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Today's Little Lift
by Jim Bullington
Unless Alexander Graham Bell could prove that Thomas A Watson had heard him say, “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you,” the telephone would have been just another inventor's flop. However, he did hear the words and he reported them back to Bell, proof positive that the telephone was a means by which a message could be transmitted in an otherwise unbelievable means from point A to point B.
John wrote, “ Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” (1 John 5.14-15; all emphasis mine both above and below, jb). Like Watson and Bell, unless there was feedback from the receiving end, it was impossible to know that point B had actually heard the words spoken by the person at point A. Yet, John said, “We know that He hears us!” John could have used another word other than know; he could have said think, suppose, believe, are fairly certain, etc., etc. However, he said he knew!
In order for John to know, the Lord had to reveal that John's claim was accurate. Otherwise, John was no better than the next dreamer making a bold yet unsupported claim. It strikes me that there is a “chain” of facts that John had to know, before he could know that God hears the petitions of the believer. Our message will examine this “chain.”
First, John had to know that God exists. While many, many people (and unfortunately many of them “religious” in spirit) say that it is impossible to know that God exists, John was bold in saying that he knew what others say cannot be known. As for those who say they cannot know, they would do well to check in with John to figure out how he could make such a claim and that for the entire world to read.
Secondly, John affirmed that God has a will which can be known. God exists, and God communicates what he expects of humanity. He is not an abstract and aloof character, but someone who participates in the affairs of men, directing and guiding man's footsteps. His expressed will is understandable to the accountable human being. It is not a mystical, better-felt-than-told, I can feel it but I just can't explain it kind of knowledge; it was the kind of knowledge that is willing and able to put itself to the test and to demonstrate its veracity. John knew that God existed, he knew that He had a will, and he knew that God's will could be understood.
Finally, John affirmed that he knew that God heard his petitions. Once again, that would be a claim that would have been impossible to prove unless there was feedback from point B (God) that He had heard the desires of point A (believers in general and John in particular). John knew and he knew that those who read his epistle could test whether or not his claims were empty, or whether they had substance. In fact just a few verses earlier, he charged his readers to “...test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 John 4.1). How foolish it would have been for a man who demanded such proofs to have declared himself exempt from the tests he demanded of others!
In what form did the proofs come which allowed John to make such bold claims? They came in the same way that God normally used to approve his prophets. When Peter and John went into the temple in Jerusalem, Peter spoke the words that raised the lame man to his feet, but the validation was equally valid for John as for Peter. John claimed that God heard because he could back up his claims with signs and miracles. Once proven, there is no need to prove the same fact over and over; We know that He hears us!
Questions:
1. How could people who knew John determine whether or not he was a false prophet?
2. How had John instructed others to detect false prophets? Would the same apply to John?
3. In Acts 3 and the healing of the lame man, was Peter more powerful than John? Why was it Peter's words that are recorded rather than John's?
4. Is it possible to know with absolute certainty that God exists, that He has a will, that we can understand His will, and that He hears us when we pray according to that will? THINK!!!!
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