Mensa Otabil - Jesus is From the Beginning
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First John chapter 1, verse one. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled concerning the Word of Life.
John says Jesus was from the beginning, and there are two ideas from that. First, it establishes the deity of Christ. He was at the beginning of creation, and then it also talks about the beginning of His earthly ministry. That which was from the beginning. John presents Jesus Christ as the Word of Life. The Word of Life is a concept. But then John begins to say it wasn't just a concept because he talks about four things that happened to the Word of Life.
First, he says, "We heard Him." So He was the Word of Life. We heard Jesus Christ. We heard Him in the public square. We heard Him teaching. We heard Him speaking. Our ears heard Him. And we also heard Him using words to do signs and wonders. He could use words to stop a storm, to heal the sick, and to raise the dead. We heard it.
Secondly, he said, "We saw it." The disciples of Jesus Christ saw Him. They didn't just hear Him. They saw Him. He wasn't just a phantom, an idea. He was a reality. They saw when He walked on water. They saw when He fed 5,000 with five loaves of bread. They saw Him and the works He was doing.
Thirdly, he says, "We paid attention to Him. We looked upon Him." The early Christians didn't just look at Jesus and say, "Oh, yeah, yeah, he's the Messiah." No, they examined Him. They cross-examined what He said with the Scriptures. They tried to find out if this was what the Old Testament prophets were talking about. And so, everywhere He went, they examined Him. They listened to His voice. They watched His actions, and they tried to determine whether this was truly who He said He was. They examined Him.
And number four, John says, "We touched Him." So what John is saying is that what we came to believe came through a process of examination. We heard, we saw, we critically analyzed, and we touched. We touched His body when He was alive. We touched His body when He was dead. We touched His body when He was resurrected, and we were convinced without any shadow of doubt. This is the Messiah. This is Christ the Lord.
That is how the early disciples of Jesus came to faith. And that is what they began to preach, and that is where our faith also stands. We believe in an authentic Jesus, a real Jesus who was alive, who died, who physically resurrected, and has ascended, and He is coming again. That which was from the beginning is what we have also come to believe in. So if you're a Christian, you have a firm assurance that your faith is founded on solid, provable evidence, historical and real, and spiritual at the same time. Well, that's how we begin our study of First John. We will be continuing tomorrow.
Let's share a word of prayer. Say with me, "Heavenly Father, draw me close to Yourself. Help me to have a deep and authentic encounter with You in Jesus' name. Amen."