Witnesses To Our Salvation
John writes to the church assuring us that Jesus is the answer to life and the problems we face daily. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God... This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. 1 John 1.1-5.
Earlier in this book, John gives us the reason for his writing, We write this to make your joy complete.
John goes on to say that our joy is made complete, not by our own efforts, but by the work or witness of God in our daily lives. Then he mentions five that bear witness in heaven and on earth of our salvation. Let's examine these witnesses so that we can better appreciate and enjoy their work.
The Father. God is our Father in two ways. He is our Father by creation. Paul declared on Mars Hill. He created the world and everything in it.... It is in Him that we live, move and have our being. We owe our existence to God and to Him alone. He created us and He sustains us.
Secondly, God is our Father because of our salvation. God loved us so much that He sent His Son to save us, if we will place our faith in Him. Paul says, we are children of God by faith, for as many as have been baptized into Christ have put on, have been clothed with Christ.
The fatherhood of God is a comfort to us, making our joy complete. Question!! Are you enjoying this fatherhood relationship? We have no choice in His Fatherhood by creation, but we do in the matter of our salvation. Choose to become His child by faith and baptism, then enjoy His fatherhood.
The Word. This same John tells us that Jesus is the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God. The word, Scripture, cannot be separated from Jesus. He is the Word of God incarnate.
You see, the written word witnesses to the living presence of the eternal Word at work in the life of God's children. Jesus Himself said, we are cleansed by the words I have spoken. Peter says, We have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. It is the written word that is the agent working in our lives to cleanse us, mature us and prepare us for service in the Kingdom of God.
It is Jesus, the Word that sanctifies and cleanses us with the washing of water. Paul concludes that this washing removes every spot, wrinkle and blemish and presents us as a holy and glorious church.
Is your joy complete? Have you accepted Jesus as the final Word in your life? Sanctify them through Thy truth, Thy word is truth. Indeed Jesus taught that the written word sanctifies and sets us free. This is genuine joy!!... Right?
The Spirit. Jesus promised His disciples the Spirit as a comforter. It was the Spirit that faithfully guided, comforted, equipped and empowered the early church in its mission.
No, the Spirit never works independent of the word, either the written word, or the incarnate Word. These witnesses all work in harmony with one another and never independently. In fact, just as Jesus was the incarnate Word, the written word is the work of the Spirit. We must know that any spiritual experience separate and apart from the word falls into the realm of existentialism.
Our joy is made complete by the Spirit in the fact that it is by the written word that we are equipped to stand against the wiles of the Devil; that we become strong in the Lord, and that we are more than conquerors.
The Blood. Rejoice and again I say rejoice!! It is His blood that redeems us and forgives us, In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace. It is His blood that continues to cleanse us, Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has washed us (freed us) from our sins by his blood. The word translated washed in the King James, freed in the NIV means loosed or released. The blood of Christ forgives, eradicates, all sin in our lives, not just once in the act of New Testament baptism, but continually as we walk in the light. If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, continues to cleanse and purify us from all sin.
(Perhaps the work and witness of the blood is best seen in Hebrews 9.14, How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
What a complete joy to be forgiven, cleansed, washed, purged by the blood of Jesus... Right?
The Water. Jesus told Nicodemus that entrance into the Kingdom of God was through the new birth, being born again of water and the Spirit. Paul says, we are washed by water through the word. The Hebrews' writer says, Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Paul concluded in Titus 3.5, He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
To deny the witness and work of New Testament baptism in becoming a child of God is a serious mistake. Peter tells us that this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also--not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience towards God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Ethiopian treasurer went on his way rejoicing after his baptism in water. Have you experienced this same joy of salvation as a result of your obedience your submission to genuine New Testament baptism, immersion in water for the forgiveness of sins?
God's word does not leave us without witness to our salvation. Peter says, there are five witnesses. Isn't it time we experience the complete joy made possible by these witnesses?
—Randall Caselman
