In the first chapter of John beginning with verse 9 the apostle writes that Jesus of Nazaeth came for the world in general and to His own Jewish people in particular, all of whom rejected Him. He came in the flesh to His own Jewish people and taught them by Word and deed how to live in the world while rejecting its sins. He personally taught the Jews for 3 1/2 years, then sent His well-trained apostles to the other tribes of Israel who had been scattered abroad (Mat. 10:6). In the midst of this ministry push He sent His apostles to the Gentiles (heathen). It is God’s will that all people have the opportunity to receive eternal life. Though all will at some point be taught the ways of God and given the opportunity to receive salvation, it is man who will either accept or reject that salvation.by either obeying Him or disobeying Him. Read The Three Resurrections. Key word–Three. At this point I will once again deviate from the focus of the message and delve into another subject.

A little-known but important fact that is that though all Jews are Israelites, all Israelites are not Jews. “Jews” (Judahites) comprise only a small percentage of Israelites. The word “Israel” refers to the descendants of the 12 tribes (sons) of Jacob whose name was changed to” Israel,” which means “power with God.” These people number in the hundreds of millions world-wide and form the majority of the populations of what are called “Christian nations” today. They also make up most of what is called “the church” today due to the work of the original apostles. among them. Today, Jews (tribes of Judah, Benjamin and some from the tribe of Levi) number about 15,000,000 world-wide, about 7,000,000 of whom live in the nation of Israel. Read Who and Where is Israel Today? Key word–Who? The reason I inject this information is because the vast majority of church people believe that those called Jews today comprise all of Israel. Not so. Jews make up only a small fraction of the descendants of Jacob. Now back to the subject.

In verse nine John makes clear the fact that there is more than one kind of “light” relative to what is commonly called the “Christian life.” He calls Jesus the “TRUE Light,” which has been, is and will remain the same throughout all time. It is said of Jesus that He IS light and “In Him there is NO darkness at all” (1 Jn. 1:5). Jesus addressed the FALSE LIGHT of counterfeit Christianity when He said that false light (church doctrine) is DARKNESS, “… and GREAT IS THAT DARKNESS” because Satan’s people present his GREAT DARKNESS AS GOD’S LIGGHT (Mat. 6:23). “Satan has deceived the whole world” with his different kinds of “light/truth” (Rev. 12:9). Each religion is presented as “light” to its followers. This is a problem, but there is a much bigger problem that is found in the Institutional Chruch. “The church” has HUNDREDS OF VARIATIONS OF SPIRITUAL LIGHT, not one of which is God’s light. This ministry is dedicated to exposing the church’s false lights, false christs and false gods and false paths to salvation.

God’s saints know that there is only one true Light–Jesus Christ (Jn. 1:9), also known as the Word of God. Christ, the Word, the Truth are all one and the same, only in different forms (1:1,4). Jesus was God’s Word made flesh. Those who obey Him are also God’s Word made flesh. Because of this Truth, Jesus could honestly say that they who had seen Him had seen the Father. Note that, of the tens of thousands who received blessings from Him, only 120 or so realized that they had seen the Father. Otherwise, they would have believed His message, which they did not. Their religious descendants follow in their religious footsteps today. They flock to where someone is speaking His name, but refuse to believe and obey His true message as printed in His Holy Book.

Christ’s obedient disciples are also God’s Word in the flesh. Nothing has changed. Just as the world, especially the religious world, did not see God in Jesus, the world, including the church world, does not see God in His people. Rather, the masses view them as fallen souls, deceived fools, reprobates. just as Christ’s contemporaries saw Jesus and His disciples. Read Matthew 10:1-25. Remember that it was the religious people who killed Jesus and 11 of His apostles. Nothing has changed.–so far. But change is coming, and soon. Watch the news. HATRED AND REJECTION OF TRUE CHRISTIANITY WILL ONE DAY ENCOMPASS THE WORLD. AND THE CHARGE WILL BE LED BY THOSE KNOWN TODAY AS CATHOLICS AND PROTESTANTS WHO WILL JOIN ALL OF THE OTHER RELIGIONS IN THEIR HATRED OF GOD’S PEOPLE. THEY WILL COMPRISE A ONE-WORLD CHURCH LED BY THE FALSE PROPHET (Rev. 16:13; 19:20). IN REVELATION 17:1-5 THE FUTURE WORLD-WIDE CHURCH IS DESCRIBED AS THE “WHORE”–MYSTERY BABYLON–AND HER HARLOT DAUGHTERS. NOTE THAT SHE WILL BE “DRUNKEN WITH THE BLOOD OF THE SAINTS.”

In verse 12 we find John focusing on the subject of this passage–eternal life, specifically how to acquire it. As is always the case when approaching the Word of God, we will take it one word at a time. Note in verse 12 that some of the Jews “RECEIVED” Jesus, meaning that they “BELIEVED IN HIS NAME.” Notice that Jesus gave to those who BELIEVED in Him “POWER TO BECOME sons of God.” Faith in Him, Who He is, what He did, etc. does not save the soul. Satan has faith–he not only knows God’s Word, he knows it is true, which is the definition of faith. The Jews Jesus was talking to both BELIEVED IN HIM and BELIEVED HIM. It is important that we understand that believing in Jesus and believing Jesus are not the same. Such “belief,” if it is not manifested in obedience to what is believed, is false (dead) faith. As the Apostle James notes, faith that is not “worked” (resulting in faith-affirming actions) is dead faith (2:10,14,17,18,20, 24,26). Billions of people believe in Jesus but do not believe Him–do not believe His message. It was His message that got Him and His apostles killed. The multitudes loved Him because of the miracles He performed for them. But they hated His message. Nothing has changed. Billions of people claim to love Him for the salvation He offers, but hate His message and refuse to obey it, thereby disqualifying themselves from receiving salvation upon His return. Read The Three Resurrections. Key word–Three.

The “sons of God” mentioned in verse 12 are those whom the Apostle Paul writes about in Romans 8:14, saying: “They who are led by the Spirit of God, (only) they are the sons (children) of God.” In 1:13 John says about these true sons of God that they are “born …. by the will of God.” The Word “born” in the Greek language is “gennao,” referring to conception, not birth. Gennao does not refer to being “born again,” as the church teaches. “Born” is to “born again” as “conception” is to “birth.” They are not the same, though one can lead to the other. The “born” of verse 13 refers to “conversion,”–the change of life’s “walk” from obeying Satan to obeying God, from walking in darkness to walking in light, from living in unholiness to living in holiness, FROM OBEYING THE SPIRIT OF ANTICHRIST TO OBEYING THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST.

In John 1:14 we are told that Jesus was full of grace and Truth. In John 17:17 Jesus said to the Father: “Your Word is Truth.” Conversion–to be filled with grace and Truth (God’s Word) means that we have, as John says in verse 16, received Christ’s fullness. This fullness is what the true saint of God exhibits to the world around him/her. It is received by the grace of Almighty God and is manifested in the life of a true child of the Almighty in the form of obedience to His Word which proves that one has received the “FULLNESS OF CHRIST.” Let us all be filled with Him by obeying His Word. Reminder, do not expect those around you to recognize God in you. Expect the opposite to be true. The more religious the seer, the more negative he/she will have toward you. Why? Because darkness hates light because it illuminates its sins. Reminder: Jesus said that ALL WHO WILL LIVE GODLY IN HIM WILL SUFFER PERSECUTION AS HE DID, AND FOR THE SAME REASON–GODLINESS. L.J.