Eternal Life part 1
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!