HE WHO HAS THE SON
1 JOHN 5:10-12 NKJV
10 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. 11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Occasionally, you will hear people compare Christianity with other religions. Their comparisons reduce Christianity to another philosophy or mode of living. But if they took the time to examine what Jesus said about Himself and what His followers said about Him, they would be compelled to adjust their thinking. Either Jesus is exactly who He said He is, or He is a deceiver and liar. And Christianity is what it is revealed to be in the Scriptures, or it is a sham. Much more than a moral code, the declarations regarding the Son of God are extremely specific.
These verses today are some of the specific declarations about God and His Son. John tells us that when we believe in Jesus, the Son of God, we have a witness in ourselves. That witness is a knowing, a sensing on the inside, that we have a relationship with God. If someone does not believe what God has said about His Son Jesus, that person has made God out to be a liar. Not much wiggle room there.
We hold on to the testimony that God has given us eternal life and that life is in His Son. Eternal life is more than living forever. Eternal life is more than heaven when we die. This is the very life and nature of God that is imparted to our spirit when we receive Jesus and are made new creations. We have this eternal life now. We don't have to wait until we die to have eternal life. This is a big subject, but suffice it to say that when we received the Lord, we moved out of darkness into light and out of spiritual death into life.
Then John drops the bomb on those who claim there are many paths to God. Those that make a claim to spiritual life apart from Jesus. "He who has the Son has the life, and he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. No wiggle room there. For someone to experience God and His life, they will have to believe in His Son Jesus. There is no other name given among men whereby we can be saved.
John then encourages his spiritual children to keep believing in the name, the authority, the essence of the Son of God. Because in believing in Him, they have eternal life. And then to continue that belief, making faith in Jesus, the Son of God, the bedrock of their lives. Great wisdom there. We started with Jesus, and we’ll stay with Him. No philosophy or science or wisdom of man can offer this never-ending life and light that we have in the Son of God.
PRAYER
Father, I believe in Jesus as Your Son and the answer for the sins of the world. I believe in Him, and I have eternal life in me. I will not look to anything or anyone else. My answer is in Christ, the living Son of the living God.