September 26.
An Unquestionable Reality

1 John 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.

That which was from the Beginning, which we heard. He heard. The tense of the verb here is suggesting that John didn’t just hear him back then. But because of hearing him, John said his voice is still echoing in his spirit even now. Have you ever heard something and the person you heard it from is dead and gone but the voice is still ringing? My mother died November 8, 1985. She used to call me while she was living just as I was getting ready to travel to revival crusades where I was preaching. She would say “Frank, Mama is praying for you.” And Mamas been gone for fifteen years but her voice is still echoing in my spirit. John said that he heard him a long time ago, but his voice is still as fresh now as it was then. He said, “I heard.”

John was not the only eyewitness. This word means that he didn’t just glimpse him. He was able to sit down and look at him and to gaze upon him. Oh I wish I had been there that day to have a chance just to look at Jesus. What a sight it must have been to look at one man and see so much. When I read this Bible, Jesus comes alive right before my eyes. Paul said, “We shall see him. Job said, “That one day I will see him with my own flesh.” But John says, “We have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon him.” We didn’t just pass by; we looked. We took us a good look. We saw the nail prints in his hands and the spear holes in his side. If Jesus had lived in our day, we could have a video of the real Jesus. We could record his voice. He really existed. Even though we can’t see him, we have the joy of knowing that He’s still living. And even though you can’t touch him, He can touch you. Then John said, “Our hands have handled him.” He felt the comfort of laying his head on Jesus’ bosom. He experienced Jesus!