In 1 John 5:9 John writes about “the testimony of God” – a testimony being an ‘authoritative declaration of truth’ – which in God’s case is based on one simple point, verse 11, that he’s “given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.”
Which seems like an impossible thing for us humans to grasp, so if God was hauled up in court and asked point blank, “Come on, how on earth can we possibly know in our busy, limited, physical lives in this world that we have eternal life” – what would his answer be?
According to John, God’s answer would be along the lines of: “Well, of course you can know you have eternal life; I gave it to you in my Son. So look no further than him for the evidence you need that it’s true.”
Which is exactly what John does. In verse 5, he zeroes right in on “Jesus being the Son of God,” describing him in verse 6 as “the one who came by water and blood – Jesus Christ.” So if God was speaking, he’d say, “Look, I gave you evidence in physical terms you can understand – water and blood,” both of which featured strongly in Jesus’ life, and clearly for a jolly good reason that relates perfectly to us knowing for certain that we have eternal life.
Jesus’ arrival on the scene, for instance, “came by water.” In Matthew 3:13, “Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.” And John knew who Jesus was, openly claiming in John 1:34 that “I have seen and testify that this is the Son of God.”
So here we have the Son of God coming to John to be baptized in water. Which shocked John because he was baptizing people “with water for repentance,” Matthew 3:11, and what did Jesus need to repent of? But Jesus said, “Go ahead and baptize me to fulfill all righteousness,” because that’s where the path to eternal life begins, in us humans fulfilling all righteousness, or obeying all God’s requirements.
Which was exactly why people were coming to John to be baptized, to “confess their sins” (6), and “produce fruit in keeping with repentance,” Luke 3:8, and start new lives obeying God (10-14). In Jesus being baptized along with them, therefore, he was confirming this as the right place to start, because it’s in “The testimony of changed lives” that God presents his first evidence of eternal life being in his Son….(next blog)
Buck To Basics 