“And who is a liar?
Anyone who says that Jesus is not the Christ. Anyone who denies the Father and
the Son is an antichrist. Anyone who denies the Son doesn’t have the Father,
either. But anyone who acknowledges the Son has the Father also”
(1 John 2:22-23,
NLT).
Remember, the Apostle John
was writing this letter to Christians, not to non-Christians. So, he reminds us here that the ultimate lie from those who called themselves ‘Christians’ is to deny that Jesus is
God’s Son. In fact, if some people lie about this, they really can’t be trusted
on anything else important. As I read the Scriptures, God’s Word clearly teaches that a person cannot know God without knowing the Son, Jesus
Christ.
Again and again Jesus
Himself said that to know Him was to
know God Himself; to reject Jesus was to reject God. “My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the
Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and
those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Luke 10:22). One time,
Jesus insisted that He and God were one and the same: “If you trust me, you are trusting not only me, but also God who
sent me. For when you see me, you are seeing the one who sent me… I don’t speak
on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and
how to say it. and I know his commands lead to eternal life; so I say whatever
the Father tells me to say” (John 12:44-45, 49-50); “The Father and I are one” (John 10:30).
We see that our faith as
Christians depends on the unique relationship that Jesus, the Son had with God
the Father. It was so unique and different from the relationship an ordinary
human being could have with God; it was a one-of-a-kind relationship. I know
this can be difficult to understand, just as it is difficult for me to explain.
But all I can gather from what the Scriptures and the Spirit teach is that to
deny that Jesus is God’s Son is to deny God the Father as well; to believe that
Jesus is God’s Son is to have a correct view of who God the Father is. We can
know God partially from nature, even the world around us. But we can know
God fully only through and by knowing the Son, Jesus Christ.
Friends, it’s all wrapped
up together in one package. You can’t have Jesus without God the Father, and you can’t have God the Father without believing that Jesus was God’s Son. To
believe otherwise, according to John, is to tell a terrible lie. “Anyone who denies the Father and the Son is an antichrist. Anyone
who denies the Son doesn’t have the Father, either. But anyone who acknowledges
the Son has the Father also.” Amen.
THINK BIG.
START SMALL. GO DEEP.
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