What Life Consists Of | 1 John 5:1-12 Meditations

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
Matthew 6:20

1 John 5:1-12
1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.
10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

The Bible Bee has been such an incredible blessing, and I feel that especially this year God has used it to draw me closer to Him. It is such a glorious, marvelous thing to come to know Him more and more.

But if I'm entirely honest, I must admit that especially during the last couple weeks, the competition aspect of the program has been consuming much of my thoughts.

I want to achieve something great. I want to have recognition. I want the praise of men.

Of course, I didn't say that to myself in my conscious mind. It was just a subtle desire that I unintentionally made a hobby of contemplating.

Then I was reading through 1 John 5:1-12.
It struck me how God had given me life.

Life.

What does that actually mean?

While I was looking up cross-references for zōē (life), Luke 12:15 stood out to me.

And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

Life does not consist of the abundance of things I possess. 

I suppose that also means that life does not consist of the abundance of recognition I garner. 

Ouch.

Ahhh... What should I do then? I mean, I actually kind of like being recognized... 

Continuing to read through Luke 12, I came to verse 34.

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Aha. My treasure was in the possibility of semis and beyond (semis is the "level" in Bible Bee where the top 15 contestants advance to). So that's where my heart was.

And try as hard as I can to "move" the focus of my heart, it won't work.
My treasure has to go.

But how? Treasures don't go very easy. They're a treasure, after all.

The verse before 34 seems to confirm that, but it also gives the solution.

Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.

He calls me to seek first His kingdom. (Matt. 6:33)
To love Him. (1 John 5:1-3)

To sell what I have.
To store up treasure in heaven.

Now, I really don't have much to sell at this point, but what do I have?
I have time.

That's not to say that my time is free, by any means. But it's there.

Will I give that to God?
Will I allow Him to turn that into heavenly riches?

I was mulling over those thoughts and being preoccupied with tasks I deem important when an Anonymous came to request my help in studying.

"Not now - don't have time." I immediately responded.

Time.
What was it about time? The message of Luke 12:33 started to ring in my ears again.
Will I allow God to turn that into treasure in heaven?

Anonymous broke into my thoughts. "Then... who will help me?"

I was convicted enough.

"I'll help you." I took the book and began to explain for Anonymous.

I began to realize the message of Philippians 3:14. God has given me a high calling. That is my prize. That is what I press toward. My prize is not in Bible Bee rankings and scores. My prize is not in the praise of men.

My prize is the high calling God has given me in Christ Jesus.

That high calling may take the form of relentlessly reviewing verse cards, tireless study, and constant memorizing. Or it may take the form of reading books to little ones when I have no such passion. But whether it looks like the glamorous portrayal I expect a high calling to be or not, it doesn't matter. I just follow Him.

For "this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith". (1 John 5:4)

I may not know what the big picture is, but He gives me faith. Through that, I overcome the world.

He has given me life.

Life consists not of the abundance of things, but it consists of Him.

He is life. (John 14:6)

Thoughts, Notes, Lists, and such. Disclaimer somewhere in here.

Attributes of the Father:

• Has children
• Has commandments
• One with the Word and the Holy Ghost
• His witness is greater than men's witness
• Testified of His Son
• Gave us eternal life in His Son

Attributes of the Son:

• Born of God
• the Son of God
• Came by water and blood
• One with the Father and the Holy Ghost
• The Father testified of Him
• Eternal life is in Him

Attributes of the Spirit:

• Bears witness
• Truth
• One with the Father and the Word
• Agrees with the water and the blood

Cross-References:

vs 1 --> John 15:23  He that hateth me hateth my Father also.

vs 2 --> John 13:34  A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

vs 3 --> Deut. 5:10  And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.

vs 3 --> Pro. 3:17  Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

vs 4 --> Rom. 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

vs 6 --> Tit. 3:5  Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 

vs 6 --> Lev. 17:11  For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. 

vs 6 --> Luke 12:50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!

vs 10 --> Col. 3:3-4  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. 

vs 11 --> Luke 12:15 And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

Mini Study - Blood and Water and Leprosy and Us

While I was studying, I came across Leviticus 14, which contains the instructions for the cleansing of leper when he is healed. This chapter struck me as an incredible picture of what Jesus did for us. 

*The italicized notes below mean they have been taken from Matthew Henry's Commentary.

Leviticus 14:6-7 starts describing the process of the ceremony conducted when pronouncing a leper clean: 
"Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water: And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field."

Henry summarizes: A preparation was to be made of blood and water, with which the leper must be sprinkled. 

Here we see a couple key elements. 

There are

• The two birds, one killed, and the other freed
• Cedar wood
• Scarlet
• Hyssop

The Birds

One of the birds (and the Jews say, if there was any difference, it must be the larger and better of the two) was to be killed over an earthen cup of spring water, so that the blood of the bird might discolour the water.

This (as some other types) had its accomplishment in the death of Christ, when out of his pierced side there came water and blood (John 19:34). Thus Christ comes into the soul for its cure and cleansing, not by water only, but by water and blood (1 John 5:6). 

 The living bird was then dipped in the blood and water mixture with the wood, scarlet, and hyssop, then released. 

Some make the slain bird to typify Christ dying for our sins, and the living bird Christ rising again for our justification.

Cedar wood

Henry comments that cedar wood "signified the restoring of the leper to his strength and soundness, for that is a sort of wood not apt to putrefy."

Though I couldn't find it explicitly written in the Bible, the commentaries I've come across seem to agree that when the living bird was dipped in the blood and water, it was tied to the cedar wood. 

If we were to compare the birds to Christ, picture starts to bring Galatians 3:13 to mind - Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

The curse, whether of leprosy or of sin and death, is nailed to the cross. We bear it no more. 

Scarlet

This can be compared to so much. The scarlet robe was put on Jesus, just as it is thought that a scarlet ribbon was tied to the bird, wood, and hyssop. Regarding the leper, Henry adds that "the scarlet wool signified his recovering a florid colour again, for the leprosy made him white as snow."

 Isaiah 53:5 says that "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."

Jesus shed His blood so that we could live. We can live - healed, clean.

Hyssop

"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." (Psalm 51:7)

Regarding the cleansing of leprosy, the hyssop intimated the removing of the disagreeable scent which commonly attended the leprosy.

John 19:29-30 mentions hyssop again when it describes Jesus' crucifixion:
"Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost."

It is a beautiful thing to see hyssop, an antiseptic herb, appearing again and again, reminding us of the righteousness, the purity of those that believe on Jesus! 

Then comes the part of the ceremony where the leper is sprinkled with the blood and water from the birds.
Then, he is pronounced clean.

Clean.

It reminds me of the latter part of Isaiah 54:17, where the heritage of the servants of the Lord is proclaimed. "Their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD."

Righteous. Pure. Clean.

As the blood and water, which the killed bird has contributed to and the living bird has been dipped in, is sprinkled over the leper, it forms a beautiful analogy.

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Gal. 2:20)

And also in Romans 6:3-5: Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

Because of Jesus' death and resurrection, I can live.

Just as the healing of the leper means restoration back into society, salvation by faith in Jesus brings us into fellowship - with God, and with the body of Christ.