Hello everyone. Welcome back to Deeper Waters, a blog that seeks to dive into the ocean of truth. I want to thank everyone for your continued prayers. I believe had a breakthrough in a personal struggle of mine last night and today and I hope that it lasts. Some Scriptural principles and some good friends are an aid. Keep it up anyway. Philippians 4:13 certainly applies as well as trust in the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. I also ask for prayers for my financial situation and of course, prayers for the situation that I wish to keep private at this time. For now, let us go to the text. We’re looking tonight at 1 John 2:1-2:
1My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
John writes as a caring parent writing to his children. His goal is to enable the people to live righteous lives. Isn’t it interesting that this starts with the nature of God? There are many people in the church today who really think they don’t need theology. They just need Jesus. Of course, if Jesus is fully God and fully man, then we need theology to understand Jesus. However, the approach is entirely false. Good theology should result in good living. If it doesn’t, there’s a problem.
The book of Job spoke of the need for a mediator. If only someone would come and speak on behalf of Job to God. The book of Hebrews was a book that had several mediators mentioned as we saw when we went through such as angels, Moses, the high priest, and Melchizedek. It was understood that man could not approach God as he is without some special grace.
The New Testament gives the ultimate mediator for us as we saw in 1 Tim. 2:5. That is Christ Jesus. For John, he is the mediator as well and he is described as the righteous one. What does this mean? It refers to the holiness of this mediator.
To speak of Jesus as righteous is to set him apart from men. He is not sinful as they are. He is holy, for he is fully God as well. He was able to live a righteous and holy life and he is able to represent us before the Father as man and he is able to mediate for us as God. It is because of who Jesus is that he is able to be the mediator.
Also, he is then able to be the sacrifice for the sins of the world. He is not a temporary sacrifice limited to a certain time. He is not a limited physical sacrifice that can only work in one place. He is a universal sacrifice for all people in all times and all places.
Why? Because he is who he claimed to be. He is fully God.
We shall continue our look at 1 John tomorrow.
Support Deeper Waters on Patreon!
