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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The Release of the Material Creation, #10
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:3)
Eternal life is the knowledge of the true God and of Christ whom God has sent. Eternal life is life in the Presence of God and is the Presence of God.
Let us think for a moment about this last point.
Eternal life is to know the true God and to know Christ. We have stated previously that eternal life is the goal of the Christian salvation. Therefore the goal of salvation is to know God and Christ in the sense of possessing Their abiding Presence.
To gain eternal life is to possess God and Christ.
The knowledge that is eternal life is not "knowledge" as we ordinarily employ the term. It is knowledge that goes beyond knowing about someone or something.
To possess the knowledge that is eternal life is to have fellowship with God; to be in the closest personal contact with God; to be abiding in God and Christ and to have God and Christ abiding in us; to dwell in the Presence of God; to be part of that Life that always is flowing from God; to live and move and have our being in untroubled, complete union with God and Christ.
The true saint always is seeking Christ, striving to please Him in order that he may grow in the knowledge of Christ and possess more of the eternal life that is the Presence of God and Christ.
Death is defined as "separation." Life is defined as "union."
True death is separation from God and Christ. True life is union with God and Christ. Eternal death, the second death, is eternal separation from God and Christ. Eternal life is eternal union with God and Christ.
Adam and Eve
The issue from the beginning has been life versus death. Residence in Heaven after we die physically is not the fullness of life for us because our body still is bound by death.
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7)
It appears that the "breath of life" mentioned here is physical life, the life that operates in association with the bloodstream of man, the life that ceases when we die physically. Mortal life operates as the body cells burn oxygen, provide energy for warmth, movement, and bodily functions. When the heart ceases to beat, bringing the bloodstream to a halt, the spirit and soul are separated from the body and the body begins to decay.
The Lord God had warned Adam not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for "in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Genesis 2:17).
In what manner did Adam die? We would suggest that the death announced here was both spiritual and physical. Whereas the spirit, soul, and body of Adam and Eve had enjoyed the knowledge, the Presence of the Lord God, they now were under condemnation and as a result separated from God's Presence—and there was no redeemer available.
To be continued.