The dawn of eternity

We know that the apostle John was named "the disciple of Jesus loved" but we are not exactly sure why Jesus would designate one of his followers in that way. It seems to say that he loved John more than the other disciples but we know that could hardly be since divine love being perfect can’t be parceled out in degrees. I suspect that the descriptive grew grew out of John's intimate relationship to others. I think he was a bit of a mystic and had a rather unique way of putting his thoughts into words.
       One example of this is found in his first epistle (2:7-8) where he tells his friends that the command he is writing is not a new one but the old one that they have had from the beginning. However, this old command is at the same time a new command "because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining" (2:8). So what we seem to have are two commands (the old and the new) yet they are the same. Hmmm. The old command is becoming the new command while remaining what it has been from the beginning.
       John’s metaphor of light replacing darkness is powerful in its use of a natural phenomenon (the dawning of a new day) to picture the positive change when one turns to Christ. For John, it is the dawn of the new age that allows the believer to experience the true light of eternity. In the preparatory stage (before the coming of Christ) loving God was a bit more formalistic than personal. I don’t question the authenticity of the love of Old Testament patriarchs (who lived by the “old command”), it is simply that our fuller knowledge of God, made possible by the incarnation, provides a brighter atmosphere for Christian living. The “darkness” of a limited knowledge of God disappears when in the life of a believer the bright dawn of the eternal state begins.
       The crucial event that made this possible was the incarnation of the eternal Son of God. With Christ the eternal enters time. Believers live in eternity already (they have passed from death into life”) although they are still trapped in the semi-darkness of the transition.
       How then does the life of a person change when they open their heart to Christ? One particular quality that stands out in the passage under consideration is a love that expresses itself in obedience (vv. 3, 5, 6, 10). The dawning light of a new faith reveals one’s natural fixation on self being replaced with concern for others. The essence of the Christian faith being worked out in the lives of believers is the sensational power of a love that enables us to move from self-concern to the welfare of others. God has come into our world to make it possible for us to change forever the way we live, that is to love as God loves, to replace concern for self with a genuine concern for the other. John is right: it is an old command, but at the same time it is “new.” What will be normal in the future has become the expectation for today. The simple truth is that yesterday’s darkness has been replaced by tomorrow’s new light. The “Let there be light” of creation has become the “Let there be light” of salvation. Morning came with the historic advent of our Savior and keeps coming in the lives of those who turn to him. The light of love has, is, and will displace the darkness of sin. “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all” (v. 5) – what happened; will on a daily basis overcome the lingering darkness of sin in the life of the believer – what is happening; and ultimately fill the universe with the bright splendor of eternal glory – what will happen.