Contemplation on Christ

First epistle of John plays, chapter one. We'll read from verse one. That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, or which we have contemplated, and our hands have handled of the word of life.

I would trust God will bless to us the reading of his precious word. Through the night, last night, when I went home, my mind had turned to Zechariah 6, and I was contemplating that lovely verse, He shall bear the glory, going over various thoughts through the scriptures of the glory of the Lord. But somehow my mind turned to this verse, and it's been with me, and I can't get back to Zechariah 6, so I'll pass along just a few meditations on 1 John chapter 1. That which was from beginning, the beginning.

Now, there's three beginnings in our Bible, isn't there? We've got Genesis chapter 1, we've got John's gospel chapter 1, and we have 1 John chapter 1. I'm sure that you will all agree in John's gospel chapter 1, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God, that that's the eternal beginning, the beginning of all beginnings. In eternity past, what he always was. When we come to Genesis chapter 1, that's the beginning of creation.

There is no doubt about that. But when we come to 1 John chapter 1, there is differences in the mind of some teaching men as to what it means. And I must confess, I had my own difficulties in accepting what I hold today to be the thought that this is the beginning of the public ministry of the Lord Jesus.

This is the testimony of John as to the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus. And therefore, the context would, to my mind, suggest, and if you feel otherwise, that's okay. I used to think otherwise.

I think it's the beginning of the public ministry of the Lord Jesus. And that's what John's going to talk about. And he says, that which we have heard.

He'd heard the words of the Lord Jesus. He heard him many times. And he says, we have heard, all of the disciples had heard him.

They heard the voice. You know, John had a very special place. He was the disciple whom Jesus loved, and he reclined on his bosom.

And it was John almost that had the ear of the Lord Jesus. That's why, no doubt, in John chapter 21, when the Lord tells them to launch the nets, cast your nets on the other side, on the other side, on the right side, when they see those fish, it's John that says, it is the Lord. He recognized him.

He recognized him. And John is saying, we have heard him. Now, just to give you the context of John's epistle again, there were those who taught in John's day that the Lord Jesus was not the Son of God.

We mentioned that the other day. And the people called Gnostics, and they looked on the Lord Jesus as being an emanation from God. And John says there are reality about him.

That's why in his gospel, John takes time, time and time again, to express the teaching of the sonship of the Lord Jesus Christ. You're quite well aware, no doubt, in chapter 5 of the testimony of the witnesses that the Lord Jesus gives to his sonship. It won't take time to go over them, but you'll find seven if you care to look.

And so, he says, we have heard him. They heard him, the sermon on the mount. But you know, there were times when they heard him that just amazed them.

You think of Luke chapter 8, when he calmed the waves. They heard him calming the waves, and they saw it happen. He says, that which we have seen with our eyes.

And they were amazed, and they marveled, and they said, what manner of man is this that the winds and the waves obey him? They heard him, but they looked upon him. They looked upon him. I can think of many looks of the Lord Jesus in the gospels, but I can think of some looks that the disciples saw.

They saw scenes that no one else had seen. You think of John in chapter 1. He says, we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Now, whether that was Luke 9, as Peter speaks about, or whether it was just the scenes in the life of the Lord Jesus, when he showed forth his glory to them, and the things that he did, I don't know. But John says, we beheld something about him that no one else saw. Listen to what Paul says to the Corinthians, chapter 2. Had the princes of this world known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

But in 2 Corinthians, he says, there's a veil over their faces to this day. They couldn't see him. John says, we've heard him.

Oh, you know, I often think how nice it must have been for the disciples as they walked across Palestine with the Lord Jesus, and they would stop, and they'd gather around him, and he would teach them. Do you know the sad thing? In Luke, chapter 24, he tells them, he says, you know, when I was with you, I taught you all about myself, my death, and so on, from Moses, from the Psalms, and from the prophets. I hadn't understood it all.

You know the good thing about it for you and I, and for the disciples? Remember John 14? That the Spirit of God, when He's come, He's going to bring to remembrance those things I've said unto you. And what do we learn in 1 Corinthians 2? That there's a Spirit of God that teaches us the deep things of God. And when I take my Bible, and I open the Word of God, and I read these passages, where do I get help from? The Spirit of God gives us understanding of these deep things of God.

Now, I can't see. I've bad eyes, and I can't really see that clock at the back. So, I'll put my watch out here.

I think I can see that. And we'll try and make sure we don't go over the time. We've heard Him.

We've seen Him. And they saw the Lord in many, many scenes. But He says, we've contemplated Him.

They thought about what they had heard. They thought about what had happened. And they learned something of the person of Christ.

You know, in my little word, I call that meditation. Now, I said someplace before, there used to be a contest, almost, in Winnipeg, many, many years ago, when the young people put a chart in the basement wall, and they signed their names, and they marked in what verses they'd read, trying to see who could read the Bible first. Well, when I had good eyes, I was a speed reader.

So, I could read a book just by just about turning over the pages. Just about. But if you'd asked me what I'd read, I couldn't tell you.

I was only taking the gist. You know, when people write a book, they put a lot of stuff in that's not really relevant, they could cut the page in half, and it still makes sense. And I would look for what made sense.

And I'd miss half of what was in the book. And I just said to the brethren the other day in John chapter 16, here was I, blissfully reading John 16, and I missed out, I think it's verse 22. The Lord told them, I mentioned that the other day, a little while and you shall not see me, and a little while you shall see me.

But then the Lord further down says, I shall see you. You know, it's meditation on the Word of God, child of God. If you do nothing from this conference, if you go home and you learn to take the Word of God, and to take a verse, to take a thought, and to keep it, and to carry it with you, and to think upon it, and come back to it, and go away again, and think upon it, that's meditation.

It's to think, you know, the brethren study their Bibles, and they get up and speak to you what they've studied. But I'll tell you this, that which is effective comes from a life of meditation. Not studying the Word of God alone, but meditating on the Word of God.

Says John, we've heard him, we heard what he said, and we've seen what he did. And there is no doubt, like in John 5, the works that the Lord Jesus did were a testimony of him. The works that the Father gave him to do.

And men could see them. And the disciples thought upon them. And they could say that, in John 16, they could say, truly you're who you say you are.

You've explained things to us, now speakest thou plainly. They've contemplated the Lord Jesus Christ. I can think of many scenes in my Bible where the disciples had difficulties.

They never really understood what was going on. But there came a day in their life when the Spirit of God indwelt them. And we've heard that already.

Their brother told us about Peter, John 21. When you're old, another will carry you, whether you would not. In Acts chapter 12, he's sleeping in prison.

Why is he sleeping? Because he heard. He heard the Word of the Lord Jesus. He'd seen what he could do.

He'd contemplated the result of the ministry and life of the Lord Jesus. And when James was slain, Peter's put in prison to be slain in the morning, and he's sound asleep. He's sound asleep.

Why is he sleeping? Because he'd heard and contemplated the Word of God. Then he says, that which our hands have handled of the Word of life. What John is telling us is a real, tangible being.

The Lord Jesus Christ was not some ethereal spirit. He was the eternal Son of God, who became man. And the humanity of Christ is fundamental.

A few years ago, I spoke here on the wood offering. And if you recall, I taught then that the wood offering would speak of the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I took you back to Hebrews 2.14, where we're of the flesh, and he himself likewise took part of the same, that through death, and he could only die as the man, the Son of God.

In his humanity, only in that could he go to the cross. And so as we think about the Lord Jesus, and I'm going to finish. I didn't want to spend long here.

Just pass on these few thoughts. We've heard about Him this weekend. Has our eyes been fixed upon Him? You know, I trust we've been contemplating Him.

And you know, He's the Word of Life. That's the word logos. This is the Word of God.

This is the Word of God. Now, make a difference between the Word of God and the sword of the Spirit. You understand the difference, don't you? The sword of the Spirit is not this book.

This book is the Word of God. That's Revelation 19. The Lord's called the Word of God.

This is the Word of God. The sword of the Spirit is the word that the Spirit of God gives you from the Scriptures, which is the Word of God. It's the portion of Scripture that's relevant to your circumstance that you get from God.

And so as we contemplate the Lord Jesus today, as we go away from here, we trust indeed that like the psalmist, we could say, my meditation of Him shall be sweet.