HEBREWS CHAPTER FOUR B THE WORD OF GOD-

What follows below is my commentary on the last half of Hbrew Chapter Four and is not intended to add or subtract from scripture in any way. As usual, I would advise the reader to read Chapter Four out of His own Bible for His understanding. 

 

In these last days, God has spoken to us in His Son-

God’s Son, Christ, is also The Word that was always with God in the beginning, and was God. (See the Gospel of John 1:1) This is the Word that put on flesh and dwelt among us until His death and resurrection. Then forty days later, He was carried up into the Heavens, restored to the former glory He had in and with the Father before the foundations of the worlds. He is now Lord of Lords and King of Kings. He has been given a name far above all other names. It is Him with whom we have to do.

He is the eternal Spirit and when He makes us born again, His Spirit moves into- and lives in our spirit. Our spirit also moves into- and lives within His Spirit. His Word abides in our hearts and our spirit abides in Christ Jesus and is now seated in Him at the right hand of the Father ‘In Christ Jesus’ Who is The Word.

For He is the Word that God speaks and He is alive and full of power [making Him active, operative, energizing, and effective];

 

He is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart. And not a creature exists that is concealed from His sight, but all things are open and exposed, naked and defenseless to the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do.

He has much work to accomplish within us. He will make apparant to us the difference between our soul and our immortal spirit and of the deepest part of our nature. He will expose and analyzing and judge the very thoughts and purposes of our heart. It is impossible to hide from His work in us because all things are transparent before Him. All things are exposed, naked, and defenseless to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. He will make you into His image.
Inasmuch then as we have a great High Priest Who has [already] ascended and passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession [of faith in Him]. For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning. Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God’s unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it].

HEBREWS CHAPTER FOUR – The Rest of God

We are told in this forth chapter of Hebrews that we as born again Christians are entitled to enter the Rest of God.

We are also reassured not to disbelieve or distrust the promise of the availability of this promise of His Rest for us because we might think that we have come to late to this promise and as a result, we have come short of reaching it.

Because of the disobedience and unbelief of Israel under Moses- God swore in His wrath, ‘They (Israel) shall not enter into my Rest’.  The reason: They did not lean their entire personally on God in absolute trust and confidence in His Power, wisdom, and goodness when they had heard the good news of their deliverance. Perhaps they believed they were on their own once they were delivered. Perhaps this is the way you believe. Israel did not walk in faith towards God. You and I have been told that the ‘Just (delivered from unrighteousness into His free righteousness through our born again transformation)  shall live by faith’ (in God not ourselves). Israel failed at that and it cost them the Rest of God, and they all (except Joshua and Caleb)  died in the wilderness.

We who have believed and have placed our total faith in trusting Him and relying on His Love and Power, wisdom and goodness toward us do enter into His Rest in accordance with His declaration that those who did not believe should not enter into His Rest when He said, As I swore in my wrath, They shall not enter into my Rest. This mention of a rest does not refer to their entering into Canaan. For if Joshua would have given them Rest, God would not have spoken through David after so long a time later in the words already quoted, Today, if you would hear His voice and when you hear it, do not harden your hearts. So then, there is still awaiting a full and complete Sabbath-Rest reserved for the true people of God 

The irony is this, Although His works had been completed and prepared and was there waiting for all who would believe-  set aside and ready from the foundation of the world.  It is written- On the seventh day God rested from all His works. And they (Israel) forfeited their part in it. For He said, They shall not enter into My Rest. Seeing then the promise still remains for some to enter that Rest and those who formerly were given the good news about it and the opportunity to enter, failed to appropriate it and did not enter into it because of their disobedience out of their unbelief. Again God sets a definite day, a new Today, and gives another opportunity of securing that Rest.

For he who has once entered God’s Rest also has ceased from the weariness and pain of human labors, just as God Rested from those labors peculiarly His own. Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that Rest of God, to know and experience it for ourselves, that no man may fall or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience into which those in the wilderness fell. 

(Note: it is my opinion that so much teaching (without the leading of the Holy Spirit) is focused on what we should do, or not do, to get our desire, with God, or in a situation, or with a person. We need to drop all that and learn instead what He accomplished since before the worlds were formed, For Jesus was slain before the foundation of the world, but manifested in these last days for our sake. It’s all in His cross), 

The original text is below- 

 

1 THEREFORE, WHILE the promise of entering His rest still holds and is offered [today], let us be afraid [ to distrust it], lest any of you should think he has come too late and has come short of [reaching] it. For indeed we have had the glad tidings [Gospel of God] proclaimed to us just as truly as they [the Israelites of old did when the good news of deliverance from bondage came to them]; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because it was not mixed with faith (with the leaning of the entire personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness) by those who heard it; neither were they united in faith with the ones [Joshua and Caleb] who heard (did believe). For we who have believed (adhered to and trusted in and relied on God) do enter that rest, in accordance with His declaration that those [who did not believe] should not enter when He said, As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest; and this He said although [His] works had been completed and prepared [and waiting for all who would believe] from the foundation of the world. For in a certain place He has said this about the seventh day: And God rested on the seventh day from all His works.  And [they forfeited their part in it, for] in this [passage] He said, They shall not enter My rest. Seeing then that the promise remains over [from past times] for some to enter that rest, and that those who formerly were given the good news about it and the opportunity, failed to appropriate it and did not enter because of disobedience,  Again He sets a definite day, [a new] Today, [and gives another opportunity of securing that rest] saying through David after so long a time in the words already quoted, Today, if you would hear His voice and when you hear it, do not harden your hearts.  [This mention of a rest was not a reference to their entering into Canaan.] For if Joshua had given them rest, He [God] would not speak afterward about another day. So then, there is still awaiting a full and complete Sabbath-rest reserved for the [true] people of God; For he who has once entered [God’s] rest also has ceased from [the weariness and pain] of human labors, just as God rested from those labors peculiarly His own.  Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that rest [of God, to know and experience it for ourselves], that no one may fall or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience [into which those in the wilderness fell]. 

We will finish this chapter next. I hope you’ve been helped and may God blessyou and yours-

 

HEBREWS CHAPTER THREE

This is not an attempt to add or take away from any scripture. In fact I would exhort you to read this chapter out of your own bible for your own understanding- What I’ve written amounts to my commentary on this chapter of Hebrews-

Written to Hebrews in the church, Peter (who may or may not be the writer) is aware that there had been a lot of pressure put on them to return to their Jewish roots and abandon the Christian faith.

Up till now, he has been giving us a very eloquent summary of Jesus’s true identity and what He accomplished for us in His work on earth.

In my last post on Hebrews two, I made a quick list of what God has provided for His born again children.

WHO ARE YOU?

You are born again. Being bound for a new body and a resurrected life in the world to come, you will have been brought to God’s planned maturity for the human experience. Christ has already experienced your death for you, You will see yourself crowned with Glory and Honor and you will see yourself set over the works of God’s hands as you are one of many Sons being brought to Glory,

You and Christ have the same Father and  Christ is not ashamed to call you His brethren as you are one of the Children God has given Him,     

Christ did not take hold of the fallen angels to give them a helping and delivering hand but He did take hold of the fallen descendants of Abraham to reach out to them a helping and delivering hand. Since you were born again and saved by grace through faith, (and that’s not of yourself but is a gift from God), you are a descendant of Abraham,  Nothing can exist in this world or the one to come that can change or effect the Love of God that He has and has shown for you, 

So it is evident that it was essential that He be made like His brethren in every respect, in order that He might become a merciful (sympathetic) and faithful High Priest in the things related to God, to make atonement and propitiation for the people’s sins. For because He Himself [in His humanity] has suffered in being tempted (tested and tried), He is able [immediately] to run to the cry of (assist, relieve) those who are being tempted and tested and tried [and who therefore are being exposed to suffering].

Considering all that’s written above, any Hebrew thinking of going back to the Law, this is a lot to walk away from- 

We continue at Hebrews Chapter three:

Walking in the faith given by God in our born again experience, let us consider Jesus, our Apostle and High Priest, who has set us apart unto God and secured onto us our calling and participant into the Covenant of our God with our spiritual Father Abraham.

Moses was the Law Giver to Israel and as such held a place of highest esteem. He indeed was faithful in the house of God. He was faithful onto God in the administration of all God’s house but it was only as a ministering service. His entire ministry was but a testimony to the revelations to be given afterwords to those ‘In Christ’.

On the other hand,Jesus has been worthy of a much greater honor and glory than Moses. All things were created by and through Christ and as such was worthy of much more than Moses as Jesus was the builder of the house whereas Moses, was only a ministry in the house and only as a testimony of Christ to come, who was faithful as the builder of the house and moreover, Christ was faithful over His own Father’s house as a Son Who was also God. We are now members of God’s house, if we hold fast and firm to the end our joyful and exultant confidence and sense of triumph in Christ our hope.

Now, having displaced the main figures in Hebrew history, angels and Moses, Peter replaces both of them with Christ who actually is The Lord of Lords and King of Kings and who deserves a much greater Honor and Glory.

What follows is a warning-

.If Today you would hear His voice, harden not your hearts-

A religion made up of rules, commandments with pomp and ceremony- that is The Law- soon draws cold and dry. Mostly what you find, especially in those days, when the local Jewish Government was made up of ruling Priests, Pharisees, Sadducee and the like. (The Roman Government did rule over Israel as a satellite nation and as such set up a puppet government). If you were an average Hebrew person, your daily dealings would be with the Sanhedrin or the Pharisees etc. Their job was to make sure the people were kept under the Temple Law, and the High Priest enforced it. As Jesus said, there was no compassion, mercy or love in their ministry. Nevertheless, they were warned to watch over their hearts that they did not become hardened into unbelief for Christ was always to come. 

Do not harden your hearts, as happened in the rebellion of Israel and their provocation and embitterment of Me in the day of testing in the wilderness, Where your fathers tried My patience and tested My forbearance and found I stood their test, and they saw My works for forty years. And so I was provoked, displeased and sorely grieved with that generation, and said, They always err and are led astray in their hearts, and they have not perceived or recognized My ways and become progressively better and more experimentally and intimately acquainted with them. Accordingly, I swore in My wrath and indignation, They shall not enter into My rest.  

It was hard for these Hebrews in 57 A.D. and it was hard with Moses in the wilderness. Their conduct in those days revealed their hardened hearts into unbelief and God responded with wrath and indignation. He vowed to refuse them entrance into His rest.

Therefore beware brethren, take care, lest there be in any one of you a wicked, unbelieving heart which refuses to cleave to, trust in, and rely on Him, leading you to turn away and desert or stand aloof from the living God.  

There are many of us born again Christians who are suffering, with one disease or another, or maybe find themselves with children in terrible conditions with very little money. Situations of one kind or another exist where it would be easy to give up to a hardened heart.  

But instead warn, admonish, urge, and encourage one another every day, as long as it is called Today, that none of you may be hardened into settled rebellion by the deceitfulness of sin by the fraudulence, the stratagem, the trickery which the delusive glamour of his sin may play on him. For we have become fellows with Christ the Messiah and share in all He has for us, if only we hold our first newborn confidence and original assured expectation in virtue of which we are believers firm and unshaken to the end. Then while it is still called Today, if you would hear His voice and when you hear it, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion in the desert, when the people provoked and irritated and embittered God against them.

For who were they who heard and yet were rebellious and provoked Him? Was it not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He irritated and provoked and grieved for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose dismembered bodies were strewn and left in the desert? And to whom did He swear that they should not enter His rest, but to those who disobeyed, who had not listened to His word and who refused to be compliant or be persuaded? So we see that they were not able to enter into His rest, because of their unwillingness to adhere to and trust in and rely on God since unbelief had shut them out.

HEBREWS CHAPTER TWO

We’d seen in chapter one the incredible description of who Jesus really is, and what He accomplished-

[But] in the last of these days He has spoken to us in [the person of a] Son, Whom He appointed Heir and lawful Owner of all things, also by and through Whom He created the worlds and the reaches of space and the ages of time [He made, produced, built, operated, and arranged them in order].  

He is the sole expression of the glory of God [the Light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine], and He is the perfect imprint and very image of [God’s] nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power. When He had by offering Himself accomplished our cleansing of sins and riddance of guilt, He sat down at the right hand of the divine Majesty on high,

This is so eloquent that it would be good for all Christians to memorize this. 

The writer continues His argument in order to ween these Hebrews off their attraction to the law of Moses which threatens their true understanding of the Gospel of grace through Jesus Christ. 

Chapter Two of Hebrews:

SINCE ALL this is true, we ought to pay much closer attention than ever to the truths that we have heard, lest in any way we drift past [them] and slip away.

If this was written in a letter to you or I, I would remember that in John 6 Jesus told us that our work would be to ‘believe on Him who had been sent’. This would be the area that the enemy would focus on in order to steal our belief and reliance on Jesus and stop us from keeping Him in the center of our lives.

The writer continues:

For if the message given through angels [the Law spoken by them to Moses] was authentic and proved sure, and every violation and disobedience received an appropriate (just and adequate) penalty, How shall we escape [appropriate retribution] if we neglect and refuse to pay attention to such a great salvation [as is now offered to us, letting it drift past us forever]?

If these Hebrews allow themselves to fall into a fear (from unbelief) that motivates them to return to the religion and law of the Jews it would then be impossible for them to escape the penalty for failing to obtain a true righteousness before God. 

For it (The Gospel) was declared at first by the Lord [Himself], and it was confirmed to us and proved to be real and genuine by those who personally heard [Him speak].

[Besides this evidence] it was also established and plainly endorsed by God, Who showed His approval of it by signs and wonders and various miraculous manifestations of [His] power and by imparting the gifts of the Holy Spirit [to the believers] according to His own will.

So, not only did Jesus Himself reveal the Gospel, but it’s truth was confirmed to the disciples and proved to them to be genuine and real to those who had heard Jesus speak. But there was further confirmation from God Himself  by His signs and wonders and the gifts of the Holy Spirit to those who believed according to God’s will.

Not only all that but next Peter (I’ve decided to call the writer Peter because he was given the ministry to the Jew where Paul’s ministry was given to the gentile) will show that these Hebrews concept of the rank of mankind and that of angels was not understood correctly.

For it was not to angels that God subjected the habitable world of the future, of which we are speaking.

First off, the habitable world to come was never subjected to angels by God. But God spoke quite differently regarding man in scripture

It has been solemnly and earnestly said in a certain place, What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You graciously and helpfully care for and visit and look after him?

For some little time You have ranked him (Man) lower than and inferior to the angels;

In God’s eyes man was ranked lower than the angels for some little time! But God always had greater and more honorable plans for man- to be achieved through the death and resurrection of the one man Jesus! This present life was never the final stage of God’s idea and will for man. The resurrected life and body of man and eventually also the Universe was God’s will and pleasure even before Adam fell, or even before the laying of the foundation of the earth! All of it accomplished through God’s Covenant with Abraham!

Here’s how Peter puts it: 

You have crowned him (man) with glory and honor and set him over the works of Your hands,  For You have put everything in subjection under his feet. Now in putting everything in subjection to man, He left nothing outside [of man’s] control. But at present we do not yet see all things subjected to him [man].  

But we are able to see Jesus, Who was ranked lower than the angels for a little while, crowned with glory and honor because of His having suffered death, in order that by the grace (unmerited favor) of God [to us sinners]

He might experience death for every individual person. For it was an act worthy [of God] and fitting [to the divine nature] that He, for Whose sake and by Whom all things have their existence, in bringing many sons into glory, should make the Pioneer of their salvation perfect [should bring to maturity the human experience necessary to be perfectly equipped for His office as High Priest] through suffering.

For both He Who sanctifies [making men holy] and those who are sanctified all have one [Father].

For this reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren; For He says, I will declare Your [the Father’s] name to My brethren; in the midst of the [worshiping] congregation I will sing hymns of praise to You.  

And again He says, My trust and assured reliance and confident hope shall be fixed in Him. And yet again, Here I am, I and the children whom God has given Me. Since, therefore, [these His] children share in flesh and blood [in the physical nature of human beings],

He [Himself] in a similar manner partook of the same [nature], that by [going through] death He might bring to nought and make of no effect him who had the power of death—that is, the devil— And also that He might deliver and completely set free all those who through the [haunting] fear of death were held in bondage throughout the whole course of their lives.

For, as we all know, He [Christ] did not take hold of angels [the fallen angels, to give them a helping and delivering hand],

but He did take hold of [the fallen] descendants of Abraham [to reach out to them a helping and delivering hand].  

So it is evident that it was essential that He be made like His brethren in every respect, in order that He might become a merciful (sympathetic) and faithful High Priest in the things related to God, to make atonement and propitiation for the people’s sins. For because He Himself [in His humanity] has suffered in being tempted (tested and tried), He is able [immediately] to run to the cry of (assist, relieve) those who are being tempted and tested and tried [and who therefore are being exposed to suffering].

WHO ARE YOU?

You are born again

You have been brought to the maturity of the human experience

Christ has already experienced your death for you

You will see yourself crowned with Glory and Honor

You will see yourself set over the works of God’s hands

You are one of many Sons brought to Glory

You and Christ have the same Father

Christ is not ashamed to call you His brethren

You are one of the Children God has given Him

Christ did not take hold of the fallen angels to give them a helping and delivering hand

He did take hold of the fallen descendants of Abraham to reach out to them a helping and delivering hand

Since you were born again and saved by grace through faith, and that’s not of yourself but is a gift from God, you are a descendant of Abraham

Nothing can exist in this world or the one to come that can change or effect the Love of God that He has for you 

So it is evident that it was essential that He be made like His brethren in every respect, in order that He might become a merciful (sympathetic) and faithful High Priest in the things related to God, to make atonement and propitiation for the people’s sins. For because He Himself [in His humanity] has suffered in being tempted (tested and tried), He is able [immediately] to run to the cry of (assist, relieve) those who are being tempted and tested and tried [and who therefore are being exposed to suffering].

Hang on to this and teach it when you can- God bless every one of you- more coming-

 

HEBREWS CHAPTER ONE

This book is written to Hebrews. That is, to Jews recently converted through a born again experience to Jesus. Written sometime around 57 A.D. Times were not good for these ex-Jews. The Roman Army was dealing a hard, strict hand against these Converts.The Jewish community did not take it kindly when one of their own converted to Jesus either. In the meantime, Orthodox Jews had infiltrated this Hebrew church bringing with them the message that a converted Jew’s life was made extremely tough because God was angry. They had abandoned their Jewish faith. Some of them were considering going back and renouncing Christ. Understanding this as the background of this book will help you greatly. The writer of Hebrews is now trying to return these Hebrews to a sense of stability.

We start at Hebrews 1:1-

1 IN MANY separate revelations [ each of which set forth a portion of the Truth] and in different ways God spoke of old to [our] forefathers in and by the prophets,

This, of course, is true and being what was God’s common way of speaking to Israel in the Old Testament it had become the Jewish way of understanding as to how God communicated with His people. Jesus, although being what all the old testament scriptures really spoke towards- He did not fit Israel’s expectations and was rejected.

[But] in the last of these days He has spoken to us in [the person of a] Son,

There had been over 400 years since God had spoken through any prophet. John the baptist had finally came with his message of Christ.

Not realizing that all that had happened before in Israel’s history was a type and shadow which spoke of the coming of Jesus and all that was fulfilled by His coming, Israel rejected Him. Contrary to the way Israel perceived Jesus, He was not a change in Israel’s beliefs, but actually was where these beliefs were always headed. You’ll notice that the Apostle Paul will often use old testament scriptures in order to illustrate the true meaning of what was fulfilled by the coming of Jesus.

Salvation through faith instead of works was a concept hard for a Jew to grasp. 

Jesus spoke loudly to us and Israel regarding the true nature of the Father- by His Life, Death and resurrection.

Whom He appointed Heir and lawful Owner of all things, also by and through Whom He created the worlds and the reaches of space and the ages of time [He made, produced, built, operated, and arranged them in order].

Not only did Jesus humble Himself to come to us as a man- but He did this while realizing that He owned all things and that all things were created by and through Him. All things are upheld by the Word of His power. 

Except for a small remnant, the Jewish nation was blinded (for our sake) to that (Jesus) which was so obvious. (Read Isaiah 53 for instance and it is amazing to me that Israel missed it’s message). 

He is the sole expression of the glory of God [the Light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine], and He is the perfect imprint and very image of [God’s] nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power.

Knowing who Jesus is, is fundamental in order to be called born again. We cannot even see the Kingdom of God, let alone enter it without the Life of  the Spirit in our spirit. This scripture shows Jesus as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

When He had by offering Himself accomplished our cleansing of sins and riddance of guilt, He sat down at the right hand of the divine Majesty on high,

Having finished the work He came to accomplish,  He is seated at the right hand of divinity Himself.

[Taking a place and rank by which] He Himself became as much superior to angels as the glorious Name (title) which He has inherited is different from and more excellent than theirs.

The Jewish religion teaches (rightfully so) that it was an angel of the Lord that spoke to them and Moses at Mt. Sinai. 

 

For to which of the angels did [God] ever say, You are My Son, today I have begotten You [established You in an official Sonship relation, with kingly dignity]? And again, I will be to Him a Father, and He will be to Me a Son?

No such words were ever spoken to any being except- they were spoken to Christ.

Moreover, when He brings the firstborn Son again into the habitable world, He says, Let all the angels of God worship Him. Referring to the angels He says, [God] Who makes His angels winds and His ministering servants flames of fire;

Jesus is the ‘first born’ Son but certainly not the last. Ever since the cross God has birthed many, many other children. You and I are Sons if we are born again. Angels have quite a different description.

But as to the Son, He says to Him,

Your throne, O God, is forever and ever (to the ages of the ages), and the scepter of Your kingdom is a scepter of absolute righteousness (of justice and straightforwardness).

Jesus will be the Head of God’s Kingdom forever. He will rule with absolute righteousness.

You have loved righteousness [You have delighted in integrity, virtue, and uprightness in purpose, thought, and action] and You have hated lawlessness (injustice and iniquity). Therefore God, [even] Your God Godhead), has anointed You with the oil of exultant joy and gladness above and beyond Your companions.

Jesus has loved righteousness and Hated lawlessness and the Godhead has anointed Him with the Spirit of extreme Joy above and beyond His companions. 

And [further], You, Lord, did lay the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the works of Your hands.

Here it is again, this person Jesus laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning and created the work of creating the heavens.

They will perish, but You remain and continue permanently; they will all grow old and wear out like a garment. Like a mantle [thrown about one’s self] You will roll them up, and they will be changed and replaced by others.

The universe and everything in it will wear out and be replaced but He (Jesus) will remain and continue forever. I believe we should picture Jesus more like what we see of Him in Revelations.

But You remain the same, and Your years will never end nor come to failure.

Besides, to which of the angels has He ever said, Sit at My right hand [associated with Me in My royal dignity] till I make your enemies a stool for your feet?

God never said anything close to that to any angel.

Are not the angels all ministering spirits (servants) sent out in the service [of God for the assistance] of those who are to inherit salvation?

That’s what angels are, ministering spirits sent out for the assistance of those who are to inherit salvation. That’s you and I-

I believe that the writer (I like to think it’s Paul) succeeded in presenting Jesus in a powerful light. Any Jew still thinking he might want to return to the Jewish religion has his head deep in the sand.

Hope this has been helpful- of course, more coming-

Walking in the Light of Life Part Three

We have been examining 1st John (The disciple who Jesus loved), In order to help become acquainted with and know the Father and His Son, Whom He has sent because this is what makes up eternal life.

But ye have an unction (anointing) from the Holy One, and ye know all things 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.

When you were born again you were anointed (connected spiritually) to truth itself. Jesus puts it this way: ‘I am the way (His death and resurrection provides the way for you into the actual presence of the Father) ‘The Life and The Truth’. In Him was Life and that Life is the Light that Lighteth every man that cometh into the world. When He claimed that He was ‘The Truth’ He was saying that He was Reality itself. He actually is because everything else was created by The Father through Him.  (Read the first chapter of the Gospel of John).

No lie or falsehood is ever generated because of the ‘Truth’.

Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?

It will become evident later in this epistle that there were those who were trying to seduce this little church into turning away from the true Gospel, even to the point of denying that Jesus was who He said He is. Of course John was with Jesus throughout His entire ministry and certainly knew who loved him. So, his mission here is to avoid a train wreck spiritually. 

He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. 

He doesn’t mean here that the Antichrist  that is to appear near the very last days is influencing these saints but rather that the spirit of the Antichrist (which certainly is loosed on the world today) was the power that was behind the lies that spawned the doubts these people had to deal with. If he is playing mind games and doubts with you, hang on to that which you heard at the first, resist the devil and he shall flee from you. They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.

Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: 

The world today is filled with religions that claim that their god can be reached without Jesus at all. One thing these religions have in common is that they focus their hope on themselves and what they do. There are those who believe that their god loves to hate people and promises rewards to those who, like him, learn to hate certain people with all their hearts. Interesting that their heavenly rewards from this concept of god consists mostly of sins of the flesh. Christianity is the only belief that recognizes that God Himself is love and able to undo the great sin nature which condemns us and that we are born with. The only one where our salvation is based solely on what God and His love has accomplished through His Son Jesus Christ.   

(but) he that acknowledgeth][ the Son] [ hath] [ the Father][ also].

If we have Jesus, we have the Father also- as Jesus said- This is the work of God, that you believe on Him who He has sent.

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.

Remember, ‘The just shall live by faith’ Keep that which you heard and which caused you to be born again. Renew your mind and the way you think by staying in His word. Learn to agree with God in the thoughts that you allow. Refuse to believe anything that contradicts what the word says. The bible is a book that teaches us what to believe. You will realize that there is a lot to change regarding what we believe. Be careful not to interpret the word in such a way as to support what we want it to say. 

And this is the promise that he hath promised us, [even] eternal life.

This we must believe and this eternal life is beyond anything we can imagine. One thing, it is a love beyond anything we have ever experienced. 

These [things] have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.

Yes! cleanse yourself from the world and it’s values- walk in love and you walk in God.

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. 

Return to God and that anointing He gave you and you won’t stumble.

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.  

If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.

I pray that this has been helpful for you- May God bless you in all you do-