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Scripture Reading: 1 John 5:6, 8-12; John 1:31-34
The last mystery in the first Epistle of John is that of the water, the blood, and the Spirit. This Epistle is not a long one dealing with doctrinal points. John’s way of writing is to touch only the main, crucial points. Six of these we have already covered in the previous chapters: life, fellowship, abiding, the anointing, the divine birth, and the divine seed. It is hard to understand the real meaning of 1 John. We may read it over and over, without really grasping what the significance of these terms is. Especially puzzling is this mystery of the water, the blood, and the Spirit.
“This is He who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ; not in the water only, but in the water and in the blood; and the Spirit is He who testifies, because the Spirit is the reality. For there are three who testify. The Spirit and the water and the blood, and the three are unto the one thing” (5:6-8). Why are there these three who testify? What is meant by each of them? Schools of opinion have arisen to explain what water and the Spirit mean in this context. Concerning the blood, of course, it is generally agreed that this is the blood shed by the Lord Jesus on the cross.
To know the real significance of this mystery, we must understand the central concept of this Epistle.
John’s central thought is that God in His Son as the Spirit has come into us as our life. This life brings us into a fellowship—between Him and us and also with each other. This fellowship is corporate; there is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, and there are the saints. This fellowship is actually the church life. The church life is a fellowship in the divine life. Since we have received God’s life and nature as a seed of life within us, we have this wonderful person abiding in us as the Holy Spirit, a living, moving, active One. As such, He is the anointing to us. We abide in Him according to this anointing, and we let Him abide in us. By this abiding, all things concerning the eternal purpose of God will be accomplished.
This central concept is focused on the Son of God. Whenever the New Testament uses this title, its significance always involves the imparting of the divine life. The Son of God was manifested for the purpose of imparting the divine life. “This is the testimony, that God gave to us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life...I have written these things to you that you may know that you have eternal life, to you who believe into the name of the Son of God” (vv. 11-13).
Why, then, is there the need of the testimony of the water, the blood, and the Spirit? It is important for us to understand this in order that we may apply its value; otherwise, we are lacking in something.
Yes, the Son of God came that we might have life. But He came in a way that puzzled people. He appeared as a Nazarene with no outward honor, with nothing to command respect. How could it be manifested that this One was in very fact the Son of God? It was by the water, the blood, and the Spirit that testimony was given as to His true identity.
From John 1:31-34 we can see how the water testified of Him. “In order that He might be manifested to Israel, for this reason I came baptizing in water. And John testified, saying, I beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He abode upon Him. And I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water, He said to me, He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and abiding upon Him, this is He who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.” The first manifestation of Jesus as the Son of God was His baptism by John. This was the occasion when it was declared for the first time, “This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have found My delight” (Matt. 3:16-17).
Water baptism is commonplace now, but for John the Baptist to practice it was most unusual. Though he was the son of a priest, he was not brought up in the temple, nor did he wear the priestly garments, nor eat the priestly diet. He stayed in the wilderness, wore a garment of camel’s hair, and ate locusts and wild honey (v. 4). Such a way of living was contrary to what was expected of the priesthood. There was a garment prescribed for the priests (Exo. 28:4, 40-41; Lev. 6:10), yet John wore a robe made from the hair of an unclean animal (11:4). He did not eat the normal food of the priests but rather what he found in the wilderness.
This strange-looking person was bound to attract a following. When the crowds gathered, he told them, “Repent!” The Spirit was with John, and some did repent. Then they “were baptized by him in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins” (Matt. 3:6). For John to baptize them was to say that these repentant ones were good only to be buried, that they needed to be terminated. It must have been a strange sight for this strangely dressed preacher to put people into the water. One day, yet another person came to John to be baptized. This time something new happened. The other baptisms were quite ordinary, but after this One was baptized and came up from the death waters, the Spirit of God descended upon Him like a dove, and John testified that He was the Son of God.
In this scene the water and the Spirit were both present to introduce this little Jesus as nothing less than the Son of God. He was not merely a Nazarene. Along with the water and the Spirit, a voice from the heavens testified that this was the beloved Son.
How does the blood testify?
Some very special features were present at the crucifixion of Christ. For one thing, there was darkness over all the land (Matt. 27:45). For another, the Jews wanted to get the bodies off the cross before the upcoming great Sabbath (John 19:31). Thus, they got permission for the soldiers to break the legs of the three who were being crucified in order to hasten their death. This the soldiers did to the two robbers. When they came to Jesus, however, they could see that He had already died. Instead of breaking His legs, one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear; from that wound there came out blood and water.
These and the other things that happened caused fear in the heart of the centurion and those with him guarding Jesus, and they cried out, “Truly this was the Son of God” (Matt. 27:54). No doubt the centurion was thus saved. He believed that the crucified Nazarene was the Son of God.
Jesus, then, was manifested as the Son of God in an open way by the water of baptism, by the blood He shed on the cross, and by the Spirit. By these three means God introduced His Son to mankind that they might believe and have eternal life.
Notice that the water referred to in 1 John is not life-giving but terminating. The message that the baptism of Jesus testifies to is the termination of the old creation. We all need to be terminated. Do not argue about the form of immersion; the Bible has little to say about the method. What matters is to be buried! God does not want the old creation. Whether we consider ourselves good or bad, of high caliber or worthless, God says that all we are deserving of is burial. The water of baptism means judgment. God’s judgment is that we and all the rest of the old creation need to be terminated. This is what the water testifies to us.
Why do we need the blood? The blood is for redemption. From the old creation, which needs to be terminated, a part has been predestinated by God to be His vessel. This part needs to be redeemed back to Him. God has taken care of both our termination and our redemption. When Jesus died on the cross, His all-inclusive death terminated all the old creation, including the old man and the flesh. At the same time, He shed His blood to redeem back what God had chosen.
Why do we need the testimony of the Spirit? The Spirit germinates. We have been terminated, but we were also marked out before the foundation of the world. Because God chose us, He redeemed us. However, we were lifeless because of being terminated. When the Spirit came, He caused the seed to germinate. The seed is the Son of God. Today we are living, moving, and behaving in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit today is the Spirit of life. This life is the germinating seed within.
We have been terminated, redeemed, and germinated. This life germ within is to be the source of our life and all our actions, even our breathing. This is the message of the apostle John. Yes, this Epistle does tell us to love one another, but there are not as many exhortations here as there are in most other Epistles. It touches the basic germ, not the outward doing. The Lord Jesus has come to us in water, terminating us; in the blood, redeeming us; and in the Spirit, germinating us. Once we see that we have been terminated, that God has chosen and redeemed us, and that He wants to bring to fruitfulness the life He has germinated in us, we shall cease from our doing. As He lives, we shall live with Him. As He moves, we move with Him. As He works, we work with Him. This is life, that which was from the beginning.
This central concept will save us from culture, religion, doctrines, and practices. All these are distractions from the life which was in the beginning. This life is the Son of God, who today is the all-inclusive Spirit, living within us as the life germ. He is working in us to fulfill God’s eternal purpose that we may all reach that glorious goal. There is no need for us to be concerned about this and that. We can focus all our attention on the seed. Then our growth in life will be assured.
How different this is from religion! When I was a child, I went to Sunday school and heard the Old Testament stories and the stories of Jesus. I also heard the doctrines, like the husbands being told to love their wives and the wives being told to submit to their husbands. I saw that such exhortations did not avail. I was baptized in a denomination, but that act had no significance. I could not see any sign of spiritual growth in those who were members, even after many years. We were all in the practice of religion, and our condition was pitiful.
In the proper church life there must be a germination. We cannot remain the same. Even after two weeks, there is a difference. After two months there will be a bigger difference. There will be a steady growth in life. The church practice is to terminate people, to get them redeemed, and to germinate them!
After one of our ten-day trainings is over, I can sleep well. I am able to sleep long hours, because within me there is the conviction that a good work of germination has been done. If we come together three months later, I see all the sprouts coming forth! The church life is not a matter of teachings, practices, and regulations. It is a matter of terminating, redeeming, and germinating—the water, the blood, and the Spirit. This is the way the Son of God has come to us.
