February 10, 2014
I John 2:28-3:3
(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)
Well, we are still on John’s Nose! I mean, we are still looking at John’s Knows! I know, he isn’t a cat – just like he wasn’t a dog in the last blog! But this photo of a kitten’s nose is so cute, I couldn’t resist! John’s Knows – These are the truths about which the Apostle John is absolutely sure – and has said so in his epistle of I John. There are five knows in I John 2:28 through 3:3:
And now, little children, abide in Him [Jesus], that when He appears, we may
have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. If you know
that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is
born of Him. Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us,
that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know
us, because it does not know Him. Beloved, now are we the children of God;
and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He
is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone
who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
In verse 27, John tells us the Holy Spirit within us teaches us to abide in Jesus. Now he states, “Continue to abide!” Every Christian will stand before Him at the Bema Seat Judgement Paul outlines in I Corinthians 3:11 through 15. This is not to determine if we receive heaven or hell, eternal life or damnation forever! According to John 5:24, Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, He who hears My word and believeth in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” The Bema Seat Judgement is all about Jesus Christ reviewing how we have lived our life after we receive Him as our Savior! It is not a matter of having Him as Savior, but if He has been our Lord! And if we have not lived for Him, He will call us out on the issue, and we will stand ashamed before Him!
John’s first know – and second know also – is in the second verse of this scripture, I John 2:29: “If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.” Of course Jesus is righteous! Peter puts it this way in I Peter 2:22: He “…committed no sin, nor was guile found in His mouth….” Even the Lord’s enemies – when confronted with the question in John 8:46, “Which of you convicts Me of sin?” – could not think of anything really wrong He had done!
Settling that first know issue, the next know is this: “…you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.” (I John 2:29). “Like father, like son,” the old saying goes. Jesus – being the Son of the Father, is just like His Father! And we also – being born of God by His Holy Spirit – are like our Father and also like our Elder Brother, Jesus Christ! So – turning the statement around – “If we are born of Him…we will practice righteousness!” Know this!
Now on to chapter three: It is by God’s love that we have been born again and made His sons and daughters. And we should be living our lives to reflect that heritage of being born into God’s family. The ungodly world – under the authority of “…the god of this world…”, Satan (II Corinthians 4:4) – does not know the Lord and does not know – understand – us who are His followers. These are the third and fourth knows!
But there is more to come for the Christian! And we don’t exactly know what is coming. But we should know this fifth know: “…we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (I John 3:2). Paul wrote in Philippians 3:20 and 21: “…the Lord Jesus Christ…who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.” How was Jesus’ body when He came out of the tomb? He who was beaten beyond recognition was perfect and whole! He was not limited by physical laws anymore – He could appear and disappear at will, and gravity seemed to hold no power over Him when He arose into heaven! He was still physical, for He said in Luke 24:39 – when He appeared in the upper room, and the disciples thought it was a ghost! – “Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.” Yet His physical body was perfectly adapted to eternal spiritual living! When He returns, ours will be also – and we are to know this!
The process to be made into His image is by “beholding Him” – looking upon Him. We do that now by faith, seeing Him in His Word, and through obedience to that Word. And it is a process, “…from glory to glory…” as Paul said in II Corinthians 3:18: “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror [the mirror of the Word – James 1:23 through 25] the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” Then – when He returns in power and glory – “…we shall see Him as He is…[and] we shall be like Him.” The change into His image will be complete and forever!
What should we do with this know? I John 3:3 – “And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” It is not just an academic know! It is a know that makes a difference in our daily Christian life! Knowing that I shall be completely like Jesus someday, I want to be more and more like Him now!
Go and do likewise!