Knowing the One Who is True

"And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life." 
1 John 5:20

     Why did Jesus come? That question could spark (and has sparked) thousands of paragraphs of explanation and teaching. The accomplishments in Jesus' coming are broad, and all glorious. He came to seek and save the lost, those wandering and straying from God (Luke 19:10). He came to give abundant life to those who had previously experienced loss and pain (John 10:10). He came as a teacher, and without a doubt, the best teacher human ears have been graced with hearing (John 3:2). He came, of course, to die. To make payment for sin, atonement and satisfaction for the fact that God's law is broken by every one of us, and then to rise again in victory (Mark 8:31). The list could go on with many facets of Jesus' earthly ministry. 
     One of the most fascinating, glorious, and awe-inspiring aspects of Jesus' time on earth, though, is captured by the words of His beloved disciple John as we read above. "The son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true...". Now, just as with many things in scripture in theology, it is often not good practice to prioritize and categorize biblical teachings about Jesus in terms of importance. We must know and accept the whole Christ, not just our favorite parts. Yet, there is a sense in which, if this aspect of Jesus' coming were not true, the rest of his ministry would have been relatively ineffective. What is that aspect? It is the fact that Jesus came to show us God. He came, as the son of God, to reveal the Godhead in a way that would give us understanding; a revelation that, while not being new or invented, certainly clarified and vivified the revelation of God in human history. 
     In another of John's writings, he gives an even more remarkable testimony to this fact. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1) John opens his gospel record with this word about the "Word." John was doing something fascinating by using this terminology. In Greek philosophy particularly, the term "Logos" (the Greek term that translates into "Word" in John 1) was originally a concept of understanding how the universe was ordered. It was compared to, and perhaps a way of understanding, the reasoning power of human beings. The Greeks said, in essence, "if we as humans can reason and determine order, there must be something inherently reasonable and ordered in the universe." The "Logos" really came to be known, by the time of John's writing, as a spiritual principle that was ubiquitous, extant in every part of the universe. While the concept was clear in the Greek mind, the identity of the "Logos" as anything more than a principle was hit-or-miss. Some saw the "Logos" as nature in general, some saw it as deity, some as good fortune, and the list goes on.
     So when John uses this term, he piques the interest of any in his audience that have an understanding of this concept. He then goes on to tell his audience, in essence, "you may have this concept of the principle of 'Logos,' but I am telling you about the true 'Logos'." The Word who was in the beginning, the Word who is not just a principle of order, but one who created and ordered everything. The Word who was with God in the beginning, and not just with God, but the Word who was God. He tells us that the "Logos" took on flesh, and we know Him as Jesus Christ (John 1:14). And after giving this truth, John tells us that "no one has ever seen God; the only God (or, the unique son of God) who is at the Father's side, he has made him known." (John 1:18)
     So all that to say, Jesus came as God to reveal God. Jesus came, as the Son of God, to show us the Father. Jesus came, as the creator of the universe as we know it, to make sense of everything created in the only way possible. The only way to understand creation is to know the Creator. This is why we must have and embrace the whole Christ. If we only embrace Jesus Christ the example, then we will have moral reform with no spiritual life. If we only embrace Jesus Christ the physical healer, then we seek only temporary health. If we only embrace Jesus the friend of sinners, then we have companionship but no true deliverance. If we only embrace Jesus, the good man who died a tragic death, then we have an example of love and persecution for Righteousness' sake, but we have no redeemer.
     Jesus is all these things, and he is thus in a miraculous way: because the underscoring truth behind each aspect of Jesus' ministry, the underscoring truth behind the Christian faith, is that Jesus, the Son of God, is God in flesh - and he came to show us what God is like. So that means when Jesus loves, he shows us God's love. When Jesus cares, he shows us God's care. When Jesus is upset and angry, he shows us God's righteous indignation. When Jesus teaches, we have God's teaching. When Jesus suffers, dies, and rises to pay for sin and make a way to God, it is not in spite of God's plan, but to reveal and accomplish God's plan. Jesus came so that we might know him, so that we might know God. If we see Jesus as anything less than that, we have cheapened his earthly ministry. Jesus came as the living, breathing revelation of God. If we miss that, we are missing everything. Jesus came "so that we may know him who is true..." May each of us grow in the knowledge of Christ, the whole Christ, and see him as the everlasting God revealed in a remarkable way. 

With thankfulness,
Pastor Aaron Frost
March 12, 2021