Walking in the light and being cleansed by the blood

God Is Light

5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;

7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. (I John 1:5-8)

So I'm reading this portion of scripture recently and the last part of verse 7 sprung out at me. I'm all for walking in the light etc. and all that it entails. If we walk in the light as He is in the light then we have true fellowship with one another and,

"the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin."

Frankly, I've never considered this linkage before that this scripture makes. I've enjoyed being in small fellowship prayer groups this year more than I ever have and I want to walk in truth and light of you will before God and my fellow saints. But if we are having true fellowship, with God and one another, how does the cleansing of the blood of Christ fit in here? It's almost as if this passage is saying it makes the blood of Christ and its cleansing even more effective. I guess. What do you all see? Why is this walking in the light and the cleansing of the blood linked together? Why does one cause the other?

I see the blood as something we were allowed to appropriate when we were saved. We can make use of it in our devotional times or even riding down the road when we have a few moments to fellowship with God. That's not all making light of it. Yet this is a whole new thing to me. If we walk in the light, as He is in the light and even is light, then the blood of Christ cleanses us. ??? I've never seen this relationship before as this verse says. So, the more we walk in the light with God and with one another, resulting in truer and truer transparent fellowship, then the blood of His Son cleanses us. My my! What have we here? Say what? What does this wonderful verse mean? How are these two - walking in the light and true fellowship - linkled together? Why does one cause the other in your opinion and what does it mean? It seems there is a likely a over looked gold mine here I just don't know quite what it is I may be looking at after digging. What do you think?

Comments welcome.

"But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with ione another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin" (I John 1:7). Sam's choioce to love was an invitation, by choosing to walk in the light, to allow the blood of Jesus to cleanse the heart. No one can know how many billions of instances flow every day i8n human relationships by His blood, alll unseen and unknown to wholeness. How overwhelmingly gracious our Lord's mercy is no one can ever know!

Nor can anyone know why so many billions of instances can wash unknown in the blood, and yet sometimes conscious recognition and confession is required, else we suffer the ful consequences. Surely God, in His wisdom, knows. Most sins apparently are cleansed without our ever knowing. Suffice it to say that the command, "Do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22;19-20), is probably based on Jesus' knowledge of continual need of washing. How often does God forgive and cleanse us as we worship and we are not aware of it? Choices to walk in love clleanse, but the most effective choices are worship and prayer. We need to pray for one another regularly, as did St. Paul, "May the God of peace sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ" (I Thess 5:23). What a prayer!

We rejoice because we know that those who do attend worship, whether communion is served or not, will be cleansed by walking in the light, and their marriages and families will be blessed whether or not they know it. Families may battle upon exit from the church doors, but much of that week's accumulation of seeds sown to hate has been reaped by our Lord. People may remember angers, and call them into new battles, but the necessary legal retribution of the past was effectually ended at the cross in worship.

The power of forgiveness is in the blood of Jesus. And the blood of Jesus is sufficent (Heb 10:19-29). We doubt that the Church could get "bloody" enough. Mene Simons (1496-1561), from which the Mennonites were spawned, was noted both for his piety and for his emphasis upon the blood of Jesus - an emphasis which was inherited by his followers. While on board a ship bound for America in 1735, John Wesley was so influenced by the gracious piety of a party of Moravians, who sang of the blood of Jesus, that from that beginning many believe came his impetus into revival, and from that expereince Methodism was filled with piety and songs of celebration of the blood of Jesus. A cursory check through American church history reveals that wherever piety and celebration of the blood of Jesus have preceded, so also has proceeded revival, and true loving life in our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the blood which sprinkles the heart, the area of inner space we need to conquer. "And since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled celan from an evil conscience and our body washed with pure water" (Heb 10:21-22). How often we have sung, "Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to Thy precious bleeding side (Hymn, "Draw Me Nearer") and did not know the power of what we sang?

(From "The Transformation of the Inner Man" - ch 5 - "The Central Power and Necessity of Forgiveness" - by John and Paula Sandford)

Brother David,

Yes dear brother I believe there is much undiscovered gold here as well and have been mining for a few months now and it has proved quite a fruitful endeavor, tho I must say that He put the desire to search this out in me and continues to fulfill His promise by leading me into places I'd yet to discover in His word:)

I'll do my utmost to share in its simplicity tho' with it being still preliminary my words may be clumsy but I pray He will quicken them in your heart:)

The apostle John seems to use the terms "light/love" almost interchangeably in his epistles to unveil the purity of Gods holiness and as you'll find in the next chapter (1 John 2) makes some qualifying statements that reach back to these you've gotten hold of.

What is "walking in the light"?.... I've found so far to be walking in truth as there are several verses referring to the light of truth. This led me to ask what is, or rather, who is truth? Jesus said He was the truth... But as I continued to search this out there was more...
John says "God is love" and in 1 John 2 draws analogues between being "in the light" by loving and being "in darkness" when we aren't loving and are in fact liars (opposite of truth).

2 Thess 2:10 speaks about receiving the "love of the truth that we might be saved"... We kno Jesus is the truth and the only one who saves...

Now if we can "receive" the love of the truth, then someone has to be giving it.... for it is not native to us. I found the only one who has it to give is God the Father,... He gives us His love for His Son!

Romans 5:5b the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts!
I've discovered that this love is not His love for us, which we find in verse 8, but is His love for His Son, Jesus.

When we receive Gods love for His Son then we have fellowship with Him,... A deep and true fellowship and because we now love Jesus with a pure love we will keep His commandments,.. not because we "have to" but because we can't help but too because we are now compelled literally by the love of God to do so and its the joy of our hearts to do it. In fact we delight in doing it as we find nothing else can satisfy our "new heart" spoken of by the prophets of old.

Stop and consider if you could give me, YOUR love for your child.... if I received this would we not have the most intimate personal fellowship possible?? I mean we'd be made family by this shared love. And if I have in fact received YOUR love for your child would I not love them just as you??? but if I say I received it but did not love with YOUR love then it would be evident in my actions, as they would necessarily be independent of YOUR love and not in fellowship.

Now I've found that in receiving God the Fathers love for His Son, I love Him like never before imagined! I had no idea it could be like this!
And so now Jesus can give me His love, which is also the Fathers, for others,... for my brothers and sisters. Where before, tho I loved them, it was mostly conditional and not agape. Whereas now as I minister (act on the compulsion) Gods love flows through me and cleanses me. The more I allow the power of His love to work in and through me, it compels me to share it with others for now I can rest and find peace in the once and for all realization that it's Him that works in and through me by the power of His love. So it's the best thing for everyone, first for God as its His perfect will, for others as its the only thing that can save them, and for me as its the only thing that satisfies.

I've found several other verses that historically I'd been taught and have read them as Gods love for us, but now can see it as His love for His Son. It's literally made the bible completely new to me, just overflowing with the goodness of God.

This caused me to realize my own egocentric tendency to make verses be about me,... that was humbling and I had to repent. And while there are many that do speak about Gods love for us, not all I had read that way actually did.
Also the Lord had shown me my tendency to cling very tightly to that where with I found security,... even if there was no real security to be found there but only imagined. Much like how a child will cling to a doll or blanket or teddybear when scared, and tho you couldn't pry it from their hands with a crow bar, there is no true security to be found in them but only imagined.
He showed me this is how I was with my understanding of His word and was very reluctant to "give up" my understanding in favor of His.
But He was patient and merciful, not wanting me to perish but come into repentance and took His time to surround me with the truth of His word before He coaxed the "teddybear" from my hands:)

Wow ok I didn't intend to write this much and it may not be clear, if not for that I apologize but I have a hope of which I'm not ashamed😇

Thank you very much for your insightful and edifying comments. And they were from your heart and that is what is important. I didin't feel like you wrote too much. I was sorry when you ended.

Like we both said, there is a gold mine here of precious nuggets and even large divine chunks that may remain unexplored to a degree. I feel as if I inadverdently stumbled across this while not even looking for it. It has huge ramifications for believers and the corporate church of God made alive in Christ even as they were washed by the blood poured out.

I am thinking and pondering on your comments regarding Romans 5:5,8. And the rest of your very good comments.

What I think I understand now is that when we choose to walk in the light we are cleansed by the blood without maybe even asking. The scriptures seem to portray it as a type of automatic thing and that is very encouraging. If someone wrongs me for example and I choose to overlook it in love and forgive them (70 X 7) then when I choose to do so I am cleansed by the blood. If I choose to walk in the light, loving them purely in Christ, then the blood cleanses me then. It also has huge ramifications in how we continue to see eourselves and it seems it could be very effective in combatting the accusations of the enemy. More and more also I'm coming to believe that of the church can embrace the light and learn to love and be continually cleansed by the blood then revival will come.

Well, I've got to run to work just now but I'll try and get back to you. Please offer more comments if you haver them and I feel we have just scratched the surface here.

/Now I've found that in receiving God the Fathers love for His Son, I love Him like never before imagined! I had no idea it could be like this!/

I hear you. Amen!

Thanks bro. I'll be looking at I John some more and hopefully get back to you.

When we are born again God forgives all our past sins. But in our daily walk we still sin both consciously and unconsciously.

To fellowship with light means to come to light, which we can do only when we repent. A sinner cannot come to light because his deeds will be exposed (John 3). So it means to have a continuous repentance of all known conscious sins.

When we are born again we may not have light about God's complete standard. So as we fellowship with him, we see more of our own sins and filthiness. It is like a person who sees himself in dim light cannot have a complete picture of himself. But as the light becomes brighter, he can see himself more clearly. The more we see clearly the more we cleanse ourself using the Blood of Christ.

Our cleansing is a continuous process. Also it is a condition, if we do not have fellowship with Light then Blood of Christ cannot be applied on us, hence we are back to our sinful state, unless we repent and go back to him.

Amen!

Yes we do still sin, but it should progressively become less and less as we walk in the light,... or walk in the love of God.

In 1 John 2 the apostle continues to expound on the idea of the love of God and its role in our progressive development.

He speaks about the love of God being verily perfected in those who walk in the light. And how if we love the world, the love of God is not in us.

When excavating these scriptures I found a wonderful definition to "walks", which in my BLB concordance, means; to make one's way, progress; to make due use of opportunities....
Another lil nugget of gold was found in the definition of "of", which means; out of, from, by, away from...

Notice this isn't saying the love "for" God or "for" the Father,... But rather seems to suggest it's literally His love...

For me personally this was instrumental in breaking down my prideful mindset of what I "thought" I knew.

On a personal level I've found myself to be a sort of vessel or valve for the love of God,... when I'm open, His love flows freely through me to others and thereby cleanses me on its way to the hearts of others to bring the light of His truth into the dark recesses of their hearts where past hurts and sins have caused them to be in a sort of closed loop...

I see this as "walking" (making due use of opportunities) in the light.

Tho at time I confess I am distracted by the cares and concerns of this world and in these times my valve is closed and many opportunities are missed. So the scripture says literally "the love of God is not in me" because I've not kept my valve open to love others, or rather allow Him to love through me.
Sometimes it's not because I've been distracted by the world so much as maybe I got hurt or offended and rather than quickly repent and forgive them, I've harbored these in my heart and that again prevents me from opening the valve so that the goodness of God can be seen...

The script comes to mind, "rivers of living waters will flow from their bellies"
So I see this as Him pouring His love, grace and mercy into me and it's not just for me but for the healing of the nations,... so like the "ten talents" I want to make the most of every opportunity and not "bury" it...

Ok im rambling again... sorry bout that but when He opened my eyes to see His love for His Son... It is like nitrous in a race car!
not even fair ha;)

/Yes we do still sin, but it should progressively become less and less as we walk in the light,... or walk in the love of God.

In 1 John 2 the apostle continues to expound on the idea of the love of God and its role in our progressive development.

He speaks about the love of God being verily perfected in those who walk in the light. And how if we love the world, the love of God is not in us.

When excavating these scriptures I found a wonderful definition to "walks", which in my BLB concordance, means; to make one's way, progress; to make due use of opportunities....
Another lil nugget of gold was found in the definition of "of", which means; out of, from, by, away from...

Notice this isn't saying the love "for" God or "for" the Father,... But rather seems to suggest it's literally His love...

For me personally this was instrumental in breaking down my prideful mindset of what I "thought" I knew.

On a personal level I've found myself to be a sort of vessel or valve for the love of God,... when I'm open, His love flows freely through me to others and thereby cleanses me on its way to the hearts of others to bring the light of His truth into the dark recesses of their hearts where past hurts and sins have caused them to be in a sort of closed loop...

I see this as "walking" (making due use of opportunities) in the light.

Tho at time I confess I am distracted by the cares and concerns of this world and in these times my valve is closed and many opportunities are missed. So the scripture says literally "the love of God is not in me" because I've not kept my valve open to love others, or rather allow Him to love through me.
Sometimes it's not because I've been distracted by the world so much as maybe I got hurt or offended and rather than quickly repent and forgive them, I've harbored these in my heart and that again prevents me from opening the valve so that the goodness of God can be seen...

The script comes to mind, "rivers of living waters will flow from their bellies"
So I see this as Him pouring His love, grace and mercy into me and it's not just for me but for the healing of the nations,... so like the "ten talents" I want to make the most of every opportunity and not "bury" it...

Ok im rambling again... sorry bout that but when He opened my eyes to see His love for His Son... It is like nitrous in a race car!
not even fair ha;)/

EXCELLENT IN EVERY RESPECT!

You aren't rambling good bro.