Jesus said, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last" (Revelation 22:13). And that pretty much tells you all you need to know about eternal life. It has no beginning and no end because it IS the beginning and the end. It's like in Genesis 1:1 where the Bible doesn't try to prove the existence of God, it simply states that He was there in the beginning. Eternal life doesn't start when you die. It doesn't start at all. It has always been. Because, "In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1 NLT). The Word--Jesus, love--has always been and will always be. Eternal life is knowing the one true God and the One whom He sent. It's knowing the Word! Knowing that God is our Father and we are His Son. Knowing and believing the love of Christ. That's what makes living possible. Because to live is to love and to love is to live. You can't have one without the other, because they are the same thing! And since love never fails (or goes away), LIFE never fails, or goes away. I think the best example of what I'm trying to say is found in Mark 12:26-27, "And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err." What we think of as death--physical death--is not what God thinks of. Abraham, Issac, and Jacob were physically dead, but yet still alive. Because life is eternal. It changes but it doesn't end. The beginning and the end are the same thing. Love. The same person. Jesus. The same Word that was with God in the beginning. The same Word that was (IS) God! So let me say what I'm trying to say: We don't need to try to earn a "good afterlife." Because there IS no "after." Not in the sense that we usually think of it. Not in the sense of a final end. 1 Corinthians 15:51, "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed." And I like it even better in the NLT, "But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed!" Death was the last enemy. And Jesus defeated that enemy on the cross when He died and then rose again. It's not about life and death. It's about life and that more abundantly! It's about ETERNAL life. Everlasting life. Resurrection Life. Jesus' life! And it's not about US living HIS life. It's about HIM living His life in us, and through us, and as us! It's about our true identity: Jesus. God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in OUR flesh. Love in OUR body. Knowing Him as Father and ourselves as His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. It's about knowing and believing the love of Christ and loving each other with that same love. That's how we be who we really are. We receive and release His love. That's how we truly live. Forever. Eternally.

A life without beginning or end. A life that isn't determined by what you do, but by who you are. A life filled to overflowing with love. That's what Jesus gave us when He gave us Himself. When He gave His life for us, and gave His life to us. When God poured His Spirit out on all flesh. He took what we (thought we) had and showed us a more excellent way. It's like the old saying, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Only, we can do better than that. "When life gives you lemons, stop taking what life gives you and start living out of the abundance of the Kingdom!" It was God's good pleasure to give us the Kingdom. He didn't want us to have to work for it, or try to earn it. He just wanted us to have it. He wanted us to be able to enjoy it. To share it. He wanted us to be able to partake of the Divine Nature. And that's why--again--Jesus gave His life for us... AND He gave His life TO us. Because He wanted us to have it. Our heavenly Father wanted the best for us, so He gave the best to us. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). See, it's not what we DO that allows us to have everlasting life. It's what we BELIEVE. Because what we do FLOWS from what we believe. You can't give what you don't have, and you can only give what you do have. That's why it's so vitally important that we know and believe the love of Christ. When we know that we are loved... that's when we have love to give. When we know that we are loved... that's when we can love. And that's how we truly live. To live is to love and to love is to live. 1 John 3:14 says, "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death." So even though we are alive, without love we abide in death. Love is what makes abundant life abundant. Love is what makes everlasting life everlasting. Love is what makes eternal life eternal. Because love never fails. It never goes away. Just as God promised that He would never leave us nor forsake us. He's always with us--LOVE is always with us. Forever and ever. And if it's always with us, always present, then all we have to do is believe it. We don't have to earn it. And thank God for that because we CAN'T earn it. Under religion there's always one thing we lack. The Law points out our failures. It demands perfection without being able to produce perfection. We work ourselves to death trying to live. We perish because we're trying to be someone we're not and we're trying to get something we haven't got. That's not life. And that's CERTAINLY not eternal life. We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love each other. And the only way to truly love each other is to know and believe that we are loved. To receive and release the love of God. The gift of God. Eternal life!

Life is about living. And eternal life is about living in the context of the unconditional love relationship between Father and Son. It's not living "for" God, as if He's our boss. That's not what being placed in the family business means. It's about partaking of the Divine Nature. Not trying to live Jesus' life. Nobody can do that except Jesus. It's about letting Jesus live His life in you, and through you, and as you. Look at what Jesus said in John 14:10 (NLT), "Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me." It's an outworking of an indwelling Spirit. It's what's inside coming out, naturally. Look at the end of Philippians 2:12-13, "...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." Did you catch that? "We" work out what's in there... but it's really God working in us. He gives us the will and the power to do. He gives us the want to, and the ability to. He doesn't demand from us anything He hasn't first provided for us. We aren't working FOR Him. He's working IN us. It's not, "Do what I say, or else." It's, "Trust in me. I know what's best for you." It's not religion. It's relationship. It's not killing yourself trying to make a living. It's enjoying the gift you've been given. And make absolutely no mistake: Eternal life is the GIFT of God. It can't be earned. It was freely given. And it must be received, but only so that we can give it away. Receive and release. If you know it, throw it. If you've got it, share it. Look at Philippians 2:12 in the NLT, "Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear." We don't work in order to BE saved. We work because we ARE saved! Faith without works is dead, right? Christ in you is the hope of REVEALED glory. The glory is already there. It's not just what we have... it's who we are. But until we know and believe who we are we'll always try to be someone we're not. Because we think we're not good enough. We buy into the lie that says, "you have to do in order to be." When in fact we do BECAUSE we be. Your actions flow from your beliefs. That's why behavior modification doesn't work. That's why religion doesn't help anybody. The Law of Moses demanded perfection without being able to produce it. All it could do was point out what you did wrong. Jesus didn't come to show us what was wrong with us. He came to show us what was RIGHT with us. He came to show us who we really are by showing us who God really is. He came to give us a gift. He gave His life FOR us, and He gave His life TO us. He came that we might have LIFE and that more abundantly. He came that we might know that we are loved, and love each other with that same love. That's what eternal life is all about! It's all about love!

As simply as I can put it: Eternal life is an everlasting life-long journey into the heart of the matter. And the heart of the matter is God's heart beating with love in our chests. It is knowing the Father and the One whom He sent. Knowing that God is our heavenly Father, and knowng that we are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. It is NOT religion. It is RELATIONSHIP. It's not head knowledge--knowing ABOUT God--it is heart knowledge--KNOWING God. And we know Him from the inside out. The issues of life flow from the heart. Because LOVE flows from the heart. And it's all about love. Love is what makes life abundant. Love is what makes life worth living. Love is what makes living possible. Because to live is to love, and to love is to live. So when we're talking about eternal life... we're talking about eternal LOVE. We're talking about a love without end. An unconditional love that has nothing to do with your actions and everything to do with your identity. Nothing to do with what you do and everything to do with who you are. And who God is. When you know the Truth--and Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life--the truth sets you free and makes you free. Free FROM sin and free TO live. Free to love because you know that you ARE loved. Because you know that you are LOVE. You know that love lives inside you, and you know that it's too big to contain. You can't keep it to yourself. It's not too good to be true. That's what we thought before the cross (without the Holy Spirit). And that's why we tried to earn it. We didn't believe God could love us just as we are. So even though we were working to earn a living, we were killing ourselvse working. We were trying to earn something that is freely given, and can only be received. It's not too good to be true. It's so good it must be true! And it's TOO good to keep to ourselves. It's more blessed to GIVE than to recieve. But you have to receive first, so that you have something to give. Life isn't about getting. Because love isn't about getting. Love IS giving. And when you really understand how loved you are, you WANT to give it away. You want to share it. Because, again, it's too good to keep to ourselves. AND it's what everybody needs. So, as my pastor says, "If you know it, throw it." If you've got it, give it. A life of love--loving others as Jesus loves us--is the only life worth living. Love is what MAKES life worth living. It's the desire of the heart. And when we delight ourselves in the Lord He GIVES us the desire of our heart. Because He IS the desire of our heart. But if we look for love in all the wrong places, trying to earn it because we don't know that we already have it, we rob ourselves from enjoying it. When we try to be someone we're not in order to earn something we haven't got... we miss out on what we HAVE got, and we miss out on who we really are. We miss out on LIVING LIFE. Eternal, everlasting, abundant, Resurrection Life!

Jesus didn't come to give us a religion. He came to bring us into a relationship. He came to show us the Father, and to show us that we are the Father's beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. Jesus said He came that we might have life, and that more abundantly. And look at how He defined this life, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3). Eternal life is knowing the Father through the context of being His Son. Eternal life is the unconditional love relationship between Father and Son. Now look at what the word "eternal" means. It is number 166 in Strong's Greek Concordance. It means, "perpetual (also used of past time, or past and future as well) : - eternal, for ever, everlasting, world (began)." Which is to say it has no beginning and no end. It always was and always will be. Eternal life doesn't start when you die. This isn't pie in the sky, go to heaven someday if you've been a good boy. This has NOTHING to do with religion. This is a relationship between you and your heavenly Father. And like the old country song says, "Daddy's don't just love their children every now and then. It's a love without end. Amen." Let me say it another way, "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will" (Ephesians 1:4-5). (And, as always, we're not talking about adoption in the sense of joining God's family as if we were ever not a part of it. We're talking about adoption in the sense of being PLACED in the family. Being given responsibility in the family business.) What I'm trying to get at is the "before the foundation of the world" part. See, Jesus--and the finished work of the cross--was not God's plan B. Adam sinning didn't sneak up on God. Look at Psalm 90:3, "Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men." Before man could choose God, he had to see what else was out there. Otherwise he would always think the grass was greener on the other side. It's why God gave man the Law of Moses--not because GOD wanted it, but because MAN wanted it. It's why God gave the people of Israel a human king. Not because GOD wanted it, but because MAN wanted it. I'm convinced that God is too much of a gentleman to force His will upon us. (He will, in certain cases, squeeze us a little bit, like He did with Jonah, but we DO have a measure of free will.) God will let us try it our way. But the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. And, at the appointed time of the cross, that sacrifice manifested in fulness. He became what we were so that we could become who He is. We were created in His image, but it wasn't until the cross that we were CONFORMED to the image of His Son! The relationship--eternal life--was always there. But we didn't know it. So we couldn't experience, or enjoy, it. It wasn't until God poured out His Spirit on all flesh that we could begin to receive and release the love that He has always had for us. God IS love. What else could He do BUT love us? We were dead in our trespasses and sins, so He died and then rose again to give us life. HIS life! Eternal, everlasting, abundant, Resurrection Life!

I think one of the biggest differences between being childlike and being childish is that being childish is like throwing a fit to get what you want, whereas being childlike is trusting Daddy to take care of you. When Jesus spoke about receiving the Kingdom like a child as the only way to enter in, I think He was trying to help us understand that we can't do it by ourselves. It's our Father's good pleasure to give us the Kingdom. Which means the Kingdom is a gift. And you can't earn a gift. But that's what we try to do. We don't think we deserve it, so we try to earn it. And worse yet, we try to do it all on our own. We try to TAKE the Kingdom with the violence of human effort. We leave God out of it, so to speak. Which is ironic since the Kingdom we're talking about is the Kingdom of GOD. The Kingdom of love. I guess what I'm trying to say is, you're never too old to cry out for Daddy's help. Needing help isn't a sign of weakness, it's a sign of wisdom. And that's why God gave us the Spirit of Sonship. That's why Jesus came to show us the FATHER. God WANTS us to experience everlasting life--which is knowing the Father, and the One whom He sent. Everlasting life is that unconditional love relationship between Father and Son. Knowing God--as Father--and knowing ourselves--as His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. Knowing that God isn't mad AT us, but that He's mad ABOUT us. Absolutely head over heels in love with us. We are the apple of His eye. We are His favorite, if I can say it that way. And that Spirit of Sonship that lets us cry out, "Abba, Father," is the Spirit of power, love, and a sound mind. Not the spirit of fear that causes us to run FROM Daddy, but the Spirit of truth that leads and guides us into all truth. The Holy Spirit--our love receptor--equips and empowers us to boldy approach the throne of grace to find mercy and grace to help in times of trouble. Instead of running FROM God we can run TO God. Because we know who He is. Which means we know who WE are. We see His arms open wide on the cross, and we can rest in His loving embrace. We see the finished work, and we can stop trying to finish it ourselves. Daddy did it for us, and He did it as us. He took care of it because we couldn't do it. And we can be childish, and throw a fit because we think we don't have what we need... or we can let God love us, and fill us to overflowing with that love, and love each other with that love. A child doesn't question why his dad takes care of him. He knows he's loved and just accepts it. He receives it... and releases it. And that's the New Commandment for the New Man: Love one another as Jesus loves you. Don't try to get something you don't have. Just share what you do have. Let the love that's in you come out... by knowing and believing that it's in there. Daddy always has and always will take care of you. He's not out to get you. He already got you. He loves you. And because of that, we can love each other!

Once upon a time, when I was very young, I did something wrong. Hard to believe, I know. And I was going to get punished. So I ran for my life. Literally. I ran around a tree until my dad caught me. And when he did catch me--it honestly didn't take very long--I looked up at him and said, "You're a lot faster than I thought." But that's not the point. The point is... I ran FROM my father instead of running TO him. Because I didn't want to get in trouble. And that's how a lot of the world--especially, unfortunately, the church world--views God. As an angry taskmaster who set down an impossible Law and who is just waiting to punish us every time we inevitably break that Law. Which I always thought was a little bit strange considering A. Even under that Old Covenant God gave a system of animal sacrifice in order to spare us any punishment and B. We aren't under that Old Covenant anymore. The animal sacrifice was fulfilled on the cross with the death of the Lamb. The final sacrifice was made. Jesus gave His life for us, and He gave His life to us. To bring us out of the Old and into the New. And look at the Stone that the New Covenant is built on: "This is the covenant that I will make wtih them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more" (Hebrews 10:16-17). Abba, Father, wants us to call out to Him so that He can SAVE us. But if we think He's out to get us we won't do that. We'll run from Him instead of running to Him. It's not until we understand that we are completely forgiven that we can rest in Daddy's loving arms. If we think we're still guilty of something we're going to try to keep earning His love, and acceptance, and forgiveness, and mercy, and grace. In other words, we'll stay trapped in religion. Man-centered, performance-based religious bondange. If God doesn't remember our sins... why do WE keep bringing them up? Why do we keep trying to make things right when HE already made things right? He wrote His law--the perfect law of liberty--on our heart. So that it works from the inside-out and not the outside-in. It's not about modifying your behavior. It's about letting the mind of Christ that's already in you... BE in you. Letting what's in your heart come out... naturally. Knowing who you are so you can stop trying to be someone you're not. Knowing who you are so you can BE who you are. Which is what 1 John 3:2 says, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." And notice--we ARE the Son(s) of God. That's a done deal. The trick is SEEING it. Because seeing is believing. So this "appearance" is Jesus appearing TO you, IN you, THROUGH you, and AS you! And when you see Him that way you'll see YOURSELF that way. Because as He is, so are we in this world. Then we'll be like Him, because we'll know what He's like. The best way to learn how to love is to learn how you ARE loved. To receive it and release it. To receive it BY releasing it. To let Daddy love you, instead of always being afraid of Him. Perfect love casts out fear. Daddy's not mad AT you, He's mad ABOUT you!

Our key verse for this Rant series is Galatians 4:6, "And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." Today I want to link that verse with this one, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13). And here's my thought: Because we are Son(s) we can cry out to Daddy to save us. Not from hell as a destination of eternal punishment... but from whatever hell we might find ourselves in! When we find ourselves in trouble we can run TO God instead of running FROM Him. We don't have to be afraid that He'll punish us, because He has already forgiven us! We can rest assured that Daddy has our back! Let me say it another way, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might  have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). Stuff happens. Every single day. One of my favorite shows is the A-Team, and Hannibal would always say, "I love it when a plan comes together." But it's my experience that things very rarely go according to our plan. In the world ye have tribulation. That's just part of being in the world (but not OF the world). And when we try to handle things ourselves, we inevitably make things worse. BUT. "...we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in times of need" (Hebrews 4:15-16). Jesus has been there, done that, and got the t-shirt. He knows what we're going through because He went through it. So when we find ourselves in the midst of tribulation we can be of good cheer. Because the One who already overcame lives in us. And that makes us overcomers. That allows us to stop TRYING to overcome, and empowers us to be still and know that HE is God. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, right? So when we come boldly to the throne of grace to find grace to help... what we're really doing is looking God in the face. Jesus is the visible face of the invisible God. He told Phillip, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father." And Jesus lives in us! So in order to see grace in His eyes--in order to run TO Him instead of running FROM Him... in order to come boldly to the throne of grace--all we have to do is look in the mirror. Look into our own eyes. And look into each other's eyes. All we have to do is call out, "Abba, Father," to be saved. God promised that He would never leave us nor forsake us. He's always right there with us. And while I believe He'll let us try it ourselves if we want to... there's a more excellent way. Jesus already overcame. That means we don't have to try to overcome. Jesus already conquered. That's what makes us MORE than conquerors. We don't have to conquer. All we have to do is believe that our Daddy conquered. If He took care of it, we don't have to. And we certainly won't make it worse by trying to finish a work that is already finished. So. Instead of trying to do it yourself... see that's already done. Instead of trying to save yourself... call out to Daddy. He saved you, He is saving you, and He will save you! Because He loves you. The ultmate truth of the universe: The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hand!

Abba. Father. A term of endearment. A term of intimacy. A term of love. Available to us through the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of truth. The Spirit that leads and guides us into all truth. The love receptor. The Spirit of God's only begotten Son so that we might know that we ARE God's Son. So that we might know that God IS our Father. Because out of all the pictures of God in the Bible... that's the one Jesus focused on. He said no man comes to the FATHER but by Him. He told Phillip if you've seen Jesus you've seen the FATHER. Jesus came to shine the light of the world and show us who God is. And who He showed us was a loving heavenly Father. So that we might move out of religion--out of trying to please an angry, distant taskmaster--and move into relationship. So that we might KNOW God instead of merely knowing ABOUT Him. So that heart knowledge might trump head knowledge. I looked up the word, "Abba" in Galatians 4:6, "And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." It is number five in Strong's Greek Concordance and it literally means, "Father." Which led me to look up the word, "Father." It is number 3962 in Strong's Greek Concordance and IT literally means, "Father." So. We are able to cry out, "Daddy... Daddy..." Like a small child. Which makes sense when you consider Luke 18:16-17, "But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein." And, listen, I know that yesterday we touched on the theme of adoption--being PLACED in the family as being given responsibility in the family business. I know when Jesus was just a boy He said He needed to be about His Father's business. I get that. I understand the journey of maturity. Growing into who we are. But there's also a very important aspect of trusting God with childlike faith. Knowing and believing your heavenly Father has you covered. Not trying to earn anything, but simply receiving what Daddy gives you. Receiving it, and releasing it (that's the maturity part right there. Sharing what you've got). It's the Father's good pleasure to give His children the Kingdom, right? So we HAVE it. But if we're trying to earn something we already have what we're really doing is robbing ourselves from experiencing it. Robbing ourselves from enjoying it. When you give a child a gift he starts playing with it. He doesn't worry about if he "deserves" it. He doesn't worry about if he's earned it. He just receives it. Childlike faith. "Daddy loves me and He always takes care of me." It's not man-centered, performance-based religion. It's an unconditional love relationship between Father and Son. And we CRY OUT, "Daddy, Daddy." We can run TO Him instead of running FROM Him. We can cry out when we need Him. (But that's for tomorrow.)

To start year 5 of Jesus Rants (and I can't believe it's been that long either!) I want to focus on who God is. There are 4 things in the Bible that God is concretely defined as: Love, Spirit, Light, a Consuming Fire. And those pictures are amazing. We'll probably get into each one of them this year. But that's not where I want to start. Because that's not what Jesus showed us. Look at John 14:6, "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." See the emphasis? He didn't say no man comes to GOD but by Him. He said no man comes to the FATHER. Because the only way to the Father is through the Son. The BEST picture of God is a loving heavenly Father. Jesus emphasized this in John 14:9, "Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?". He came to show us God... the FATHER. So that we could know God AS Father, and know ourselves as His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. I'm convinced that the ultimate truth of the universe is, "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand" (John 3:35). God loves us--He IS love, there is nothing else He could do--and He has given us all things. Given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Blessed us with all Spiritual blessings. But if we dont know (and believe) this truth, then it doesn't do us a whole lot of good. The truth sets us free... but only when we know it and believe it. And that's where the Holy Spirit comes in. He is the Spirit of truth. He leads and guides us INTO all truth. Look at Romans 8:15, "For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." It is the Holy Spirit--our love receptor--that equips and empowers us to know God as our Father. And before we start to think about adoption as the idea that we weren't God's sons but now we are... the word is number 5206 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "the PLACING as a son." It is a derivitave of 5087 which denotes an active an upright position. It's more about being trusted with the family business than being part of the family. Galatians 4:6 bears this out, "And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." Did you catch that? BECAUSE we are sons. Not in order to be sons. Luke 3:38 defines Adam as the son of God. Adam's problem was that he didn't know who he was, and he didn't know who God was. He was dark, and void, and without form. Enter Jesus. The light of the world. The only thing that could fill a God-shaped (love-shaped) void. Jesus conformed us to His image. He showed us who we are. And He showed us who God is. By drawing us into Himself and dying on the cross, and then rising again three days later. By giving us His Spirit. The Spirit of truth by which we cry out, "Abba, Father." Those who are led by the Spirit are the Son(s) of God, right? Because that's where the Spirit leads. It leads us into our true identity by testifying of Jesus. By whispering, in that still, small voice, "Daddy loves you. You are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased." That's what eternal life IS; knowing the FATHER and the One He sent. Knowing God as Father, and ourselves as His Son!