John 17 (One) Eternal Life is...

Good day

For as long as it takes we are going to study the gospel of John chapters fourteen to seventeen.

To pick up the topic, you may need to read the one or two postings preceding this one.

John chapter seventeen contains Jesus’ High Priestly prayer as the heading puts it. It portrays much of Jesus’ intimate relationship with, and love for His Father and we have much to learn from it. To me this is one of the most significant chapters in the Bible and it is easy to just see it as Jesus’ prayer and therefore simply read over all the information He passed on to the readers through it. We are therefore going to take extra care to look at it intensely.

“When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, ²since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. ³And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent,’” (John 17:1-3). A key word in this passage is the word ‘since’ at the beginning of verse two. Both Father God and Jesus the son get glorified through giving people that which only the Godhead had at that stage – eternal life.

For example, what is it in man that has impressed people through the centuries and has caused kings to knight people, and for people to receive prizes such as the Nobel Prize? These recipients have meant something to society and have given of themselves for the benefit of others and for the improvement of life. By receiving these prizes the people have been glorified by men.

Through giving of Himself to sinners so they could have what He always had, the Triune God gets glorified. The disciples were the first to get born again according to the New Covenant that Jesus came to establish, and that is why Jesus told Father God that the hour has come to be glorified. Every time we share the truth of the gospel with someone, God gets glorified, since we make Father God known to those people.

According to verse three, eternal life is not only living in heaven one day, or for that matter avoiding hell. We are all going to live eternally in any case, either in hell or in heaven, since our spirit is eternal. When we talk about the spirit of man that is dead at birth because of Adam’s disobedience, it does not mean that man is going to die and be just dead. A spirit cannot die, so when we say the spirit is ‘dead’ as a result of Adam’s sin, we mean we are dead in our relationship toward Father God. If we want our relationship with Father God to be restored, we need to be born again through becoming one with Jesus. Eternal life is to know Father God and that is why Jesus came – to make Him known to us. Can you see that it involves more than a sinner’s prayer - inviting Jesus into your heart? To live with Father God demands that we know Him and it is through Jesus’ revelation that we get to know Him. Eternal life is equalled to knowing Father God and also not just knowing about Him, but knowing Him.

What is it that we actually know? We know a lot about Mammon – how to play our money so we get the most benefit from it. We also know a lot about good living, shopping for beautiful things, decorating our houses so we could live in attractive, comfortable surroundings. Furthermore we know a lot about entertainment, especially when it comes to music, movies, shows and the latest gadgets on the market. We certainly know a lot about life on earth and how to manage it. We know how to do our jobs well, which cars are the most comfortable, how to holiday and so on and on.

But what do we know about the Lord God? Do we go to trouble to obey Him so He could reveal Himself to us (John 14:21)? Do we study the scriptures in pursuit of knowledge about Him, trying to understand what pleases Him and how He thinks? Do we search the heart of the Holy Spirit for revelation about the Lord God? Is this passage in Matthew 6:24 starting to make sense to you: “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money (Mammon).” If we know God well, we live eternal life, but if we know Mammon (money) and everything he has to offer, well, we are focused on this temporary moment in time, “laying up for ourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,” (Matthew 6:19).

The Lord God is our heavenly treasure and we should spend our energy filling ourselves with knowledge of Him, for it is with Him we will spend eternity when we have been born again.

Lord, I desire to know you.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.