Eternal Life

The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

The scriptures of the New Testament are full of references to eternal life.  The promise of eternal life after death is a central message of the Christian faith and is certainly a very good reason to believe in Jesus.

God is holy and we are not. In our basic nature we kick against God, rebelling against Him, and trying to do life our own way. Even though He created all life including us, we ignore Him, pay Him basic lip-service, or flat out turn away from Him to do our own thing. This sets us against God. This makes us His enemy. As Jesus said in the scripture above, the wrath of God remains on us.  At the end of our lives we'll face God and His wrath. That's a very scary thought.  That's bad news.

But the same scripture also has some very good news. If you believe in the Son - if you believe in Jesus and what He did through His willing death and resurrection to pay the price for our rebellion - then you have eternal life. Instead of facing God's wrath you have his favor, through His Son.  If you turn to Jesus and say that He is your Lord, then He grants you everlasting life.  That's the simple and yet profound truth of the Christian message. It's not through your own efforts, religious rituals, or good works; it's simply acknowledging your need to be rescued from God's wrath and then trusting Jesus for the rest.  Sometimes I find it hard to understand why everyone doesn't just turn to Jesus, but I guess I did post a bunch of blogs on the topic of not believing!

So, what will eternal life be like for those that trust in Jesus? I'm not a big fan of those who claim to have had out of body experiences, or have visited heaven when they nearly died. Perhaps some are genuine but perhaps some are not.  I'm not sure what the next life will be like, but I do know I want to face it with Jesus, the one who I think is worth trusting, and who said the following:

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also."