Thank you for thinking with me a little about why we can be so sure about what we believe as followers of Jesus Christ.
Can I challenge you to think with me a little about: Yes, we have chosen to believe in Jesus Christ and accept Him as our Savior and Lord, but what next?
As a starting point for our reflection, let’s start again with the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16.
“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Have you ever sat down and thought about what “eternal life” would entail?
I have, and I want to invite you to think about this with me a little.
Let's start with the obvious:
In this concept of “eternal life”, there are two words that are each extremely important: “Life” and “eternal life”.
I am now going to quote you a few passages of Scripture and I trust that God’s Spirit Himself will minister life and revelation to you as you read these verses.
Please take some time to read it with attention and focus!
“LIFE”
Let’s start with the concept of “life” and then specifically “life” as it is meant in the concept of “eternal life”. We read about this in so many places in the Bible.
John 1:4 – “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
John 3:14,15 – “Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness; even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
John 3:36 – “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but whoever does not obey the Son will not see life, but the judgment of God remains on him.”
John 6:35 – “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.’”
John 6:63 – “It is the Spirit who gives life; man himself cannot do this. The words I speak to you are from the Spirit and give life.”
John 10:10 – “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly.”
John 11:25,26 – “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, even if they die, will live; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
“ETERNAL LIFE”
And then there is the concept of “eternal life”, or in other words, a life that never ends and just goes on and on forever.
I always imagine it this way: Let’s take a piece of rope 10 meters long, and imagine that our life here on earth is 20 centimetres of this rope. The rest then represents the other part of the infinite, eternal life that the Bible speaks of in the sentence.
We then find this concept in passages of Scripture such as:
Mark. 10:17 – “As Jesus was just leaving the house to go on his way, someone ran up to him and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Mark 10:29,30 – “Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel’s, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with many persecutions; and in the age to come eternal life.”
John 3:36 – “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who disobeys the Son will not see life, but the judgment of God remains on him.”
John 4:14 – “…but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst. The water that I will give him will become in him a well of water welling up to eternal life.”
John 5:24 - “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
John 5:39,40 – “You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life. And it is they which testify about me. Yet you do not want to come to me that you may have life.”
John 6:27 – “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for God the Father has given him this authority.”
John 6:47 - "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever believes in me has eternal life.”
John 10:27,28 - "My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. And I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand."
Spend some time at the feet of Jesus and ask Him to speak to you from these Scriptures.