OUR COMMON SALVATION. There are three that bear witness. Victor Hall. with David Baker & Peter Hay. April 2015

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2 OUR COMMON SALVATION There are three that bear witness Victor Hall with David Baker & Peter Hay April 2015 Scriptures are quoted from NASB, NKJV, KJV and LITV. Where italicised emphasis is used in Scripture references, this has been added and does not appear in the original translations. Cover design: Dan Proud ISBN: Published by RFI Publishing RFI Publishing Inc Old Goombungee Road Toowoomba QLD 4350 Phone: rfipublishing.org For a full catalogue of our Christian music and publications, please visit:

3 Contents PREFACE 3 CHAPTER 1 The witness of God 7 The prophecy of Zechariah 8 John s testimony 9 There are three that bear witness 10 The witness of the water 11 The witness of the blood 12 The witness of the Spirit 12 The symbol to reality to substance 13 Making God a liar 14 The testimony of God is greater greater judgement 15 The witness within ourselves 16 CHAPTER 2 The witness of the water 17 The source of creation 18 Regeneration and renewing 19 A fountain of life 22 The Scriptures 23 A spirit of adoption faith to come into Christ 24 The parable of the sower 26 CHAPTER 3 Regeneration in the Old Testament 29 What did Abraham find in the flesh? 32 Regeneration and adoption 34 Adam 36 Abel through to Noah 37 Noah 38 The footsteps of the faith of Abraham 39 Melchizedek 40 A spirit of adoption 40 The exceedingly great reward 41 Circumcision 43 The child of promise 44 Obtaining the promise 45 The law covenant 46 Regeneration of God s covenant people 47 i

4 CHAPTER 4 The witness of the blood 49 Weak through the flesh 50 Paul s discussion on the weakness of our flesh 51 The law of the Spirit of life 53 Redeemed by the blood 55 The blood cleanses the conscience 56 Dying and living becomes our way of life 57 The mystery of Christ 58 His life in our mortal body 59 Receiving the life of Christ 60 CHAPTER 5 The witness of the Spirit 63 Grace for each day 65 The witness of the Spirit within the church 65 ii

5 Preface We have drawn our title for this book from the letter of the apostle Jude. He wrote, Beloved, while I was making every effort to write about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. 1 We notice an interesting interplay in this verse. While Jude was intent on writing about one subject, he was compelled by necessity to write on another subject! For this reason, we don t have Jude s book on our common salvation. However, this is the subject of the Scriptures in their entirety. Our common salvation was the preoccupation of all the New Testament writers, and most particularly the apostle John. We know that John received the revelation of Jesus Christ as an old man. In the light of this revelation, he then proceeded to write his Gospel account and his three pastoral letters. This means that the letters of John are the final writings of the Scripture. His first letter is an invaluable summary of all the major propositions of the gospel. As an elderly father in the faith, John was writing to those who believed in the name of Jesus Christ. He was doing this so that they would know they had eternal life. 2 1 Jud 1:3 2 1Jn 5:13 3

6 OUR COMMON SALVATION John was not writing to people who were unsaved. Rather, he was exhorting his beloved brethren to genuinely appraise the authenticity of their salvation. He clearly explained how they could know that they had eternal life. He made statements like, By this we know that we have come to know Him, by this we know that we are in Him, we will know by this that we are of the truth, we know by this that He abides in us, and by this we know that we abide in Him and He in us. 3 John s major proposition was that there are three witnesses. Before the foundation of the world, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit predestined us to become sons of God with an eternal inheritance. This is the covenant purpose of God. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are the three witnesses in heaven to this purpose and provision. To fulfil Their covenant purpose, the witness of God is proclaimed on earth as the witness of water, the witness of blood, and the witness of the Spirit. 4 The witness of the water is the message of the Father. The witness of the blood is the message of the Son. The witness of the Spirit is the message of the Holy Spirit. These are three distinct messages, but they all agree as one. We need to receive all three messages to become a son of God. The water is regenerating, the blood is redeeming, and the Holy Spirit is sanctifying. The word of the Father is proclaimed to us as a fountain of living water. The word is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. 5 It is circumcising our heart and strengthening our human spirit. 6 The word is recovering our identity so that we can hear the truth of our name and predestination from the Father. The word, as water, must wash us from the sin of our self-projections that are contrary to who the Father made us to be. We must also be recovered from our fallen condition of being dead in trespasses and sins. 7 The witness of water is recovering us to be part of the new humanity which has been established by Christ. Repentance is essential before the regenerating work of the word can be effective in our lives. The blood is the life of Jesus. The blood, or life, of Jesus is redeeming us and cleansing our conscience from dead works so that we can serve God as His priests and serve Christ as His slaves. 8 To this end, the blood must redeem us from the familiar cultures that we have received by tradition from our parents. The blood further sets us free from bondage to Satan because of our fear of death. 9 It does this by giving us the life of Jesus as the antidote to the fear of death. We are then able 3 1Jn 2:3,5. 1Jn 3:19,24. 1Jn 4:13 4 1Jn 5:7-8 5 Heb 4:12 6 Rom 2:29 7 Eph 2:1 8 Heb 9:14 9 Heb 2:

7 Preface to embrace both the living and the dying of Jesus as our way of life. 10 The blood is enabling us to lay down our lives and demonstrate the culture of His life within the fellowship of His body, the church. The Holy Spirit must sanctify us to our name and works. He is the Helper of the Father and the Son who has been sent to help us by giving us the Spirit of God. His work is to guide us and enable us to express our sanctification as sons of God. Our sanctification is the genuine expression of our name revealed through our works. Those who follow the Holy Spirit s directions and do the works prepared for them by the Father, are demonstrating that they are sons of God. The apostle Paul declared, All who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. 11 Receiving the witness of the water, the blood, and the Spirit is the evidence of a firstfruits Christian. We are reminded of the words of Jesus, Each tree is known by its own fruit. 12 It is important that we regularly assess our culture as Christians. We recall that Paul asked the Corinthians to test themselves to see if they were in the faith. He wanted them to know whether or not they were living by the life of Jesus within them. 13 Likewise, we need to consider whether our lives demonstrate the fruit of receiving the witness of the water, the witness of the blood, and the witness of the Spirit. In this season, it is timely that we consider the nature of the gospel we have embraced as individuals, couples, families and congregations. The Holy Spirit is presently making this clear among us. We need to review and discuss these matters so that we are clear on the gospel that we have received and the gospel that we are proclaiming. We are believers in Jesus, but we need to know that we have eternal life so that we are assured of our own salvation. But more than this, we need to be confident ministers of the New Covenant in the church and bold ambassadors of Christ in the world. This is the importance of understanding our common salvation. 10 2Co 4:10 11 Rom 8:14 12 Mat 12: Co 13:5 5

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9 CHAPTER 1 The witness of God In his first letter, the apostle John declared that the witness of God is the witness of water, the witness of blood, and the witness of the Spirit. 1 These three messages are different and distinct, but they agree as one. John s proposition was simple. We need all three messages so that our humanity is recovered, we come into the body of Christ to receive the life of Jesus, and we are able to grow and mature as sons in the kingdom. If we are receiving these three witnesses, we will have a witness within ourselves as sons of God. 2 When we consider the writings of the apostle John, it is important to recognise that he was already an old man when he received the revelation of Jesus Christ on the island of Patmos. It is generally considered that he wrote the book of Revelation before he wrote his Gospel and his letters. This is significant because it means that the Gospel of John and the letters of John have been written with the full revelation of Jesus Christ in view. It also means that the letters of John are, most likely, the final words of the Scripture. He may have been ninety-seven years of age when he wrote them. 1 1Jn 5: Jn 5:10 7

10 OUR COMMON SALVATION We observe that the first letter of John is a summary of the gospel. It is the conclusion of our common salvation. We could say that John, in his old age, reached the bottom line of the gospel. It is evident that all the words of the Scripture had distilled upon him like the dew throughout the course of his life and ministry. 3 John was able to condense the entire gospel into a number of clear and basic propositions. These are the basic propositions of the gospel that every Christian needs to know. The apostle John was not interested in theological propositions for the sake of intellectual understanding or belief. He was a father in the faith, addressing every individual son of God in a personal way about all the issues that are relevant and important to them. His goal was to clearly state and explain the propositions of the Scripture so that every son of God would know, with confidence, that they are saved and have eternal life. John testified, These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. 4 The prophecy of Zechariah John built his summary of the gospel upon his personal revelation of the fulfillment of Zechariah s prophecy. The Lord declared through Zechariah the prophet, I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. 5 Further to this, he declared, In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity. 6 The fulfillment of this prophecy began on the day of Christ s death and has continued for the entirety of the church age. It will reach a climax in the days just ahead of us. The prophecy focuses on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, but the book of Revelation also applies the prophecy to all nations. We read, Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him [the Jews]; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. 7 John clearly knew when and how the prophecy of Zechariah had been fulfilled, and will be fulfilled in the end of the age, before he began to write his gospel account. 3 Deu 32:2 4 1Jn 5:13 5 Zec 12:10 6 Zec 13:1 7 Rev 1:7 8

11 The witness of God In his gospel narrative, John emphasised that he was an eyewitness at the foot of the cross. He watched as the soldier thrust the spear into Christ s side. He witnessed the blood and the water come from His side, and the profound impact that this had upon all those who were present. The soldier who pierced Christ said, Surely this was the Son of God. There was also a great crowd that had gathered to watch Christ die. When they saw the spear pierce His side, they returned to Jerusalem beating their breasts. 8 They went home mourning and weeping as the Spirit of grace and supplication began to be poured out upon them. God was preparing them for Peter s message on the Day of Pentecost. John identified that these events were the beginning of the fulfillment of the prophecy, They shall look on Him whom they have pierced. 9 John s testimony John declared, He who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe. 10 It is important to consider the four distinct components to this statement, because John was doing much more than simply testifying to an historical event. 1. He who has seen has testified In the first case, John was speaking as an eyewitness to the events that had transpired. He bore witness to the truth that blood and water had come from the side of Christ. This demonstrated that Christ had become the source of eternal salvation for all those who believe. He was the source of the fountain of eternal life. The waters of purification come from Him. We read in the book of Hebrews that Christ has made purification for sins His testimony is true In the second case, John was speaking as a son of God. He was not simply reinforcing the historical veracity of his eyewitness account. When John said that his testimony is true, he was not referring to his testimony about the blood and water. He was referring to his personal testimony as a son of God, which he now possessed because he had received the testimony of the blood and water from the side of Christ. John was writing this as an old man, with a testimony as a son of 8 Luk 23: Joh 19:34 9 Joh 19:37 10 Joh 19:35 11 Heb 1:3 9

12 OUR COMMON SALVATION God which he knew to be true. The Holy Spirit was evidently bearing witness with his spirit that he was a son of God. John had the testimony of truth within himself. 3. He knows that he is telling the truth In the third case, John was speaking as a messenger. He was telling, or proclaiming, the truth. He was a witness who was proclaiming a message with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. The apostle Paul called this the message of truth and the word of truth. 12 We are reminded that the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth. 13 When the word of truth is proclaimed, the Holy Spirit is anointing the hearer with a Spirit of grace and supplication so that they look upon Christ whom they have pierced. John was not simply conveying that he had seen the blood and water. He was a messenger wanting each and every one of us to likewise see, by revelation, the blood and water from Christ s side and begin to mourn. 4. So that you may believe The final component of John s statement identifies the goal of his testimony as a messenger of Christ and a father in the faith. John testified to this truth so that we look upon Christ, mourn, and believe! What kind of faith was John referring to? It is much more than a belief in a doctrine or dogma. It is faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and faith that we can become sons of God because of the blood and water from His side. John was referring to the faith of a son of God when he declared, This is the victory that has overcome the world our faith. 14 He continued, Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. 15 There are three that bear witness The first letter of John is the elderly apostle s discussion on the implications of the blood and water from the side of Christ, and the witness of the Spirit. He declared that Jesus Christ is the One who came by water and blood not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. John continued, For there are three that bear witness in 12 Eph 1:13. Col 1:5 13 Joh 15: Jn 5:4 15 1Jn 5:5 10

13 The witness of God heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one. 16 The Three who bear witness in heaven are the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. We know there are three Persons in the Godhead and They are one in the fellowship of one life and one Spirit. The three that bear witness on earth are the water, the blood, and the Spirit. John explained that these three things are testifying, or bearing witness, which means that they each have a message. There is a message of the water, a message of the blood, and a message of the Spirit. The witness of the water, the witness of the blood, and the witness of the Spirit, all come from a different source. The witness of the water is the message of the Father. The witness of the blood is the message of the Son. The witness of the Spirit is the message of the Holy Spirit. However, we remember that the Holy Spirit does not speak of Himself. 17 He brings the witness of the sevenfold Spirit of God. He bears witness to the message of the Father and the Son, and then bears witness concerning the truth of every individual s sonship. We need to understand the distinct message of the water. It is not the same as the message of the blood, but it does agree with the message of blood. The message of the Spirit is a different message again, but the Spirit agrees with the message of water and blood. All three messages are different, but they are complementary to each other. They all agree as one. The three messages are all necessary and working together, so that sons of men can become sons of God. The witness of the water The Father has given us our identity and humanity through the word that He gave to Christ. However, we know that in Adam all died. 18 We were born dead in trespasses and sins, lost and without hope in this world. 19 When the word of God is proclaimed to us, it is a fountain of life or living water. It is able to regenerate our human heart and renew our human spirit, causing us to be reborn, or born again, from the death of sin. Water recovers our humanity by the washing of regeneration. 20 The word recovers us to our original humanity as a son of man; but more than this, it recovers us to our predestination of becoming a son of God. 16 1Jn 5:7-8 NKJV 17 Joh 16: Co 15:22 19 Eph 2:1 20 Tit 3:5 11

14 OUR COMMON SALVATION The word of the Father is the word of truth that sanctifies us to our name and the works of our sonship in the Lamb s book of life. 21 When it is first proclaimed to us, it calls us to repentance so that we can become who we were truly meant to be. We must be reformed by the word so that we can be born again. This formation is effected by the word through the process of repentance and mourning. It begins to occur as we embrace pastoral discussion concerning our life and, with humble acceptance, we receive a love of the truth. This love of the truth is described by the apostle Paul as a spirit of adoption that motivates us to come into Christ and be clothed fully in the likeness of His sonship. The witness of the blood The blood is the life of Jesus that is given to us to become our life. In the first case, it is the blood that redeems us and restores us to fellowship with God. We know that when Adam fell, we were all sold under sin. 22 Redemption has now taken place in Christ. We have been bought back by Christ and set free from our bondage to sin and death. We note an important distinction here between the water and the blood. The water is regenerating, whereas the blood is redeeming. We have been redeemed and purchased by the blood of Christ to become slaves of righteousness. Our testimony is that we have been bought with a price. We are no longer our own because we belong to Christ as His slaves. 23 The blood of Jesus is also cleansing our conscience from dead works so that we can serve God as His priests and serve Christ as His slaves. 24 This is another important distinction. We are slaves of Jesus Christ, who then makes us priests to His God and Father. The life of Jesus enables us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God, which is our reasonable priestly service. It is the blood of Jesus that enables us to participate in the fellowship of His offering, as able ministers of the New Covenant. 25 The witness of the Spirit We will be familiar with the capacity of the Holy Spirit to bear witness or testify. Jesus said, When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me. 26 The Holy Spirit bears witness concerning the Son of God. And likewise, it is the work of the Holy Spirit to bear witness concerning the work of every son of God, 21 Joh 17:17 22 Rom 7: Co 7:23 24 Heb 9: Co 3:6 26 Joh 15:26 12

15 The witness of God in Christ. Jesus said, When the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. 27 The Holy Spirit leads and trains us as sons of God. The Spirit of God, through the Holy Spirit, enables us to live and grow as sons of God. 28 As we live by the Spirit, we are maturing as sons of God who manifest the life of Jesus that has been given to us. We rejoice with fullness of joy because His life is being revealed in our mortal flesh. We are able to manifest the life of Jesus as sons of God, and minister His life to others as members of the body of Christ. 29 In summary, our humanity is recovered by the witness of the word; that is, the washing of regeneration. The blood redeems us to be a slave in the house of the Son and a member of the body of Christ. The blood is the life of Jesus, and it is given to us to become our life. It cleanses our conscience so that we can serve God as His priests. And finally, the Spirit of God empowers us to fulfil our name by doing the works of our sonship. The apostle Paul declared, All who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 30 The symbol to reality to substance When we consider the witness of the water, blood and Spirit, we notice a simple progression from symbol to reality to substance. As we have considered, the word is symbolised throughout the Scriptures as the water of life. The word spoke in the language of the symbol until the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus Christ is the full revelation of the word of the Father in the flesh of mankind. 31 The blood of Jesus speaks the witness of reality. It explains the life of Jesus beyond the language of the symbol. The blood of Christ is the articulating bridge that joins the natural to the spiritual. It speaks of the life of Jesus as the Son of Man and the Son of God. It is the life of new creation. This life is given to us when Christ comes to dwell in our hearts by faith. 32 Further to this, the witness of the Spirit is the demonstration of the substance of faith. We know that faith is the substance of things hoped for. 33 We recall that the apostle Peter addressed those who had obtained like precious faith. 34 This faith is substantial because the Spirit witnesses to our human spirit that we are sons of God and joint heirs with Christ Joh 16:13 28 Rom 8:14 29 Rom 8:11 30 Rom 8:14 31 Joh 1:14 32 Eph 3: Heb 11:1 34 2Pe 1:1 35 Rom 8:

16 OUR COMMON SALVATION Making God a liar Having identified the three distinct witnesses that agree as one, John continued, If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. 36 Let us say again that the witness of God is the witness of water, the witness of blood, and the witness of the Spirit. This is the witness of God concerning Jesus Christ who is the Son of God. And it is the witness of God concerning every person which enables them to become a son of God. John said, The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar. 37 Speaking of the testimony of Jesus Christ, we are reminded that John the Baptist said, He who has received His testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true. 38 However, if a person does not receive His witness, then they have rejected the truth of His witness. They have, by implication, called God a liar by saying that His witness is not true. To call God a liar would be the height of human arrogance. When the word of truth is proclaimed to us, it calls us to repentance so that our humanity can be recovered and we can begin the pathway of becoming a son of God. The word has the power to regenerate our human heart and renew our human spirit. However, if we reject it, then the effect of the word will cause us to fall backward until we are snared and taken captive in the net of our own selfwill. 39 God will deliver us over to a strong delusion, so that we will be damned because of the sin of not receiving a love for the truth. 40 Instead of believing the truth, we will believe a lie, and thus return to condemnation and fall under the judgement of God. If we do not come to proper repentance when the word is proclaimed to us, we will claim the forgiveness of God but insist on continuing in our own way. It will become apparent that our heart has not been washed from its filthiness by the water of the word, and the blood of Christ has not cleansed our conscience. Our delusion will become the assertion of our own honesty and integrity in making valid, even before God, our own self-centred way. We may even try to sell this projection to others as our honest religious position. In our pathetic self-will, we will demand that others are not Christian unless they accept us as we are. If this is the case, we will be an ungodly person who has turned the grace of God into licentiousness and denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ Jn 5:9 37 1Jn 5:10 38 Joh 3:33 39 Isa 28: Th 2:10 41 Jud 1:4 14

17 The witness of God The testimony of God is greater greater judgement When John said that the witness of God is greater than the witness of men, he was highlighting that a messenger of Christ will not bring their own message. 42 They will bring the witness of God in the message of the water, the blood, and the Spirit. Further to this, John was contrasting the operation of the Old Covenant with the operation of the New Covenant. The apostle Paul made this same distinction in his letter to the Hebrews. He observed that anyone who set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 43 He was referring here to human witnesses; that is, the testimony of men. If the testimony of God is greater than the testimony of men, it naturally follows that the judgement invoked by the testimony of God will be greater than the judgement invoked by the testimony of men. Paul proceeded to say, How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? 44 This verse identifies the three elements of the witness of God. The Son of God proclaimed the word of the Father. We trample underfoot the Son of God when we reject Him and the messengers whom He sends to proclaim the word of the Father to us. We are reminded of the words of Jesus to His disciples, He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. 45 If we reject the word of messengers who proclaim the word of truth to us, we are rejecting the witness of the water. We count the blood of the covenant to be a common thing if we do not recognise the need to receive the life of Jesus as the power and capacity for our priesthood. The blood of Jesus needs to cleanse our conscience from dead works so that we can present our body as a living sacrifice, which is our reasonable priesthood service. 46 Jesus Christ has given us His life so that we can be a kingdom of priests to His God and Father. 47 However, if we persist in trying to serve God from the basis of our own fallen conscience and the motivations of our flesh, we are rejecting the witness of the blood. We insult the Spirit of grace if we refuse to walk in the pathway of our sanctification as a son of God. The Holy Spirit is the Helper of the Father and the Son, and He has been sent by Christ to be our Helper. He is able to lead and guide 42 1Jn 5:9 43 Heb 10:28 44 Heb 10:29 45 Mat 10:40 46 Heb 9:14. Rom 12:1 47 Rev 1:6 15

18 OUR COMMON SALVATION us into the truth of our sonship. 48 He brings the power of the sevenfold Spirit of God to enable us to grow and mature as a son of God. If we reject the testimony of the Holy Spirit, and refuse to walk in the grace of the sevenfold Spirit of God which He brings, we are rejecting the witness of the Spirit. The witness within ourselves We know that every person can become a son of God by receiving the witness of God. John declared that everyone who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself. 49 The Holy Spirit bears witness with their human spirit that they are a son of God. The testimony within them becomes their confession of faith. We are reminded of the words of the psalmist, I believed therefore I spoke. 50 John summarised his entire proposition by saying, The testimony is this: that God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. 51 This is the full witness of God. The summary of the witness of the water, the blood, and the Spirit is that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. This becomes the summary of the testimony which we have in ourselves as sons of God. When the witness of God is within us, we will readily testify that God is regenerating our heart and renewing our spirit by the power of His word. We will testify that Christ has redeemed us with His blood. We will know that we are slaves in His house and members of His body. His blood is cleansing our conscience so that we can serve the living God with a priestly work. And we will testify that the Holy Spirit is leading us, guiding us, and giving us the power and capacity to fulfill the works of our sonship. This is our testimony as sons of God. 48 Joh 16: Jn 5:10 50 Psa 116:10. 2Co 4: Jn 5:

19 CHAPTER 2 The witness of the water In the previous chapter, we considered the apostle John s summary of the gospel. John described three witnesses in heaven. 1 A witness is a person who testifies or speaks about something, and the first witness that John identified was the Father. When John identified Him as a witness, he was saying that the Father is a messenger with a unique message. His message is not the same as the message of the Son, nor the message of the Holy Spirit, even though they are in agreement with one another. It has a different focus to these other two messages. John described the Father s message as the witness of water. 2 In the Scriptures, water symbolises or describes the word of God. For example, Paul wrote that Christ gave Himself up for the church, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word. 3 John described the message of the Father as the word of life that was from the beginning and with the Father. 4 The water of the word is a vast theme in the Scriptures. As we consider this witness, we recognise that there are three key aspects to the water of the word. In the 1 1Jn 5:7 2 1Jn 5:8 3 Eph 5:26 4 1Jn 1:1-2 17

20 OUR COMMON SALVATION first instance, it is bringing into existence all things in heaven and on the earth, including us. The second aspect of the word is that it is a fountain of life that is able to cleanse and regenerate our fallen humanity. The third aspect of the word is that it is restoring us to be who we were predestined to be as part of the new humanity established by Jesus Christ in Himself. It is addressing our identity as a new creation in Christ. The source of creation In his second letter, the apostle Peter wrote about mockers in the last day who would ask, Where is the promise of His coming? 5 Peter explained that when these mockers assert that everything continues just as it always has done, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 Although he was making a point about the judgement of the world, Peter was also drawing attention to the fact that the heavens and earth, and all that is in them, came forth by the water of the word. We know that the world was created through the work of the Son. 7 However, it was the word of the Father, proclaimed by the Son, which brought everything into existence. This is what Paul meant when he wrote, For us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him. 8 Having been spoken into existence by the word, the creation itself reveals the word of God and His Everlasting Covenant purpose. King David wrote that the heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. 9 We can see the wonderful works of God and hear His testimony in all of nature. It reveals the law of the Lord, His precepts and commandments through which creation was brought forth, and speaks of a heavenly destiny promised to the sons of God. For this reason, every person is without excuse concerning the knowledge of God. 10 Clearly, there are many people in this world who do not fear or acknowledge God. As the apostle Peter expected, they have become futile in their speculations about the creation of the heavens and the earth. Their hearts are darkened so that they cannot recognise the word and work of God in creation. Consequently, God gives them over to the lusts of their hearts Pe 3:4 6 2Pe 3:5 7 Joh 1:3 8 1Co 8:6 9 Psa 19: Rom 1:20 11 Rom 1:

21 The witness of the water Just as the word of God brought forth the heavens and the earth, the Father of lights brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of firstfruits among His creatures. 12 The Father is the source of our identity as a person. Furthermore, the word of our name as a son of God comes from the Father. These details were written in the Lamb s book of life from the foundation of the world, and they are available in the Son. The Father always predestined us to become sons of God. 13 According to His purpose and plan, we were created living souls with physical bodies. This was just the first phase of God s plan to bring forth a multitude of sons. Importantly, mankind was always going to receive the witness of blood and Spirit in order to be brought to glory as sons who were born of God s divine nature. The blood of Jesus, and the coming of the Holy Spirit, were not merely contingencies for the fall of mankind and their captivity to sin and death. Regeneration and renewing When Adam sinned by disobeying God, the whole of humanity was cut off from the life of God. Paul said, Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. 14 The entire human race has been lost to God because of Adam s transgression. 15 The fruit of the fall was that the hearts of men became evil and desperately wicked as they sought to survive apart from fellowship with God. 16 In this fallen condition, no man has the capacity to hear the word of God; and due to the corruption of his heart and self-determination, he has no inclination to even bother! For this reason, God has pronounced judgement on all mankind. Paul described the fallen condition of mankind in his letter to Titus. He said that every person in this state is foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending their life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. 17 However, Paul continued by declaring that when the kindness of God our Saviour and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. 18 The kindness and love of God appears to every person, when the gospel is preached to them by a messenger who is an ambassador of Christ with the ministry of reconciliation. 19 We have been saved because of the mercy of God. The Lord said, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion Jas 1:18 13 Rom 8:29 14 Rom 5:12 15 Rom 5:14. Eph 2:1 16 Jer 17:9 17 Tit 3:3 18 Tit 3: Co 5:18 20 Rom 9:15 19

22 OUR COMMON SALVATION Mercy is not simply a passive action where we do not receive the penalty of judgement which we deserve. It is much more than that. It is an active initiative of God toward us that brings us back from the death of sin so that we can hear, believe, and enter into the promises of God as His sons. The word of the Father comes to every person with abundant grace, which enables them to respond even though they are dead in trespasses and sins. When the word is proclaimed, there is power in the word itself, which is active toward a person, enabling them to receive it. Further to this, the word is anointed with the power of the Spirit of God by the Holy Spirit, who is working with every messenger who proclaims the word. Paul explained to Titus that the mercy of God is demonstrated by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of our spirit by the Holy Spirit. Importantly, the word regeneration could equally be translated rebirth. From this perspective, we can see that regeneration is the first element of our recovery from the death of sin and our restoration toward the image of God. This is what it means to be made alive or born from the death of sin. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul said that God [the Father], being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. 21 In the first case, He did this by the washing of the water of the word. The washing of regeneration and the renewing of our spirit is the process through which we receive a new heart and a new spirit. The Lord declared through the prophet Ezekiel, I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 22 The new heart and the new spirit belong to our humanity, and are necessary for receiving the blood of Christ as our life and the Holy Spirit as a personal possession. When we consider the experiences of the Old Testament saints in our next chapter, we will see that there are several elements to the process of regeneration and renewing. It is helpful to note that when the word of God was ministered to His people, He refreshed them with water and poured His Spirit upon them through the word. Both these elements were being applied to the humanity of a person, in order to regenerate and renew them. For example, through the prophet 21 Eph 2: Eze 36:

23 The witness of the water Isaiah, the Lord said, I will pour out water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring and My blessing on your descendants; and they will spring up among the grass like poplars by streams of water. 23 In the same way, Isaiah declared, The Lord will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. 24 It is important to note that the Holy Spirit comes with the word of God, and He is grieved when we rebel against the word. 25 Stephen drew attention to this reality when he said to the Jews, You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. 26 In addition to the cleansing work of the word, the witness of water revives the spirit of a person and brings healing to them. We could say that regeneration is first addressing the cause of a person s sin, by bringing them back from the death of sin and giving them a new heart so that they can receive and believe the word. It is also cleansing their bodies from the filth of their fallen behaviour. Renewing by the Holy Spirit is addressing the dystrophy of a person s identity that has been caused by their sin. Through this process, they are restored to the human identity that the Father had predestined for them. This is God s initiative towards them for their refreshing and healing. As the psalmist wrote, He sent forth His word and healed them; He rescued them from the grave. 27 Another symbol of our humanity in the Scriptures is clay. Speaking to the house of Israel through the prophet Jeremiah, the Lord said that His people are like the clay in the hand of a potter. 28 At times, regeneration and renewing will involve being remade into a vessel that is fit for the Master s use. It is the word that is forming us in this regard, and we must be careful not to quarrel with our Maker. Isaiah asked, Will the clay say to the potter, What are you doing? Or the thing you are making say, He has no hands? Woe to him who says to a father, What are you begetting? Or to a woman, To what are you giving birth? 29 Rather, our confession as ones who are receiving the witness of the Father, should be, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all of us are the work of your hand Isa 44: Isa 58:11 25 Isa 63:10 26 Act 7:51 27 Psa 107:20 28 Jer 18:6 29 Isa 45: Isa 64:8 21

24 OUR COMMON SALVATION A fountain of life Concerning the word of God, Paul wrote that it is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 31 This passage of Scripture explains how the word begins to regenerate the heart of a hearer. First, the word is living and it is giving life to the one who receives it. Next, we see that the word is active, like a two-edged sword. It is addressing both the soul and spirit of a person, as well as their human flesh. In this regard, it is able to judge and deal with the thoughts and intentions of the heart, and recover the aspects of a person s humanity that are undermining their capacity to fulfil the will of God. Unless our hearts are regenerated and our spirits are renewed, we are unable to believe and be saved. The Greek word that Paul used to describe the word as living is the same word that Jesus used in His discussions with the Samaritan woman concerning living water. 32 Jesus said to her, Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. 33 The woman asked Jesus to give her this water, and in response, Jesus spoke to her concerning the state of her fallen flesh. However, much more than this, He conveyed to her, in the Spirit, that she was predestined to be a son of God. She could worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such people the Father seeks to be His worshippers. 34 Jesus was giving this woman the water of life so that it could become a well within her. Having received His word, her own witness to the citizens of her city was, Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it? 35 The word had addressed her humanity and called her by name so that she was able to recognise, receive, and bear witness to Christ. Regarding this interaction, Jesus testified to the disciples, My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. 36 He had proclaimed the word of the Father to her so that she could testify about the washing of regeneration in her life. We read that many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, He told Me all the things that I have done. 37 It is possible to forsake the fountain of living water. The children of Israel were an example of this unwillingness to receive the word of the Father. The Lord said to them, My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the 31 Heb 4:12 32 Joh 4:10 33 Joh 4: Joh 4:23 35 Joh 4:29 36 Joh 4:34 37 Joh 4:39 22

25 The witness of the water fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. 38 Instead of receiving and living by the proceeding word of God, the children of Israel sought to be the source of their own lives and destiny. The outcome of rejecting the word of life from God was that they were delivered again to slavery and brought under the nations of the earth. Unless we continue to receive the water of the word, our hearts will be hardened and we will seek to establish our own righteousness. If we do not believe and obey the word, we will not be the person the Father named us to be, or do the works that He prepared for us to do. The evidence that we are no longer being regenerated and renewed will be foolishness, disobedience, deception, and slavery to various lusts. 39 Because of this, our love will grow cold and we will judge the word and the messengers who speak it, and will eventually depart from the fellowship of the body of Christ. The Scriptures Later in John s Gospel we read that Jesus again spoke of living water. On the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles He declared, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. 40 Evidently, Jesus was speaking of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive. However, the beginning point for receiving this promise was to receive what the Scripture said. The Scriptures are the word of God that, if received, enable a person to believe and obey God. If they are not received, the heart of a hearer is hardened, and they are reserved for judgement. We see that the Scriptures have been speaking and affecting the hearts of men throughout the history of mankind. Paul wrote, for example, that the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham. 41 Similarly, Paul observed that the Scripture says to Pharaoh, For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth. 42 We know that Pharaoh hardened his heart against the Scriptures that were spoken by Moses. As a consequence, Pharaoh subjected himself, his family, and the nation of Egypt to extraordinary judgement. 38 Jer 2:13 39 Tit 3:3 40 Joh 7:38 41 Gal 3:8 42 Rom 9:17 23

26 OUR COMMON SALVATION It is important to realise that the Scriptures only have an effect on a person s heart when they are in the mouth of God s messengers. This is why Jesus said to the Pharisees, You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life. 43 As we receive the water of the word proclaimed to us by faithful messengers, it will testify of Christ. If we will allow the water of the word to do its work in our heart and our spirit, we will desire to come into Christ. A spirit of adoption faith to come into Christ When the word is first proclaimed to us, the Holy Spirit is pouring out upon us a Spirit of grace and supplication so that we can look upon Jesus Christ whom we have pierced, and mourn. 44 As this mourning leads to repentance, the water of the word begins to regenerate our heart so that we can believe. When the word is preached to us, it comes with the power to believe it. This is how faith is given to us as a gift. Paul said, Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. 45 For this reason, we must not resist the word of God when it is preached to us. If we do not resist the word, we will receive the power to believe and obey it. The illumination and faith that is brought to us by the word, compels us to come into Christ. Our regenerated and believing heart is gripped by what the apostle Paul called a spirit of adoption. 46 A spirit of adoption is the faith and motivation that grips our heart as the Holy Spirit is renewing our spirit and leading us into Christ. A spirit of adoption is a strong motivation. It could even be described as a compulsion. It compels us to plant ourselves into the likeness of Christ s death, by baptism. We will eagerly want to be baptised into Christ. We see this kind of motivation and compulsion in the heart of the Ethiopian as Philip the evangelist preached the gospel to him. Having received the word spoken by Philip, he exclaimed, Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptised? 47 It is helpful to consider the reply of Philip. He said, If you believe with all your heart, you may. 48 This verse has often been misapplied. He was not reducing baptism to a confirmation of faith. He was identifying that when our heart is being regenerated by the water of the word, we will be receiving a faith that compels us to come into Christ. Faith to be baptised is not a static faith in the Person and work of Christ. It is a dynamic and active faith that motivates us to come into the body of Christ to 43 Joh 5: Zec 12:10 45 Rom 10:17 46 Rom 8:15 47 Act 8:36 48 Act 8:37 24

27 The witness of the water join His offering. When we are baptised, we are joined to the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. We are reminded of the words of Paul, Do you not know that all of us who have been baptised into Christ Jesus have been baptised into His death? 49 Because we are baptised into His death, it means that both the water and the blood become active in our lives. The blood of Christ was shed as He died, but it was also the blood which brought Him back from the dead. We know that if we are united with Him in the likeness of His death, we will also be raised with Him in the likeness of His resurrection. 50 It is the water that regenerates our heart, but it is the blood which cleanses our heart from an evil conscience so that we can serve the living God as priests in His house. For this reason, Peter said that baptism is an appeal to God for a good conscience. 51 It is important to recognise that when we are baptised into Christ, we clothe ourselves with Christ. 52 We are clothed with Christ s sonship and we become joint heirs with Him. We have received adoption as sons. This means that we have received the right and privilege of an eternal inheritance with Jesus Christ. This inheritance is the life of Jesus. It is the divine human nature which the Scripture calls eternal life. Once we have come into Christ by baptism, we receive this life when the Father sends forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, Abba! Father! 53 Jesus Christ is the life-giving Spirit. When He is sent by the Father to dwell in our heart by faith, He gives us His life. This is what it means to be born of the Spirit. We have discussed this process here to highlight that it is not possible to receive the witness of the water only. This was possible for the believers in the Old Testament, as we will discuss in our next chapter; but for us, the water of the word is regenerating our heart so that we come into Christ to receive the blood or life of Jesus in our mortal bodies. Jesus said to Nicodemus that unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 54 He was referring to being born of the Spirit of Christ so that we receive His life. It is only when we receive His life that we can enter the priestly service of the kingdom. In this priestly service, the water and the blood continue to be operative for the remainder of our lives. 49 Rom 6:3 50 Rom 6:5 51 1Pe 3:21 52 Gal 3:27 53 Gal 4:6 54 Joh 3:5 25