The Message of Life

ByJim Stephens

Scripture: 1 John 2:22-25 (Click link for scripture in Bible Gateway)

22 Who is the real liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ. He is the real antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever rejects the Son rejects the Father. Whoever embraces the Son embraces the Father also. 24 So you must be sure to keep the message burning in your hearts; that is, the message of life you heard from the beginning. If you do, you will always be living in close fellowship with the Son and with the Father. 25 And he himself has promised us the never-ending life of the ages to come! (1 John 2:22-25 TPT)

As the end of the first century drew near, it was an unsettled time for the church. The antichrist teachings took many forms, but they always attacked the divinity of Jesus as the Christ, and added rituals and lies to the Message of Life.

Whether the false teachings told people that Jesus wasn’t the Messiah, the true Christ, or told people that the way to God was to believe in Jesus plus keep the Law, or presented “secret” knowledge and special ritual practices, anything that undermined the place of Jesus Christ was antichrist, against the truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. They didn’t have the Bible to guide them into proper “doctrine”, so John and Paul and Peter and James and others wrote to correct error that developed. Then as those writings stood the test of time and were effectively used by the Holy Spirit to establish truth, they became The Bible.

The antichrist teachings about the Father, about Jesus, about faith, are still with us. We must keep it true, keep it simple, keep it clear:

Jesus said: God loved the world so much he sent his Son to save us. If you’ve seen me you’ve seen the Father. I and the Father are one.

John said: Keep the Message of Life burning in your hearts – the clear, simple, hope-filled message you heard from the beginning, and you will always be living in close fellowship with the Son and with the Father.

Keep the message burning in your hearts. It is the original, uncomplicated, simple story of God’s gift of love. It’s the Message of Life, and through believing, you will experience never-ending life in the ages to come.

Prayer:

Father, Thank you for the clear, simple Message of Life. May we always live in close fellowship with you and your Son, and may we experience never-ending eternal life.