I John 5:8-9

Back in verse 6, the word ‘by’ is used: "this is who He came by water and blood." It can mean through (dia), by or through. It is pointing out that this is the means or the instrument by which He was accompanied when He did what He did.

The water here refers to His baptism and the beginning of His ministry through which He declared His purpose to fulfill our righteousness. Remember when He came to John the Baptist. John says, “I have need to be baptized of You,” and Jesus said, “Forbid Me not, for I am doing this to fulfill all righteousness.” So, He then proceeded to be baptized, and that is what is being referred to here. The blood refers to His violent and bloody death on the stake to pay for the sins of the world.

These two are pointed out here because they are significant occasions—one at the beginning of His ministry, setting the purpose, and the other at the end when He said, “It is finished.” He had accomplished what He set out to do.

A witness is one who is usually associated by us with a court of law or news items reported in a newspaper or perhaps on a television program. They are one who sees or hears an event and tells others of what they have seen or heard. They are one who has evidence because they have a personal and usually direct knowledge of something that has taken place and so they give an attestation, evidence, or proof of the event or perhaps a whole series of events. They certify that something that they have witnessed is either true or false.

It says here that these three witnesses agree in one. It could be said that they converge upon one truth, for they all contribute to one and the same result, namely the truth that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh and that we have life because of Him. It is interesting that it is written in the Greek in such a way to give us understanding that they are constantly bearing witness, not just a one-time thing, but it is something that is with us constantly, a continuous ongoing process. For the purpose of this sermon, and because of the season, we are going to be concentrating on the blood here. The blood is a witness.

These verses say that the blood is a witness for God of Jesus Christ His Son. They say that blood has a testimony; that is, that the blood has a message. When the blood talks, what does it say? There used to be a saying in Britain that if you found a hemp rope that had a red center cord, you knew that the rope had been made by the British Navy because that was its trademark, an identifying sign that the navy had done the work.

There is a similarity here with the Bible, because anywhere that one looks in the Bible, you will find a red ribbon running through it—from Genesis through Revelation. Someone said that if you cut the Bible anywhere, it will bleed. It is a book, a living Book, that is filled with blood. There are an astounding 427 times in Scripture that we have reference to blood atonement that in some way, either directly or indirectly, it is saying that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins, there is no covering for sins.

We sometimes say that if God says something once, that ought to be enough for His sons. If He says something three times, that indicates finality and that is serious. If He says something seven times, that is perfection and that is super serious. But, brethren, 427 times (for you number buffs, that is 7 x 61 exactly), He hammers into our consciousness the seriousness of sins and its consequence—death! Death is the only means by which sin can be covered, paid for, atoned for. Brethren, is God serious or what? Death is not something that we relish thinking of about, but we must.

The blood speaks. You might recall Genesis 4:10, where God told Cain that Abel’s blood cried out from the ground for vengeance upon the murder of an innocent man. God said that because God would have been justified in taking vengeance, … . . .