Difference between revisions of "The Nature of Eternal Life."

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It appears to me that the main subject of the New Testament is eternal life. The Lord Jesus came to bring us eternal life, the Life that He Himself is. But we have made the primary subject of the New Testament eternal residence in Heaven. There is no scriptural support for this change in emphasis. Emphasizing residence in Heaven instead of eternal life as the goal of redemption may seem harmless and unimportant, but it leads us astray from what God actually is doing in His plan of redemption.

(12/10/2006) What is eternal life?

Is eternal life residence in Heaven? No, it is not.

Is eternal life endless existence? :No, it is not. It seem unclean spirits and wicked people have endless existence, but they do not have eternal life.

Eternal life is the Spirit of God. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is eternal Life, because His Spirit is One with God's Spirit. It is God's will that each believer become part of that same Oneness, such that he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with the Lord.

Man was formed from the dust of the ground. He remains dust until his spirit is one with the Lord, until He is filled with the eternal Divine Life.

When we first are saved we receive a portion of eternal life, a down payment on what God wishes us to have in full measure.

After we are sealed with the Spirit, receiving the down payment, how do we proceed to gain more eternal life?

We have to lay hold on eternal life. If we are to eat of the Tree of Life, which is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, we have to "overcome." This means we have to choose to do the Lord's will every time we are tempted to follow the world spirit, or the lusts of our flesh, or our own will instead of God's.

Every time we choose to do go God's way, praying for wisdom and strength to do so, we are fed in the spirit realm with the body and blood of Christ. His eternal Life is contained in His body and blood. They are eternal Life. They are the resurrection. It is Christ's body and blood in us that will lift us to meet the slain Lamb in the air at His appearing.

Eternal life increases in us as we increase in holiness. We increase in holiness, in spiritual cleanliness, as we choose to be the slave of righteousness. After we believe in Christ and are baptized in water, we must decide whether we wish to be the slave of sin, or the slave of righteousness. When we choose to be the slave of righteousness we increase in spiritual cleanliness. The result of spiritual cleanliness is eternal Divine Life.

We must continue each day and night to choose to do God's will. As we do this, eternal life increases in us. We continually graze on Christ's body and blood, we may say. If we persist in this practice the day will come when the Father and Christ establish Their throne in us. Then we will be a life-giving Spirit, just as our Lord is. We will be able to nourish the nations of saved people who will be living on the present earth during the thousand-year Kingdom Age, and then on the new earth. The Spirit and the Bride will say to them, "Come!"

People will need to come and partake of our life so they will not become weak in the areas of righteousness, love, joy, and peace.

It may be noted in the New Testament that we have eternal life now. It is true also that we will inherit more eternal life, a crown of life, if we pursue Christ until we die.

Eternal life is not a place to which we go. Eternal life is in us. I John tells us that no one who hates his brother has eternal life in him. By this we understand that a hateful believer has no eternal life, although he may think he does as a result of "accepting Christ."

The Apostle John speaks of that Eternal Life who was with the Father and now has been revealed to us. Thus Christ Himself is the Resurrection and the Life, in that the Spirit of God dwells in His fullness in Christ. Christ is Christ, the Anointed One. We are members of the Body of Christ, of the Anointed One. Thus we are to become, as He is, a life-giving spirit. This precisely is what we will be when the Father and the Son make Their eternal dwelling place in us.

The Lord Jesus Christ serves God as a priest, living by the power of an endless life. So it is true that each member of the royal priesthood shall serve God by the power of an endless life.

Christ told us that all who are in the grave shall hear His voice and come forth. Some shall be raised to eternal life. Some shall be raised to judgment and condemnation because they behaved wickedly on the earth.

Each of us believers must give serious thought to the goal of being raised to eternal life. We are dust. Each day God gives us an opportunity to gain some eternal life, as we keep on choosing to overcome the forces of sin that come against us. If we persevere in our quest for life, we will be raised to life when He appears. Our mortal body then shall be filled with eternal resurrection life. How utterly glorious!

But if we as a Christian choose instead to follow the world, our fleshly lusts, and our self-will, we shall remain dust. We were born in corruption and have chosen to live in corruption. In the Day of Resurrection we shall be raised in corruption, the corruption of the sinful nature. What will be our destiny then? Only the Lord Jesus Christ will decide in that Day.

There is a persistent, pervasive error in Christian thinking. It is that our belief in Christ saves us. The truth is, unless we deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Christ, we do not believe in Him. We acknowledge Him, perhaps. We give mental assent to the facts concerning Christ. But this is not eternal life. The demons know Christ is the Holy One of God, but they do not have eternal life.

The concept of belief saving us comes from the fact that the Apostle Paul, in his effort to prove to the Jews that righteousness is possible apart from the Law of Moses, stressed that Abraham believed what God had told him. Abraham was declared righteous because He believed God.

In our confusion we understand this to mean that somehow belief itself has a mystical power. This concept may be found in Christian Science, in Hinduism (I think), and in "the power of positive thinking." The "prosperity" and "faith" doctrines depend upon the metaphysical power of belief to accomplish their objectives.

The truth is, it was not Abraham's belief that made him righteous. It was the fact that belief was what God required at that time. It was the obedience to God, the true faith in God, that resulted in righteousness.

On other occasions God spoke of Abraham's righteous behavior, and finally tested Abraham to the limit by requiring that he offer Isaac. It was not Abraham's belief that he was to offer Isaac that brought the Kingdom promises made to him, it was Abraham's obedience. We can be sure that if Abraham had refused to offer Isaac, he no longer would have been considered righteous.

The only response on our part that brings righteousness is obedience to the will of God, whether found in the Bible or spoken to us personally. Head belief never, never, never is a substitute for obedience.

Since current Evangelicalism depends on belief as our appropriate response to the plan of redemption, it is grossly misleading.

Jesus told us the work of God is to believe in Christ. We conclude that if we agree that Christ is God's son, we will be saved. But true belief is the work that God requires on one occasion. On another occasion it may be an action of some sort. So the correct response to God always and forever is obedience, not a mere acknowledgment of thelogical truth. What an error this is!

We are given to eat from the Tree of Life, Jesus Christ, when we obey God by overcoming the dark forces arrayed against us.

Our change from the life of the soul to the life of the Spirit must be taking place today. Such change does not take place by virtue of the fact that we have died and entered the spirit world. One can be in the spirit world and have no eternal life!

The only source of eternal life, the Divine, incorruptible, resurrection life that comes from the Father, is Christ Himself. As we draw near to Him we are drawing near to eternal life. As He is formed in us, the Resurrection and the Life are formed in us. As we possess Him we possess eternal life. This is true whether we are alive on the earth or alive in the spirit world.

Christ is the only Tree of Life in the present hour. However, there will be more trees of life as believers press forward into the fullness of Christ.

The way is narrow and the path difficult to pursue that lead to life. Few find it. The Apostle Paul made striving to attain to the resurrection that is unto eternal life his primary goal.

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