Whoever Has the Son Has Life (1 John 5:6-12)

What is the way to life, a true and eternal life? Obeying the commandments of God is the way to life, the full and eternal life, the life of excitements and expectations. Our Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated on a cross how to obey God, even to the point of death. He died not for his sin but for the sins of the world in obedience to the Father whose will was to crush the Son in order to redeem and reconcile the lost race through him. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) Christ came to the world according to the Scriptures prophesied and foretold and offered himself in the heavenly temple as the sin offering for the redemption of the world. He was the promised Lamb of God, says John the Baptist. Whoever believes in the Son God sent does not perish but have eternal life. But anyone who does not have the Son does not have life. There are three that testify the coming of the Son Jesus Christ sent by the Father in heaven—the Spirit, the water, and the blood.

“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 the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. 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. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1 John 5:6-12)

One, the Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit of God. Every believer in Christ has received the Spirit as the gift of God. Jesus promised to send the Spirit of truth when he ascended into heaven after his death and resurrection. “If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” (John 14:15-18) What does the Spirit do? “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.” (John 16:13-15) He guides us into all the truth because he is the Spirit of truth. He tells us what is yet to come. He glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ and makes known to us, the mysteries of God. Most importantly, the Spirit does not speak on his own but speak only what he hears. He speaks what he receives from the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father God. He also prays for us when we do not know what we ought to pray for. “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” (Romans 8:26-27) The four Gospels record what our Lord Jesus spoke and did while he was on the earth. He came down to the earth and died and bled on a cross in our place, and on the third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God until he put all his enemies under his foot. The new beginning is set to begin. On the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended down from heaven as he promised on one hundred twenty people who were praying in the temple courts. The Book of Acts records the Spirit’s guidance, work, leading, envisioning, protection, deliverance, and revelations. It is called unfinished book because the Spirit is still working mightily and faithfully in our midst. Our Lord Jesus Christ is ever more present among us, guiding and strengthening, encouraging, leading, revealing all the truth. Have you been encouraged and motivated to come to the study time of the Scriptures in your hearts? That is the undeniable evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit in our midst.

Two, the water. It indicates the water baptism. In the country of Israel, a voice in the wilderness broke the long four hundred year silence of heaven, saying “Repent! The kingdom of heaven is near!” The voice is that of John the Baptist. He was such a remarkable and striking voice in the wilderness with the spirit and power of Elijah that all the children of Israel came forth to listen to his message and be baptized in the Jordan water. Jesus also came to him to be baptized and John protested because he was the one who should be baptized by him. However, Jesus told him to baptize him in order to fulfill all righteousness. When the Son was baptized in the water, the heaven was opened and the Spirit came down from heaven as a dove and remained on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17) Our Lord Jesus Christ had no reason to be baptized for he was sinless. He was baptized in our place, assuming all the heavy burden and load of the world. It testifies that he was the one prophesied and promised to come by the Law and the Prophets. “The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.” (John 10:2) God in heaven reaffirmed the Son Jesus as the Messiah of the world when he faithfully obeyed the Father by being baptized in the water.

Three, the blood. It indicates the death of the Son Jesus Christ. He had no reason to die because he was sinless, born of the Holy Spirit. Jesus died and bled on that cross of Calvary. In fact, he came to bled and die. Not all man die with blood. But Christ must shed his blood and die for the sin of the world. Even the copy of Christ’s death requires blood by the Law of Moses that every offering offered in the holy place must be accompanied with the blood of animals. “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” (Hebrews 9:22) Jesus of Nazareth was the right one to come to save the world through the suffering of being afflicted and crucified on a cross. John the Baptist cried out to him, “Behold! The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) Some seven hundred years before Christ, Prophet Isaiah prophesied the coming of the suffering servant to bring a righteousness from heaven. Through his wounds and afflictions, all may be healed and reconciled to God.

“Who has believed our message

and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

He grew up before him like a tender shoot,

and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by mankind,

a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

Surely he took up our pain

and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

stricken by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to our own way;

and the LORD has laid on him

the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted,

yet he did not open his mouth;

he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away.

Yet who of his generation protested?

For he was cut off from the land of the living;

for the transgression of my people he was punished.

He was assigned a grave with the wicked,

and with the rich in his death,

though he had done no violence,

nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,

and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,

he will see his offspring and prolong his days,

and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

After he has suffered,

he will see the light of life and be satisfied;

by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,

and he will bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,

and he will divide the spoils with the strong,

because he poured out his life unto death,

and was numbered with the transgressors.

For he bore the sin of many,

and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isaiah 53:1-12)

God spoke through the Law and the Prophets. It was the will of God to crush the Son and cause him to suffer. Even before the time began the Son was to come and suffer much. The Spirit, the water, and the blood are the testimony of God. It is the way for God to save the world. The Son cried out with a loud voice, saying “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?” (Psalm 22:1) Through his death and his blood, we have been cleansed and washed away from all unrighteousness. “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:7-9) Jesus Christ paid the full payment for the sin of the world. There is nothing unpaid for purging our sins away. He is the propitiation for our sins forever. “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2)

Three testify consistently and faithfully that the Son Jesus Christ is the way to life, the true and eternal life. The Spirit, the water, and the blood testify that anyone who has the Son has life. Jesus is the bread of life. “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35) Anyone does not have the Son Christ does not have life. He was the Word in the beginning. He made all things with his word. He made man in his image and in his likeness. He knows what man needs—redemption and reconciliation which leads back to life through him. He is the way, the life, and the truth. There is no other way to come to the throne of grace in the holy presence of God the Father of all glory except through the Son Jesus Christ. What does it mean to have the Son? To have the Son means to believe in him whom God sent as three testify. Our Lord Jesus explains what it means to have the Son in our daily lives.

“Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” (John 6:53-58)

This is a figurative language. It means to depend on him in everything because he is everything for life. He is our real food and drink. He bled and died for us to give a way out of hunger and thirst. He is all we need, nothing more and nothing less. He died while we were still enemies of God and now how much more he gives what his beloved children ask. We have been made and adopted as God’s children in Christ. He gives us life now and forevermore, even more abundantly. He gives more when we obey a small thing. And more and more when we obey one after another. Three testify it is true.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:25-26)

September 29, 2017

© 2011-2017 David Lee Ministries – All Rights Reserved.

Do Not Hide Your Face from Me (Psalm 102:1-28)

What are we before the Holy God? Who are we truly? Are there any difference between Christians and non-believers in Christ? Yes, there are much in many ways. In Christ, we have been redeemed and cleansed by his blood and made righteous, so we can stand in confidence and boldness before the throne of grace. A way is open for the believers to access into the holy of holies in Christ. It does not mean to automatic cruise in following and obeying God in Christ. It still needs a daily decision through the faith in Christ. Jesus says so, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34) What is not different between Christians and non-believers in Christ? Obviously, they are the same human beings whom are subjected to all kinds of struggles and frustrations all the days of their lives. Christians are never immune to troubles and difficulties in lives. Rather, it is true and real that every believer in Christ shall go through the tough lives as all others do. Jesus plainly tells his disciples that they will be persecuted for the cause of Christ just as our Lord was under persecution. “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (John 15:19) God is in heaven where all things are under his rule and authority. There is also rebellion by the devil in heaven. He is a liar and the father of lie. He is a murderer and the father of rebellion. The devil cannot be accepted by God for he is always against the One who made all things that has been made including the one who rebels. He is a deceiver and the father of deception. He is a troubler and the father of trouble. As the devil disguised himself as a shining one in the Garden, so does he in the midst of human lives throughout the time and space. The saints in the Old and the New are the targets of the devil in the midst of troubled lives. The Psalms is reflecting the lives of the saints, especially how much they were under the severe attack of the devil. Here is one, Psalm One Hundred and Second Chapter, in which a psalmist is crying out to the Lord God to hear his plea.

“Hear my prayer, O Lord;

let my cry come to you!

Do not hide your face from me

in the day of my distress!

Incline your ear to me;

answer me speedily in the day when I call!” (Psalm 102:1-2)

See how much an old saint, probably David, is under his stress. It is like an orphan cry. There is no exaggeration in his plea and appeal to the Lord. It is an urgent call for help. This is what we are. We are in desperate need of help. If anyone is not in need or they say that they not in need, they are telling a lie. Human beings have never been made to live without depending on the One who made mankind in his image and in his likeness. He is God who created all things. Apart from God, man is lost and going nowhere. Man is made to depend on the One who made him. Life in time and space is a school time to learn what we are and how to handle lives. In our midst, we have been made to call for help constantly and desperately for we are essentially in need of everything. We need air to breathe, water to drink, bread to eat, relationship to be connected each other, the sun in the day and the moon at night, and rain for all life. We are in need of A to Z because we have nothing what it takes. God is everything what it takes. So, we keep on asking for help, crying and pleading to the Person God who keeps on giving whatever we ask. That is what we are and who we are from the beginning to eternity.

For my days vanish like smoke;

my bones burn like glowing embers.

My heart is blighted and withered like grass;

I forget to eat my food.

In my distress I groan aloud

and am reduced to skin and bones.

I am like a desert owl,

like an owl among the ruins.

I lie awake; I have become

like a bird alone on a roof.

All day long my enemies taunt me;

those who rail against me use my name as a curse.

For I eat ashes as my food

and mingle my drink with tears

because of your great wrath,

for you have taken me up and thrown me aside.

My days are like the evening shadow;

I wither away like grass.” (Psalm 102:3-11)

Listen to the cry of the psalmist. He is depleted, defeated, powerless, helpless, pitiful, lonesome, groaning, overpowered, beaten, crushed, exhausted, hopeless, tired, weary, and drained and withered like grass and smoke. In fact, that is the experience of all human beings. The Teacher who wrote his experience in Ecclesiastes expressed the futility of humanity, saying “Meaningless! Meaningless! Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2) One generation comes and goes, leaving all kinds of unsolved problems behind though they had struggled hard to solve them. Misery and futility are the marks of humanity all over the places. Every generation has been trying to make the world better and the life easier. Nevertheless, all generations have been going through the same struggles and troubles over and over again. No one is exempt and free from this brutal and cruel tyranny of burden and anxiety. All my days are like the evening shadow which seems like there is something but goes away without trace, says the psalmist. Eating, sleeping, sex, such desires persist, so we sustain but what for? For better future? But there is no tomorrow. We live today and now. Tomorrow never comes. Is that it? No, it is not all. There is a God who made all things in purpose and drive. The sigh and cry of humanity are designed to see what we truly are. To see and know what we truly are is the first step to enter into the mystery of God in which we understand the meaning and goal of all sufferings and troubles in the midst.

“But you, LORD, sit enthroned forever;

your renown endures through all generations.

You will arise and have compassion on Zion,

for it is time to show favor to her;

the appointed time has come.

For her stones are dear to your servants;

her very dust moves them to pity.

The nations will fear the name of the LORD,

all the kings of the earth will revere your glory.

For the LORD will rebuild Zion

and appear in his glory.

He will respond to the prayer of the destitute;

he will not despise their plea.

Let this be written for a future generation,

that a people not yet created may praise the LORD:

‘The LORD looked down from his sanctuary on high,

from heaven he viewed the earth,

to hear the groans of the prisoners

and release those condemned to death.’

So the name of the LORD will be declared in Zion

and his praise in Jerusalem when the peoples and the kingdoms

assemble to worship the LORD.” (Psalm 102:12-22)

There is a God who sits on the throne in his awesomeness and mightiness and all beauty and glory. He reigns and rules in justice and righteousness with full of compassion and pity. In him, there is no partiality and favoritism. All peoples are being treated and loved and cared and judged equally based on what they do. He is mighty and glorious that nothing can contain him in our language or understanding. He is what he is that he is. That is his name. Now he is unseen and invisible in our eyes, but fully seen and visible in the spirit. He is in heaven and omnipresent in his fullness and majesty in our midst. He is all power and authority and nothing can compete with him. His resurrection power was exerted on the third day at the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified and buried, conquering the last enemy of man, the power of sin and death. “That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” (Ephesians 1:19-23) No power, authority, and dominion can prevail the glorious throne of grace. Our Lord Jesus Christ prevailed the world through his death on a cross, being cursed, condemned and ashamed in our place.

Our God has power and right to judge all man on the earth. Nevertheless, he sent his Son Jesus Christ to the fallen world to die for us that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Our God is infinitely powerful and thousand and one reasons to judge humanity and yet he sent the Son of Man just as he promised even before the time began. Because our God is compassionate and merciful. “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.” (Psalm 103:8) Our Lord Jesus shows full of compassion on those who are poor and helpless like orphans and widows. “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matthew 9:36) Though he is sitting in the highest heavens, he sees and listens to the groans of the prisoners like that of this psalmist and all mankind and releases them through the power of resurrection. He fulfills and satisfies those who are poor and hungry in spirit, pleading and crying out to him day and night. In the parable of the persistent widow, Jesus tells how quickly the heavenly Father will listen to the cry of his children who are in anguish and agony. “And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Matthew 18:7-8) Apostle Paul makes the same encouraging words of truth, saying “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” (Romans 5:9-10) He is saying God loved us while we still sinners, the enemies of God. Now, how much more shall he love us who have been adopted as his beloved children in Christ.

“In the course of my life he broke my strength;

he cut short my days. So I said:

‘Do not take me away, my God, in the midst of my days;

your years go on through all generations.

In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth,

and the heavens are the work of your hands.

They will perish, but you remain;

they will all wear out like a garment.

Like clothing you will change them

and they will be discarded.

But you remain the same,

and your years will never end.” (Psalm 102:23-28)

Here the psalmist tells why the Lord God broke his strength, making him cry like a new born babe. So that he may see who he is and what he is before the Mighty Holiness of God. In effect, he feels like the evening shadow and smoke and grass which exists a little while and then disappears. He sees the need of everything from birth to death and from breathing to sleeping, especially all protection and shield from the relentless taunting of the crafty and cunning enemy, the devil himself. How can we not make the showers of cry and plea to the Lord God who is everything for his children and abound in love and ready to pour our his blessings for his name’s sake. We are here momentarily and soon gone like grass. But the One who made all things and sat his throne will remain forever. Since he made all things in purpose and drive, surely he shall raise the dead in power and authority. Now is the time to hear the voice of the Son and be raised from the dead. “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.” (John 5:24-25) He is all in all. He is over all and through all. He is all source of life and strength and power and authority and dominion. He never changes, always remains the same. His years will never end.

2017. 9. 14.

© 2011-2017 David Lee Ministries – All Rights Reserved.