I am Thankful for the Promise of Eternal Life
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” (John 5:24 NKJV)
What is Eternal Life?
Our first birth gave us physical life. It ends with our last breath on this earth. But is that the end of our existence? That question has been a question most of us have asked. Skeptics who do not believe in a god of any nature seem to think that once we die it is all over. We have no further existence. I find that hard to believe for a couple of reasons.
First of all, there had to be a designer for this world that we live in and for our own existence. That designer had to have an ability that we cannot comprehend. We can take our bodies apart and in some cases put them back together again. But nobody has yet made a person with the kind of thinking intelligence that we and even the animals have. And even if someone were able to do that, it would only prove that we were designed and that we didn’t just “happen”.
Second of all, if there is a designer (and there is), that designer certainly didn’t design us to be discarded. But since sin has marred the original purpose of creation, God has provided something better for us after we die. That something is called eternal life. Eternal life starts when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation and it continues forever. Eternal life is a life from eternity (it has quality) and it is a life for eternity (it has quantity) and it is a life that can be enjoyed right now. Every believer in Christ is a possessor of eternal life.
Without Christ there is No Physical Life
As I understand it, the Lord was the creator of this first life that we have. John the apostle says, “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made (John 1:3 NKJV).” Paul also tells us, “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist (Colossians 1:16-17 NKJV).”
Christ was directly involved in the first creation. God the Father planned it, the Lord spoke it into existence, and the Holy Spirit has revealed it. But this first creation was marred by the sin of Adam and Eve. There needed to be a do-over. There needed to be a new creation.
Without Christ there is No Eternal Life
As I understand it, we are either “in Christ” or we are “in our sins.” Paul says, “And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins (1 Corinthians 15:17 NKJV)!” Again he says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV).”
Being in our sins is how we are seen by God before we are saved. Being in Christ is how we are seen by God after we are saved. Even the Lord says that if we do not believe that He is the Jehovah of the Old Testament, we will die in our sins (see John 8:24 and realize that “I AM” is what Jehovah means in the Old Testament.).
Eternal Life Requires an Empty Tomb
I am glad that I have confidence that should I die before the Lord comes, my existence will not end. It will just be beginning. Moses died in the Old Testament, yet he is seen with the Lord Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. He didn’t cease to exist. And though he was a special prophet and was used mightily in service for God, he was made of clay just like us and needed a Savior just like us. He died just like us.
Most of us make a big deal of the Lord’s birth but we should be making a bigger deal of the Lord’s death, burial and resurrection. It is the cross where payment was made for our sins so we could have eternal life and it is at the empty tomb that we are assured that God was satisfied.
I am personally glad for the promise of eternal life. I don’t know what all is involved with regard to my future enjoyment of it, but it sure beats the alternative.
We all need to be motivated by something. I am motivated by eternal life. It gives me a reason for living and takes the fear out of dying.
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of December 12, 2021