1 John 1:1-2; John 6:48-58, Jesus is Eternal Life

John is the quality eyewitness.  He had firsthand, close-up experience of the Word of life, our Lord Jesus.  What did John do with this information?  He did two things.  First, he bore witness.  In other words, he told us what he saw and handled.  But, as we noted, he not only saw Christ with his eyes; he meditated on and perceived the significance of what he had experienced.  Therefore, he not only testified as to what he saw; he also declared “that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested to us.” 

This is how it is with the gospel.  The gospel is that Christ died for our sins and was buried and the third day was raised from the dead.  John could testify to that.  He saw it all.  But the gospel can never simply say, “this is what happened.”  You can never just say, “oh, Jesus was raised from the dead after three days.”  Neither we nor those we talk with about Christ have ever seen someone raised from the dead after being dead and buried for three days.  If you say, “Christ did this,” then there is something that must be thought about and acted on.  He is obviously someone special and I must understand His significance. 

One of the things that John emphasizes, both in the Gospel of John and in this first Epistle, is that Jesus is life.  More specifically, Jesus is “eternal life.”  First, He was the Word of life.  And then, His life was “manifested.”  One thing this means is that Jesus lived His live out in public, in a setting where people could observe.  It was “manifested.”  But we see something else: the manifested life that Jesus lived is called “eternal life.”  This is the unique life of the Son of God who came from heaven.  It is called, “eternal life.”  He had this life in eternity before He came to earth.  And He ascended to heaven for the rest of eternity after His eternal life was manifested.  For a stretch of a little over 30 years, He lived His life, His eternal life, on this earth.  And that life included an encounter with death and a resurrection three days later. 

Now think about this.  Jesus came that we might have His life (John 10:10).  And yet, He is eternal life.  That is why John can say, and does say, if you have Jesus you have eternal life.

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. 1 John 5:11-12.

This is why John can tell us that “our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ!” Peter understood this when he said that we are partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).  The term “partakers” is koinonos, the same as “fellowship.”  We have much more to say on that, but the point of fellowship is that we share together something we have in common.  How blessed is that?