This morning I opened my Bible to do some reading. I was in 1 John 1-4. As I was reading, something struck me that I hadn’t noticed before. Let me share what I read:
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, concerning the Word of life-the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested to us-that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.
What caught my eye was the comment of that your joy may be full. I was recognizing that up to this point where Jesus was revealed for who he was, the Israelites had only known God with fear and trembling. They had been witnesses of the tremendous power and might of their God. They had seen God go before them, rescue them, and defeat their enemies. They experienced the awe of God when He freed them from slavery and God approached them. The sheer power of his voice shock the ground. They were afraid and told Moses to go speak to them on their behalf but to ask God to withdraw because they were scared. God honored their request and met with Moses on the mountain giving Israel his 10 commandments to follow.
Obviously I am skipping things in the history of God’s interactions with Israel, but the bottom line of this is that Israel had a healthy fear of angering God. They knew they broke his laws, sinned against him and would make animal sacrifices of blood to atone for their sins and be forgiven for another year. So imagine, you have been raised knowing this history, and had been instilled a fear of God being angry. You didn’t really Know God, you just knew the rules to follow. Most perceived God as being distant and Holy. They didn’t associate God with being concerned with their needs. The concept of a loving God wasn’t something most of the people would have known. The environment was rules that had to be followed, sacrifices that needed to ensure that they would have rain for their crops, forgiveness of their sins in the hope that God would deal with them in mercy when they died. Obviously it’s more complex than this but you get the idea. God felt distant. There wasn’t a comfort level of assurance that He was pleased with them. He wasn’t approachable to most in their perception of God.
Now contrast this to what happened when Jesus came into their midst. Jesus shocked them. Not only did he do miracles and teach about heaven, Jesus said He only did and said what the Father does. What?? Jesus introduced us to the fact that God is our Father, not a distant God. It gets better, there were witnesses of all the teachings and miracles. They saw with their own eyes, the death and resurrection of Jesus’ life. They were first hand witnesses to share with the world what God had done. Israel didn’t need to be afraid of God! God wanted to show them that He had always loved them. God wanted a personal relationship with them. This hadn’t been possible before Jesus became the blood sacrifice for their sins, because their sins separated them from a Holy God. Now that that obstacle had been removed with Jesus death and resurrection, now God could be known personally. He could be approached with the confidence that they were protected by the blood Jesus had poured out. God sees us through His own Son’s blood. God revealed He does have good plans and a future for His people.
Can you imagine the shift in their thinking and the freedom that brought? To go from wondering how God perceived your life, if you would be admitted to heaven, to learning that the HOLY God that you had been taught to fear, actually cared about your life and loved you. That is the Joy that John is talking about. John was a witness of all that Jesus had done to reconcile Israel with God. When I read this, my brain registered this as not only Joy, but dancing in joy and celebration.
I believe it’s a mind shift that God wants for all of us. God wants us to know we don’t need to be afraid to come to him. He wants us to draw close and just enjoy getting to know who He really is. It’s a gift that He has given us. Access to the fullness of God for all of eternity. He wants us to be in Joy of life, Joy of knowing him. He wants us to be in Awe of the wonders of who He really is. Just as before Adam and Eve fell into sin, God wants to walk and talk with us daily. He longs for the time we spend with him. Just as when you love a child of your own and want to spend time with them, so too, God wants to spend time with His children, Us.
