Youth and Recreation Activity Resource Center
Activity and Resource Center
The Trinity
In the New Testament, God revealed that He is not only one but a family of persons-an eternal, inexhaustible, and dynamic triune family of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who are one in will and purpose, love and righteousness.
The Trinity was at work in the incarnation of Jesus, the Son of God, as He was conceived in the womb of Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. “But when the fullness of the time had come,” Paul wrote (Gal. 4:4), “God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law.”
Luke gives us a detailed account in (Luke 1:30-35), 30. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31. “ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. 32. “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33. “And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end. 34. Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” 35. And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you. So the baby born to you will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God”
John's Relationship with Jesus was Personal.
John then testifies to his personal encounter with the “ Word of Life” by pointing out that he had actually seen, heard, and felt the Word: 1 John 1:1-4, “ The one who existed from the beginning is the one we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is Jesus Christ, the Word of life. This one who is life from God was shown to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and announce to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was shown to us. We are telling you about what we ourselves have actually seen and heard....”
It was not hard for John to tell others of the great and miraculous works of Jesus. He was not relaying what he had been taught but what he had actually experienced. As we read of John’s testimony, we are reading of first hand information and should accept it as a personal testimony of one of the disciples of Jesus.
Then John goes on, in verses 3 & 4, to tell us why he is writing to us. “We are telling you about what we ourselves have actually seen and heard, so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that our joy will be complete.”
The Amplified Bible states it more clearly. “What we have seen and [ourselves] heard we are also telling you, so that you too may realize and enjoy fellowship as partners and partakers with us. And [this] fellowship that we have [which is a distinguishing mark of the Christians] is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, the Messiah. And we are now writing these things to you so that our joy [in seeing you included] may be full— and your joy may be complete.”
When God created man and woman, He created them to enjoy His creation with Him. He would come into the garden and fellowship with His creations and enjoyed that time together. We were created to fellowship with our creator, God, the Father. When sin entered the world, that fellowship was broken and man was separated from God. John had personally experienced this fellowship with God, in the Person of Jesus Christ. He and the other disciples knew first hand what it meant to walk and talk with God, the Son. They had experienced the love, the joy and the peace that comes with fellowship with God.
John wanted the believers to experience that same joy, so, he wrote the book of First John to those who have become believers and have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. He wrote the book to explain the joy that comes with true fellowship with God.
Sin in the life of the Believer Breaks Fellowhip with the Father.
John also understood that when a believer falls into sin, that the perfect fellowship with the Father and the Son is Broken. Sin creates the same type of conflict between the believer and the Son that disagreements creates with people. When that conflict exists true fellowship cannot be experienced.
This is illustrated in the book of Genesis when Adam and Eve hid from God after they had eaten of the forbidden fruit. All of a sudden they knew that they were naked and realized that they had done what God had instructed them not to do. They were ashamed and did not want to see God and did not want God to see them.
That is the reason John deals with the unconfessed sin issue later in the chapter. He wanted the believers to realize that unconfessed sin in their lives would cause them to run and hide from God. He wanted the believer to understand that until sin was confessed and cleansing was received fellowship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit would be broken.
John Tells Us that Jesus is the Light of the World.
John had personally heard Jesus explain that He was the Light and that He, the Light, was to be the salvation for mankind. In verse 5, He writes: “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.”
The Gospel of John, chapter one, verses four thru nine, foretells of this coming Light. “In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John [this John was John the Baptist] He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.
He also records the words of Jesus when Jesus tells the people that He is the light of the world. John 8:12, “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
In His earthly ministry, Jesus was constantly teaching the disciples and His followers about Who He was and Who sent Him. He used light and darkness to illustrate how one would not have to live life in the fear of not knowing what was going to happen to them next. As people traveled around the country there were many dangers lurking in the shadows. Because of the many robbers, wild animals, dangerous terrain people were afraid to travel at night when there was no light.
Jesus knew that people also feared death, illness and personal survival. He used light and darkness as illustrations of how we do not have to live in fear just as a traveler was not as afraid when there was enough light to show the way and reveal what was in the shadows.
Jesus continually taught using parables and illustrations. Light and darkness was used to show the difference between living life with Jesus as one’s Savior and trusting Him to guide them through rough times and living life without Him and trusting in their own efforts to take us through life’s many challenges.
According to the very words of Jesus, He possessed the Light that would illuminate the lives of the believers. John 12:46, “ I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.”
Jesus is the Word of Life and the Light of Life
Many Scriptures use the terms: “Word” and “Light”, as a substitute word for Jesus. Jesus is the “ Word of Life” and Jesus is “The Light of Life”.
“The Word” is used to describe the teaching of living life and “The Light” describes the saving and directing force in living life.
John wants us to understand that to live with Christ as our Savior, strength and guide enables us to live in perfect fellowship with God. When we trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior and trust in “The Light” to guide there is no reason to fear. He is all powerful, all knowing and all loving. He wants us to live in perfect peace and happiness. This can only happen when we live in perfect unbroken fellowship with God, and this can only happen if God sees us through the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son. John had experience this wonderful peace of walking with the master and wants to pass this on to us.
Now that John has laid the foundations of His authority as a first hand experienced believer He wants to further teach us how to continually walk in this fellowship. In First John 1:6 thru 10, He begins dealing with the sin issue. “If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But 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, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.”
Sin entered man’s life when Satan successfully tempted Adam and Eve to disobey God and eat of the forbidden fruit. God punished them by putting them out of the Garden of Eden. The fellowship between God and man was now broken and man was separated from God. Because of this action by Adam and Eve, every man and woman inherits the sin nature with the desire to disobey God’s commands.
This separation of man from God was bridged by the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. When Jesus shed His blood and died on the cross, He paid the penalty for all man’s sin. Man only has to receive that forgiveness as a free gift. Once that forgiveness is received and man is made right with God, he is no longer separated from God.
When this is done, we are back in unbroken fellowship with the Father and He abides in us and we abide in Him.
However, every man and woman has this sin nature and constantly lives with the choice of doing what God says or doing what Satan says. John is aware of Satan’s powers to deceive us and our weakness to yield to his temptations.
When we yield to Satan’s temptations and do things that are contrary to God’s commands, sin enters ones life and the fellowship with God is broken and remains broken until we confess that sin and receive cleansing for that sin. John understood this situation and tries to share with the believers principles that will heal the broken fellowship caused by man’s sin.
We are given three principles of Christian living.
A Letter to My Dear Children Chapter Two