December 28: Life in the Son

During the evangelistic crusades a few decades ago, some thinkers in the theological camp accused the preachers of proclaiming an "easy believism." They went on to say that a sinner cannot be saved by repenting and trusting Jesus unless they submit to Him also as Lord. It seems to me the discussion is misdirected. When we trust the Lord, we do not pick out certain of His attributes to follow while ignoring the others. Instead, we put our trust in the loving Lord who died for us. We surrender to a Person, not to doctrinal statements. We will consider four of His activities which impel us to love Him.

• We love Him because He is the World-creator (vv. 1-3). Therefore, He is God. The Jehovah’s Witnesses try to say the Word is "a god," but the context will not permit such a travesty. He brought everything into being. In that the Word always is God, the literal meaning, He is face to face with the Father ("with God"). The Father and Word, the Second Person of the Trinity, are co-equal in every respect.

• We also love Him because He is the Life-provider (vv. 4-5). Life resides in Him, just as it resides in the Father (5:26). As life, He is also the light of men. He has placed the image of Himself in all humans (Gen. 2:26-27). Being made in the image of God, every human possesses inherent value in God’s sight, including the unborn.

Another truth stands out because when light and darkness collided, the Light won. The verb tense indicates the collision occurred at a decisive point. Some believe it happened on the cross as Christ atoned for sins. Others think it happened when Jesus was resurrected and thereby broke the power of death. Still others see the moment when Satan rebelled against God’s authority. No matter when and how the conflict took place, Jesus is the Victor.

• Further, we love Jesus because He is the Rights-bestower (vv. 9-13). Even though He came into His creation, the human side of creation refused Him. The wind and the waves obey His voice, as one of our old hymns reminds us, but most of those who heard Him labeled Him a rabble rouser. Nevertheless, to those who believed Him, He issued the divine right to be called children of God. With that new standing comes a new power to live the life He has for us.

The new birth He gives comes not through "blood," as though from animal sacrifices or even from one’s parents. Neither does it come from one’s flesh or natural powers. We cannot "will" ourselves into God’s family. Instead, God regenerates those who trust in the Son.

• Finally, we love the Son because He is the God-revealer (vv. 14-18). The basic idea comes from verse 18. In speaking about the Word in regard to the Father, "He has revealed Him." Jesus voiced the same truth when He said to Philip, "He that has seen me has seen the Father" (14:9b).

For us truly to know God, He must speak to us on our level. To accomplish this task "The Word became flesh and took up residence among us" (v. 14 HCSB). To borrow a concept from the literary world, God wrote Himself into the story. No longer depending on visions and other revelations about Himself as given through the prophets, He "enfleshed" Himself to make the unveiling a personal event.

God’s glory walked among the people. John the Baptist caught a glimpse of it when he baptized Jesus (vv. 32, 34). He saw the Holy Spirit descend from heaven as a dove (v. 32). The Voice from heaven reenforced the visual image in confirming the ministry of Jesus. John added his voice to that of all believers when he said, "For we have all received grace after grace from His fulness" (v. 16, HCSB). All we can add is, "Amen!"