It is entirely appropriate that a book dealing with the subject of Christian assurance should end with three final affirmations, introduced by the repetitive phrase “we know” in verses 18, 19 and 20. In some ways these statements are a summary of much of what John has been teaching. In another sense they are a reminder of how important affirmations are to Christianity.
John’s first affirmation is that the one who is truly born of God does not sin. At first glance this statement seems to be contradictory to John’s repeated declaration in chapter one that anyone who says that he does not sin or has never sinned is either self-deceived or a liar, just as the section in chapter 3, verses 4-10, seemed to be contradictory to those same statements. But the contradiction is only an apparent one, and our discussion of the earlier passage indicates how we should deal with this.
The second of John’s affirmations is that “we are of God,” joining himself to his readers in this certainty. But where does the certainty come from? In the first instance the certainty that the one born of God does not sin comes from the ability of Jesus (or God) to keep the Christian. In this case the certainty that “we are of God” comes from the fact that the tests of righteousness, love, and sound doctrine have been applied and the results discovered to be positive.
This leads to the third of John’s affirmations, which is, as Stott says, “the most fundamental of the three.” This strikes at the very root of the heretical Gnostic theology, for it is the affirmation that the Son of God, even Jesus, has come into this world to give us both knowledge of God and salvation.
Once we know Him, what then? Then we must keep ourselves from idols. In verse 18 John has written that the Son of God will keep the Christian, but this does not relieve the Christian from his own responsibility to persevere in God’s service. Rather than drifting, he must draw near to God and grow in the knowledge of Him. For only then will he be truly kept from idols.
A funeral service of the Book of Common Prayer is a very beautiful thing—both in its simplicity and in the wise way it uses Scripture. The Old Testament readings have to do with many of the psalms. There is the twenty-third as you can imagine, as well as the forty-sixth, which tells us that the Lord is our refuge and our strength.
It’s really not possible to come to this chapter at this point in the Bible, right at the end, without realizing that when John has this vision of the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, this is in contrast to practically all of the great themes preceding this that have to do with our normal, earthly expectations. Jerusalem is certainly contrasted with Babylon, which is mentioned just a few chapters before. Babylon stands for everything that is human in opposition to God.
When John begins to describe this in chapter 21, the thing that impresses him most about Jerusalem is that God dwells there. He writes, “I saw the Holy City,” he says, “the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God’” (vv. 2-3).
John begins to describe some of the other details, and he talks about this great wall all the way around it. A wall would symbolize protection, and so you have an image there of our eternal security and safety. He talks about the twelve foundations. Why twelve? Well the reason is that they relate to the twelve apostles of the Lamb in verse 14. And the reference to the twelve apostles goes along with the twelve gates in the city, which represent the twelve tribes of Israel. This shows us the kind of base upon which this heavenly community is established.
The appearance of this city of God, the new Jerusalem, is in a certain sense the culminating point of the entire Bible. This is the destiny for which we were created. But unless, by the work of Christ, you are a new creature, you can take it on the authority of the Word of God that you will never enter that city. So we need to search our hearts. We need to make our calling and election sure. We need to say: “Lord Jesus Christ, am I really yours? Have you really changed me? Have I been made a new creature?
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not considered by the world to be a source of power or wisdom. So it is no surprise that as Paul writes this letter, from the world’s point of view he experienced little attention. People were not impressed with Paul. But this does not mean that he experienced no attention at all. On the contrary, he was hounded, slandered, and persecuted—almost to death—as he says in the passage to which we now come.
The second practice Paul avoided was the use of deception. This is pretending to do one thing, but actually doing something else. I regret to say that an application of this takes place even in the Christian church, where something will be put forward to attract people but which is really not what the church is all about. It will be done simply because it is believed that you have to do something to get them in, and then after you get them in, you can begin to work with them. That is a tragedy because that can be a form of deception. They pare off the hard edges of Christianity, including the difficult sayings of Jesus Christ about discipleship, because they say that if you talk about those things you turn people off and they will not even listen.
Beginning in verse 7, Paul begins to talk about the ministers. He refers to himself, but the use of the plural is significant. Paul is not appealing to his own experience alone, drawing attention to how much he suffered. Yes, he is speaking personally because he has a personal relationship with these Christians. But he is speaking in more general terms. The suffering that he has experienced is true of the apostles as a whole, and, to some extent, of other people as well when they try to bear a witness for Christ.
Here in chapter 4 he talks about being hard pressed, crushed, perplexed, persecuted, and other things. Then he goes on to say, “For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake” (v. 11a). Do you see yourself in any of those terms? You probably have experienced at least some of these things in some way if you try to share the Gospel and live for Christ.
Do you have your eyes on what is happening internally? Do you know that in all of the circumstances of life, all of the things you go through, God is renewing you inwardly? He is building within you a new character. He is building a new life, one that is going to exist for all eternity in His presence.
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