Isn’t that true? When you read the first Epistle of John chapter one you see that John starts in a mysterious way to introduce something of the eternal life – and he begins with The Word Of Life…
Just as before a large meal – like dinner – we sometimes have an appetizer, so when John wanted to present to us the wonderful mysterious eternal life, he first served us the Word of life as an appetizer.
To stir up our appetite and our desire to have, enjoy, know, and live out the eternal life, the apostle John tells us about the Word of life – which contains the eternal life and which is the divine Person of Christ as an account, a definition, and an expression of all that God is!
Actually, even the construction of the phrase “the Word of Life” in Greek means that the Word IS life – and indeed, in Him is life (John 1:4) and He is life (John 11:25; 14:6).
Here John continues His Gospel, where he speaks extensively about the Word, with the Word of life as an introduction or appetizer to the eternal life of God!
After our appetite has been stirred up, now we come to the eternal life as presented in the first epistle of John. What is the eternal life? How can we know this life, and how can we enjoy this life? Here are some points I enjoyed from the life-study of 1 John (msg. 3) regarding the eternal life:
- The eternal life is the life of God (Eph. 4:18; 2 Pet. 1:3) – actually, the eternal life is God Himself with the contents of what He is, love and light. When it comes to us, the eternal life is of the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:2) to be our life for our enjoyment in a daily way. This is life is the life of God!
- The eternal life is the Son of God – in 1 John 5:12 we see that, He who has the Son has the life. If we have Christ as the Son of God, we have THE LIFE, the only life that exists and remains, the eternal uncreated divine life of God! This is confirmed by our experience – we enjoy Christ as our life daily!
- The eternal life was with the Father (1 John 1:1-2) – the word “was” here is “pros” in Greek, and it implies that the eternal life which is the Son was not only with the Father, but was living and acting in union and communion with the Father in eternity. This life was with the Father and it was manifested to us!
- The Father is the source of the eternal life – The Father is the source, the Son is the expression of the eternal life (to those whom the Father has chosen to partake of and enjoy this life), and the Spirit brings the eternal life into us and is the Spirit of life. The entire Triune God is eternal life to be our life!
In conclusion, make sure you don’t ANALYZE the eternal life – rather, as courses of a spiritual meal, enjoy all the aspects of the eternal life! Enjoy the life of God! Enjoy the Son of God! Enjoy the Father! And enjoy the blessed dispensing Divine Trinity!
Course after course, we need to enjoy what the eternal life is to us – God, the Son of God, the Father, eternity, the Spirit, etc. And, as we clearly see in Rom. 10:5-8, the best way to enjoy this life – the Word of life bringing to us the eternal life – is by speaking God’s Word and calling on the Lord’s name!
Don’t ask, Who will ascend to the heavens to bring Christ down to us? Also, don’t say, Who will descend to the abyss? – NO!
The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart – that is, the word of the faith! This Wonderful Christ who came down from heaven in incarnation to become a man and redeem us, He also was raised from the dead to become the life-giving Spirit as the air for us to breathe in!
We can now call, O, Lord Jesus! – and pray over His Word, and the eternal life comes in, grows, develops, spreads, saturates, permeates, and eventually fills our whole being with life! Amen – don’t analyze, just enjoy this life! [enjoyment from the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Central Line of the Bible]
Praise You, Lord, for being so available to us as the eternal life! This life is in the Son of God and IS the Son of God! Save us from being complicated or analyzing too much – save us into enjoying the wonderful Person of the Son of God as the eternal life! Praise You for being so near, so available, and so ready to be enjoyed and partaken of! O, Lord Jesus! You have even become the Word of faith, the Word of life, the living Word of God – which can be in our mouth and in our heart!
