John 5:24 (CB)

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

You know, the words that come together as eternal life come to us so easily because we encounter them so often in Scripture. We know that one of the gifts of our salvation through Christ is eternal life. The first meaning of eternal life in Scripture is that it is life in God. It is God who is eternal. One of the contrasts between God and we who are his human creatures is that we are very temporal. We feel time. But God is timeless. And by the atonement that Christ has achieved for us, those who are in Christ enter into the eternal life of God. And so, eternal life means we are alive in Christ with God forever. It’s not just a calendar that never runs out of pages. It’s a state of existence, which is grounded in God himself, and in the fact that he is eternal. The second word “life,” is showing a contrast between life and death. And after the judgment, there’s a contrast between eternal life and the second death. So, eternal life also is an affirmation that in Christ, those whose sins are forgiven, we know life with God and Christ forever. We are forever in the presence of God. We enter into a state of existence which is timeless, eternal, that is all about the glory of God and the comfort and joy and exhilaration of being in God’s presence and praising him forever. The contrast of that is hell, defined as a second death. So, what we’re talking about here with eternal life is not just length in eternity. It’s the richness of being with Christ and having fellowship with God, rather than spending eternity in hell. Glorify God today, and FULLY enjoy Him forever!