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“And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1 John 5:11-12 NKJV)
What Jesus Christ came to give or offer the fallen humankind is “Life.” Jesus declared this loud and clear.
John 10:10 – NKJV
10 “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.
If what Jesus Christ came to give us is life, it simply means that life is all we need. But does this mean we didn’t have a life before Jesus Christ came into the world?
- We have life, but not God’s kind of life!
- We were born with natural or physical life.
But what Jesus came to give us is a divine or supernatural life, God’s kind of life in Himself (John 5:21, 26).
How is the divine life Jesus gives different from the natural life we were born with?
First, the Life Jesus gives us is spiritual, divine, supernatural, and heavenly.
It is the very life of God!
John 5:24-26 – NKJV
24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.
25 “Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.
26 “For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.
The nature or quality of life that Jesus gives everyone who believes in Him is the same as life in God. It is not a life inferior to that which God has. It is the very life of God!
The spiritual, divine, or supernatural life imparted to a believing heart at the point of spiritual regeneration transcends everything on this earth, for it comes from above (John 3:31).
It is an overcoming, victorious, or winning life, for whatever is born of God overcomes the world (1 John 5:4). Therefore, anyone who has the spiritual, divine, supernatural, or heavenly life in him has the divine capacity or ability to overcome, triumph, prosper and succeed in this world.
In contrast, our life through natural birth is physical, human, natural, and earthly. It is a weak, inferior, or deficient life susceptible to sickness, poverty, failure, frustration, and death (Eccl. 2:23, Job 14:1-2).
Second, the Life Jesus gives imparts a divine or supernatural nature.
The life of God is responsible for His nature. The born-again believers have become partakers of the very nature of God because they have received the very life of God at the new birth (2 Pet. 1:4).
The nature or character of God is the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23).
Your born-again spirit has the same divine, holy, and loving nature as God. But you can only manifest God’s nature in your born-again spirit to the degree or extent you renew your physical mind (Romans. 12:2).
In contrast to divine life, human life imparts a fallen, corrupt, sinful, and rebellious nature.
Third, the Life Jesus gives imparts God-consciousness.
The life of God gives us the spiritual capacity to worship God in spirit and truth and enjoy a personal and intimate relationship or communion with God.
God’s life in the believers also creates and sustains undying desire, hunger, or thirst in their hearts for spiritual truths, God’s Word.
It is impossible to love, worship, and serve God acceptably without having His life in you (Psa. 27:4, Phil. 3:7-12).
In contrast, natural life imparts self-consciousness. Therefore, the unbelievers are only self-seeking and self-centered.
The physical or earthly life also imparts love and hunger for the things of this world. Therefore, the unregenerate people passionately and unrelentingly pursue ephemeral pleasures, riches, and material prosperity at the expense of their souls (Matt. 6:31-33, 1 John 2:15-17).
Fourth, the Life Jesus gives imparts spiritual understanding.
Eternal life is a spiritual capacity to know God intimately and to receive, know, understand, and believe spiritual truths.
The Scripture amply testifies to this truth.
John 17:3 – NKJV
3 “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
1 John 5:20 – NKJV
20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may 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.
Moreover, the supernatural life in the believers gives them the supernatural ability to know, understand, discern, or recognize God’s voice (John 10:14). The life of God transmits the light of life or spiritual knowledge to the believer’s soul (John 1:4).
In contrast, a natural man alienated from God’s life is without a spiritual light or understanding but is spiritually blind, walking about in spiritual darkness (Eph. 4:17-18).
Natural life only imparts the innate ability to operate by the five natural senses. A natural man is limited to natural wisdom, knowledge, or understanding (1 Cor. 2:14).
Lastly, the Life Jesus offers all humankind is infinity, timeless, limitless, or everlasting.
Death cannot terminate God’s life in the believers. Divine life swallows up death in victory. Therefore, the Scripture calls it “everlasting life.” (John 3:16, 6:47). Death only has the power to terminate natural and temporal life, but not divine and eternal life.
The Lord points out this truth to Martha.
John 11:25 -26 – NKJV
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.
26 “And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
Beloved, the divine or supernatural life is not abstract but a divine personality. It is Jesus Christ Himself!
John 14:6 – NKJV
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
The person of Jesus Christ and the life He came to give us are inseparable. The life Jesus gives is the expression of His person.
Therefore, no one can have divine, supernatural, or heavenly life without believing in and confessing Jesus Christ as his Saviour and Lord (John 3:35-36, 1 John 5:11-13). Friend, believe in Christ today, and you will receive everlasting life, the very life of God!
Prayer:
Today, I receive and confess Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour and thus receive the gift of eternal life in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Our mandate is to Preserving the faith of the Apostolic Generation.
Eniyekpemi Fidelis Oyinpreyebi.
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