Yesterday, we meditated on the first 16 verses of John 1. In verses 13-14, John told us that Jesus was full of grace and truth. Here are verses 9-16 again:
9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet )the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and)his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.
So....yesterday we focused on grace, and today the focus is on the second gift, truth. There is a movement afoot, an old, Satanic deception, that leads people to believe in moral relativism. In other words, this lie denies that truth exists. "It may be true for you; but, it's not true for me." The Bible declares this to be false, a trap of the Devil's. This belief is a very successful trap too, because many fall into it. They are attracted to it because, if a person can make up his or her own truth, then he or she can simply do "whatever" - - - be one's own god. Such folks are like the Israelites who fashioned a golden calf to worship while Moses was on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 32) , or like Jereboam, king of the northern tribes of Israel, allowed the people to make 2 golden calves and set them up in "places of worship" in two regions of Israel (1 Kings 11:25-14:20 and Amos 5). Jereboam typifies rebellion.Just because you don't believe something doesn't make it untrue.
In vs. 27, John reaffirms that God gave the Torah, the law, to Moses, as a textbook, to lead the people in the way of righteous obedience. But, the Torah could not save a person from sin. Only the blood sacrifice of animals, offered by the sinner in repentant faith, could appease the wrath of God mentioned in yesterday's post. It was the sinner's faith that saved them, that made them right with God. Jesus's coming fulfilled the law, and took our relationship to God to a whole new dimension. No longer must we sacrifice animals by faith to receive God's forgiveness, His grace.
The apostle Paul explains this in Hebrews 10. Look and rejoice, Christian!
1The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins.3But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. 4It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
6with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased.
7Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
I have come to do your will, my God.’ ”a
8First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. 9Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. 14For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
{The off-set portion above is also Psalm 40:6-8.)This is truth. Our high priest, Jesus, offered the once-for-all blood sacrifice of Himself. It is for this reason Jesus declared in John 14:6 - - "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father except through me."
"Those being made holy" is a phrase that applies to those who have embraced Jesus and His Way as the truth which it is. That phrase refers to the sanctification/purification aspect of salvation, the resplendent walk. Yes, some - - - - even most - - - people will reject Jesus and His Truth (John 1:11). However, verse 12 contains a glorious "but" - - - {Message version}
But whoever did want him,
who believed he was who he claimed
and would do what he said,
He made to be their true selves,
their child-of-God selves.
These are the God-begotten,
not blood-begotten,
not flesh-begotten,
not sex-begotten.
Children of God - - - that is we, Christians! The power referred to in verse 12 is that same sanctifying, purifying, refining power that Jesus Christ brings into the lives of His children on a daily basis.
"See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!
And, that is what we are!"
1 John 3:1
Living and walking in truth is a GLORIOUS life, a gift I give thanks for every day! If you have not become "God-born", will you take that step today? Receive His grace and truth. Open the first and second gifts of Christmas!
Dear Father, it is because of Your grace and truth that we, Your God-begotten children, give gifts at Christmas. Our gift-giving is but a shadow of The Gift You gave to us. As the Wise Men brought gifts to the Holy Child, Jesus, bowing down in worship, so we worship by giving sacrificial gifts to each other, as reminders of the Gift that cost You so much. Thank you for Jesus and that, "through His fulness, we have received grace upon grace"! Oh, what love You have poured all over us, that we should be called the Children of God! In Jesus' name, amen.
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