Gospel - It is Written

"Think how much the Father loves us. He loves us so much that he lets us be called his children, as we truly are. But since the people of this world did not know who Christ is, they don’t know who we are. My dear friends, we are already God’s children, though what we will be hasn’t yet been seen. But we do know that when Christ returns, we will be like him, because we will see him as he truly is.This hope makes us keep ourselves holy, just as Christ is holy."
-The Apostle John, writing to the first believers, 1st century
1 John 3:1-3 in The English Standard Version

[This is the 3rd message in this series]

We shall continue with the letter of John addressed to the first believers (or the second generation of believers) where he was elaborating on what the gospel is all about.

In its simplest form, the Gospel is the story of Jesus of Nazareth.

He is the Promised Messiah, the Christ, Savior of the world as prophesied for hundreds of years.

And as we read from the excerpt above taken from his first letter, John is teaching the earliest followers of Christ that for believing in Him, they are called children of God.

But because other people do not know or believe Christ, they do not know them as well (or who they are in Christ).

God's Children

Christians are children of God but who they really will become is yet unknown or not fully known as all these will be fully revealed at the proper time or when Jesus returns.

John and those who were with Jesus at the beginning of His earthly ministry saw Jesus speak about the Kingdom of God and He backed His words up with demonstrations of heavenly power.

They saw Him bring the dead back to life and they saw Him resurrected from the dead. They saw who He really is -- Son of God, Word of God made flesh, Savior of the world.

Those who John was writing to and all the believers of today have not witnessed the things he had seen. They did not see the things he'd seen. And this was why he was writing his accounts of what happened and those things revealed to Him by the Spirit of God, he was writing letters of instructions, explanations and exhortations. Because he will pass away, but God's word will not.

It is written.

1.Corinthians 2:9-10

"But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God."
-Paul writing to the 1st church in the City of Corinth, 1st century

We as God's children have one Father. Here is the Gospel message in a song.