Eye Witness To The Truth
1 John 1:1-4 ESV
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life- the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us- that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
In speaking of Jesus as the Word of Life he say he and the other disciples lived along side of Jesus, God in the flesh; that they say him with their eyes, that they could have reached out and touched him, and that they spoke with him and they listed to him as he spoke back to them. The point of this text is to establish credibility as an eye witness of the life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Historically there is no one from the same time period who directly contradicts or contends with the historical fact of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. There is no record of anyone proclaiming that the disciples made it up. What we do have though is twelve Apostles who witnessed these things and were willing to lay their lives down to preserve the truth. In fact all of the Apostles did take it to their deaths and never recanted as they were stoned, beheaded, and crucified; with the exception of John who survived being boiled alive in hot oil and then left for dead on a deserted island. On top of the twelve we have another 500 plus witnesses who witnessed Jesus walk the earth for another 40 days after he rose before ascending back into heaven. Paul almost sounds like he is challenging unbelievers of that time period in 1 Corinthians 15:6 as he says if you don’t belive me go ask one of the 500 people that saw him. John ends this section with an invitation to share in the truth and in the joy of Jesus Christ.
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life- the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us- that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
In speaking of Jesus as the Word of Life he say he and the other disciples lived along side of Jesus, God in the flesh; that they say him with their eyes, that they could have reached out and touched him, and that they spoke with him and they listed to him as he spoke back to them. The point of this text is to establish credibility as an eye witness of the life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Historically there is no one from the same time period who directly contradicts or contends with the historical fact of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. There is no record of anyone proclaiming that the disciples made it up. What we do have though is twelve Apostles who witnessed these things and were willing to lay their lives down to preserve the truth. In fact all of the Apostles did take it to their deaths and never recanted as they were stoned, beheaded, and crucified; with the exception of John who survived being boiled alive in hot oil and then left for dead on a deserted island. On top of the twelve we have another 500 plus witnesses who witnessed Jesus walk the earth for another 40 days after he rose before ascending back into heaven. Paul almost sounds like he is challenging unbelievers of that time period in 1 Corinthians 15:6 as he says if you don’t belive me go ask one of the 500 people that saw him. John ends this section with an invitation to share in the truth and in the joy of Jesus Christ.