The Life

The life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us – (1John 1:2)

The life was made manifest

1. The “life” refers to
   1. Jesus Christ who has eternally been the Logos (the Person)
      1. Became flesh in history
      2. Was manifest openly
   2. The physical revelation of Christ the pre-incarnate Logos (the Message)
      1. This too is the personal disclosure of God Himself in Jesus His Son (Heb.1:1-2)
      2. This thus is the message
   3. No wonder Jesus is the message-person/person-message Koyama per se

And we have seen

1. What have the Apostles seen when they looked upon Jesus?
2. They must have seen
   1. Jesus – the eternal Logos
   2. Jesus – the eternal life
   3. Jesus – the message of the Father’s love (1 John 3:1, Cf. John 3:16)
3. They have known Jesus as such in the most personal and experiential way possible

And testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life

1. This is what John and the other Apostles are presently engaged in
2. They write to testify of who Jesus really is
   1. Jesus is the Christ who has always been there since the very beginning
   2. Jesus is the incarnate Word of God
   3. Jesus is the very life of God
   4. Jesus as the word of life is as physically real as the Apostles
3. They write to proclaim Jesus – “the eternal life …”
   1. Jesus as the eternal life itself is the kernel of Christian proclamation
   2. Jesus as one with the Father is the central content of Christian faith
   3. Jesus as the incarnate God is integral to Christian theology

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR US WHO TAKE HEED TO THE WORDS OF THE APOSTLES?

1. We are to entreat Jesus to create in us life, emphatically, His own life
2. We are to experience Jesus the word of life by abiding in His word
3. We are to enjoy our ‘common fellowship’ that comes as a result of faith in God and love for one another (1 John 1:4)