“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:1-3)
Heard with our ears. Seen with our eyes. Touched with our hands. Words that describe a sensory experience. This experience wasn’t a "what" as much as it was a "who". Jesus is Who the disciples experienced – listened to, looked upon, touched. He was the “word of life”, “the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest". “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory” (John 1:14).
The glory of God in Jesus Christ was what, who, the disciples proclaimed, spoke of, conversed about. Yet, not just who they’d heard with mortal ears, or seen with mortal eyes, or touched with mortal hands, but who with their entire beings they’d come to know and to understand, to receive and to believe, to follow and to obey. Like a friend who is able to describe a loved one articulately, intimately, and stunningly, in a way a stranger never could or even imagine, is the disciple who knows Jesus able to describe him to others.
It is one thing to know about a country from reading about it – information as facts, pictures, maps. This is the student. It is quite another thing to know about a country from having visited it – the experiences of people and conversation, food and places of significance. This is the tourist. But it is still a different thing altogether to know a country from living there – life and daily routines, roads and secret places, stories and names, struggles and victories, etc. This is the citizen.
As Christians, we are saved and “born again”, born from above (John 3:3; 1 Peter 1:3, 23), to live in, through, with, and for Jesus, not to read about him or visit him occasionally. “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20) We are now to live here, there, wherever we are “by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20); to build a home, pray, work, rest, play, dig in, root ourselves, make friends, and serve and seek the prosperity of our cities (Jeremiah 29:4-7). We are citizens of a heavenly kingdom (Philippians 3:20) that takes the necessary and daily routines, roads and secret places, stories and names, struggles and victories of our lives and communities and gives them their higher and deeper meaning and purpose in Jesus.
We are citizens of this kingdom by grace, not by our works nor for our works but by the King’s work and for his works. We hear and see and embrace him by grace; he hears and sees and embraces us in mercy. And far from being a postcard or a t-shirt or a visit from there (a distant land), our lives are the lived-in/lived-out reality of him (who has come near), his love articulated and manifested in and through us.
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