No Lie?

1 John 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

This verse accurately says, “My infant, unlearned babies, I am writing all these things to you so you will not miss the mark of the high calling of God (Philippians 3:14).  If it so happens that you do miss the mark, the target of God that you should be aiming for with all your heart, you and I have an advocate, a paraclete, someone who will take hold of your life and walk along beside and help turn you in the right direction.  This paraclete will guide you into perfect communion and union with the Father in Heaven.  Some of His is names are Jesus, Jehovah is Salvation, and the Christ.  He is anointed by the Father, empowered with all the power of the Godhead; the righteous one who is holy in an absolute and perfect way.  He is as perfect as God the Father and the Father in Heaven WILL ABSOLUTELY receive His petition on YOUR behalf as if it comes directly from the Father Himself.

I appreciate all John’s writings above those of other New Testament writers because he is someone who appreciates the sublime, higher than the heaven above knowledge of our true God and Savior.  He also writes to newborn Christians so they will not see Jesus as just some ‘guy,’ some natural man who lived a good life.  John makes it clear as glass – or the streets of gold – that Jesus is God who happens to be the Son of God also.  In the original Hebrew the name of God, Elohim, is a plural name.  Deuteronomy 6:4 says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:”  In Hebrew it says, “Hear, O Israel:  Yahweh our Elohim is one Yahweh.”  The unpronounceable and perfect NAME, our ETERNAL LORD who is GODS (plural) is ONE Eternal Lord.  The word for ONE here is ehad (eh haad).  It is the same word used for Adam and Eve when the scripture says they were ONE flesh.

Adam and Eve were two individuals who were one FLESH.  They were created out of one and when married were ONE.  God is much more one even though He is also plural.  His thoughts are perfect and there is NEVER any argument between Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  They are three distinct entities and yet they are ONE in all things where Adam and Eve were only one in flesh.  Because of this, Jesus is as holy, powerful, righteous, authoritative and eternal as the Father or the Holy Spirit.  He simply has a RESPONSIBILITY to justify all those who believe and trust in His Name that His Father does not have.  His Father demands perfect holiness and Jesus through His blood sacrifice and resurrection provides it.

Perhaps you know all this.  It is basic to the doctrine of salvation.  Perhaps you do not; there are plenty of churches in America and around the world today that think Jesus was some old guy who died two thousand years ago and they still call themselves Christians.  In John 20:28, Thomas set the record clear when he said to Jesus, “My Lord (supreme master) and my God (divine heavenly king).  He knew and identified the risen savior as Almighty God.  For you to be born again you MUST believe that Jesus is God, Eternal in the Heavenlies and one with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  You cannot believe that He is just some guy because Christ’s only use as a Savior was His sacrifice.  It is against God’s law to sacrifice human beings in general so Christ had to be more than merely human.

1 John 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

Propitiation is an interesting word that means he paid your sin debt so God would not send you to Hell for it.  There is no purgatory or place where you will work off your sin debt.  We are filthy, sinful human beings and all of our righteousness is as disgusting as a used menstrual cloth (Isaiah 64:6).  Sorry but that is the actual picture painted by the Hebrew.  What a terrible vivid image of the best you can possibly be.  Women in this condition weren’t even allowed out into public until a week after their flow stopped and they had taken a ceremonial cleansing bath.  That is your greatest level of holiness apart from Christ’s sacrifice.

Let me say this one more time so we have clarity, “YOU CANNOT LIVE OR BE HOLY ENOUGH TO GET INTO HEAVEN.  YOUR BEST IS DISGUSTING AND DRAWS FLIES.”  Jesus called Satan, “Beelzebub” and said, “If Satan drives out Satan it is a divided kingdom (Mark 3:22-26).  The term He used was Beelzebub which means, “Lord of the Flies.”  He could have said that Satan is the lord of HUMAN RIGHTEOUSNESS.  Hmmm.  Nope, that’s not any better.

Some people believe that Jesus has already saved the whole world because the verse says, “…and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world.”  This is an inaccurate interpretation.  The best way to describe the work of Jesus here is if you commit a crime and it requires the death penalty.  Your father can’t bear to lose a child so he goes to the authorities and takes responsibility for your crime.  The warden enters your cell with a notice of release.  It has two stipulations.  The first is that you sign the release to accept it.  The second is that you strive to obey the law to honor your father’s sacrifice. 

Perhaps you love your worldly father too much to let him die for you.  In our case Jesus has already died and been reborn so that is not an issue.  The second part is one that causes many to either stumble or declare it to be too much effort.  You must signify that you have truly accepted Jesus into your heart and that He is now your Lord and Savior.  This is done by obedience to His Word.

1 John 2:3 And hereby we do KNOW that we KNOW him, if we keep his commandments.

The Greek word for know is ginosko and is also an idiom for the sexual intercourse between a man and a woman.  The problematic issue here is that in these days of sexual ‘looseness’ a man and a woman may bypass the spiritual and emotional bond of holy marriage that is designed to make our sexuality a celebration of the bond rather than some sweaty moment of passion and shame.  God’s way REQUIRES the bond of marriage to get someone out of their clothing and into each others bodies and hearts.  We have cheapened and reduced that celebration from a blending of agape, phileo and eros love into simple animal magnetism.  Without agape, phileo and eros intertwined with a marriage VOW there is no marriage and our relationship bears NO resemblance to a true relationship with God. 

If we truly know (ginosko) God in all the subtle nuances of that word; then we will also know His voice and be filled with the joy and intimate understanding of His moods and desire for us.  That complete love relationship will change the obedience of His commandments from the onerous and difficult requirement of slaves seeking to avoid a penalty of death, to a joyous opportunity to please and fulfill our blessed heavenly lover. 

Jesus is our husband (our true mate), our husbandman (shepherd and nurturer of our souls) and our beloved.  It is for Him that we keep the lamp of our soul lit and waiting for His coming.  He has gone away from our physical presence in the Hebrew fashion to prepare a place for us to dwell.  When it says in John 14:2 that there are many mansions in His Father’s house and that he goes to prepare a place for us (John 14:3), He means it as a bridegroom preparing for His bride. 

The Greek word in verse 3 above for commandment is the same as in verse 4 below, entole and means a commandment, precept and injunction.  Commandments are something one is ordered to do without specifying the authority of the one issuing the commandment.  Their orders may be founded upon might and power or true legal authority.  In God’s case it is both.  A precept is something you learn to do and has become a part of who and what you are.  An injunction is an authoritative command, in this case based upon the moral, spiritual and legal authority of God who is the creator of all and Savior, purchaser of your eternal soul.  God’s PERSONAL measure of how well we know Him is by how well we keep His commandments.

Christians often rail against the burden of keeping the law of God and we somehow take Peter’s admonition to kill and eat (Acts 10:13-36) to mean that there are no ‘laws’ of God we are required to obey.  This does not agree with the understanding that Jesus had to obey all the law of Moses to be ‘without sin (Hebrews 4:15).’  It isn’t so much the laws of washing, eating and touching but the laws of love, forgiveness and assistance that God is passionate about.  The laws of washing, eating and touching were ordained to ensure we understood that God is Holy and you had to be holy to live (and not die horribly and eternally) in His presence. 

In Christ we are made holy through His sacrifice and our acceptance of it.  That is the first step in our marriage to Jesus.  He died to fulfill the requirements of that marriage.  Once the Holy Spirit was birthed in our hearts and we have become born again, the commandments of touch not, taste not and handle not have been removed.  This has not however changed our responsibility to observe the Sabbath and keep it holy or to love our neighbor.  We are still responsible to give and be good stewards of all that God gives us.  We are also responsible to keep the relationship between ourselves and God hot, passionate and intimate.  If that sounds very much like marriage…uh…yeah. 

Jesus completely destroyed many of the unwritten and written (Talmudic & Mishnah) laws priests and rabbis have come up with over the years but He managed to obey ALL the true laws of God.  There are commandments of men (usually designed to combat what they saw as spiritual degradation over time) and there are commandments of God for all men.  The violence, anger, hatred and disrespect for all others that we see in the Islamic terrorists in Iraq and Syria is mostly based in a desire to see God’s word more closely followed and a strong feeling of fear of apostasy and missing God.  Sadly they have chosen a religion that advocates violence and rage to combat these things rather than love, grace and mercy. 

Our faith is not so and for this reason when we see promoters of hate like those who picket homosexual funerals or prophets who no longer walk in grace and love but in fear and accusation, it is distressing and troubling.  Ours faith is based upon a relationship with our heavenly Father and our Lord and Husband Jesus.  Scripture is our friend and lover, not our club and jailer.  We are expected to love those who speak against us or against God, not to curse them and seek God’s judgment over them.  That is not why Christ died.  Christ sent John to draw men to repentance and then He came personally to lead them into truth, salvation and life.

1 John 2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

You can see why a failure to keep God’s commandments makes us a liar.  The only way to show God (Jesus) our love and acceptance of His role as Savior, Lord and Lover is to live in His house according to His rules and directions.  This is the true gospel and reason it is called the GOOD NEWS.  Rather than being difficult and troublesome, God’s commandments are to help us stand rested and not be broken under the weight of the world’s lies (Matthew 11:28-30).  Marriages end every day because one or both partners have hardened their hearts against the other.  Jesus is the perfect husband and we have no excuse for saying, “I will not abide by your house rules.” 

The last part of this verse says that the disobedient one is a liar living without the truth.  This presupposes that the disobedient one is trying to justify themselves by saying, “It’s not my fault.  I tried to live for God.  It’s just too hard.”  Really?  If Matthew 11:28-30 is correct and God’s yoke is easy then how can it be too hard?  The only way I can think of is if we are presently living for Satan, the father of lies, and we have not given our whole heart to Jesus, the Son of Light and Truth (Psalm 43:3).  If this is the case then we have become the home wreckers. The spouse (Christ’s church) is at fault; not God.  I do know that if we fast and pray and ask God to take our evil desires and wickedness from us HE WILL.  I promise!