THE MANIFESTATION OF THE ETERNAL LIFE

The Lord’s salvation is that He dispenses Himself into us as our life. This is through the mysterious Word of life. First John says that this life which is the eternal life and which has been manifested today is Jesus Christ Himself. The eternal life is mysterious, abstract, and invisible and cannot be felt or touched by anyone, yet this life has been manifested, shown to, and seen by men. The word for seen indicates that something is not only looked at but also observed distinctly and investigated clearly in a thorough manner; it compares with the examination by a doctor to diagnose a patient’s condition. John says that the Lord Jesus, who is the Word of life and the inner life, was manifested, and John saw Him and even touched Him with his own hands. Both John and his brother James were ranked with the twelve disciples of the Lord Jesus, and their mother was Mary’s sister, so they were the Lord’s cousins in the flesh. For three and a half years they were with the Lord J...