Only one person has ever died, come back to life, and appeared to many people alive and well. It is a historical fact and it changed the course of history. Jesus said that one day he would return to earth as King and Judge. Jesus told us he was sent by God so we could be ready for his Kingdom by repenting and by believing on him and committing our life to him. We need to hear what Jesus said, and taught, and did, and claimed. We have to change our mind about God, admit God has a right to rule in our lives, to ask forgiveness from God for all our failures and sins, to start accepting God's rules, believing in everything Jesus said and did, putting him first in our life, making him our King and giving our life to him. This is the single most important thing we must do. Next to this, everything else we do in life has no lasting worth or value.
Repenting and believing in Jesus is not something done just once, it is a maintained attitude. It begins and it runs through all life; and real Christian living is living by faith in the Son of God all the time. It is a living relationship with the living Jesus Christ. If the resurrection of Jesus Christ was demonstration of the fact that God accepted Jesus, it was also a demonstration of the fact that God rejects everybody else unless they come to Him in and through Jesus Christ.
Christianity starts with us changing our mind toward God, and then forgiveness, a new life, new desires to please God are all given to us because of Jesus death on the cross. Because of the cross God gave the Holy Spirit to all who trust in Jesus so we would have the power to overcome sin and live the life that God seeks; producing the fruit of love that He wants. A living relationship with Jesus is the only way to find our true purpose in meaning in life. He lived a perfect life and God accepts us only because of what Jesus did. Jesus is the only way to have peace with God.
This most famous Bible verse, John 3:16, means that we can have an eternal future with God - but only through accepting Jesus. God loved the world which he created so much that he would not give up on it, and no cost was too high for him to repair everything that is not right with it anymore. That cost was God's Son entering and living in this world as a perfect man and then taking the blame for man's disobedience. Giving our life to Jesus means we are part of his eternal Kingdom and he is our security for now and everything to come. The death of Jesus on the cross is God's proof that he loves every person and wants them for himself - nobody is outside this love. But the Bible warns that if we reject this love and we reject Jesus, it will be too late for forgiveness after we die.
So who is Jesus and what does it mean?
Jesus said, "I and the Father are one."
John 10:30
Everything Jesus said and did, points to him being God in human form. He came into the earth to bring truth, understanding and life; showing God's love and making it possible for anyone to have a permanent relationship with himself. He claimed as King to have the sovereign right over the lives of men and women and the authority to forgive sins and make us free from guilt and acceptable to God. This he did by his death, taking the blame for our sins. The most important thing we can do in our life is to make sure that we listen to Jesus and do what he said by asking him to be our King and Saviour. Coming into a personal relationship with Jesus is literally the difference between life and death.
The Bible tells us that if we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ - as our Saviour and Leader - he will give us new and endless life. A new kind of life which starts now and continues beyond death, one day entering fully into his Kingdom where his ideals, ethics and principles are perfectly realised. Jesus said he was the Way, the Truth and the Life and that anyone who believes in him, even when they die, will still live.
Eternal life is made possible by the death and resurrection of Jesus. This was God's way and the only way by which the penalty for man's sin could be paid. There is no action we can take to get right with God: it has to be a gift from him. No one is without sin - it means doubting or disobeying God or, in other words, living for ourselves.
And what is Eternal Life and is it real?
In John 14:6, Jesus said he was the Way, the Truth and the Life. He indicated he was the source and origin and giver of life. It is life that does not come to an end. It is life which reaches beyond death. But it is also life of a different quality. Ultimately it will be life for which no circumstances can cause sadness or pain and which is purposeful, happy and satisfying all because it relies upon and is owned by and connected to the source of life which is the timeless One and Only God whose name is "I AM". The eternal life which Jesus speaks about does not start when we die, it is secure when we give ourselves to Jesus and commit our future to Him.
In John's Gospel Jesus often speaks about the gift of eternal life. In Matthew's Gospel the same basic thought is expressed in terms of entering into the Kingdom of God. Jesus offers an endless life as a citizen in His Kingdom, with God as our King and Loving Father. The offer can only be accepted by believing in Jesus, repentance and making Jesus our Lord. Jesus warns us that if we decline His offer of eternal life the alternative is an existence outside His Kingdom, disconnected from the Way, the Truth and the Life and rejected for rejecting Jesus.
These verses, spoken by Jesus are His promise offering endless life with Him to those that choose to believe in Him.
This is the will of the one who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, should have
eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
John 6:40
Most certainly, I tell you, he who believes in me has eternal life. I am the bread of life.
John 6:47,48
This offer of life has only been made possible through Jesus sacrificial death on the cross when He gave up His life on our behalf and in our place. His perfect life and His suffering, which was God's suffering, was God's only way to forgive human sin and be true to His own justice, purity and holiness. The love, cost, mystery and grace of this act of redemption is beyond description and complete understanding. But to be forgiven and made right with God we need to repent; which means deciding that sin is wrong and changing our ways so that we follow Jesus.
On the cross Jesus is recording as saying a number of things, one of which is "It is finished." Jesus was referring to the completion of His life's work. Although the resurrection and ascension were still to come, salvation for mankind was complete. This saying was a proclamation of truth to humanity. Jesus' sacrificial suffering was done and the resurrection would give us a double assurance.
For the Christian, this wonderful good news means when bodily death comes there is no separation from God. Death in its fundamental meaning, its real horror, as separation from God, doesn't even apply in the slightest to the Christian: it is actually abolished. But if we walk away from Jesus in this life, we face permanent separation from God in the life to come. And that is hell.
So yes, eternal life is real: life received through faith in Jesus. As Christians, our Saviour experienced death for us. God will never leave us, He will never separate Himself from us. We will never see death. For the Christian, bodily death is the wonderful gateway of life through which we come closer to our God. The God of the morning is our dwelling place and underneath us are His everlasting strong arms. The cross is the ultimate gift of love from the God who is Love.
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