Come Away

Day 1 Today begins a 40 day study of love, devotion, and a deeper more intimate relationship with the One who loves you more than life. This is the first step – the first day of the rest of your life and you will never be the same. 1 John 1:1 “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, of the Word of life;” “That which was from the beginning”: What or who is “that”? That is our beloved Christ. This book starts off with the same tone as the Gospel of John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” So let’s look at the beginning. Webster defines it as the time when or place where something begins or is begun, a source or origin. From this we know that “That” was from the beginning of time. “which we have heard, which we have see with our eyes, which we have looked upon” : “We” are the witnesses to Christ. They heard Him speak. They had seen Him with their own eyes. The word eye in the Greek is ophthalmos (pronounced of•thäl•mo's)meaning the eye of the mind, the faculty of knowing. Looked means,just that, they looked upon Him with their eyes. So far John has used two of the five senses as signs of witness. “and our hands have handled” : Now we see a third sense come into play the sense of touch. In the Gospel of John 13:23 we can see John “leaning on Jesus bosom”. In John 21:27 we see Jesus inviting Thomas to touch him and this while He walked or appeared in a room where He didn’t come through a door. In Luke 24:39 we find Jesus inviting His disciples to touch Him. “of the Word” : Let’s look back at John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word, was with God, and the Word was God.” John obviously understood something about the “Word”. In Greek “word” is logos (pronounced lo΄gos) meaning decree, mandate or order; Jesus Christ, the personal wisdom and power in union with God. In Matthew 4:4 “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out the mouth of God.” “of Life”: Since we cannot live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God, let’s look at the word Life. Greek study on this is exciting! The word is zoe (pronounced zō•ā΄) and it’s meaning is breathtaking. Zoe means life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, blessed, in the portion even in this world of those who put their trust in Christ. To think the disciples heard, saw, looked upon, and touched the actual Word of Life, Jesus Christ – Jesus the Anointed One, could almost make one jealous. But we do not have to be, because He is here in our present day, our present hour, our present need, our present joy, our present sorrow, He is present now. “That which was from the beginning” had no end. If He was there then, He is here now. The disciples used their physical senses to acknowledge Him. We use our spiritual senses to see, hear, touch and I have even smelled Him. There may be times that He can and will use our physical senses to acknowledge His presence. 1 John 1:2 “(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us ;) “For the Life was manifested,” The Life – the zoe was manifested. Manifest means to make known that which was hidden. Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled and Life was manifested with the birth of Christ. “and we have seen it” In John 6 he has seen Jesus feed over 5000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. John sees Jesus walking on the water and calming the seas when He gets into the boat. In John’s Gospel chapter 9 he sees Jesus open blinded eyes. In chapter 11 John sees Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead. In chapter 19 John saw Jesus hanging and dying on the cross. In chapter 20 John saw Jesus alive after he had seen Him die. He walked through shut doors to prove to the disciples He was alive. Yes, “we have seen it”. “and bear witness” Not only did the disciples “bear witness” (testify to the truth) of Jesus, but John the Baptist who went before Jesus and the Father our creator bore witness. John 1:7 tells us that John the Baptist came to “bear witness of the Light”. In John 8:18 Jesus says, “I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.” So I wonder how many witnesses do we need? “and shew unto you that eternal life,” The Greek word for eternal is aionios (pronounced ī•ō΄•nē•os) in speaking of Christ means that without beginning and end; that which always has been and always will be. We don’t have to take the Greek’s word for it Jesus Himself tells us in Revelation 1:8 “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” “which was with the Father” Let’s take a look a the word “Father”. It is poetically and beautifully explained in the Greek word pater (pronounced pä•tā΄•r). The Father of Jesus Christ, as one whom God Himself has united to Himself in the closest bond of love and intimacy and made to share His own divine nature. The Father is the creator of angels and men. Jesus truly was with the Father and is one with the Father. “and was manifested unto us;” The Lord has certainly made Himself know to us. The scripture testifies of Him from Genesis to the maps! The Holy Spirit draws us to Him and He Himself speaks and lives in us daily. 1 John 1:3 “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” “That which we have seen” This is the fifth time in three verses John tells us he has seen. What has John seen? He has seen the Word of Life. Do you believe him yet? Do you believe John has seen the Word of Life? “and heard” Twice in three verses John tells us he has heard the Word of Life. Scripture records some of the things he heard Jesus say. I wonder what John heard that was never recorded. Some things were so precious and personal, teachings and knowledge for John’s ears only. “declare we unto you,” In verse 2, John bears witness. He tells of his personal experience of who Jesus is. Here we see him announcing very clearly this Word of Life. “that ye also may have fellowship with us:” Now we can see why John has earnestly tried to convince us he has seen, heard, touched, and witnessed over and over who the Word of Life is – who Christ is. That is so you and I could have fellowship with them - be one with them. “and truly our fellowship is with the Father,” How wonderful is it that we can have fellowship with our heavenly Father, our Pater. To have fellowship with the Creator of the universe, the Creator of every creature, the Creator of every micro living thing is humbling. “and with his Son Jesus Christ” Now we see it is not only a relationship with the Father but His Son as well. There is a lot of meaning in a person’s name so let’s look at the beautiful meaning of Jesus Christ. Jesus in Greek is Lēsous (pronounced Ē•ā•sü΄s) means Jehovah is salvation, Savior of mankind, God incarnate (in the flesh). Christ in Greek is Christos (pronounced Khrě•sto΄s) the Anointed one, Christ the Messiah. How marvelous to know that we can have fellowship with Lēsous Christos – Jesus Christ. Who am I that the Creator of the universe, the all knowing, life giving Father and His Son would have anything to do with me? We are going to find out in this study. Reflect and Come Away: How has the Lord made Himself manifest in your life? Think of a time when you knew that it couldn’t be anyone or anything else but Christ. Write it down and then bear witness – tell