death. Unless Jesus comes, everyone will experience this death. But when the Scriptures speak of the second death they are speaking of the eternal death of Hell. And some will experience this death as well.
Those who are only born once will die twice and those who are born twice will only die once. If you are not only born but born again, you will only die once and immediately enter into eternal life. But if you are only born once and do not experience the new birth, you will not only die a natural death but suffer an eternal death in Hell. This is why I say that the second birth is the most important beginning we experience.
But we have only talked about beginnings that we experience. Think back past all other beginnings to the ultimate beginning. This is the time when no other beginning had ever taken place. This is the moment of the beginning of all things. Some scientists are calling this the Big Bang. But whatever view you hold, this is the time when the beginning happened. If we could somehow go back to that point of time, we would find that something was already there!
Something preceded the ultimate beginning! Indeed, someone was there before the beginning! This is the person to whom John points. This is the Eternal One. He is the one spoken of in Genesis 1:1 where it says "In the beginning God . . ." John picks up on this theme in his Gospel, where the first words are "In the beginning was the Word." And now he speaks of that which was from the beginning. In other words, before anything else was, God was. He is the Eternal One. He is the Prime Mover. He is the Cause of all beginnings. He is the ultimate reality behind all reality. This is really the message of all Scripture. God is there. God is real. God is!
It is not enough to know, however, that God is there. The questions immediately jumps to mind – Can we make contact with this God? Can we experience this God, or is this God merely an impersonal force in the universe? Is He simply the Prime Mover or First Cause? Did He simply begin everything and leave? Or is He involved with His creation in a personal way?
John answers these questions immediately. His answer tells us that his life has been experienced. God has revealed Himself to us and people have actually experienced God. Listen to what John says:
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.
John is talking about something they had personally heard, seen, looked at, and touched. Of course, he is referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. The message that John was proclaiming was the message of Jesus Christ. The Word of life is the message of the living Word of God, Jesus Christ. And they had personally experienced Jesus Christ.
When John says in verse two that the life appeared, we are reminded of what he wrote in his Gospel where he said that "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." (John 1:14) He goes on to say that "We have seen it and testified to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us."
In other words, God has manifested Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus appeared; they saw Him, experienced His life, and now can do nothing but proclaim the reality of the possibility of eternal life for all.
This brings us to the essence of his message. If God is there and He has been experienced by others, then you can experience His life too. John goes on to say, "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." In other words, God has not merely given this experience to a few. He intends that many experience the reality of new life.
Notice that this new life is found in a relationship. Christianity is not best described as a religion. Christianity is a relationship with the living God through Jesus Christ. John describes it by using the word fellowship.
Experiencing God brings us into fellowship on two levels. We enter into a vertical fellowship with God Himself and into a horizontal fellowship with other believers. John indicates that those who receive this message proclaimed would have fellowship with us, that is, have fellowship with God’s people. And he indicates that their fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. Christianity is about entering into a relationship with God and with God’s people.
It all boils down to experiencing the eternal. Have you encountered the eternal and are you really experiencing the life of God? You see, the eternal is real and has been experienced by others and you can experience it too! But how do you do that?
Well, the first thing you need to do is look up. Recognize that God is there. God is real. Even we Christians sometimes diminish the reality of God’s presence. We need to have our sense of the real presence of God restored. Someone has said that when you say to an older Christian that "Jesus is coming" he wants to debate your theory of the end times, but when you say to a new believer "Jesus is coming" he looks up. We need to cultivate that upward look. We need to expect to experience the presence of the living God.
The next thing we need to do is commit our lives to knowing God. We must focus on the eternal if we are going to experience God. He must become our pursuit in life. It is not enough simply to be born again. We must live our lives for Jesus. We must commit ourselves to do the things that bring us into a closer and more intimate fellowship with Him.
And finally, we must burn our bridges behind us. True commitment to Christ means that we never turn back. We must let of things which pull us down and keep us from moving forward with our whole hearts. We must lay our life at His feet if we are going to experience the eternal life which He has to offer. I think it’s a great exchange, don’t you?
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