GOD'S PROMISES #11

'For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.'

This promise is grounded in God's will: this is God's will: that all who really see Jesus Christ, all who really believe in him, will have eternal life, and will be raised up by Jesus Christ at the last day.

The promise of eternal life is stated repeatedly in both John's Gospel and John's first letter. And repeatedly this promise of eternal life is directly related to believing in Jesus Christ.

We humans do not like the thought of our own death; we shrink from the idea that we will one day no longer be alive. Around the world in the various religions that humans embrace, there is consistent evidence of a quest for immortality, for assurance that death is not the end.

In the promises of Jesus Christ the answer to this yearning is made abundantly clear: come to him, and you will live; believe in him and he will raise you from death.

On what authority does Jesus Christ make this absolute and ultimate promise? On what authority does he make this guarantee not just of spiritual life after death, but of resurrection of the physical body?

Firstly, because he is the source of all life; and secondly, because he has himself personally conquered death, rising from death to live again. He holds the keys of life and death.

To all who hope to live beyond the grave he says: come to me, acknowledge me as your God, and you will live.

Scriptures: John 6:40, 39, 44; 3:15-16, 36; 5:24; 6:47, 51,53-58; 10:27,28; 11:25,26; 1 John 5:11,12,20; 1 Corinthians 15:12-58; John 1:1-4; Colossians 1:16; Matthew 28:1-15; Mark 16:1-19; Luke 24:1-53; John 20:1-21:25; 1 Corinthians 15:3-8; Revelation 1:17-18; 2:8; John 1:12; 5:39-40.