November 25
“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him,” 1 John 5:13-15.
The apostle John now summarizes to whom and why he had written this Letter. The Letter was written to Christians: “To you who believe in the name of the Son of God.” Of course, there was no doubt in the minds of many people at that time that Jesus had lived and died. That is what we call an historical faith; they believed in a fact of history. They believed that there was once a person by the name of Jesus who had lived and died. However, such a belief did not make any person a Christian.
There are also people today who have an historical faith. They believe that Jesus once lived on this earth, and that He suffered and died by crucifixion. Such belief, however, does not make anyone a Christian.
John was writing to people who had the saving faith. They believed that Jesus, a true Man born of the Virgin Mary, was also the Son of God. He is both divine and human. Jesus is the God-Man, whom the heavenly Father sent to be the Savior of all people. He lived the perfect life and fulfilled all the Commandments in our place. He could look all of His enemies in the eye and ask, “Which of you convicts Me of sin?” Then He confronted His enemies with the soul-searching question, “If I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?” John 8:46.
Having lived the perfect life, Jesus took upon Himself the sins of all people who ever lived, who were living then, who are living now, and who will live in the future, until the end of time. He carried our sins to Calvary’s cross, where He shed His holy, precious blood to wash away the sins of all people. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin,” 1 John 1:7. God the Father has declared us forgiven and justified. “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us,” Romans 5:8. “(God) made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him,” 2 Corinthians 5:21.
John gives us the same assurance today that he gave his readers when the Letter was first written: “That you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.” Continue in the saving faith.
Now John also assures us that our prayers to Jesus and God the Father and the Holy Spirit are heard and answered. “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” This is the same assurance that Jesus Himself gives us. He says, “Whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive,” Matthew 21:22. “Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you,” John 16:23. With confidence we approach the throne of grace and pray for bodily and spiritual blessings.
“Approach, my soul, the mercy seat,
Where Jesus answers prayer;
There humbly fall before His feet,
For none can perish there.
O wondrous Love, to bleed and die,
To bear the cross and shame,
That guilty sinners such as I
Might plead Thy gracious name!” Amen.