“I am … the life” (John 14:6, NKJV)
In the last teaching we learnt that what can be recognised as life originates in Jehovah, the self-Existent One, or God the LORD.
In 1 John 5:11-12 this unfolding truth is then presented: “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
As a thought experiment, try thinking about the concept eternal life not as something that is the eternal continuance of life after death, but rather as receiving of the life that is IN Jehovah. To thus “have” the Son, as the apostle John notes above, means that you have received the life that only the Son can give. And this Son is now a “life-giving Spirit” (1 Cor. 15:45) – “the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18)!
It is clear that all people actually live in the realm of death until they receive this gift of the life of God through the “spirit of Yahweh”. We have thus been living in the realm of the dead since Gen. 2:17, literally “alive in … the pit” (Num. 16:33). The realm of the dead has become our home, as Job. 17:13 notes. It is as Isa. 28:15 suggests: “We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we are in agreement.” But He “brought my soul up from the grave”, (Ps. 30:3), He redeemed “my soul from the power of the grave” (Ps. 49:15), yes, He proclaims: “I will ransom them from the power of the grave …” (Hos. 13:14).
This is a terrifying truth to realise. The entire dispensation in which we live can never bring about life that does not wither and die. Even a baby, perhaps the pinnacle of new life, is doomed to die. All people are destined to die (Heb. 9:27). Natural life does not create and perpetuate life – it creates and perpetuates death. All so-called life outside of “the Self-existing One” is death – “he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” Therefore Jesus can unequivocally say that because He lives, we will live.
God is the only eternal, self-creating and self-sustaining life force in the entire universe. This life was not created, and thus has no beginning or end. Therefore Jesus can explicitly say that “I am … the life” (John 14:6). And because He is now a life-giving Spirit, you and I and whoever else receives His Spirit, can also have part of this. Paul explains this seeming paradox very simply in Rom. 8:10-11: “And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” Selah!
- Selah: Do you have the testimony of God giving you eternal life?
- Read: 46-48
- Memorise: 46:11 (how apt is this verse!)
