12. I Know Him Who Is True
Many define “sin” as a choice of wrong instead of right, of evil instead of good, of not doing what God says instead of doing what God says. This is a “tree” in which they live. Inside of that tree, they can do right and good and what God says almost to perfection and still be living in death, still be “putting Jesus to death,” as Paul discovered.
The Tree of Life is something entirely different. Those who live inside of the Tree of Life have given up on themselves, but trust utterly in the One in whom they live to keep them.
For Father. But we do not live inside of the Tree of Life in order to live inside of the Tree of Life, as wonderful as that is. We live inside of the Tree of Life that Jesus might connect us utterly with God, our Father. Yet being utterly connected with God is also not an end in itself.
The purpose of everything is that God our Father might have what He wants. And what God wants above all is a Body, a visible form, through which He can be Himself inside of His creation, through which all that He has created can see and know Him. This is the asserted testimony of all Scripture.
I Will Meet with You. This is why the most important verse in the Old Testament, the verse most anointed to me, is Exodus 25:21-22. – You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. And there I will meet WITH you, and I will speak WITH you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything…
The Ark of the Covenant and the Tree of Life are two pictures of the same thing; both have a prominent place in John’s vision.
Life for My Brother. In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul takes this ruling verse and places it emphatically as Jesus written on our hearts and shining from our faces as we are transformed into His same image.
Our passage in 1 John 5 contains four verses. I hope to address each of these four verses separately. Yet we are absolutely intrigued with the realization that 1 John 5:16 gives us an incredible task which we have never known or practiced. Let me paraphrase and reduce that verse. If anyone should see his brother disconnecting from God, he will ask, and God will give him LIFE for his brother. Simply this, as we go forward we will continue to ask God what on earth this means.
Conceived out from God. We know that everyone who has been conceived out from God does not sin, does not fall short of complete connection with God, but the one who has been conceived out from God, God Himself protects and guards him, and the evil one does not touch or influence him.
Being conceived out from God and Jesus written on our hearts of flesh are the same thing, that is, an incorruptible Sperm, causing us, as John said, to be what we don’t yet know completely. But we do know that, just as with Jesus, it means utter dependence upon God. We do not look to ourselves, but God alone KEEPS us.
Pure and Devoted. In this conclusion to 1 John, John is placing us into Jesus’ instructions to the Father in John 17:15-19. – I do not ask that You should remove them from the world, but that you should keep them away from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Make them pure and devoted to You inside of the truth; Your word is truth. Just as You sent Me into the world, in the same way I also send them into the world. For their sakes, I make Myself pure and devoted to You, that they also might be made pure and devoted inside of the truth.
This action of Jesus is the dynamic and energeoing center of the Tree of Life, the only place we live.
Substance versus Appearance. We know that we are out from God, and the whole, entire world-cosmos is set inside of the evil one.
We understand this absolute statement only inside of God’s reality of substance versus appearance, which is, in fact, the essence of John’s vision. We know from John 1:3 and Hebrews 1:3 that everything exists only inside of, out from, and by the Words that are Jesus speaking. In reality, all Christians and beyond that, everything else, exists only inside of the Tree of Life. The tree of death is found only inside of human imagination, though its consequences are real.
Two Different Things. John is not describing a universe split between good and evil, between a good “God” and an evil “god.” Neither is he suggesting that the earth and its inhabitants exist “inside of” Satan.
Here is how we are to SEE. Look out across the earth and all living humans. You are seeing TWO very different things, both at the same time. Distinguishing always between these two things is an essential part of our Victory. The first thing we see is each individual human, utterly separate from all others, confused and lost – inside of God.
The Games Begin. This isolated individual is coming out from God, passing through God, and returning to God, as Paul says. The problem happens when this solitary individual looks around and sees other humans, and immediately the games begin. We lust for superiority only as against others.
Every single point of relationship between one human and another human is SET entirely and only inside of the evil one. And those relationships develop into a vast weave of political intrigue, all of which belongs to Satan. We could say it this way, that the tree of death is found only inside human imagination, but the connections with others, ruled by contempt, are found inside of the evil one.
A Third View. Now, I said two, but there is also a third thing that we see, if we are utterly careful in our seeing. Christians are quite capable of knowing the God in whom they live OR remaining in the ignorance of God, preferring the idols of their imagination. In the same way Christians are fully capable of reaching out and touching other Christians in two very different ways.
My interactions with you can exist inside of our drinking of the same Spirit and sharing the same Jesus – OR – my interactions with you can exist inside of the evil one. And this is, as we have seen, John’s overwhelming argument in his letters. – It’s one or the other.
If I Humble Myself. If I reach out to interact with you out from my contempt, then I am of the evil one. But if I reach out to interact with you out from the certain knowing that the Love of God is shed abroad in your heart towards me, that I am a lowly recipient of untold love coming from you to me, then I am out from God. And we together dwell inside of a City not of this world.
I am convinced that this is the central issue of the unfolding of the Apocalypse over the next several years. – Jesus seen and known through the Church, His body. Now let’s try enflowing faith for we must write our page.
Enflowing Faith. I am conceived out from God by an incorruptible Word; I do not sin. I never disconnect myself from God in my imagination. God Himself protects and guards me as I trust utterly in Him. I know that I am out from God because I love my brothers and sisters. I know that Jesus is presently come into me and gives me the ability to know God. I know Him who is the True, for I am inside of Him, and I am inside of His Son, Jesus Christ. I am speaking of the true God and of the life that unfolds the ages. I do not know or imagine God any other way.
The Jesus Secret Page. Sometimes I have to write a bit before I even know what should be on the Jesus Secret page. We will finish 1 John with a Jesus Secret box. Then we see that our final verse – “Keep yourself from idols,” actually fits best into the topic for 2 John.
And so I want two boxes only prior to the Jesus Secret box, that means they will be a bit larger. Both boxes will come out from verse 20. The first box will be “The Gift of Jesus,” that is, this incredible ability to know God, and the second box will be “I Know God.”
My Ability to Know. I begin the first box, then, with these words. – Jesus gives me the ability to know God. This is the essence and meaning of the Lord Jesus Christ, both in the larger picture and in each one of our hearts. Jesus gives me the ability – Jesus is my ability to know God.
What does that mean? How is Jesus my ability to know God? Personal – Living – Spirit – Word. But more specifically, John says that Jesus gives a dianoia, a through-mind, that is our capacity to know God. This is the capacity that enables a Jesus and a word “out there” to become a Jesus and a Word inside.
Our Knowing of the Father. Jesus Sent into us then becomes our knowing of the Father. This, then, is the second meaning of a “through-mind,” for it is also Father coming through. God is no longer a God “out there.” He is God inside of and among us.
Thus we know God only by heart, inside our phroneo, our heart-gut mind. And we know Him as springs of living water always arising inside of and among us. But this is only the beginning. It is where our knowing of God takes place. Jesus is ever so much more our knowing of God.
The Most Capable Being. Jesus’ Atonement enables us to know no disconnection from God; His example enables us to humble ourselves with Father, that we might share Father’s Heart. Jesus as Living Spirit Word, always energeoing, connects us always with God, at lightning speed, in the personal intimacy of a shared life every moment. Jesus’ own Story and the words He speaks concerning Himself becomes our story and the words we speak concerning ourselves – the Father and I are one.
Jesus is the most capable Being in the entire universe; His abilities are truly astounding and most precious to us.
The Gift of Jesus. Jesus gives me the ability to know God; Jesus is my ability to know God. Jesus gives me a through-mind so that a Jesus and a word “out there” become Jesus and Word inside. Jesus gives me a through-mind so that a God “out there” becomes my Father inside, sharing my life with me. Jesus is my all-connection with God, the Covenant. His sacrifice removes all consciousness of sins. Jesus’ example leads me to humble myself with Father. Jesus as living Spirit Word fills my thoughts with God’s thinking. Because I live only inside of Jesus, I know that I live only inside of the Father. Jesus is the most capable Being in the universe; He is able to make God part of my life and to make me part of God’s Heart. Jesus belongs to me.
God with Us. Inside the box “I Know God,” I want to draw together the deepest levels of knowing God that have come to us through our study of John merged with our own experience in the beginnings of this wonderful journey.
I want to find five different aspects of knowing God, and thus five topics for five paragraphs. Five, I have been told, is the number of grace. Grace is God with us, in fellowship together, as pictured by the Ark of the Covenant in Exodus 25. The law is God’s words under my control; grace is God’s Word in union with me, He and I together.
Our Always First Knowing. The primary way in which we know God is as a personal life shared together every moment. My part is acknowledgement. “Father, You share this and that aspect of my person with me.” Jesus’ part is to be the Personal, Living, Spirit Word in my heart that causes my thoughts to think like God.
Knowing Father sharing all with me in weakness must always come first, yet with it also comes knowing myself with Father, that I also share His personal Life with Him. Everything found in “knowing God” is found first inside of sharing each other’s Life, person with Person.
Knowing God – Shared Life. I acknowledge that God shares every particle and moment of my human life with me. Then, inside knowing God sharing me with me, I boldly know that I share God’s life with Him.
Towards Our Shared Purpose. A shared life together with God is the union out from which purpose flows. A shared life is intimate and private, but every interaction with others prompts us to acknowledge Father’s Heart and to see them through His eyes. Sharing Life together is the source, the Covenant; sharing purpose together is the outflow, the Kingdom.
That purpose is God known by all creation as Love. Thus, every next step God and I take together comes out from our shared Life and is moving towards our shared purpose, that is, for the sake of others. Give thanks for a shared Life; expect God to arise for others.
Knowing God – Shared Purpose. At the center of my life that God shares with me is my desire to share God’s Heart with Him. I share His Heart; the purpose of my ongoing experiences is turned by Father and me into - for the sake of others. We together see others as better; we together lift them up and give life and joy to all.
A Shared Seed. The entrance of Jesus into us is the entrance of the very procreation of God; Jesus is God’s Sperm. The HUMAN me, in a body of mortal flesh, foolish and weak, comes only out from that Sperm, the Word of God. I share Christ with God.
Jesus takes us deep inside of God, and He takes God deep inside of us. And in that deep inside of deep, there is an intermingling of everything. This is where I am BOLD. I can know God because He makes me just like Himself by His Word entering into and flowing through me.
Truth = Personal Living Spirit Word SHARED.
Knowing God – Inside Each Other. The entrance of God into me through Jesus is the deep and intimate intertwining of fabric and substance. Father and I share Christ together. We KNOW one another in the deepest romance of bringing forth Life. Father and I are always INSIDE of each other.
A God Who Is TRUE. That we might know Him who is the true; and we are inside of Him who is the true, inside of His Son, Jesus Christ. We are speaking of the true God…
Personal Living Spirit Word is truth out from God, but John is emphatic in using the word TRUE in direct reference to God Himself. Humans embracing “Did God indeed say,” that is, “God, You lie,” causes more sorrow inside of God than we could ever comprehend. They are striking His Word. Humans embracing “God speaks True” is the only comfort that heals God’s ripped-apart Heart.
Knowing God True. Nonetheless, “God speaks TRUE” is true in one arena only, in our interactions with each other. We cannot “love” God except through loving our brother. And there is NO truth in our loving one another except our whole lives be open to one another and TRUE.
Knowing God is knowing one another as those who share Jesus together, and knowing one another is knowing God.
We humans are so skilled at weaving pretending all around ourselves, even in “speaking Christ.” ONLY when we walk daily together do we walk in the LIGHT, with nothing hidden. Only together do we know God True.
Knowing God – Knowing One Another. God Love is True only inside of all my interactions with my brothers and sisters. I know God only as I know them; I know them only as I know God. I know God True as I know my brethren and they me, for our walking together is Light.
Life Unfolding. Our every next circumstance coming out from our shared life, God and me, is Life unfolding, and thus is the first steps of the Kingdom. But the Kingdom unfolds in earnest only through our shared life together as believers in Jesus.
God is Love; God is known only as Love among us. Thus the unfolding of our own personal knowledge of God requires the unfolding experience of love together. God flowing into creation THROUGH our life shared together as believers in Jesus, knowing one another, knowing God together, is the ULTIMATE knowing of God.
Knowing God – as Kingdom Unfolding.
I know God as He truly is as I know God as love among us, and then we together see God flowing out from our love for one another to be known as Love by all. It is in knowing such a God made visible to all through our love together that I truly KNOW my Father.
Jesus Personal. In the Jesus Secret box, I want to go back to the gift and the ability of Jesus, for the first part of God’s gift to us is the personal. There is no LIFE, no knowing of God, except it be Jesus Himself, real and personal inside of us, speaking Himself and His role to us in intimate closeness.
Receive Jesus’ speaking as real inside of you. Place yourself as the picture of “the forehead on the ground.” Tremble at Jesus’ words entering into you. Receive those words with “Let it be to me,” as the very Seed of God. Know that Jesus is telling you the Truth.
The Jesus Secret. My Beloved, know Me, that you are inside of Me and I am inside of you. Lean your head against My breast and hear My voice speaking to you out from My Heart. I am here inside of you because I love you, and I always want to be with you and you with Me. But I am inside of you for a far greater purpose as well. My dear one, inside of Me is the Father, and I, with you in Me, am inside of the Father. I connect you with God All-Carrying. I cause you to KNOW the Father. I am your ability to know God; I am the knowing of the Father inside of you. Let’s you and Me know Father together, for the sake of others, Father’s Heart revealed.
Reading for Next Time. The next lesson is titled “I Walk in the Truth.” For it, read 2 John two or three times. Also, bring into your thinking 1 John 5:21 – “Keep yourself from idols.” – I rejoiced exceedingly because I have learned of your children walking inside of truth, just as we received full completion in intimate participation with the Father.
Wow, look at this. John writes 2 John to a woman. The woman is the channel through which God enters creation. For that reason, John speaks of her children, referencing what will come in Revelation 12. Also, we have introduced “Truth”; next we will expand on it.
Let’s Pray Together. Let’s just speak with Father, knowing Him, in our prayer this time.
“Father, I know You. I know You even as You know me. It is the Lord Jesus, my very heart and Yours, who connects me with You and causes me to know You every moment. Father, I know that you share my life with me, that every circumstance and every particulate of my human frame is You, sharing Your own thoughts, emotions, and desires with me through Jesus. Father, I know that I share Your life with You, that You have made me to be part of all that You are and do.
“Father, I know that You enter deep into me, even as I enter, carried by Jesus, deep into You. I know that all of our substance is intermingled together in sweet harmony. Father, I know that You share life with my brothers and sisters just as much. I know that You come through them in a unique way and that as I know them, even so I know You ever more. I know that You are that Love among us.
“Father, we know that You flow out from the Love we share in daily life together; You flow out as Love outpoured into the knowledge of all creation. Oh God, our Father, we KNOW YOU in such wondrous joy, as we see You being Yourself towards others through us together. And all our knowing of You is Jesus.”