It isn’t surprising to see many believers get anxious around conversations of death and eternity. This is because many people are unsure about the whole concept of eternal life. Due to this, false teachers continue to emerge with theories designed to soothe men’s hearts. This, however, has only thrown some into further disarray and placed others right on the path to eternal damnation.
The Gospel of John helps us understand the matter of eternity with two primary emphases: Christology (describing Jesus as both God and the living revelation of God) and Soteriology (describing the book of John as an “encounter” Gospel, centering on “believing” in Jesus by coming to “know” and “see” him as God’s final “truth,” leading to “eternal life”). “Life” contrasts with death, as “light” contrasts with “darkness.” Physical death is a primary reality for all human beings. Still, in Jesus, God’s people have passed “from death to life” and thereby “will never die.” (John 8:51, John 11:26, John 11:25). Putting our hope in Christ gives us the confidence to face tomorrow since we are assured of something that transcends our present reality!
Eternal Life in Jesus
From John 6:68, we know that Jesus has “the words of eternal life.” In many instances, Jesus personalized the concept of eternity to himself (John 6:35, John 6:48, John 5:26, John 14:26, John 6:63) through the claims he made.
Many of us lean towards thinking of life from the physical state alone; that is why we have a peculiar fear that cripples our hearts when an article on death opens up before us. But isn’t Jesus the very essence of life eternal? If we have him, then we have the life that he gives. To conquer tomorrow’s fears, we need something or someone who has both the ability to control tomorrow and alter its outcomes. That person is Jesus Christ, and we can be sure that he lives today and will live fully beyond tomorrow.
Where are you looking to as you seek to make sense of life? Riches, fame, sex, and self-empowerment will not give meaning. Only Jesus gives us hope beyond the here and now.
Eternal Life for the New Creation
There is a dimension of the new creation in the gift of life from Jesus to his followers. Jesus, “the Word,” is the Agent of creation. Since he embodies life, it is his prerogative to bestow life on his people. In John 4:10-14, Jesus promises the Samaritan woman that he can “give her living water” that can “well up to eternal life.” Life is under his control, and it is a gift he presents “to anyone he wants” (John 5:21); in other words, he has complete authority over its bestowal.
Jesus is “the bread of life” (John 6:35) who alone can “give eternal life” (John 6:27, 33). He has yielded his “flesh” “for the life of the world” (John 6:51), producing security for the recipients of the gift (John 10:28; 17:2). Anyone who believes in Christ will not perish (John 3:16) and no one can snatch those who come to Christ from his hand. Jesus’ work of giving life is portrayed in the two healing miracles in John 4:46–54 (“Your son will live”) and John 11:1-44 (Lazarus being raised on the third day). Jesus raises people from both physical and spiritual death. The latter is the greater miracle because it has eternal bearing.
Paul echoes these truths in 2 Corinthians 5:17, reminding the saints that those with eternal life have evidence of an inevitable, eternal, and miraculous transformation; the old is gone, and the new has come. When we walk with the Lord, we are bound to transform. I am no longer the person I used to be because something new has happened to me. My attitudes, habits, passions, and ambitions changed when I came to know the One who is eternal life. A changed life is the beginning of eternal life!
When our hearts doubt what tomorrow will look like because of all the uncertainties we see, our confidence comes from the fact that things about us have eternally changed. There is evidence of the miraculous in me because I am no longer who I used to be! If this change truly happens, we can trust the One who works this change to hold us through tomorrow’s challenges.
Eternal Life Through Belief
In John 20:31, we are told that life results as one comes to “believe” in Jesus. The divine encounter of the sinner with the light and life of God in Jesus produces the conviction of sin. From there ensues a call to believe with synonyms such as receiving him (John 1:12; 3:11, 33; 4:36; 5:43), coming to him (John 5:40; 6:35, 44; 7:34, 37; 8:21), and drinking the living water (John 4:13–14; 6:35, 53–56; 7:37–38). God’s miraculous work and man’s response to the call culminate in the act of coming to faith. The result is eternal life.
The statement is made twice at the end of Nicodemus’s speech (John 3:15). Whoever believes in him has eternal life. At the beginning of John’s summary, in John 3:16, it is clear that every person, without restriction, has access to eternal life through faith in Christ. Jesus states this several times in the “Bread from Heaven” sermon (John 6:40, 47, 51). Here, Jesus clarifies that consuming his flesh is synonymous with a deep-seated “belief” in him and enables one to experience “eternal life.” Jesus demands total surrender to him as the true meaning of “belief.”
Suppose I do not believe in Jesus and his work? In that case, one has every reason to be fearful of tomorrow due to the awaiting reality of eternal damnation. We find a call in scripture to move away from self-belief to Christ-belief if we are to have any chance of a tomorrow that will be glorious beyond human expectation. There is no true life without true belief. Paul says in Romans 10:9-10 that if we believe…, then we shall be saved and saved from the pleasure, presence, power, and penalty of sin. We have no hope without this kind of belief!
Eternal Life as a Present Possession
John also talks to us with a distinct emphasis on the believer’s present possession of eternal life (John 17:3). The “already but not yet” tension in John’s Gospel is distinctly central. The one who believes “has [present tense] eternal life” (John 3:15; 5:24a) and also “will not be [future tense] judged” (John 5:24b) because such persons have already “crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24c). A change of realms has taken place (Romans 5:12–6:11). Eternal life is already a present possession. John restated in John 6:54 that those who fully encounter Jesus immediately “have eternal life,” and Jesus will “raise them at the last day” (John 10:10; 17:3).
We are not just looking towards a life eons away. Our gift of eternal life is already here with us. Whoever has the Son has life (1 John 5:11-12), here and now. This conviction should constantly well up in the believer’s heart, reminding them that there is no guilt in life nor fear in death because the power of Christ in them is at work presently. Knowing this truth, saints should face tomorrow’s doubts and fears with a smile and fullness of joy. Whether the Lord, in this life, gives or takes away, he does it for our ultimate good. May we forever trust in him who has assured us of the greatest gift of all: eternal life with him, now and forever!
