Bible Study on 1John 1, verses 1 to 4, part 2, how God has appeared to people

 

1John 1:1 ¶  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, of the Word of life; 2  (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) 3  That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4  And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

God appeared to people in different ways. There is a vision, as in Genesis 15:1 where we see the angel of the LORD is God and elsewhere where the person is in a trance but fully awake and God has taken over the person’s consciousness. He spoke to Samuel, Isaiah, Nathan the prophet, Ezekiel, Ananias of Damascus, Peter, Paul, and others in this way.

Genesis 15:1 ¶  After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward… 4  And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.

Some Targums suggest that the word of the LORD that came to Abram and spoke to Him was the second part of the Godhead, also fully God, as He was in the Garden of Eden before the Fall.

Numbers 12:6  And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.

Numbers 24:4  He hath said, which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open:

He also appeared as an angel of the Lord, with an angel being a presence, something tangible you could interact with, the preincarnate Word, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 63:9  In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

Judges 2:1  And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.

Judges 13;21  But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD. 22  And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.

Exodus 3:1 ¶  Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. 2  And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 3  And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4  And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. 5  And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. 6  Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.

In this passage in Exodus the angel of the LORD, that is Jehovah, appears in a flaming bush and yet calls Himself God.

God also appeared in a dream, as to Solomon.

1Kings 3:5  In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee…15a  And Solomon awoke; and, behold, it was a dream…

Now, also see some appearances of the Word, the second part of the Godhead but fully also God as John states. This requires a complete study but notice the following and consider what I have to say.

Genesis 1:26 ¶  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:

The Targum Neofiti says that the Word of God was part of that as an individual not just spoken syllables or the writing of a text as it does in verses in Exodus, Deuteronomy, Leviticus, and Numbers. For instance, in a Targum here it is said that the Word of God is actually walking in the camp, not God the Father.

Deuteronomy 23:14  For the LORD thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.

Jesus is that Word of God, The Divine Word, the second part of the Godhead and still fully God, as John insists.

John emphasizes that, unlike the statements of Gnostics who denied that God could take on matter and be in the flesh as matter itself was evil, that Christ came in the flesh and they saw Him and talked to Him. This is eyewitness testimony certifying and confirming Christ’s physical presence.

John 1:14  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

1Timothy 3:16  And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

He confirms also that eternal life is found in Christ.

John 10:28  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.  

John testifies of this and that Christ is the way to God the Father.

John 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Because He is God the Father in the flesh.

John 14:9  Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

John wants to complete the joy of the disciples, that we should all experience, by confirming and attesting to these facts. Are you not joyful at these promises?