November 24
“If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life,” 1 John 5:9-12.
The apostle is showing us that we should confidently believe the message of the Gospel, which directs us to the Son of God, our only Savior. Normally, when people tell us something that is seemingly based upon facts, we believe what they say. If we are inclined to believe what people say, then we should be much more inclined to believe what God says, because “the witness of God is greater.” God is much more reliable than people. God always tells the truth.
What is the essence of the truth to which God testifies? “He has testified of His Son.” From the beginning to the end, Jesus is the heart and center of Holy Scripture. Why has God given us the sacred Writings? It is the only source which we have that tells us poor sinners that we have a Savior. The first promise of a Savior was given to Adam and Eve. After they had eaten of the forbidden fruit, God came into the Garden of Eden searching for two guilty sinners who were hiding. When God questioned each of them about what they had done, each tried to make an excuse by blaming someone else. Adam blamed Eve, and he also blamed God! It was God who had said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him,” Genesis 2:18. When God confronted Adam, he said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate,” Genesis 3:12. When God confronted Eve, she said, “The devil made me do it!” “The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate,’” Genesis 3:13.
God pronounced a curse upon the devil, and then God promised a Savior. “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel,” Genesis 3:15. The Seed of the woman was God’s promise to send the virgin-born Jesus, of whom the prophet Isaiah wrote, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel,” Isaiah 7:14. The angel announced to Joseph, “Do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us,’” Matthew 1:20-23. Jesus Christ is God with us, God and Man in one Person, who suffered, died, and rose again to redeem all people from sin, death, and the power of the devil.
This is the testimony that God gives us throughout Holy Scripture: by believing in Jesus, the Son of God, we have the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life. He who does not believe in Jesus as God’s Son and the Savior is calling God a liar, and he does not have eternal life abiding in him. At the close of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus says, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned,” Mark 16:16.
“He that believes and is baptized
Shall see the Lord’s salvation;
Baptized into the death of Christ,
He is a new creation.
Thro’ Christ’s redemption, he shall stand
Among the glorious heav’nly band
Of every tribe and nation.
With one accord, O God, we pray,
Grant us Thy Holy Spirit;
Look Thou on our infirmity
Thro’ Jesus’ blood and merit.
Grant us to grow in grace each day,
That by this Sacrament we may
Eternal life inherit.” Amen.