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By Dean Kelly

“This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us,” (1 John 1:5-10).

The Apostle John writes this inspired epistle more than a half-century after Jesus died on the cross. The first several verses of 1 John 1 (verses 1-4) affirm the firsthand knowledge that John had of Jesus. He was, after all, one of the “inner-circle” of the Apostles nearest Jesus, and refers to himself as the “disciple whom Jesus loved” in several passages. He confirms in no uncertain terms that he can testify about Jesus and His having come to dwell on this earth. John was literally at the foot of the cross as Jesus hung there, and Jesus looked at him and committed the care of His mother to John (John 19:25-27). 

In the passage noted at the beginning of this article John affirms several things. 

1. God is light, and we cannot walk in darkness and please Him. 
2. We are all sinners, and to deny that is to make God a liar. 
3. We must walk in the light, and only there can we have our sins continually washed away by Jesus’ blood. 
4. God will forgive us if we confess our sins. 

Let us, like John, come to the foot of the cross in obedient faith. Then the blood shed there can wash our sins away.