“That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” 1 John 1:3
There is great value in hearing the testimony of those who have gone before us, especially those whose testimony was written down for us when they were old. In the case of John the Apostle, his gospel, his letters, and then the Revelation, were written in the very last years of his life. He had been perhaps the apostle who was the closest to the Lord Jesus during His ministry on earth. John was there at Christ’s crucifixion, then testified to the resurrection and appearing of the Lord, His ascension into heaven, and then, the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost. After Pentecost, and his ministry with the Apostle Peter, we do not see much of John, and yet, when we read the gospel account, his letters, and the book of Revelation, we are faced with the reality that this man was chosen of God to reveal things to us of Christ, and His ways, and the future, that very few could have done. After all of the years of serving Christ, suffering for Him, and eventually exiled to the Isle of Patmos, John brings us face to face with the most important issues of knowing God. Led by the Spirit, he brings all believers to see and grasp the great essentials of knowing God, and thus, believing Him to accomplish through each believer, and the body of Christ, the great objectives and purposes of their existance. What is the key, the great essential, that unlocks the door to the true knowledge of God on earth, to be realized fully in heaven one day? It is the essential of fellowship.
In the gospel of John, we have presented to us the great “Prelude” to blessing, and the very certain basis for knowing God. John, led by the Spirit, begins with the true unveiling of who Christ IS in His glory, and this as the great and Sovereign, Creator and Redeemer. He speaks of the new birth, and gives accounts of those who met Christ, and the miracles He performed. However, it is in Christ’s teachings on union and communion, that is revealed the eternal relationship between the believer, and how that believer can grow in his experiential knowledge of Christ. He speaks of the true Vine, being Christ, and the branches, every believer, placed in union with the Vine so that one can receive from Him the very eternal Life of God by the Spirit. The result of such a life of abiding in the Vine, is fruitfulness, first revealed by the manifestation of the character or nature of Christ, His love, joy, and peace, but also, by the full assurance of the hope given to the servant of God. Not only is the destiny of the believer revealed, but the blessed WAY of presently living for, and serving Christ, until that moment of entering freely into His presence, and blessing. But what about fellowship?
In John’s first letter, he makes clear that he has actually seen, and heard, even touched, the One called, “The Word of Life,” Christ. John is not only a witness to the reality of Christ, but a messenger to those who will hear of the way to know this Life. The key is oneness with Christ, living in the light of His truth, walking absolutely dependent upon Him as the life. Out of this relationship, and constant companionship with the Savior, the believer receives that which is of Christ by faith, to give to a lost, dying world. Out of a life of fellowship, knowing the reality of daily cleansing from sin, and the honest sincerity of “doing the truth,” loving the brethren, and being strengthened to abide in Christ, being obedient to the leading and direction of the Spirit of God, Christ is formed in the life, revealed in power.
Dear Father, Conform us to Christ. In Jesus’ name, Amen.