Exploring 1 John: The Promise of Eternal Life
1 John 2:25; John 10:22-30 - Make a decision NOW for the rest of your eternal life!
”This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life.“
1 John 2:25 NASB1995
This is the promise that must be in complete focus for those who believe. Jesus has promised us eternal life, but the content of that life is our choice. We can follow Him and hear His voice and have the most incredible eternity with Him or we can choose to be in darkness and despair and without Him for eternity. You choose that eternity NOW; your path is being defined as we speak.
Many people shrug their shoulders when asked about eternal life, thinking that they are so bored in this mortal lifetime when they have nothing to do for five minutes, so what will they do for eternity? Others consult science and find naysayers who tell us that survival of our souls or consciousness after we die is a “physical impossibility” according to the laws of Physics or is just the reaction of body chemicals to the process of dying. But Jesus Himself is proof of resurrection, not just a temporary resuscitation of a body that was thought to be dead. This is my great hope, that eternity is with Him and will be beyond description or imagination.
Let’s look at the word “eternal”. Eternal comes from the Greek word αἰώνιος or aiṓnios with the following Biblical usages: Strong’s G166 occurs 71 times in the New Testament:
without beginning and end, that which always has been and always will be
without beginning
without end, never to cease, everlasting
In researching this single verse and the subject of eternal life, I found some incredible commentary by John Piper on Desiring God. For some background, this commentary is associated with John 10:22-30, where Jesus tells the Jewish leaders that they don’t believe because they are not His sheep who hear His voice and He gives them eternal life; Jesus then says that He and the Father are one. In the verses that follow this passage, the Jewish leaders attempt to stone Jesus.
”At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem; it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon. The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me. But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”“
John 10:22-30 NASB1995
So, here is the first nugget that I will excerpt from this moving commentary by John Piper:
If the thought of unending life for trillions and trillions of years is oppressive to you because of the threat of boredom, remember this: though it is not fully comprehensible to us, an infinite God is infinitely inexhaustible in the treasures of power and wisdom and love and beauty which we can spend an eternity discovering and enjoying and applying to daily life in the new earth. We will never sit down like Alexander the Great and weep that there are no more worlds to conquer. Our joyous quest to attain the heights of God's wisdom and love will never be ended. When, after a million years, we pull ourselves with unspeakable exhilaration over the massive peak of some glorious divine truth, we will be utterly astonished to find ourselves not at the top, but merely in the foothills, and before us, as far as the eye can see, mountains and valleys and forests and height and light that we could have never imagined. There will be no boredom in the age to come. O, to be there and not in hell!
When Jesus says, "I give them eternal life, and they shall not perish" (v. 28), he means very bluntly that there are two eternal destinies. The one is eternal life, which comes to those who hear his voice and follow him. The other is eternal punishment, which comes to those who refuse his voice and go their own way.
Here is the second excerpt from this sermon by John Piper, which fills my eyes with tears every time I read it. We will all be in the place of the person that he imagines on their deathbed:
I close now with a scene from your life. It is the hour of your dying. You are in the hospital. It is the middle of the night. Your best-beloved has fallen asleep from exhaustion on the chair beside your bed. Long ago you had heard the voice of the Lord and you obeyed and followed him in faith. But now a storm begins to rage as Satan throws all his final force against your faith. You feel the reality of eternity like you have never felt it before. The wind of doubt and the waves of fear lash your soul. And then, by the grace of God, there comes a scene, and it is your scene. You are in a boat in a storm. And Jesus is approaching you on the water. And on his face there is no fear. With his hair and his cloak flying in the wind, he stops a short way off and stands with his strong hands relaxed at his side in sovereign peace. And from the boat, with one last, heart-rending glance at your beloved asleep in the chair, you say, "Christ, bid me come!" And he says, "Come." And you begin to walk on the water.
But then in the final instant you are utterly overwhelmed with what is happening. "I am dying! I am dying! This water is so deep, it is dark, it is cold and filled with hideous creatures!" For fear you begin to sink. But the promise of Jesus never fails. And with a mighty hand he seizes your arm and pulls you to himself. The storm ceases, and there is a great, beautiful calm upon the sea, and it is over. And you know, like you never imagined you could know, that Jesus is precious because he has given you eternal life.
There is a popular artwork that I’ve seen in many places that depicts Jesus as He must have appeared to Peter when He brought him up from the depths when he tried to walk on water (Matthew 14:22-33). This is what I hope to see when I close my eyes for the last time and leave this life of critical decisions for the life of eternal joy with my precious Jesus:
My next devotional examines 1 John 2:26-27 - Our protection against deception.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - The promise of eternal life with You is the most wonderful promise that we can receive, after Your Grace and forgiveness. Help me to prepare for being a faithful servant now and forevermore in Your presence. Amen.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
The Blue Letter Bible was accessed on 4/26/2024 to review the lexicon for eternal.
John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For more than thirty years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis. He is author of more than fifty books, and his sermons, articles, books, and more are available free of charge at desiringGod.org.
In all cases of republishing, the following attribution must be included:
By John Piper. © Desiring God Foundation. Source: desiringGod.org
I love what was written and I love that picture