1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
We see at the star of this chapter that God has bestowed upon us a divine love which makes us sons of God. Because of this the world does not know who we are because they do not know God. Even as we are the sons of God because we believe in Him we still cannot know what we will be. But when He appears we shall be like Him because we shall see Him as He is. So we need to keep ourselves in tune with God at all times to be ready when He does appear. even though the world is going in the other direction.
1 John 2:29 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.
Finally we see in this last verse we can know God even better if we remain in righteous with Him. Because we should know that God is righteousness, then if we are in righteousness with him, we are righteous . In another scripture we read that if we seek the kingdom of God first and His righteousness all things will be added unto us. We need the righteousness of God each and every day to accomplish His will in our life each day.
1 John 2:26 These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
28 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
These verses show us that we draw closer to God by simply remaining in Christ. It lets us know that there are people and preachers out there that will try to lead us in the wrong way. There are so many out there today that compromise the word of God to fit their agenda and try to lure as many people to them as they can. Because we have the anointing of God that we have though we should be able to discern when a false profit is trying to lead us astray. This will help us to stay true to the teaching of the truth and be able to abide in Christ. In doing this we will not be ashamed when He comes to call his children home.
1 John 2:24 Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.
25 And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.
These verses show us we can draw closer to God by letting Christ abide in us. They tell us in one sense to look back at our first love and let that abide in us continually and the father and the son will abide with us . The Son and the Father shall continue to dwell with us and also assure us of the promise He has promised us which is eternal life with Him. This is a daily thing we deal with every day and that is to stay true to God so as to hold on to our salvation. Let us give Him praise today as we worship Him on this which is His day and draw even closer to him.
1 john 2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
These two verses show us we can be closer to God by accepting both the Father and the Son for who they are. These verses tell us that a liar is one who denies that Jesus is the Son of God and therefore is saying that there is no God. Anyone who does this is considered to be an antichrist because he denies the exorbitance of the Father and the Son. Finally it lets us know that if we acknowledge the Son then we also have the Father and with them comes the Holy Spirit. I pray that everyone who reads this has a relationship with Jesus so they can experience what the Father and Holy Spirit can do for them.
1 John 2:20 But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.
21 I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
We see in these two verses we can know God by having the Spirit anointing and truth. The first verse says we have an anointing from the Holy Spirit which is our teacher and guide.This helps us to gain the knowledge we need to do the will of God. next it shows us that as we learn we see that the truth is the only thing we need to speak. John is only writing to the Christians so he knows they know the truth and any compromise to that is a lie. As Christians we should brave and bold enough to speak the truth in any situation even if it hurts a little bit.
1 John 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
These two verses show how we can get closer to God by being in unity. We see it begins by talking about the antichrist and how there is many of them. This refers to those christians who claim to know God but do not. It also makes reference to the last anichrist. Verse 19 goes on to says that these antichrist went out from among us because they were of us. We see this in churches today where people come and want to be all fired up to do all they can, when they are really just trying to sew seeds of doubt in the true believers, and when they see it is not working they leave. If they had been in unity with the true believers they would have never left. Because they left though people will begin to see their true nature as continue to do this. It is very important that a church be in unity, even if some have different opinions, for it to survive. A church that can work out its differences is a church that is is not only in unity but also in God’s will.
1 John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
Now we see we can know God by doing His will and not loving the things of this world. These verse plainly and simply tell us that if we love the things of this world the Father is not in us. It tells us that the lust of the flesh an of the eyes and our pride is of the world and not a part of the Father. We should not love this world because it will pass away along with the lust that goes with it. It ends up telling us though that if we will do the will of the Father we will abide with Him forever. We need to walk with God everyday to be able to resist the things of this of this world.
1 John 2:14 I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.
This verse refers to the father and the young man and lets us know we can be closer to God by letting the word of God abide within us. Again it tells us that the father has know Him form the beginning and because of his obedience in following God he has overcame the wicked one. Then he tells the young one because he is strong and abiding in the word of God he has overcome Satan. This shows us that if we abide in God and stand strong and bold in our faith we can overcome Satan. We need to rely on the strength of our God to stand against Satan because the closer we get to God it seems Satan throws more at us. We also see in this, the growth of the Christian and the knowledge acquired to help live in the Light.
"For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." I John 5:7
