John 5:24 - Eternal Life Now.
John 5:24 - Eternal Life Now.
John 5:24 (KJV) He that heareth my word, and believeth on him
that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
Faith and life are
connected.
A present possession [NIV SB]
Hath everlasting life; This declaration is more than a promise
of eternal life to come; it is an assurance that the believer now
and here may begin to enjoy life that is eternal in quality, because
he is united spiritually with His Lord, whose life He shares. "The
Spirit of God, received into the heart by faith, is the beginning of
the life eternal" (DA 388). [SDA Commentary]
"Eternal life"--living forever with God--begins when you accept
Jesus Christ as Savior. At that moment, new life begins in you (2 Cor.
5:17). It is a completed transaction. You still will face physical
death, but when Christ returns again, your body will be resurrected to
live forever (1 Cor. 15). [Life Application SB]
Eternal life is more than endless. It has a unique quality and
character all its own. Eternal life is God's own life, infused with His
vitality and moral character, given to us through spiritual birth. Those
with this life can have fellowship with God and with other believers,
for we are linked to Him and one another by eternal bonds. [Victor
Bible Reader's Companion]
Yesterday two Jehovah's Witnesses appeared at our door with an
"Awake" tract. My wife called out from the living room, "We're
Christians. We don't want it."
One of the two answered, "We're Christians too. We believe in
Jesus Christ as our Saviour."
That's good. As far as it goes. But the next question that needs
to be answered is, "Which Jesus?"
There are many Jesuses in vogue today. There's the "good man
Jesus," who was misunderstood and killed, and whose teachings are still
wonderful. There's the "liberation Jesus," who calls for the oppressed to
take up weapons and kill their oppressors. There's the "Jewish rabbi
Jesus," who never thought of himself as God and was later dubbed with a
title he would have hated by his enthusiastic followers--especially
Paul. There's the "a god" Jesus of several cults, who is either a sort
of high angel, or a human being lifted to a higher spiritual plane.
And then there is the God Jesus of John's Gospel, who is equal to
God in nature, and who from the beginning was God and is God.
Here in these verses, in Christ's own words as reported by John,
is the Jesus of Scripture. He is:
vv. 17-18: the equal of God the Father
v. 18: the Son, not identical with the Father, but unified with
Him
v. 19: in total harmony with the Father in all His works, and
submissive to His will
v. 20 loved by the Father, with full knowledge of His plans and
purposes
v. 21 empowered by the Father, and able to give life as the
Father has and does
v. 22 entrusted with authority to judge
v. 23 equal in honor with the Father
v. 24 determiner of human destiny:
v. 24 the object of a faith that transfers from the realm of
death to that of life
v. 25 able to raise the dead
v. 26 one who like the Father is uncreated, having life in
Himself
v. 27 as Son of man, God enfleshed
It does make a difference which Jesus we believe in. How
wonderful it is to know that the Jesus we believe in is the eternal Son of
God. One of the earliest creeds of the church, the Nicene Creed, puts
it this way:
I believe in... one LORD Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of
God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of
Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance
with the Father, by whom all things were made; who for us men and for
our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy
Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and crucified also for us
under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried, and the third day He
rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and
sitteth on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again with
glory to judge both the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have
no end.
This is the Jesus of the Bible. This is the Jesus in whom we
believe! [The 365-Day Devotional Commentary]
The New Testament teaching is not that everyone has eternal
life, but that those who come to God through Jesus Christ are given
eternal life as a gift. Many passages contain this teaching; it is not
found in only one or two texts. The new birth, being "born of the
Spirit," is to have the life of God given to us. Not all are born of the
Spirit. The Scripture rejects the idea that everybody has a spark of
deity within. In fact, the Bible says that man, in his natural
condition, is "dead to god" and that rebirth, an action of the Holy Spirit,
is required to plant the life of God. That's what's meant by
eternal life. We don't begin eternal life when we die; we begin it
while we still live. Eternity begins with belief in Christ. [Terry
Fullam; Time with God devotional SB]
But is passed from death unto life; Has changed his country, or
place of abode. Death is the country where every Christless soul
lives. The man who knows not God lives a dying life, or a living death;
but he who believes in the Son of God passes over from the empire of
death, to the empire of life. Reader! thou wast born in death: hast
thou yet changed the place of thy natural residence? Remember that to
live in sin is to live in death; and those who live and die thus
shall die eternally. (Adam Clarke Commentary)
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