Enjoy Eternal Life Every Day

The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple (John 8:48-59).

The elders who followed Jesus could not hear His words because of their corrupted worldview. They accused Jesus of being in league with the devil and having a demon. Jesus answered with a simple denial, and then He confronted these accusing followers with more truth. He was relentless in His effort to compel them to believe in Him and become a disciple. He confronted them with a fresh choice to believe His word. He told them the blessing of keeping His word is life… “If anyone keeps my word, he will never see death”. Because they were thinking naturally, they could not understand the truth of His word. With His declaration, “before Abraham was, I am” Jesus wanted these unbelieving followers, and the crowd that was looking on, to know that He was not speaking about physical death. He was offering them so much more. He promised that followers who embraced His word and became His disciples would escape the second death and enjoy eternal life every day!

Everyone thinks about death from time to time. There is a great difference between the way Christ’s followers and disciples think and feel about death. I’ve sometimes observed at funerals little difference between the grieving of the unbelieving and those who claim to know Christ. One sure measure of whether we are merely following Christ or we are His disciples is how firmly we understand and embrace His truth about death and eternal life.

In His confrontation with the elders Jesus confirmed the spiritual truth that because of sin everyone dies physically… “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). The scriptures teach that physical death is a part of life, but is not the end of life…“And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). As surely as everyone dies, everyone will rise again to face judgment for sin… “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice  and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment” (John 5:28-29). The Holy Spirit teaches through the prophet Daniel that the consequences of this judgment are everlasting… “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2). Jesus taught that disciples who embrace His words will escape judgment because they have already received eternal life… “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24). That’s because Jesus Christ appeased God’s wrath as the propitiation for sin at Calvary… “He is the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:2). There is a clear difference between what followers and disciples believe about life and death. For Christ’s disciples all of life is living for Him and physical death is a mere transition to a more intimate and everlasting fellowship with Him. Believing Jesus and embracing His truth impacts how we live today as well as how we will live in eternity.

As we grow up into Christ we do not fear death because in Him we are learning to…

Enjoy Eternal Life Every Day.