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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The Resurrection and the Life
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; (John 11:25—NIV)
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (John 17:3—NIV)
The Lord Jesus Christ is the Resurrection and the Life. What does this mean? Are resurrection and life the same thing? When we are resurrected, does this mean we as a Christian will automatically enter eternal life? Perhaps it is time to clarify what the believer can expect to face when he or she stands before God in the Day of Resurrection.
The resurrection is one matter. Eternal life is another. The Lord Jesus is both the resurrection and the life.
We know the Lord Jesus came to bring us eternal life. What does this mean? And what relationship does eternal life have to the resurrection from the dead?
Another thought we will include in this brief essay is that God deals in one manner with people who are members of the nations of the saved, and then in a different manner with people who are members of the royal priesthood, of God's Israel. Perhaps during the Church Age everyone who is saved is also a member of the royal priesthood; but whether or not this is true has no bearing on the present discussion.
Definitions. We need to think deeply about what we mean by "dead," and also what we mean by "eternal life." A conventional, shallow interpretation of these two terms makes it impossible for us to think clearly about the resurrection and eternal life. The Scriptures do not always use the terms death and life as rigorously as we will in this essay, but the reader soon will see the reason why we are being so specific.
By eternal life we mean the knowledge and Presence of God; in particular we mean the Being and Substance of Jesus Christ.
By eternal life we do not mean biologic life. We do not mean the ability to breathe, move, grow, reproduce, think, speak, smell, see, hear, or to perform any other feature of physical life. We do not mean that our ability to do these things will continue forever. Now, think hard about this because otherwise you will get lost in our reasoning.
By death, or being dead, we mean the knowledge and Presence of God (one Virtue, as we are using the terms) is not present. The Being and Substance of Jesus Christ are not present.
By dead we do not mean the individual no longer can breathe, move, grow, reproduce, think, speak, smell, see, hear, or do anything else we usually mean by life.
Really consider our definitions of death and eternal life. Establish them solidly in your thinking. When you do we can proceed.
To be continued.