Spirit, Water, and Blood

Scripture: 1 John 5 TPT

6 Jesus Christ is the One who was revealed as God’s Son by his water baptism and by the blood of his cross—not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit, who is truth, confirms this with his testimony. 7 So we have these three constant witnesses giving their evidence: 8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood. And these three are in agreement. 9 If we accept the testimony of men, how much more should we accept the more authoritative testimony of God that he has testified concerning his Son? 10 Those who believe in the Son of God have the living testimony in their hearts. Those who don’t believe have made God out to be a liar by not believing the testimony God has confirmed about his Son. 11 This is the true testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life has its source in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has eternal life; whoever does not have the Son does not possess eternal life. (1 John 5:6-12 TPT)

Jesus was revealed as the Christ by his baptism in water. At his baptism, the Father declared Jesus’ sonship and expressed his approval. The Holy Spirit descended on Jesus at his baptism, fulfilling the sign God gave to John the Baptist that would identify the Messiah. Then the Spirit took Jesus into the wilderness to be tested by his humanity and tempted by Satan. John writes this specifically to counter a false teaching that had arisen that Jesus was only human until his baptism in water, at which point “the Christ” descended on him, but then left him before he was crucified. The truth is that Jesus was born both Son of God and Son of Man, lived and served as Son of God and Son of Man, and died, was buried, and was resurrected as Son of God and Son of Man. The blood testifies that God died on the cross and that a man is seated at the right hand of God as Lord and King of the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Gospels bear out this truth and so we have the witness of the inspired words of God that have become our Bible. We also have the witness of our own hearts that when we believe the truth about Jesus Christ (The Truth about The Truth!), we know that we have passed from death into life. God has given us eternal life and that life is in his Son. As believers we have been born again and Christ lives in us by grace through faith. We have the assurance that we have eternal life, not because of how we feel at the moment, and not because of our behavior measured as points for and points against, but because Christ lives in our hearts by faith. God is always true and never a liar!

Prayer:

Father, Thank you for the truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Thank you for the witness of water, spirit, and blood. Thank you for the witness in our hearts! Amen!