During World War II, Winston Churchill almost single-handedly kept the British people from giving up hope as the Nazis steamrolled through Europe. The confidence and the conviction with which he addressed his people was greatly responsible for their ability to withstand the onslaught that had befallen their European allies.
Quite often, coaches have been able to impact the outcome of a game by the way they address their team. Many a team, coming into a game as an underdog against a highly regarded opponent, has gone out and upset their opponent because of the confidence expressed by their coach in his pre-game remarks. The belief he’s expressed in them—the assurance in his voice has caused them to believe, “Hey, this isn’t impossible. If we focus, don’t let ourselves be intimidated and play up to our capability, we can beat these guys”.
People who speak with certainty inspire our confidence. It makes us believe the situation, even though it may be difficult and demanding, is not impossible or overwhelming. We have a way of mustering courage and rallying behind someone who conveys an air of certainty.
Which is one of the things I like about the letter of 1 John and the way it wraps up. In the final few verses, John triumphantly proclaims, “We know ...”—not “We’re inclined to think” or “We believe it to be the case”, but “we know”. There’s conviction and certainty in his voice.
Lets look at those verses again:
We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. (1 John 5:18-20, NIV)
A couple of posts ago I talked about the certainty of our victory over sin—how even though the Christian life involves a continual battle with temptation and the continual unearthing of things in our lives that are unpleasing to God, we have the assurance that, although we may occasionally lose a battle or two, we won’t lose the war. Then in my last post I talked about the assurance of our standing with God—how God, when He adopts us into His family, communicates with us and gives us a knowledge we belong to Him that’s as certain as any discovery science can unearth in a laboratory.
In this post, I want to pick up where John left off. Granted—where he stopped was a bit of a downer—"We know ... that the whole world is under the control of the evil one” (v. 19). That is a less than encouraging thought. But it’s much more tolerable in light of v. 20 and the Son of God’s coming into our world. It’s as though John, looking upon the condition of the human race, feels a need to give us hope. And so he does—highlighting the Incarnation (“We know that the Son of God has come”), but also the fact that He continues to be at work (“and he has given us understanding”).
John is telling his readers is not only has Jesus stepped into our world, but He’s still involved—still touching lives … still changing hearts … still transforming motives … still making a difference in the lives of those who embrace Him. You and I can go into the world with a witness full of resolve and certainty that brings a sense of conviction and confidence to our words. We can share Christ with a knowledge that is powerful and persuasive, instilling a measure of hope and anticipation in the hearts of those who hear us.
As we think about this passage, it’s good to remember that John’s letters were written some thirty or forty years later than Paul’s. He’s writing to an audience of second-generation Christians—addressing people who weren’t alive when Jesus was. Their only acquaintance with Him was on the basis of oral tradition—the second-hand accounts of those who’d had personal contact with Him. In other words, the people John was writing were a lot like us in that their initial contact with Christ came as the result of someone else’s testimony. And so—when John wrote these “We know ...” statements, I’m sure the first thought many of them had was, “How can we know? I wasn’t around. I didn’t have any personal contact with Jesus. I never had any one-on-one interactions with him.” How am I supposed to “know”?
He answers that question, but he does it in a way that’s easy for us to miss. When we read in v. 20 that “the Son of God has come”, the inclination is for us to think John is referring to an event that took place in the past and has since been completed. But when you dig into the original language, you’ll discover that’s not the case. John used what’s called the perfect tense in the Greek—a tense for which there is no English equivalent. The perfect tense was used to speak to events that happened in the past that have ongoing ripple effects. Even though it happened then-and-there, it has relevance for the here-and-now. This completed action has continuing results.
So—in one aspect Jesus Christ had come and gone long before the people to whom this letter was written were born. But John’s words indicate He didn’t simply come to earth, hang around for 33 years, and then move on. This Jesus, when He came, came to stay! The event of His coming has produced and is still producing ongoing results.
That aligns with what Jesus taught. In those occasions when he appeared to His disciples after His resurrection, His words to them were along the lines of, “Even though I’ll physically be out of sight ... even though my reality will be unseen ... even though you won’t be able to see me ... I won’t be gone. For you’ll still sense me. You’ll still experience me. I’ll always be with you.”
If we view Jesus’ coming to earth as a 33-year experiment that is now finished and over with, we’re living with an incomplete understanding of what the Incarnation is all about. For the full meaning of the Incarnation is not found in the fact Jesus came to live among us for a little over three decades. Its full meaning is found in the fact that shortly after His departure He dispatched the Holy Spirit who is still here and active in our world. That’s what John is getting at here: God not only came to earth at certain place and time in the person of His Son Jesus but, because of the work of the Holy Spirit, He is still among us. He’s still here. And because He’s still here, he’s still at work. He’s still involved in our lives. He’s still refining and crafting and shaping us. For God “has given us an understanding”. He has dealt with us in a way that confirms Jesus’ activity hasn’t stopped and He’s continuing to be at work in our lives.
In many ways, the Christian life is a journey from second-hand hearsay to first-hand experience. When we first come to Jesus, we did so on the basis of what someone else had to say about Him. Our initial belief is anchored to the testimony of a second party. We think Jesus can make a difference in our lives because someone said he made a difference in theirs … or because we read something that aroused optimism and hope in us, and we believe what worked for them can work for us. When we first embrace Jesus, it’s because we gave credence to the testimony of someone else.
But as we go on learning more and more of the realities of the Christian life, a shift takes place. No longer is our knowledge about God rooted the words of someone else; it becomes anchored in our own personal experience … and experience, not information, is the key to transformation. There comes a time when we can turn to those who led us to Jesus and say, w/ thankful hearts, “Now I believe, not because of what you said, but because I’ve experienced Him for myself”. We can say, “I know the Son of God has come because He has given me an understanding. Through my faith in Jesus, there are powers of discernment at work in me that enable me to perceive what I wasn’t able to perceive before. All that talk about experiencing Jesus for myself used to leave me in a fog, for I had no clue what people meant. But now I understand exactly what they were talking about.”
The way to know if a boat is seaworthy is to take it out on the water and see if it floats. The way to know if a medicine works is to take it as prescribed and see if it alleviates your symptoms and brings about a change in your physical condition. The way to know if the initial attraction you feel for someone has the potential to be a life-long relationship is to start dating and see if the relationship flourishes and develops. By the same token—the way to grasp the reality of Jesus is to, on the basis of what someone else had to say about Him, welcome Him into your life and gauge for yourself whether what they said was true. Again—experience, not information, is the key to transformation.
What John is saying is that when we welcome Jesus into our life, He comes to us and we understand Him in a whole new way—he “gives us understanding”. Over and above all the words and testimonies from second-hand parties ... past all the intellectually convincing arguments that may lead us to accept the claims of Christianity as a theory ... the real test of faith is carried out in the arena of our lives.
And one of the real difficulties of our day is the many people who claim Christianity without possessing this certainty. For what inevitably happens is some hardship enters their life—a financial setback ... an unplanned illness ... some sudden shock comes their way—and they become anxious and frightened and find that the whole fabric of their belief has been blown to pieces. One of the most precious promises from the prophet Isaiah is found in 28:16 which says, “So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.” This is understood by scholars to be a Messianic prophecy, so the “tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation” is an allusion to Jesus. And the promise that “the one who trusts will never be stricken with panic” means if we’re certain of what Christ has done for us and in us, we can welcome any circumstance or adversity into our life without our assurance in Him being shaken. That’s not to say there won’t be concern. That’s not to say we won’t occasionally feel apprehensive or anxious. But it is to say that, beyond the level of our fear, there’s a sense of serenity and calm centered in the certainty of God’s abiding presence and enduring involvement in our lives.
This may sound a bit strange, but one of the most beautiful things in all the world to watch is the suffering of a saint ... the way one who possesses this deep, inner assurance handles pain, affliction, and misfortune. Saints who are diagnosed with an inoperable illness ... men and women of faith who lose a spouse or child in a tragic accident ... while the circumstances surrounding them are heart-wrenching and deeply disturbing, it’s a beautiful thing to watch as their faith kicks into high gear and this sense of calm assurance centered around the indwelling presence of Jesus begins to assert itself. They can speak to their experience with a peaceful and gentle tone and in ways that are winsome and genuine and can’t be faked.
And the reason we can possess this kind of assurance is because the Jesus who came to earth some 2000 years ago never left. Yes, he ascended into heaven—the Bible records that for us in Acts chapter 1. But in Acts 2, it also documents the arrival of the Holy Spirit—the essential presence of God which indwells the hearts of all who believe and assures us of God’s enduring involvement in our lives.
1 John 5:20 says that we can personally know the Creator of the universe. That is an incredible concept to think about: When Jesus touches our life, He activates and actuates resources that have been lying dormant—they spring to life. It was Jesus’ touch upon the eyes of blind men that made them able to see. It was Jesus’ touch upon the lepers that make them whole. And it is Jesus’ touch upon our lives which awakens in us the dormant powers God placed within each of us at the time of creation that makes us able to recognize Him—powers we possess by virtue of being made in His image, but powers which are stunted and thwarted by the deadening influence of sin upon our lives.
I read this statement a while back. “It is in the Incarnation that Jesus gave us God to see, but it is in His present work in our lives that He gives us the power to see God.” I know, as a kid, I always wanted to see God. Particularly on dark nights or when the tornado warning sirens sounded and we had to head to the basement, I really wanted to see God and know that He was with me. It never happened. But now I can see God—and I have to look no further than myself. When I take time to look at what has happened over the course of my life … when I consider the change that has come into my life because of Jesus’ abiding presence and enduring involvement, I can’t help but see God in that. It’s unmistakable!
The gift of the Incarnate Christ is not an intellectual understanding—it’s something far deeper. We are not given knowledge of a doctrine. We are given the knowledge of a person. Or to put it another way: It’s one thing to know about God; it’s another thing to know God. We can know almost everything it’s humanly possible to know about God and yet not know Him. To know about God is the stuff of theology, but to personally know Him is the stuff of experience and relationship. And we can know Him in that way—the same way we know anyone else—on the basis of shared life experience. For Jesus has blessed us by coming to us in the flesh. And the blessing He extends to us is, not an accurate theology, but an ongoing loving friendship—a friendship that is always growing, maturing, and emerging because of His enduring involvement in our lives.
In a world where change is unpredictable yet inevitable and so many things seem to be up for grabs, we don’t have to live with uncertainty. We can know God through His Son Jesus and be certain of His enduring personal involvement in our lives. And what John wants each of us that profess faith in Him is to live with that certainty.