Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

John 12:26

There is no other Truth than Jesus.  Paul didn’t surpass Jesus’ truth.  Peter didn’t understand more.  John, in his great revelation as the last book of the Bible wasn’t in possession of a greater revelation than that which Jesus is.

What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us— what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.

1 John 1:1-4

“What was from the beginning”, John wrote.  And, what was from the beginning?

And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.

Genesis 1:3

You see, it was the Word of Faith, the Word of the Kingdom, the Word of Life and Creation that Jesus, the Word, spoke at the beginning of time and the universe sprang into existence.  Before it, there was none, for through Him all things were made that have been made.

John proclaimed clearly and first, “what we have heard”, as well as what had been seen and touched.  The first, however, was the Word, the sword of the Spirit, the thing that was Spirit and Life.

This is how it was from the beginning.  Not only from the beginning of the world, but also from the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.  There are no adult words recorded that were spoken by Jesus before the baptism experience by the river Jordan with John.  He was His Words, and He was accountable for each and every one of them (Matthew 12:36-37).

This is what John presented as the Truth.

The people on the outside heard only a carnal word.  They heard it thunder, but they could not discern God’s voice.  The same is true today.  People can hear the message of the Gospel, and receive it’s benefit, but as the Tabernacle had an inner chamber, and an innermost chamber, there is a content to the Word, called Spirit and Life, called Truth, which is Divine.  And, His name is Jesus.  Truth is a person.

So, John, in his old age, around the same time as the writing of Revelation, after Jerusalem had already been sacked around 70 AD, wrote this to confirm the message to his readers.  He wrote, “what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us”.  That is to say he was communicating what they saw, Jesus, and what they heard, Jesus.

Paul did not discover some new revelation, as if receiving by himself the salvation of God.  Rather, the salvation written of by all the apostles was “that which we have heard from the beginning”, which is, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

And, this is the Word He spoke.

Some have stumbled in this.  They have only heard the Word at a level that seemed carnal, that seemed to be a new law, yet it was not.

For the Word is living and active, sharper than any double edged sword, dividing even of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and judging the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4:12).  He is the Truth.

And, what was the Word that John had heard from the beginning?

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Matthew 5:3-5

This was the word that John proclaimed again, that Jesus’ disciples would love one another.  His life and His message, who He is and what He taught.  It was this message that John shared “so that you too may have fellowship with us”.  It was Him and Him who was His message, the same message as that from the beginning, which John shared so to share fellowship with.  You see, Jesus was inseparable from His Word.  You cannot have Jesus without His Words, and you cannot have His Words without Him the Man.

For, it was not another message than Jesus preached, nor was it only one part of His message, but the whole, from Genesis to Revelation, and everything in between.  A complete God, never changing, never ending, Eternal, who was the same God through the Old and New Covenant, who brought His Son’s blood as a ransom for the whole world, that whoever believed in His name might have their sins blotted out.  That the prophets of old looked forward to and the saints today look back upon.  And, it was in His steps that John the apostle walked and taught, and it is in the same pathway that every true servant of  Christ must follow.

Jesus said that whoever serves Him must follow Him.  It is His Words, His teachings, and His life that must be followed.  Where He is, His servant is also.  It is only in obeying His Words, the Words in the Gospels, that we have in all honesty made Him Lord (Luke 6:46), and that we are indeed His servants.  And, it is these Words which bring us to His Truth to walk in His Light, so that we might have fellowship, with Him and one another (1 John 1:7).  We are not His disciples if His Word does not abide in us (John 15:7), and, in a contrast to what was written above, if we do not hear His words and obey, we do not have the light, nor do we have fellowship with Him or His own.

Obeying His words is a thing of the Spirit.  It is within the heavens that this Christian life is lived.  For what was impossible with man is possible with God, through His overflowing Spirit within us (John 4:14).  With a new heart and a new Spirit we live out what could not be lived by any natural man.  It is the spiritual Word of the Heavenly Kingdom that changes us, by grace through faith.  It is the heavenly Word, the Bread from Heaven, the True Word which was first heard, and which brought life, and outside of it, there is no life.  Paul preached this.  Peter preached this.  They all preached this.  With a myriad of arrangements, this is the message which was heard, Jesus Christ, throughout the centuries since.  Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  His life, His Words, His testimony.  Apart from which there is no other.

This is the Word of His Kingdom, His are the Words of Eternal life (John 6:68).

His servant must follow Him.  Any other way is not His.  This is the message that was heard from the beginning.  Before the foundations of the Earth was laid it was there and it was proclaimed bodily two thousand years ago in the region of Galilee near the sea-shore by the carpenter’s Son.  The Father will honor the one who serves Him whose Words are Eternal in the heavens (Mark 13:31).