We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy. 1 John 1:1-4

We have heard Him with our own ears, seen Him with our own eyes and touched Him with our own hands.

Imagine being able to say that about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We touched Him, we walked with Him all over Judea and Samaria, we ate and drank with Him,   we prayed with Him, we slept on the road with Him for three years, we picked grain with Him on the Sabbath, He washed our feet, and mostly, we talked with Him — for three years we talked and listened.

And I’m not sure you heard me … this is Jesus Christ we’re talking about, the only begotten Son of the only living God!

This is huge. I’m not sure you get it yet. I used to rest my head on His chest and feel the power. This was no ordinary man. This was the one who is the Word of life. He is life itself. He existed from the beginning. And He will exist forever, because He is eternal life. Not that He can lead you to eternal life, or show you eternal life, though He surely can do that, but He is eternal life. He Himself is eternal. You have Him in your heart, you have life eternal.

But now why is this so important? I mean it’s great, John, that you and the disciples were able to do all this amazing stuff with Jesus. But what about us? What about those of us who have never seen Him, or heard Him, or touched Him?

Ah, that’s just what I’m coming to. You are just like us. You can know Him, too, just like we do. That’s why we are proclaiming this to you, so that you can have fellowship with us and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. So even though you haven’t seen Him or touched Him like we have, we can all come together in the beauty of the Lord through the one thing we all have in common, the Holy Spirit He gave us. You, us, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit — all together — all one. So now, do you see why you can fully share our joy?