Part Four - The First Epistle of John

The first epistle of John is an exhortation to love God, our brothers, and Torah. John understood that the spirit of the law rested on the law of love. He explains to us that sin is transgression of God's law. He points out that learning to love one another is a process that is a witness to the world. John understood the Torah and that lawlessness was Torahlessness. This epistle is a great discourse on how God's people are to be obedient to God and His Torah.


The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error - 1 John 3.24-4.1-6
Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

This is so important. John says it again, “He who keeps His commandments/Torah abides in Him.” This entire epistle is about this simple issue. Obey His commands and our life is blessed.

The false spirit denies that Jesus was divine and came in the flesh. Jesus was the living Torah. He came to fulfill the Torah. He showed us how to walk in and obey the Father’s laws. Jesus did not break any of the Ten Commandments. The spirit of antichrist denies all this.

The world is only interested in man’s achievements. The world has no interest in the things of God our Father. The world is lawless. The world lusts after each others resources, they go to war over these things, they steal, cheat, and lie. The world is lawless. God’s people are a nation that obeys His royal law. That royal law begins with true love. If you love your brother you will not break the ten commands. Period!

　

Knowing God Through Love - 1 John 4.7-11
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

John understands that the law of love is the root of obedience towards God. If we are not growing in learning how to love one another we do not really know God. This is a learning process. This is not PC love but real love. The kind of love that sometimes must discipline and chastise.
We learn this as we come together as a community and begin to “bump into” each other in the course of our daily lives. We learn to bear with one another and to forgive one another. It is a process. God is patient. As we learn we will become a light unto the world. It will make the world very uncomfortable and they will strike out at us. That is why God sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins. John really gets it.

　

Seeing God Through Love - 1 John 4.12-16
No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

If we love one another it is proof that God is abiding in us--because we are bearing with one another and learning to love and get along. This process takes time and commitment on our part. God has given us His spirit to help us. John has seen the Lord. He knows Yeshua is the savior of the world. We are learning to live by “the spirit of the law” which is rooted in love for one another.

　

The Consummation of Love - 1 John 4.17-19
Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.

We can be confident in the day of judgment because we have striven to love each other. Love will cast out fear and we will find ourselves being transformed into His image. This is God’s family. God is reproducing Himself in and through us! God cannot do that in a gay marriage. He cannot reproduce Himself in that kind of union. The union is between a man and a woman--a type of Christ and His bride. Family is reproduced through union of man and woman. That is God’s law. We love God because He first loved us. He is making us perfect in love as we learn to love His commands.

　

Obedience by Faith - 1 John 4.20-5.5
If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Again and again John repeats that he who loves God keeps His commandment/Torah. God is teaching us to become a loving family. He is reproducing Himself through those who love Him. This is a testimony to the world. This brings glory to God the Father. He is recreating Himself in His own image--the God Family! God’s royal law overcomes the world and is preparing His people for life in the MK (Millennial Kingdom).

We need to catch God’s vision of the world of tomorrow--the MK. The world is going to be taught God’s law and Jesus is going to rule with a rod of iron--our Bible tells us so. Catch this vision of the world to come. We are going to rule and reign in this coming kingdom--if we obey now! His book of Revelation is all about this.

　

The Certainty of God’s Witness - 1 John 5.6-13
This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one.

If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son.
And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

John now points out one of God’s laws concerning witnesses by using the example of the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit (Matt 18.16, Deut 19.15-19). This is a staple of God’s law. Nothing can be established without two or three witnesses.

God has given us eternal life through His Son Yeshua. John says we continue to believe in the Son of God and that we will have eternal life. We will be resurrected into that eternal life and begin with the thousand year MK that will teach the nations God’s Royal Law.

　

Confidence and Compassion in Prayer - 1 John 5.14-17
Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.

If we are abiding in God we will be asking according to God’s will. Then He will hear us. It may take us some time to grow into abiding--but once we learn, our prayers will be answered because we will know the will of God the Father when we ask. In the MK God will answer our prayers before we ask (Isaiah 65.24)!

The sin leading to death is unpardonable--accusing the works of God as being from Satan. When Jesus was accused by the Sadducees and Pharisees of doing His works through the power of Beelzebub He told them that was unpardonable (Matt 12.22-31).

　

Knowing the True—Rejecting the False - 1 John 5.18-21
We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

John tells us if we are born of God we are not practicing sin--we keep ourselves and resist the devil. The world is under the sway of the prince of the power of the air--Satan--but we should be abiding in God. Meditate on God’s Word/Torah and you will know God and hear Him speak. Listen to the Word.

Finally, John exhorts us to keep ourselves from idols--any mixture, new age, etc. that would taint our walk.


Tomorrow: Update on the Blood Moons