40. December 30.
Lord Jesus, Word of life, draw us
to thee and to the Father. Amen.
1 John 1, 1-7. 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; (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;) 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. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
❦
In this text we again hear John speak of the union of the eternal Word with man in Jesus Christ. He and the other apostles have seen, and their hands handled, that which was from the beginning, namely, the Word, the Life, God’s only begotten Son, God himself. Clearly, it was the human nature of Jesus which they saw with their eyes and felt with their hands; but still he says, that it was God; hence the two natures are one person in Christ. Furthermore, it is the Word, the Life, the only begotten Son of God, whom we hear in the preaching of the apostles; and he it is with whom we are united when we believe and keep the word in our heart. We have fellowship with the apostles and are one body with them; but our fellowship is in Christ, who is the head of the church. His divine life courses through the whole body; the divine life, the divine love itself, the bond of perfection, unites all the saints in the Lord. By their preaching the apostles take us into their embrace and seat us with themselves at the Lord’s supper, and thus they and we have fellowship with the Father and the Son. But God is light; that is, truth and holiness. No one who lives in God can walk in sin and deceit. No one who lives in sin and deceit lives in God. This is not to be understood as meaning, that the children of God here on earth are without sin; but they do not live in sin, do not serve sin. They confess their sin and seek forgiveness, and by grace they advance in holiness, until they shall at last attain to perfect purity. For the blood of Jesus Christ is the blood of the Son of God; and how could this blood fail to cleanse from all sin? It gives us full forgiveness every hour, and it sanctifies us wholly. By its means I shall sometime be entirely without sin, and then I shall see him as he is.
Lord Jesus, thou hast given me, also, room in thy heart, — it thrills my whole being to speak of it; thou hast cleansed me, also, with thy blood and quickened me with thy love; thou hast drawn me, also, even me, out of the darkness into the light of life. I kneel before thy throne and bless and praise thy exalted name. Lord, I am wretched and poor, and I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies. I am still sinful and unclean; cleanse me wholly; wash me with thy blood, that I may become perfectly pure. Then will I praise thee with clean lips out of a blissful heart. Amen.*
Thine forever! God of love,
Hear us from thy throne above;
Thine forever may we be,
Here and in eternity.
Thine forever! Lord of life,
Shield us through our earthly strife;
Thou, the Life, the Truth, the Way,
Guide us to the realms of day.
[TLH 338, LSB 687, ELH 515; listen here]
* Here the head of the family says a short morning or evening prayer in his own words, and closes with the Lord’s Prayer and the Benediction. This is to be done every day. If the stanzas are not sung, they may be read in their proper place before the impromptu petition and the Lord’s Prayer.