“That which was from the beginning [before the foundation of the world],”—he said, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen [our very eyes laid upon Him], which we have looked upon [studied], and our hands have handled, of the Word of life” (1 John 1:1).  Some say that these Gnostics were saying that He was just an illusion.  His body was an illusion.  They say his body was, what we would call today, a hologram.  John says, “Not so.  He was a real man.  We handled Him.”  John took very careful observance to this and reiterated it also in the gospel as he talked about the fact that they touched Him, He ate with them, all of these things that seemed trivial in the great revelation of redemption, and yet, John pointed these little things out to Him,  andreiterated it here again in the Epistle.  “We’ve seen this man.  We held this man.”

Now, remember, he’s speaking to the Gnostics.  He told them, “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us…  And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.  This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light”.  “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all,” praise God!  See, the Gnostics were claiming to have the corner of the market on revelation, on light, on illumination of God.  John refers back to them that this Jesus that we’re talking to you about, He is light—absolute, purely—and there was no darkness, there was no corruption, there was no violation from His material essence at all.