~~ The Beginning ~~

1 John 1

1. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;

2. (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)

3. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

In the beginning. What is the beginning? What was in the beginning? Which beginning is it speaking of? Unless you find the Scriptural answers to these questions you will never really know God’s truth.

John the disciple wrote this book of 1John. So read verse one carefully. It said that which was from the beginning... so did he go back to the beginning of the world? Did he go back to the beginning of creation? No. How do I know? He said that which WE have HEARD.

Now he is saying that which we, Jesus’ disciples have heard. Then he said that which WE have seen with OUR eyes, which WE have looked upon, and OUR HANDS have handled, of the WORD OF LIFE.

The WORD. The Word of LIFE. My Words are SPIRIT AND THEY ARE LIFE. Now John is saying that which I am speaking of, my own eyes have seen it, my own hands have handled it, and my own ears have heard it.

Now verse two. The LIFE was manifested, and WE have seen it, and bear witness unto you that ETERNAL LIFE, which was WITH the Father and was manifested unto us.

Now this is powerful truth here. He said the life I am speaking of here is ETERNAL LIFE, not temporal human life. The face that John had seen and handled and heard this eternal life shows it was not way back in the beginning of creation or time.

In order for them to have seen it shows it was visible. See he made it very plain that he is not speaking ‘seeing’ with understanding; for he said we have seen this with our eyes. He said the life, which was manifested to us, is ETERNAL LIFE.

So they could not have been speaking of the human man Jesus born from Mary. For Jesus had mortal, temporal life. How do I know this? Because he DIED. Now if he had not been mortal he could not have died. That is what mortal means-- having the ability to die. He was also corruptible. Anything, which is mortal, is also corruptible. So Jesus in his earthly life did not have and manifest ETERNAL LIFE.

The fact that he died proved he did not possess eternal life. Eternal life means life, which can never end. Jesus said the things concerning me have an end. God never has an end. Eternal life, by its very meaning never has an end. If it did, then it would not have been eternal. Something which is eternal never ends.

Now back to verse one. He said our hands have handled, of the WORD of life. He had handled the Word of Life. How? After Jesus was RESURRECTED. Jesus was given ETERNAL LIFE AT HIS RESURRECTION, just as we will be given eternal life at our resurrection. If we had it now we could not die. The fact that we are still in a mortal body shows we do not possess eternal life now. Many make the mistake of supposing that they have eternal life now.

He said for the life was manifested. When? At Jesus’ resurrection. That is when this eternal life was manifested to them and they saw and heard and handled this Word of Life.

This is the very same Word which John 1: 1 said was in the beginning with God and was God. This Word was fully manifested when God raised up Jesus from the dead. See verse 2, We shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father. This is the Word. The Word is that eternal life. This is what was with the Father.

In the beginning was the WORD and the WORD was with God and the WORD was God. It is not speaking of the human man Jesus. It proves this by saying this is ETERNAL LIFE. This Word is eternal life.

This is the FLESH the Word became. This is that eternal life. This is the fulfillment of 1Tim. 3: 16. And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

See? God was manifest in the FLESH. When? At the resurrection which is the beginning. See it is the same John is speaking of when he said it was manifested to us and we saw it. It was the resurrected Christ who had been given eternal life and the power of the Godhead. All power in Heaven and earth was GIVEN to Jesus after his resurrection.

God was manifest in the FLESH. Which FLESH? The resurrected, glorified FLESH. The eternal life. The fullness of the Word.

God was not manifested in the baby Jesus. That was not God. Jesus grew up a natural human being. He did not show God in any manner until he was a full thirty years old. That is true.

He did no miracles until he was 30 years old. Why? Because He was born under the law. He was in the darkness of law. The law was in him. It had to be. He had to do away with it. He could not begin his ministry until he was 30 years old. That was law. He was a priest so he had to obey that law.

He did not have the Holy Ghost until John baptized him when he was 30 years old. Until then no one had any idea he was any different from others. Only Mary and Joseph and a few close relatives knew of his unusual conception. That is all that was different. His only difference was his obedience to God.

But he was not manifesting God in his human flesh. Sure he did some miracles and healings and raised some dead folks after he started his ministry, but so did Peter, Paul, and the others. They all did it by faith in God. Jesus did his by faith in God.

So if this made Jesus be God, then it would have made Peter be God also. But it did not make him be God. And it was not manifesting God in the flesh. It only showed some of God’s power. Paul did the same thing.

God was not manifested in FLESH until the day He raised Jesus from the dead and gave him eternal life. The glorified body was how God was manifested in FLESH. His Word was in this glorified body. Now the disciples saw him, heard him and handled him after his resurrection. He said, feel me and handle me and see. So they saw.

Where did he tell them to handle him and feel him and see before his resurrection? I know of no place.

God was preached to the Gentiles. When? After the Day of Pentecost. So all of 1Tim. 3: 16 refers to after Jesus’ resurrection.

It does in no way say that the human man Jesus was God. That is a lie of the devil.

Rev. 1: 5. And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

Now this declares that Jesus was the first BEGOTTEN of the dead. This links God begetting him to his resurrection, just as Paul did in Romans 1.

Rev. 1: 8. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

Now here Jesus said I am the beginning. The beginning of What? It is the beginning of the Grace age, the Church age, the New Jerusalem, the New Heaven, eternal life for human beings.

He said I am the ending. The ending of what? Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my WORDS shall never pass away. The old heaven and earth of law passed away when Jesus came out of that grave. Thus he was the ending of that darkness. He ended that age up until the N.T. started. He was the beginning of the N.T. and the ending of the O.T.

The law was in Jesus; Jesus was under the law. But when he came out of that grave he brought us grace and truth.

Want proof?

John 1: 14. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

The WORD was made FLESH. Now we have proven this was at the resurrection when He came out of the grave in glorified flesh. We have proven this is the glory. We have proven this is when the Father beget Jesus in his own image. That is when they beheld him. That is when they beheld the glory. There was no glory before this. That is the glory of the only begotten of the Father... now he was full of grace and truth.

See he was full of law before that time. He was MADE UNDER THE LAW, MADE OF A WOMAN. MADE OF THE SEED OF DAVID AND ABRAHAM.

Now I ask you, was the seed of David and Abraham corruptible seed? Of course it was. Peter said in Acts 13 that David saw corruption and is still in his grave. So this proves he had corruptible seed. You must call the Word a lie to say that Jesus was not made of corruptible seed.

He died. Peter said now no more to RETURN to corruption. Now he will see death no more. Why? Because now he has glorified flesh; not he is immortal and incorruptible and now he lives to dies no more. Now that is GLORY.

Yes, that is the glory they beheld. That is the flesh the Word was made. Eternal life.

17. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

18. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

Now this said the law was given by Moses. See Jesus was born and lived under that law. So He could not have given us grace and truth until he put an END to that darkness of law. He gave us the light of truth and eternal life.

Verse 18--No man hath SEEN God at any time. So when they saw him manifested they were seeing the Word made flesh at Jesus’ resurrection. The only begotten Son, (remember this was at his Resurrection, Romans 1) which is in the bosom of the Father (this means up in Heaven) he hath declared him. Yes the only begotten Son of God, the resurrected Christ is the one who declared or manifested unto us the Father. No man hath seen God.

Col. 1: 18. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

Now here is another verse saying that Jesus is the BEGINNING. He is the firstborn from the DEAD. That is two witnesses saying he is the firstborn from the Dead. This is also the link to his being the beginning. So if Jesus is the beginning... then in the beginning... in Jesus was the Word. This is how God was manifested to us in the FLESH.

Rev. 3: 14. And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; these things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.

Now that is our last verse in this study. We have already shown that Jesus was that faithful and true witness, so here it said he was the BEGINNING of the creation of God.

Yes, Jesus Christ, the resurrected one, was the BEGINNING of the creation of God. This is when God created an earthly man in the image and glory of God.

By: Jo Smith

5/30/03