DAILY DEVOTION: 1 JOHN 4:14

By Stan Brown

I John 4:14  And we have beheld and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

What a wonderful, magnificent, climactic verse (This might be a great place for John to end his letter).  Everything that God has done for us, indeed for the world is summarized here.  It may be described as a more concise statement of John 3:16. Both verses extol the love of God.  Both verses are undergirded by the fact of God’s holiness.  It is God’s holiness that makes possible an eternal future completely apart from the chaos we face in the world and it is God’s holiness that requires the greatest loving sacrifice ever contemplated. In John 3:16 John speaks of the universal opportunity for eternal life based on God’s great loving act, whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  In this verse, John concisely reminds us of what God has done to provide salvation.  He has sent His Son.
 
John speaks as one who has seen and walked with the Savior and testifies concerning what he has seen.  This is not the first time he has said this.  In John 3:16 he said, whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  Twice before, in the immediately preceding verses, he has said that God has sent His Son.  First, that we might live through Him and second that we might experience His awesome love as he writes in this is love.  That love is seen when the Son came to be Savior.  Jesus is Savior.  Jesus is the only One who is able to offer salvation to a dying world.  Jesus is Savior of the world.  He makes this offer to everyone without exception or qualification, Rev. 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
 
God provided for us this fantastic manifestation of eternal life procured through love.  This love is a magnificent way of testifying about the Savior of the world.  The context would suggest that through love we may also testify to the greatness of this Savior.
 
One might ask, could not God have done it another way.  The way he chose included people who would make decisions and choose to believe in Him and follow Him.  The way He chose was to give us opportunity to love Him and fellowship with Him and mutually abide in Him.  He created people with an opportunity to make the choice to serve Him.  The process would have been simpler if He had merely spoken and had a bunch of folks ready to do what He said.  He determined, rather, that He would create people to choose Him.  In doing so, He provided all that was needed to make that choice possible and offers that choice to all, whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.