(tm) Day 4
Back to John Seventeen, Devotional
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:3)
What is life eternal? Life eternal is not perpetual existence. All spirits will live forever. Ten billion years from now, Satan, his angels, and the unrepentant of mankind will be suffering torment in the Lake of Fire. They will be consciously alive. The deadly virus of sin, rebellion, and stubbornness still will be present in the universe. But none of these rebels will ever possess eternal life.
It is the knowledge of God that is life eternal. When we first receive Christ we pass from death, which is separation from God and ignorance of God, into life, which is reconciliation to God and a beginning of our knowledge of God.
Being "saved" by believing in Christ should not be viewed as a "ticket to Heaven." We do not receive the fullness of eternal life when we accept Christ. Eternal life is not merely eternal existence, as we have pointed out.
Christ Himself is the Resurrection and the eternal Life from God. It is as we embrace Christ in our daily life that we embrace Eternal Life more completely.
Eternal life is gained by running a race—a race against all the tides and currents of the world. The Christian race is an uphill, upstream push every inch of the way. If we would obtain the knowledge of God we must forsake all else and give ourselves wholly to the pursuit of Divine Life.
The Father and the Son come to the believer who guards and observes the Words of Christ. The Son knows the Father and reveals the Father to whomever He will. The knowledge of the Father brings rest to our soul. The knowledge of the Father satisfies the deepest longings of our heart. The knowledge of the Father is eternal life.
Today we, joining the Apostle Paul, exclaim fervently: "That I may know Him!" No matter how many years we have been pressing forward, following on to know the Lord, we keep discovering there is far more in Christ than we can comprehend. He is grander and more glorious than we thought possible. He is far above our ability to imagine—far above the highest heavens.
Truly, Jesus of Nazareth is Christ, the Son of God. To comprehend and possess Him is to comprehend and grasp eternal Life. He Himself is the Resurrection and the Life.