TO KNOW GOD AND JESUS IS ETERNAL LIFE

Some would say Jesus never claimed to be God. These have never read John honestly. In Exodus 3 Moses asked for God’s name. God did not answer with His name but with His reality. “I am what I will be.” God! Jesus identified with “I am.” He is not “was” or “will be.” Jesus is! Jesus is alive. The gospel is far more than dogma or a history lesson. Tragically we think or talk about Jesus in the past. We even have our facts right. Jesus is far more than this—He is a living presence! We are not told to believe in the facts about Jesus; we are not even told to give our hearts to God. We are told to receive Jesus as the Lord and Saviour of our lives. He lives! We live!

John was written that we might have life by faith (20:30, 31). He came that we might have life “running over” (10:10). He is the bread of life (6:35, 41, 48, 51). He is the vine (15:1, 4, 5). Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (14:6). To know God and Jesus is eternal life (17:3). The word for life is Zoë, the word for the very substance of life. Jesus is also the resurrection and the life (11:25, 26). This is crucial. The opposite of death is not life. The opposite of death is resurrection. Lazarus and others were resuscitated and reconstructed. They returned as they had been. They returned only to die again. There is no power in their resurrections. I have no faith in Lazarus himself. Jesus is the resurrection. This is the power of Christianity (Philippians 3:9—11). This is the power of the early church. Ours is a resurrection faith. This implies a living relationship with Christ now. Christ lives and can never die. Since He lives I can never be alone! We are resurrection people! We live because He lives. We live even when we die! What a faith!

Word Affirmation: “ And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them." - Amos 9:14 (Don't just say it, mean it!)

“ The opposite of death is not life. The opposite of death is resurrection. "

MIND THIS