ODJ: the real Jesus
September 14, 2011
All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don’t believe this are actually calling God a liar because they don’t believe what God has testified (v.10).
READ: 1 John 5:6-13
In 2001, the BBC’s Jeremy Bowen presented an investigation into the historical Jesus. He said, “The important thing is not what He was or what He wasn’t—the important thing is what people believe Him to have been.” The apostle John would disagree. He intimated that the testimony about who Jesus really is, not what people believed Him to have been, is believable because of several credible witnesses.
The first witness was the testimony of Jesus’ life. John said the human Jesus was Messiah, the preexistent Son of God (likely refuting the false teaching that “the Christ” came upon Jesus at His baptism and left Him before His death). Jesus marked the beginning of His ministry with His baptism (water) and marked the end with His very real sacrificial death (blood) (1 John 5:6).
The second witness was the testimony of men (v.9). John the Baptist, Jesus’ brothers (James 1:1; Jude 1:1), the more than 500 who saw Jesus alive after His resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:6), and the apostle John (1 John 1:1-4), all gave credible testimony about Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God.
The third witness was the testimony of God. On two specific occasions God verbally affirmed Jesus as Messiah God (Matthew 3:17, 17:5). God’s testimony is the epitome of all testimony.
The final witness that John gave was the testimony of their hearts. The Holy Spirit confirmed in their hearts that they had the Son, and they could know that they had eternal life through Jesus Christ (1 John 5:8).
Jesus Christ was a real person, who lived a real life and who died a real death in order to forgive real sin to save real people. May the credible testimony about Him move some to begin their journey with Him and drive the rest of us to deepen our devotion to Him! —Marvin Williams
At what times in your life have you doubted testimony about Jesus Christ? What helped to reassure you of the reality of Jesus Messiah? How important are the Scriptures in reassuring us of who Jesus is?
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