Seen and Testify...

I John 4:14 "And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world."
WOW what a vantage point John the Apostle has... And all of the other apostles. He is able to say that he has SEEN and TESTIFY to the life of Jesus Christ. It is not just some trumped up vision. The testimony to the presence of Christ can be verified by a number of men all within the same generation. And their writings were well broadcast so that the credibility of the message or the writer would have been denied before the 1st century Gnostics got at them.

Not only has he seen Jesus Christ, but he knows the spiritual ramifications that the presence of Christ began. He was sent by the father to the savior of the world. So it is both the physical presence of the living Christ and the spiritual salvation of his ultimate purpose.

Just for a thought: Wouldn't it have been incredible if we were able to be in the physical presence of Christ? To see Him walk with his disciples or heal the broken that came to Him, or do battle with the religious leaders would give us a completely different take on who He is.

Now, we can see, feel & experience the presence of Christ through the on-going presence of the Holy Spirit (and that is enough for me). I have no doubt as to the authencity of what He did & came to do and the fact that He did it. But just to dispel the scoffers- if there had just been a DVD of that day or some other physical record. I guess that is why there was such an emphasis by the early church fathers to find and preserve the relics. But a public identifiable record of his work! There would still be scoffers of course - but for many more of us His presence would be authenticated and His name would be glorified!!