what is this "Life"?
Select passages in John ~ tom phillips
August 26, 2018
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In Scripture we sometimes see that single words are repeatedly used become a key to understanding an overriding theme that's in a passage, a certain chapter or paragraph or sometimes a whole book of Scripture. And for example, in the book of First Peter, if you read First Peter carefully, we see the word suffering or words related to suffering that are - we see this repeated a number of times. But we also, in the book of Peter, we come across the word glory, and so we understand that the Spirit of God, when He directed Peter to write that first epistle of His, wants believers to understand the relationship between suffering and glory. Those two words keywords. And as we look at the Gospel of John, which is what we would like to look at this morning, one of the theme words it stands out in the Gospel of John is the word life, and the word eternal life, we find, a number times - other words that are derivatives related to that. Words such as lives or live and living, and so would like to this morning, in sort of a different way -just sort of take a synopsis, as it were, of the book of John in particular – we’ll look at some other passages as well. And just to look at the truths that are surrounding this theme as it is presented to us in the Gospel of John. And I realize that you folks have been going through the Gospel of John for quite a time, so I hope that what we look at this morning isn't repetitive in any way. I'm sure it will be to some degree, but even so, I trust it will be valuable for each of us.
You notice that John starts his Gospel with this theme in verse four when he is talking about:
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God and in verse four he says, in Him was life and the life was the light of men.
And he ends his book the same way. Chapter 20, in a sense, is the end of the book - chapter 21 is almost like an epilogue to the book - and in the end of chapter 20 the very last verse, John writes this:
But these things have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
So John starts the book with this theme - In Him was life, and he really ends the book - right towards the end of his book - he brings it back to this:
I've written these things that you might have life in His name.
So, what's this life that he's talking about? We know, but let's together, just consider this again this morning. And I came up with maybe seven or eight different things, observations, and would like to share those with you. So, if you would just try to contemplate these things together with me – we’ll will look at this together.
The first thing that you notice - one of the first things that I would like to draw your attention to - that you observe in the book of John concerning this life that was in Christ, and that John wants us to have - the first thing we noticed is that the world or mankind does not have this life. Man, in his natural state - man as he's born at birth does not have this life. You notice this in John 6:53 for Christ says to the to the Jewish leaders: You have no life in yourselves is the statement that He makes. And in John chapter 6 Christ referring to Himself as the bread of life, He says:
This is the bread of God which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.
We’re not talking about physical life here, He’s talking about the bread of God which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world, which is physically alive to mankind. So, the life that He's talking about is something, first of all, that man in his natural state doesn't have. And of course, your mind immediately goes to Paul's statement in Ephesians 2 and Colossians 3 where he says, and you were dead in trespasses and sins. So, the condition of mankind is that he does not possess this life that John wants to draw attention to, as he relates to us the life of Christ.
The second thing, and you see that also right away in the first chapter, is that this life that John is drawing our attention to that was in Christ - this life shown as light into the darkness of human existence. And you see that, if you notice chapter 1 verse five:
and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it,
or the darkness did not overpower it. So human existence apart from God is characterized by darkness – it’s the darkness of hopelessness, certainly the darkness of ignorance - you recall what Paul says in Ephesians, he says, speaking of the Gentiles the unbelieving world, he says they were darkened in their understanding because of the ignorance that is in them. He says, in other words, mankind's deceived, unable to really understand truth and perceive the purpose of life. But there's also the darkness of sin and of evil. That's why the word darkness is used to describe mankind. Look at John chapter 3, a very familiar passage, John chapter 3 verse 19:
And this is the judgment that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil.
So, the life that John draws our attention to shines His light in the darkness of human existence. In John 8:12 Christ said:
I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness.
So that comparison. So that's the second thing that stands out to me as we see the word life as is it used in the Gospel of John.
The third thing is perhaps the most obvious, and that is that God sent His Son to give us this life. That was the purpose in God sending His Son, and perhaps one of the best- known verses in all Scripture right there in John three verse 16:
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:36
He who believes in the Son has eternal life.
John 6:27 where Christ tells the Jews who the multitudes that were seeking Him after He had fed them from the baskets of loaves and fishes, He says,
Work not for the food which perishes but work for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man shall give to you.
That's the whole point of John's Gospel is that Christ is the One - this one who came that gives life. And we’ve already mentioned John 6:33 where Christ speaking of Himself says:
The bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.
Speaking of himself. John 10:10,
I came that they might have life and might have it more abundantly.
And of course, what we’ve already said, the summation - the purpose of the book in verse 31 of chapter 20, for John ends up by saying:
That by believing you may have life in His name.
So, the third thing that's the most obvious, but also the most important, really, is that this life that John draws our attention to - this life that was in Christ, this is also life that the Son of God came to give us, and He alone can give that to us.
The fourth thing we'd like to notice is that the eternal life, that the Son of God gives to those who come to Him is His own life. the eternal life that the son of God has come to give to us is His own life. Notice again we mentioned verse four of chapter 1:
In him was life.
Turn to chapter 5 to look at a couple verses here. Notice verse 21 of chapter 5, it says:
Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom He wishes.
Now looked down at verse 26:
For just as the Father has life in Himself, so He gave to the Son also to have life in
Himself. The life that the Son of God gives to us is the life that's in Him. He gives to us from that which is His.
Now we know this, but this is something we need to contemplate. The eternal life of the Son of God gives to those who come to Him is His own life. You see this more clearly in chapter 6 just flip the page over to chapter 6 - a couple pages to the second part of chapter - and again, this is a passage that's in some ways difficult to understand. But notice verse 51 of chapter 6. All the way back in verse 31 He started talking about the bread of God which comes down from heaven, but in verse 51 He says:
I am the living bread that came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever -
He says. And then notice verse 53.
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
Now He's obviously speaking in very figurative language, but the overall meaning is clear. If we are to have this life then we have to partake of Christ, we have to partake of His life. That's the life that He offers to us. That's the life that He came to give us. His life that's in Him, and that's why Christ says My flesh is true food, My blood is true drink - is true drink. In verse 57:
As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me.
So, life that Christ gives to the world, that He came to give to the world, He came to give to man, is a life that's in Himself. He comes to give up that life to us. Back in John chapter 5 Christ was again speaking to the Jewish leaders and he said in verse 39:
You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life
and He goes on to say:
And it is these that bear witness of Me.
You search the Scriptures, the Jewish leaders search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life. And Christ is saying, you’re right and it's the Scriptures that bear witness of Me. I am the eternal life that's available. They bear witness of Me. And He goes on to say:
And you are unwilling to come to Me that you might have life.
So, this life is the very life of Christ. So, this life that John's talking about is received
through union with Christ by faith. We’re united with Christ Jesus by faith in Him. And again, look at the last verse again of chapter 20:
And that believing you may have life in His name.
So, the life that Christ came to give us is His own life. John writes about this life, not only in his gospel, but in his first epistle. I’ll just read a couple verses in John chapter 5 verses 11 and 12:
And this is the witness that God has given us, eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
Notice,
He who has the Son has the life. He who does not have the Son does not have the
life.
He goes on to say in verse 20:
And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding in order that we might know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true in his Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
John 14:6 - What did Christ say?
I am the way the truth and the life.
We know this - this is fundamental, but this is also marvelous that the salvation that Christ comes to give us is a salvation which He gives of his life to us. We become partakers of Him. We’re united to Him, and it's interesting how the rest of Scripture bears us out. Second Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature.
If any man is what? - in Christ - united to Christ. He's a new creature, the old things have passed away, all things have become new.
Galatians 2:20. What did Paul say:
It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.
Colossians 3:3 and 4:
For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God, when Christ, who is our life.
Now, what does that mean - you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. As a believer, the life that you now have is the very life of Christ within you. That's what we’re told. And in that first chapter of Colossians in verse 27, Paul is speaking of this salvation, he says:
to whom God willed to make known, the riches of this glory of this mystery,
and it is this the mystery he says he will to make this mystery known even among the Gentile world and what is this mystery? - Christ in you - the hope of glory. So, this is the life that John is calling our attention to. We do not just have - we do and it’s wonderful - we have a glorious Savior who sits at the right hand of the throne of the Father. But we do not just have a glorious Savior who sits at the right hand of God, we have a glorious Savior who indwells us. His life- The life of our Savior - is in us. That's what salvation is, we are joined to Him. We partake of and we share in His life, and even in the saying of that, I think we acknowledge there's mystery here. What does this mean? How does this work? This is so deep - that I partake of the life of Christ. Remember what Paul says also in Romans eight he says -he’s contrasting those who are in the flesh, and those who are in the spirit, he’s contrasting the believer and the non-believer, and he says:
However, you are not in the flesh but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him, the spirit of God and the spirit of Christ are synonymous,
And in the very next phrase:
and if Christ be in you, though the body is dead because of sin and the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
This is what it means to be a Christian - that Christ indwells somebody. A Christian is somebody who has just believed certain things. A Christian is somebody who has been united to Christ. Christ is in them. They are in Him.
Years ago, back in the 1600 or 1700’s, someone, a man I think, who’s name was Henry Scruggle, wrote a book - a short little book - and the whole point of it was. He said - he defined Christianity as the life of God and the soul of a man. That's what Christianity is. If anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, no matter how much he knows, no matter how much he believes, if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. This is Christianity. This is the Christianity that John is presenting to us as readers. This is the Christianity - he wants us to have life -the very life of Christ in our hearts and souls. There's a hymn in the book here that I don't member singing for a long time, but the title of the hymn is “Christ liveth in Me, and the chorus is Christ liveth in me, Christ liveth in me, Oh what a salvation this that Christ within me.
We know this, but we need to see the glory of this - that are salvation- yes, our sins have been forgiven, we been reconciled to God, but our salvation is that we have been given life - we have been united with Christ. And again, that's the life as we look through
the gospel of John. This is what he's talking about - this kind of life - and we've tried to briefly demonstrate that you see this all through the New Testament - the reference to this.
The fifth thing that we notice in the gospel John about this life and, I'm just going to mention it, is that this impartation of the life of Christ into the human soul is a work of the Spirit of God. In chapter 6 of John, Christ says, after that difficult teaching about eating My flesh and drinking My blood, He says:
It is the Spirit who gives life.
And you recall in John chapter 3 when He is talking with Nicodemus, and He says: Unless a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Now, the word, life, is not in there, but that's what He's talking about. He talked about, so is everyone who is born of the spirit - remember that in verse eight? Nicodemus doesn't understand what He's talking about and He says in verse eight, He says:
The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it but not know where it comes from and where it is going so is everyone who is born of the spirit.
So that’s the fifth thing we notice in John's Gospel - again we see that in other passages of Scripture, as well, that the impartation of this life is a work of the Spirit of God in the human heart.
The sixth thing is that, and of course, all these things are tied together, they related – sort of hard to divide them apart like were trying to do. But the sixth thing we see in John is that this eternal life is to know the living God. That's what it is - to know God and you see that in John 17 where you all have been looking through that passage for a while now, but in John 17 verse three:
And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.
Not just to know about God, that’s not what He is saying. It’s not eternal life to know about God. it is eternal life to know God. There is a huge difference here, and we need to understand that - it is to be united to God. Look at chapter 17 verse 21,
That they may all be one, even as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee that they also may be in Us.
Again, these are deep things that Christ is praying for those that will believe in Him, that they may be in Us.
There's unification – there is a participation in the very life of God. This is the life that John's talking about. Look in verse 23 of 17:
I in them and thou in Me
The same terms - I in them and Thou, oh Father, in Me.- the same connection -the Father, the Son and the Spirit of God and we, who belong to Him. So, it's a life of God in us, and we notice the term “born” in chapter 3, we see the same thing in chapter 1 verses 11 where it says:
And He came into His own and His own did not receive Him.
Verse 12:
But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become the children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but born of God.
You see this, God’s life put into us. It is my understanding the one who has received the life of God into his soul by the work of the Spirit of God, he experiences now, for the first time, a oneness of heart and mind with the heart and mind of the living God. He loves what God loves, he values what God values. It means to perceive the glory of God, the excellencies of His very being. To behold and appreciate and enjoy His perfection and His holiness. Granted this life that we’re trying to describe, it's imperfect now - it is not perfected. We only experience that in part - a very small part - just like Paul says, we see in a mirror dimly, right now. But that's what life is, is to know God, to have His heart, to have His mind, to be a sharer in that. So, you know it's imperfect now, and every child of God and every person who has been born of God and has received the life of God in their soul, this is, nevertheless, present. It's got to be there. That which is so special about eternal life is not just the future reality of living forever, but it's the glory of knowing God and being in His presence forever. Remember what he said back in 17:3:
This is eternal life, that they may know Thee.
We think of eternal life in terms of forever, and I think we need to understand that the essence of eternal life is primarily not to be understood as a reference to a quantity of time that never ends. It is sometimes clearly used in that sense, but that's not the essence of eternal life. Fundamentally, the essence of eternal life is the shared life of God in the human soul. That is what eternal life is, and it’s eternal, it is forever, it never ends because it’s the life of God. God, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in an accessible light, when He places His life in the soul of a man and that man cannot die. That man lives forever with God, fellowshipping with God in the presence of God.
So, a seventh thing which comes out of the gospel of John and really flows from what we just said is this - that eternal life does not begin after death. Eternal life is the present possession of those who believe. Notice the verb tenses that are used in the gospel of John. We referred to John 3:36 before and it says:
He who believes in the Son has eternal life.
It doesn't say he who believes in the Son will receive eternal life. He who believes in the Son has eternal life. In John chapter 5 he talks about the one who beholds the Son and believes in Him, and He says He has passed out of death into life - it is present. If you’re united to Christ this morning, if you're a believer in Him, you have right now in your heart and soul the eternal life that God's place there. It is a present possession. Day-to-day, do you think about that? Day-to-day, do you do we remember that I am united to Christ, His very life is within me? That God has placed His eternal life in my heart and soul? Do I think about that on a daily basis? I tend to think that if we did it would make a difference day by day, hour by hour, how we live to recognize that I'm united with the living Christ. His life is in me.
There’s an eighth thing then and the last thing here that flows just from what we just got done saying. Because this eternal life is a present possession, not just the future thing that were looking forward to, it certainly is that, but we have it now. Because this is so in the possession of eternal life, dispossessing and sharing of the very life of God in our souls, can be and is to be the active and governing principle of our lives right now. Eternal life that John wants us to have is not something just for the future, it is to be the active and governing principle of our lives right now.
There are at least a couple aspects - I'm sure there's more -but a couple aspects come to mind. Turn to John 4, if you would please. Let’s read several passages real quick. In John 4, this is the account of Christ dealing with the woman of Samaria and notice, verse 10 he says to the woman:
If you knew the gift of God and Who it is who says to you, give me a drink, you would have asked Him – in other words you would've asked Me - and He would have given you this living water.
Verse 13-14 says:
Whoever drinks of this water - He is trying to make this clear to her I’m not talking about water from a well - whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.
Now, what I'm getting at is He is talking about the here and the now - beginning now - when you drink of this water you'll never thirst -
but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.
John 7 - He says much the same thing in verses 37 and 38. He says:
if any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me has the Scripture says from his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water,
And then in John chapter 6 verse 35 in that passage where He is describing Himself as the bread of life in verse 35, He says:
I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall not hunger. He who believes in Me shall never thirst.
Now, my understanding is that He is obviously talking about the Holy Spirit, but He's talking about the contentment, the joy, the satisfaction, the real life, that is to be lived now.
He who comes to Me will not thirst.
In Jeremiah 17, the prophet, directed by the Holy Spirit, says this about unfaithful Israel: He says:
They have forsaken the fountain of living water, even the Lord.
And earlier in this book in chapter 2, we read this:
For My people have committed two evils. They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
Now, point is that what was true of unfaithful Israel -this is the story of mankind. They have forsaken God - the spring of real water, the spring of what it means to really live. Man has forsaken God, and man's hewn out for themselves cisterns that can hold no water, broken cisterns, and these are things he chases after - these are the things he lives for instead of life and fellowship with God. That's the story of mankind. Man's turn from God, there's no relationship with God, instead, there's enmity and alienation. That's why that passage we referred to earlier in Ephesians chapter 4, Paul referring to the Gentiles, the unbelievers, He says:
They live in the futility of their mind being darkened in their understanding.
Listen
excluded from the life of God.
That's the story of the unbeliever. That is the story of mankind. That's why he's dead. He does not know God. he has no knowledge of God, no relationship with God. The whole purpose for which man was created - to know God, to love Him, to serve Him, to enjoy Him. Man is totally separated from Him because he's forsaken the fountain of living water to hew out for himself, broken cisterns, which can hold the water.
So, man is physically alive, but is dead. Life is absolute futility, absolute emptiness, absolute vanity. It is because he has not the life he was meant to have. And yet Christ came to give us this life. And this is something the eternal life, is in possession now. This is something that we are to enjoy now in the present and knowledge of God. This life with God's life, and fellowship with Christ Jesus, who came as the Son of Man to give us this life.
There is another song in the hymn book and the first the first stanza says, all my life long, I have panted or drawn from some clear stream, that I hoped would quench the burning of my thirsting soul within. Remember, the song? All my life long, I had panted for a drop from some clear stream that I hoped would quench burning the burning of my thirsting soul within. What the course? Hallelujah, I have found Him. I found Him - living water - from to know is likely turn. That's what the hymn writer wrote. So, this experience of real-life. This was where, if we want to use the word application - this is where the application comes in. That we who have been joined to Christ, He has placed His life in our souls in this life of God in our souls, is to be the active and governing principle of our lives.
Now there's one other sense that comes to mind really quick besides this joy and satisfaction of knowing God. But another way in which this eternal life is to be a governing principle in our lives now. It comes to mind when reading again John's first epistle in chapter 3 he says this in verse nine:
No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed, God's seed, abides in Him and he cannot sin, that is the practice as a continuing thing, because he is born of God.
So, what's that mean - how is this eternal life to be a governing principle now in the sense that there's to be a turning from sin? I am now indwelt by the One who loves righteousness and hates wickedness. What He values, I know value, that's not perfected in me yet, but that seed - His seed is in me. I have been born of Him and so this love of righteousness, this turning from sin is to mark my life. That's what's to be this governing principle, this eternal life within me, is what makes me hate sin and want to turn from it - what makes me want to please God. He to whom I am now connected and united. So, in these ways is to be the governing principle.
Last of all, in conclusion, if you would, just turn to that First Timothy quickly, and notice – we’re going to go look at chapter 6. I just want you to notice the exhortation which Paul gives to Timothy. We’ll start at verse 11 of chapter 6:
But flee from these things you man of God and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith – notice this - take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.
What does he mean by that? - Take hold of it. I’m not claiming that I understand all that he means, but I think certainly part of what he means is what we've been talking about. The word means to seize, to grab hold of. He says seize, grab hold of this eternal life,
don't let it go. This eternal life of being united to Christ, being united with God, having His life in your soul, of knowing Him, of fellowshipping with Him. Grab hold of that. Make that the practice of your life, the pursuit of your life is what he is saying. Remember also - I meant to refer to it earlier – I’ll just read it to you in John's epistle in the first chapter he says this, he talks about the word of life, the life was manifested, we’ve seen it. John says I saw with my own eyes, speaking of Christ.
I bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you, also, that you also may have fellowship with us and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
So, when Paul tells Timothy - lay hold of the eternal life - I think that's at least part of what he’s saying is - this reality of knowing God, of fellowshipping with God, of loving God, of living for God - grab hold of that, follow after that. Live it - is what he is saying. You’ve got that life in your soul - live it - take hold of it - that life of knowing God. And certainly also, when he says, Timothy lay take hold of that eternal life, in the context, it certainly also has a reference to that second aspect we mentioned. That pursuit of righteousness, that pursuit of a life that’s pleasing to God, whose life is now in you. Because notice that in this passage there is going to be this fleeing from ungodliness, this fleeing from covetousness, right above in the passage, this fleeing from all ungodliness and the pursuit of righteousness, godliness, faith, love. That's what it means to take hold of that eternal life, pursuing that sanctification for which God called us, for which He put this life within us, that we might eventually become just like His Son, His life in us, and eventually conformed to His image.
Now, it seems to me that when Paul tells Timothy - take hold of this eternal life to which you have been called - it's really much the same as what he told the Philippians when he said, work out your salvation. Oh, what a salvation this is that Christ dwelleth in me. Now work that out is what Paul is saying.
So, I hope that, even though there's, at least in my mind, as I think about this whole concept of life as John talks about it, and as it's presented to us in the Gospel of John, even though there's still a mystery to all of this - just how does this work? I hope that we can at least grasp the reality of this - God's life has been placed into our souls and we’re to take hold of it. We’re to live it, to recognize what it is, His life in us, Christ living in us. What a salvation this is.
