The Life Everlasting
Christian Faith
This You Can Believe
Faith Seeking Understanding
Object:
"If a man die, shall he live again?" (Job 14:14). From the beginning of the human race, humanity has been asking Job's question. Through the ages, people have given different answers. Some say "man" will live again. Some say he will not. Others do not know. In a mighty crescendo the Apostles' Creed ends "and the life everlasting." That seems to be it; what more can be said? Yet questions come to mind. Does "everlasting life" mean that the human body dies but the soul continues to live forever? Or does the phrase mean that we Christians believe that we shall never die? Does it mean that we must die before everlasting life begins?
What Are We Talking About?
This talk about life after death can be confusing. We may use terms that we do not understand or we may get them mixed up. Is immortality the same as eternal life? Is there any difference between eternal life and everlasting life? We need to define our terms.
Immortality is not the same as eternal life. It is an ancient Greek teaching that the soul at death drops the body and continues its existence forever. The soul is like a spark that flies up to join the cosmic fire. The soul loses its identity in the oversoul. According to this view, immortality is a natural endowment of the soul.
Everlasting and eternal mean the same. The New Testament usually speaks of "eternal life." It is a life of quality because it is the very life of God. This divine life is primarily a life of quality which endures forever and can therefore be described as "everlasting." Life is everlasting when the life is in Christ.
Two Kinds Of Life
The Greeks had two words for "life" and both appear in the New Testament. One is bios from which we get "biology." It refers to biological and physical life. It is not true life but mere existence. This is life in terms of quantity and extension. Methuselah, the oldest man in the Bible, had this kind of life. He lived 969 years, but there is no record of any contribution he made to the welfare of society.
The other Greek word is zoe. It is used to denote true life, the quality of life. It is spiritual life with God as the source of life. While bios is temporal, zoe is eternal. The one deals with the body and the other with the soul. But this eternal life also has quantity, for it extends through eternity. To distinguish this type of life from the former, the New Testament uses "eternal life."
Two Kinds Of Death
As there are two kinds of life, there are two kinds of death. The bios type of life ends in physical death. The body declines, deteriorates, and dies. This is in accord with the natural order, for all living things die, including Homo sapiens. If a human were only a physical body, the person would come to an end. In this case, death has the last word and is the ultimate victor over life.
There is another kind of death. The Bible speaks of death in terms of separation from God. "The soul that sins shall die" (Ezekiel 18:4). Sin is the dreadful agent that separates us from God. To be apart from God, from life, love, joy, and peace, is to be dead. Does this mean that the soul is exterminated or extinguished? If so, there would be a merciful nothingness. However, the Bible teaches that a soul apart from God, living in death, is in hell, a state of misery. Paul describes the condition in hell: "They shall suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might" (2 Thessalonians 1:9). As there is eternal life, there is also everlasting death. It is to save us from this fate that God gave his Son to die for us and to reinstate us with God in whom we have eternal life. The scriptures repeatedly assure us that God does not want a single soul to perish or to be lost or to go to hell. In Christ, God the Father gave his very self to prevent people from going to everlasting death.
Can You Prove It?
If you say in the Apostles' Creed that you believe in "the life everlasting," can you prove it? How could anyone prove its reality? No one has come back from death to tell us all about it. It becomes ultimately a matter of faith. That is why the phrase is part of the creed which says, "I believe." What do you believe? You believe in the life everlasting.
Nonbelievers
Not everyone has faith in the existence of life after death. There are people who prefer not to believe in it. In 1990 a Gallup poll indicated that 23 percent of Americans do not believe in life after death.
It may be to our advantage if there is no everlasting life. If there is no future life, then this life is the end of all things. We will not have to face God's judgment. We will not be called upon to give an account of our lives.
Moreover, if there is no future life, we do not have to fear any punishment for our sins. If there is no future life, there is no hell! We will not have to fear death because there will be no punishment for our sins. Death can be an easy way out of a life lived in selfishness, crime, and destruction. You can then do your worst and by death flee from all retribution.
Again, if there is no life after death, we can live this life in a carefree manner. We can say, "You only live once! You had better make the most of life now. There is no tomorrow. When you are dead, you are dead all over and forever." This would make us 100 percent materialistic. Why would we care about character or the quality of life? Why not live it up, get out of it all you can, walk over people for your own gain, and get while the getting's good? Paul says that if the dead are not raised, we may say, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die" (1 Corinthians 15:32).
Believers
For Christians the position of the unbelievers is not for them. If one-fourth do not believe in life after death, three-fourths do. For most of us, death is not the final word. Something in us says there is something more. Is it an instinct like that of a homing pigeon that always brings the bird home? Is it like a compass always turning to the north pole? Or could it be like the urge for self-preservation? We want to live. We long for life. This longing for immortality has existed from the beginning of the human race. In primitive religions there are paintings, practices, and stories of life after death. Indeed, no one can prove it. It is a matter of faith. Jesus did not try to prove it. He simply assumed there was life everlasting and he showed how we can live forever. When he told Martha at the time her brother Lazarus died that he was "the resurrection and the life," he asked her, "Do you believe this?"
Though life everlasting cannot be proved, Christians have good reasons for believing it to be a reality. For one thing, we believe in the future life because of the very nature of God. The Bible reveals God as Spirit. He is God the Holy Spirit, the author and creator of life. In the Old Testament the word for "life" is "breath." When Adam was created, God breathed into him and he became a living soul. He had God the Spirit in him bearing the image of God. The Hebrew word for "spirit" is "breath." God the Spirit gives life to a person who is born of the Spirit and therefore has God's life within. Paul teaches, "He who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life" (Galatians 6:8). Again he writes, "The written code kills, but the Spirit gives life" (2 Corinthians 3:6). The life given by the Spirit code never ends, because the Spirit is God who cannot die. God therefore is life. When we have God in us through the Holy Spirit we have everlasting life. Jesus said God is not the God of the dead but of the living.
Another good reason for believing in life after death is the resurrection of Jesus. If he did not rise, as Saint Paul says, we also will not rise to eternal life. Without the resurrection our faith is in vain. We are still in our sins and death is permanent. Jesus' resurrection is our proof that there is life after death. God raised him and brought him out of the tomb on Easter. His rising assures us that life is stronger than death. Consequently death has been conquered. Since this is true, we can see how vital and essential Jesus' resurrection is to our faith in eternal life. Without the resurrection, we would still be asking, "If a man dies, will he live again?" For this reason the resurrection is the keystone in the arch of the Christian religion. Because we believe in the resurrection, we believe in everlasting life. And why do we believe in the resurrection? Because Christ lives in our hearts.
A third reason for our faith in life after death is in the nature of humanity. Who is "man"? Is humanity nothing more than any other part of creation or are people different? The Bible tells us that a human being is a special creature, the crown and glory of creation. Because of being made in the image of God, a human has inherent dignity and worth. This worth is based on the fact that a human is both a creature of God by creation and a child by redemption. Above the rest of creation, a person is a "living soul" akin to God. If a person were only a material thing, he/she could be expected to die. But God did not make humans to die. He made people to live and to have someone to love. If people died, God would be defeating his own purpose. Who then would he have to love?
Add to these reasons for believing in life after death the fact of the promises of God. God has promised us eternal life. Jesus said, "In my Father's house there are many mansions ... I go to prepare a place for you" (John 14:2, 3). Listen to his promise: "He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live" (John 11:25). It is a fact that God has never broken his promises and he never will. He is God, a God who is faithful and who can be trusted to do what he says.
What Is The Life Everlasting?
For many of us the subject of eternal life is a mystery. We do not have the faintest idea of what it is or how it is received. The scriptures give us answers. Consider some of them.
Eternal Life Is A Gift
There is no earning life after death because of our character or accomplishments. Of course, it cannot be bought, because life is beyond price. No one has enough money to extend one's life for a single hour. Yet some keep searching for immortality.
"The life everlasting" is a divine gift and not a human achievement. Only God can give life that never ends, because he is life. In his first letter, John explains, "And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son" (1 John 5:11). Eternal life then is not a native endowment but something given to us by God. We will not live forever because we are human beings. Unless we have God in us, we will spend eternity in death. To have God is to have life forever.
Eternal Life Is Life In Christ
Eternal life is having Christ in you. "He who has the Son has life" (1 John 5:12). Life everlasting is identified with Christ and his resurrection. It needs to be remembered that, until Christ came, there was little to no assurance of life everlasting. Sheol (Hades) was the place of the dead, located under the earth, a place of darkness and gloom. There was no exit in Sheol. There are only a few glimpses of life eternal in the Old Testament (Psalm 49:15; 73:23; Isaiah 26:19).
Having eternal life depends upon our having Christ. To have Christ calls for knowing him. "And this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3). To know Jesus is to have more than a knowledge of him. It is to have a personal relationship with him made possible by faith. To have Christ in order to have eternal life means to believe in Christ. He comes to us and in us by faith. When Jesus tells Martha that he is the resurrection and the life, he asks her, "Do you believe this?" John tells us that God so loved the world that he gave his Son that whoever believes in him might have everlasting life (John 3:16). Furthermore, to have Christ and his life means discipleship. When the rich young ruler asked Jesus what he had to do to inherit eternal life, Jesus told him to sell all and follow him. To serve Christ, to be his disciple, to give your life in his service is to have eternal life.
Eternal Life Is A Present Possession
The common view is that life everlasting begins at death. Most of us want to go to heaven, but we do not want to die to get there! It is a falsehood to believe that one must first die to have eternal life. This life begins here and now from the time that Christ is accepted by faith. When Dietrich Bonhoeffer was taken from his Nazi cell for execution, he said to one of the prisoners, "This is the end, but for me the beginning of life." According to the New Testament, that was not true. Eternal life did not begin at the time of his execution. John was writing to living people when he said, "I write this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13). To the repentant thief on the cross, Jesus assured him, "Today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). In other words, if we do not have eternal life now before we die, we will not have it after death. Now we have life eternal in Christ, and we are assured that nothing -- no person, no power, no creature -- can ever separate us from this life in Christ (Romans 8:38).
Eternal Life Depends On Faith
Now we have seen that life everlasting is in possessing the Spirit of God and in having Christ in us. But how does that happen? How can we get this life eternal? Since it is a gift of God, it is something that needs to be received. How then do we get this life in us as a personal possession?
Faith is the receptive agent. It is the hand that takes the gift that God offers. By faith we believe God will give us this gift. By faith we reach out to take the gift and make it our very own. By faith Christ lives in us, and as long as he is in us, we have eternal life. That means that faith is indispensable to living forever with God in heaven. Moreover, faith enables us to keep that life. Lose faith and Christ is rejected. Not to have Christ is not to have life. It is a lifetime challenge for us to keep the faith in order to possess eternal life.
What Difference Does It Make?
What does faith in "the life everlasting" mean to us living today? If there is life after death, we know what it means to people after death. But what difference does this faith make to us here and now?
Fear Of Death Removed
We naturally fear death because we are afraid of the unknown. Every person must come to terms with death and hopefully face it with confidence and courage. Many feel like the short story writer O. Henry. When dying, he said to his nurse, "Nurse, bring me a candle." "A candle?" she asked. "Why do you want a candle?" "Because," he grimly answered, "I'm afraid to go home in the dark."
If we have faith in Christ and in his resurrection, if we have faith in the promises of God, and if eternal life is a present possession, the fear of death is removed. Then we will look at death as an opportunity to be more fully in and with Christ. And to be with Christ is to have everything good: life, love, peace, and joy. With Johann Sebastian Bach we can sing, "Come, sweet death, come, holy rest."
Comfort For The Bereaved
It is not only a matter of concern for our death but, when dear ones die ahead of us, how shall we be comforted? Who or what can dry our tears and heal our broken hearts? It is the assurance of life eternal that brings us comfort. We are comforted that our loved one died in Christ. Because of this, our loved one is with Christ in all joy and peace.
Because of our faith in Christ, we never see our loved ones for the last time. There will be a reunion of family and friends. We shall recognize, know, and communicate with each other. Our fellowship will be in our common devotion to Christ. Death is but a temporary loss of loved ones for the permanent gain of life together forever.
Hope For The Future
Believing in "the life everlasting" gives us reason to hope for the future. This life is not all there is. There is a new and better life ahead. Some day justice will be done and faithfulness will be rewarded. Truth will out! Love will win! Righteousness will prevail! We live today in this hope.
Our faces are not to the setting sun but to the rising sun. Near the end of his life, General William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, became blind. One day he and his daughter, Evangeline, faced the setting sun in all its glory. She begged her father to look and asked if he did not see at least a gleam of its beauty. Quietly and confidently he replied, "I cannot see the sun set but I shall see it rise!"
How Important Is The Church?
As we draw to a close our study on the third article of the Apostles' Creed, we ask, "How important is the church?" According to the Apostles' Creed, the church is the product of God the Holy Spirit. He created the church by making and gathering believers. Why did God the Spirit create the church as the fellowship of believers? Why was he not content to make individual Christians who would go their solitary way? The Spirit created the church to reconcile the world to God. To the church was given the Word and sacraments, the marks of the true church. Through these means of grace people received "the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting." These three add up to salvation, getting right with God. A saved person is one who has been forgiven, who will receive a spiritual body at death, and life that will never end in heaven.
Because of this truth, the church has claimed, throughout her history, that outside the church there is no salvation. If the Word and sacraments bring grace to believers, it is a reasonable conclusion that belonging to the church is necessary for salvation. The church consists of God's saved people: called, chosen, redeemed, and strengthened by the Spirit. In the third century, Saint Cyprian claimed, "Extra ecclesiam nulla salus" -- "Outside the church no salvation." This truth was repeated in the Westminster Confession of Faith: "The visible church is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation."
Martin Luther held the same position. He wrote, "I believe that no one can be saved who is not in this gathering or community [church], harmoniously sharing the same faith with it, the same Word, sacraments, hope, and love." Again he wrote: "I believe there is forgiveness of sin nowhere else than in this community [church], and that beyond it, nothing can help to gain it -- no good deeds, no matter how many, or how great they may be."
If there is no salvation outside the church, come into her and be saved! If you are in the church, stay in her to remain saved. For the salvation of the world love, support, serve, and extend your church.
A Summary Of The Third Article Of The Apostles' Creed
This You Can Believe
I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to him; but the Holy Ghost has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, and sanctified and preserved me in the true faith, in like manner as he calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and preserves it in union with Jesus Christ in the true faith; in which Christian church he daily forgives all my sins, and the sins of all believers, and will raise up me and all the dead at the last day, and will grant everlasting life to me and to all who believe in Christ. This is most certainly true.
-- Martin Luther, The Small Catechism
Study Guide
The Life Everlasting
Two Kinds
There are two kinds of life. Which kind is "life everlasting"? Below are listed the characteristics of both kinds. After a review of the marks of each kind, label the lists "Physical" and "Spiritual."
____________ Life
1. Life on earth
2. Quantity of life
3. Natural possession
4. Limited
____________ Life
1. Life in heaven
2. Quality of life
3. Divine gift
4. Unlimited
Likewise there are two kinds of death. Fill in the blanks according to "Physical" and "Spiritual." Which is which?
____________ Death
1. End of life on earth
2. Normal
3. Natural
4. Nothingness
____________ Death
1. End of life in God
2. Separation from God
3. Existence in hell
4. Rejection of God
Life After Death
According to a 1990 Gallup poll, 23 percent of the American people say they do not believe there is life after death. What do you think of some of their reasons for not believing? Is it better not to believe than to believe? React to these contentions:
1. If there is no life after death, one does not have to give an account of one's life on earth.
2. If there is no life after death, there is no divine judgment with fear of hell.
3. If there is no life after death, death means the end of a life of misery and trouble. This is good news for those who say with Job, "I loathe my life" (Job 7:16).
4. If there is no life after death, we can eat, drink, and be merry, for life will soon be over.
On the other hand, Christians believe in "the life everlasting." Why do they? Can they prove that life continues after physical death? What is the basis of this faith? What do you think of these arguments?
1. God is life and the God only of the living, not of the dead.
2. Jesus' resurrection assures us of life beyond the grave.
3. Eternal life is a gift to believers in Christ.
4. The gift of eternal life is accepted by faith.
5. God's promise of eternal life can be trusted.
6. Eternal life begins with faith in Christ here and now and is a personal existence.
7. Your additional reason: ________________________________
The Difference
What difference does it make in our lives to say that we believe in "the life everlasting"? Think about it and list the difference you think such faith makes:
1. In respect to death ____________________________________
2. In respect to bereavement ______________________________
3. In respect to hope for the future __________________________
What Are We Talking About?
This talk about life after death can be confusing. We may use terms that we do not understand or we may get them mixed up. Is immortality the same as eternal life? Is there any difference between eternal life and everlasting life? We need to define our terms.
Immortality is not the same as eternal life. It is an ancient Greek teaching that the soul at death drops the body and continues its existence forever. The soul is like a spark that flies up to join the cosmic fire. The soul loses its identity in the oversoul. According to this view, immortality is a natural endowment of the soul.
Everlasting and eternal mean the same. The New Testament usually speaks of "eternal life." It is a life of quality because it is the very life of God. This divine life is primarily a life of quality which endures forever and can therefore be described as "everlasting." Life is everlasting when the life is in Christ.
Two Kinds Of Life
The Greeks had two words for "life" and both appear in the New Testament. One is bios from which we get "biology." It refers to biological and physical life. It is not true life but mere existence. This is life in terms of quantity and extension. Methuselah, the oldest man in the Bible, had this kind of life. He lived 969 years, but there is no record of any contribution he made to the welfare of society.
The other Greek word is zoe. It is used to denote true life, the quality of life. It is spiritual life with God as the source of life. While bios is temporal, zoe is eternal. The one deals with the body and the other with the soul. But this eternal life also has quantity, for it extends through eternity. To distinguish this type of life from the former, the New Testament uses "eternal life."
Two Kinds Of Death
As there are two kinds of life, there are two kinds of death. The bios type of life ends in physical death. The body declines, deteriorates, and dies. This is in accord with the natural order, for all living things die, including Homo sapiens. If a human were only a physical body, the person would come to an end. In this case, death has the last word and is the ultimate victor over life.
There is another kind of death. The Bible speaks of death in terms of separation from God. "The soul that sins shall die" (Ezekiel 18:4). Sin is the dreadful agent that separates us from God. To be apart from God, from life, love, joy, and peace, is to be dead. Does this mean that the soul is exterminated or extinguished? If so, there would be a merciful nothingness. However, the Bible teaches that a soul apart from God, living in death, is in hell, a state of misery. Paul describes the condition in hell: "They shall suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might" (2 Thessalonians 1:9). As there is eternal life, there is also everlasting death. It is to save us from this fate that God gave his Son to die for us and to reinstate us with God in whom we have eternal life. The scriptures repeatedly assure us that God does not want a single soul to perish or to be lost or to go to hell. In Christ, God the Father gave his very self to prevent people from going to everlasting death.
Can You Prove It?
If you say in the Apostles' Creed that you believe in "the life everlasting," can you prove it? How could anyone prove its reality? No one has come back from death to tell us all about it. It becomes ultimately a matter of faith. That is why the phrase is part of the creed which says, "I believe." What do you believe? You believe in the life everlasting.
Nonbelievers
Not everyone has faith in the existence of life after death. There are people who prefer not to believe in it. In 1990 a Gallup poll indicated that 23 percent of Americans do not believe in life after death.
It may be to our advantage if there is no everlasting life. If there is no future life, then this life is the end of all things. We will not have to face God's judgment. We will not be called upon to give an account of our lives.
Moreover, if there is no future life, we do not have to fear any punishment for our sins. If there is no future life, there is no hell! We will not have to fear death because there will be no punishment for our sins. Death can be an easy way out of a life lived in selfishness, crime, and destruction. You can then do your worst and by death flee from all retribution.
Again, if there is no life after death, we can live this life in a carefree manner. We can say, "You only live once! You had better make the most of life now. There is no tomorrow. When you are dead, you are dead all over and forever." This would make us 100 percent materialistic. Why would we care about character or the quality of life? Why not live it up, get out of it all you can, walk over people for your own gain, and get while the getting's good? Paul says that if the dead are not raised, we may say, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die" (1 Corinthians 15:32).
Believers
For Christians the position of the unbelievers is not for them. If one-fourth do not believe in life after death, three-fourths do. For most of us, death is not the final word. Something in us says there is something more. Is it an instinct like that of a homing pigeon that always brings the bird home? Is it like a compass always turning to the north pole? Or could it be like the urge for self-preservation? We want to live. We long for life. This longing for immortality has existed from the beginning of the human race. In primitive religions there are paintings, practices, and stories of life after death. Indeed, no one can prove it. It is a matter of faith. Jesus did not try to prove it. He simply assumed there was life everlasting and he showed how we can live forever. When he told Martha at the time her brother Lazarus died that he was "the resurrection and the life," he asked her, "Do you believe this?"
Though life everlasting cannot be proved, Christians have good reasons for believing it to be a reality. For one thing, we believe in the future life because of the very nature of God. The Bible reveals God as Spirit. He is God the Holy Spirit, the author and creator of life. In the Old Testament the word for "life" is "breath." When Adam was created, God breathed into him and he became a living soul. He had God the Spirit in him bearing the image of God. The Hebrew word for "spirit" is "breath." God the Spirit gives life to a person who is born of the Spirit and therefore has God's life within. Paul teaches, "He who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life" (Galatians 6:8). Again he writes, "The written code kills, but the Spirit gives life" (2 Corinthians 3:6). The life given by the Spirit code never ends, because the Spirit is God who cannot die. God therefore is life. When we have God in us through the Holy Spirit we have everlasting life. Jesus said God is not the God of the dead but of the living.
Another good reason for believing in life after death is the resurrection of Jesus. If he did not rise, as Saint Paul says, we also will not rise to eternal life. Without the resurrection our faith is in vain. We are still in our sins and death is permanent. Jesus' resurrection is our proof that there is life after death. God raised him and brought him out of the tomb on Easter. His rising assures us that life is stronger than death. Consequently death has been conquered. Since this is true, we can see how vital and essential Jesus' resurrection is to our faith in eternal life. Without the resurrection, we would still be asking, "If a man dies, will he live again?" For this reason the resurrection is the keystone in the arch of the Christian religion. Because we believe in the resurrection, we believe in everlasting life. And why do we believe in the resurrection? Because Christ lives in our hearts.
A third reason for our faith in life after death is in the nature of humanity. Who is "man"? Is humanity nothing more than any other part of creation or are people different? The Bible tells us that a human being is a special creature, the crown and glory of creation. Because of being made in the image of God, a human has inherent dignity and worth. This worth is based on the fact that a human is both a creature of God by creation and a child by redemption. Above the rest of creation, a person is a "living soul" akin to God. If a person were only a material thing, he/she could be expected to die. But God did not make humans to die. He made people to live and to have someone to love. If people died, God would be defeating his own purpose. Who then would he have to love?
Add to these reasons for believing in life after death the fact of the promises of God. God has promised us eternal life. Jesus said, "In my Father's house there are many mansions ... I go to prepare a place for you" (John 14:2, 3). Listen to his promise: "He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live" (John 11:25). It is a fact that God has never broken his promises and he never will. He is God, a God who is faithful and who can be trusted to do what he says.
What Is The Life Everlasting?
For many of us the subject of eternal life is a mystery. We do not have the faintest idea of what it is or how it is received. The scriptures give us answers. Consider some of them.
Eternal Life Is A Gift
There is no earning life after death because of our character or accomplishments. Of course, it cannot be bought, because life is beyond price. No one has enough money to extend one's life for a single hour. Yet some keep searching for immortality.
"The life everlasting" is a divine gift and not a human achievement. Only God can give life that never ends, because he is life. In his first letter, John explains, "And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son" (1 John 5:11). Eternal life then is not a native endowment but something given to us by God. We will not live forever because we are human beings. Unless we have God in us, we will spend eternity in death. To have God is to have life forever.
Eternal Life Is Life In Christ
Eternal life is having Christ in you. "He who has the Son has life" (1 John 5:12). Life everlasting is identified with Christ and his resurrection. It needs to be remembered that, until Christ came, there was little to no assurance of life everlasting. Sheol (Hades) was the place of the dead, located under the earth, a place of darkness and gloom. There was no exit in Sheol. There are only a few glimpses of life eternal in the Old Testament (Psalm 49:15; 73:23; Isaiah 26:19).
Having eternal life depends upon our having Christ. To have Christ calls for knowing him. "And this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3). To know Jesus is to have more than a knowledge of him. It is to have a personal relationship with him made possible by faith. To have Christ in order to have eternal life means to believe in Christ. He comes to us and in us by faith. When Jesus tells Martha that he is the resurrection and the life, he asks her, "Do you believe this?" John tells us that God so loved the world that he gave his Son that whoever believes in him might have everlasting life (John 3:16). Furthermore, to have Christ and his life means discipleship. When the rich young ruler asked Jesus what he had to do to inherit eternal life, Jesus told him to sell all and follow him. To serve Christ, to be his disciple, to give your life in his service is to have eternal life.
Eternal Life Is A Present Possession
The common view is that life everlasting begins at death. Most of us want to go to heaven, but we do not want to die to get there! It is a falsehood to believe that one must first die to have eternal life. This life begins here and now from the time that Christ is accepted by faith. When Dietrich Bonhoeffer was taken from his Nazi cell for execution, he said to one of the prisoners, "This is the end, but for me the beginning of life." According to the New Testament, that was not true. Eternal life did not begin at the time of his execution. John was writing to living people when he said, "I write this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13). To the repentant thief on the cross, Jesus assured him, "Today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). In other words, if we do not have eternal life now before we die, we will not have it after death. Now we have life eternal in Christ, and we are assured that nothing -- no person, no power, no creature -- can ever separate us from this life in Christ (Romans 8:38).
Eternal Life Depends On Faith
Now we have seen that life everlasting is in possessing the Spirit of God and in having Christ in us. But how does that happen? How can we get this life eternal? Since it is a gift of God, it is something that needs to be received. How then do we get this life in us as a personal possession?
Faith is the receptive agent. It is the hand that takes the gift that God offers. By faith we believe God will give us this gift. By faith we reach out to take the gift and make it our very own. By faith Christ lives in us, and as long as he is in us, we have eternal life. That means that faith is indispensable to living forever with God in heaven. Moreover, faith enables us to keep that life. Lose faith and Christ is rejected. Not to have Christ is not to have life. It is a lifetime challenge for us to keep the faith in order to possess eternal life.
What Difference Does It Make?
What does faith in "the life everlasting" mean to us living today? If there is life after death, we know what it means to people after death. But what difference does this faith make to us here and now?
Fear Of Death Removed
We naturally fear death because we are afraid of the unknown. Every person must come to terms with death and hopefully face it with confidence and courage. Many feel like the short story writer O. Henry. When dying, he said to his nurse, "Nurse, bring me a candle." "A candle?" she asked. "Why do you want a candle?" "Because," he grimly answered, "I'm afraid to go home in the dark."
If we have faith in Christ and in his resurrection, if we have faith in the promises of God, and if eternal life is a present possession, the fear of death is removed. Then we will look at death as an opportunity to be more fully in and with Christ. And to be with Christ is to have everything good: life, love, peace, and joy. With Johann Sebastian Bach we can sing, "Come, sweet death, come, holy rest."
Comfort For The Bereaved
It is not only a matter of concern for our death but, when dear ones die ahead of us, how shall we be comforted? Who or what can dry our tears and heal our broken hearts? It is the assurance of life eternal that brings us comfort. We are comforted that our loved one died in Christ. Because of this, our loved one is with Christ in all joy and peace.
Because of our faith in Christ, we never see our loved ones for the last time. There will be a reunion of family and friends. We shall recognize, know, and communicate with each other. Our fellowship will be in our common devotion to Christ. Death is but a temporary loss of loved ones for the permanent gain of life together forever.
Hope For The Future
Believing in "the life everlasting" gives us reason to hope for the future. This life is not all there is. There is a new and better life ahead. Some day justice will be done and faithfulness will be rewarded. Truth will out! Love will win! Righteousness will prevail! We live today in this hope.
Our faces are not to the setting sun but to the rising sun. Near the end of his life, General William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, became blind. One day he and his daughter, Evangeline, faced the setting sun in all its glory. She begged her father to look and asked if he did not see at least a gleam of its beauty. Quietly and confidently he replied, "I cannot see the sun set but I shall see it rise!"
How Important Is The Church?
As we draw to a close our study on the third article of the Apostles' Creed, we ask, "How important is the church?" According to the Apostles' Creed, the church is the product of God the Holy Spirit. He created the church by making and gathering believers. Why did God the Spirit create the church as the fellowship of believers? Why was he not content to make individual Christians who would go their solitary way? The Spirit created the church to reconcile the world to God. To the church was given the Word and sacraments, the marks of the true church. Through these means of grace people received "the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting." These three add up to salvation, getting right with God. A saved person is one who has been forgiven, who will receive a spiritual body at death, and life that will never end in heaven.
Because of this truth, the church has claimed, throughout her history, that outside the church there is no salvation. If the Word and sacraments bring grace to believers, it is a reasonable conclusion that belonging to the church is necessary for salvation. The church consists of God's saved people: called, chosen, redeemed, and strengthened by the Spirit. In the third century, Saint Cyprian claimed, "Extra ecclesiam nulla salus" -- "Outside the church no salvation." This truth was repeated in the Westminster Confession of Faith: "The visible church is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation."
Martin Luther held the same position. He wrote, "I believe that no one can be saved who is not in this gathering or community [church], harmoniously sharing the same faith with it, the same Word, sacraments, hope, and love." Again he wrote: "I believe there is forgiveness of sin nowhere else than in this community [church], and that beyond it, nothing can help to gain it -- no good deeds, no matter how many, or how great they may be."
If there is no salvation outside the church, come into her and be saved! If you are in the church, stay in her to remain saved. For the salvation of the world love, support, serve, and extend your church.
A Summary Of The Third Article Of The Apostles' Creed
This You Can Believe
I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to him; but the Holy Ghost has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, and sanctified and preserved me in the true faith, in like manner as he calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and preserves it in union with Jesus Christ in the true faith; in which Christian church he daily forgives all my sins, and the sins of all believers, and will raise up me and all the dead at the last day, and will grant everlasting life to me and to all who believe in Christ. This is most certainly true.
-- Martin Luther, The Small Catechism
Study Guide
The Life Everlasting
Two Kinds
There are two kinds of life. Which kind is "life everlasting"? Below are listed the characteristics of both kinds. After a review of the marks of each kind, label the lists "Physical" and "Spiritual."
____________ Life
1. Life on earth
2. Quantity of life
3. Natural possession
4. Limited
____________ Life
1. Life in heaven
2. Quality of life
3. Divine gift
4. Unlimited
Likewise there are two kinds of death. Fill in the blanks according to "Physical" and "Spiritual." Which is which?
____________ Death
1. End of life on earth
2. Normal
3. Natural
4. Nothingness
____________ Death
1. End of life in God
2. Separation from God
3. Existence in hell
4. Rejection of God
Life After Death
According to a 1990 Gallup poll, 23 percent of the American people say they do not believe there is life after death. What do you think of some of their reasons for not believing? Is it better not to believe than to believe? React to these contentions:
1. If there is no life after death, one does not have to give an account of one's life on earth.
2. If there is no life after death, there is no divine judgment with fear of hell.
3. If there is no life after death, death means the end of a life of misery and trouble. This is good news for those who say with Job, "I loathe my life" (Job 7:16).
4. If there is no life after death, we can eat, drink, and be merry, for life will soon be over.
On the other hand, Christians believe in "the life everlasting." Why do they? Can they prove that life continues after physical death? What is the basis of this faith? What do you think of these arguments?
1. God is life and the God only of the living, not of the dead.
2. Jesus' resurrection assures us of life beyond the grave.
3. Eternal life is a gift to believers in Christ.
4. The gift of eternal life is accepted by faith.
5. God's promise of eternal life can be trusted.
6. Eternal life begins with faith in Christ here and now and is a personal existence.
7. Your additional reason: ________________________________
The Difference
What difference does it make in our lives to say that we believe in "the life everlasting"? Think about it and list the difference you think such faith makes:
1. In respect to death ____________________________________
2. In respect to bereavement ______________________________
3. In respect to hope for the future __________________________
