Eternal Life

Eternal Life

By Elder William M. Mullis

Waycross, Georgia

Many times in my life, I have been confused about the subject of eternal life. By the grace of the Lord, I have been taught all my life, and believe, that my salvation to heaven was solely the work of the Lord, and that he chose me according to His own will. My works can not save me to this eternal heaven. However, questions always arose in my mind about the Scriptures relating to eternal life. In some verses, eternal life seemed to be conditional, such as keeping the commandments, or belief in Jesus.

What is eternal life? What must I do to have eternal life? Who can experience eternal life? Is eternal life related to the kingdom of heaven or kingdom of God? Is eternal life only referring to the heaven that I will go to when I die? In a previous article, with the Lord’s help, we tried to discover the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven or kingdom of God. The Scriptures show that we can enter the kingdom by doing the will of the Father, and by doing His will we can experience wonderful righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost (Romans 14:17). I believe that an understanding of the kingdom is important in understanding eternal life.

Just like the phrases “kingdom of God” and “kingdom of heaven” are interchangeable expressions in the Bible, the phrase “eternal life” is also interchangeable with other phrases in the Scriptures. The phrases “eternal life”, “life eternal”, “everlasting life”, and “life everlasting” are all phrases mean the same thing and are interchangeable in the Bible. The phrases all come from the same Greek word. We could compare many Scriptures on this subject, but it would take too much time and space. For now, just look at John 3:15, and John 3:16. John 3:15 uses the phrase “eternal life,” and the very next verse uses the phrase “everlasting life.”

So what exactly is eternal life? The best place to find the definition of eternal life is straight out of the mouth of the Savior. Please read John 17:3. It says “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” What is eternal life? It is to KNOW GOD and JESUS CHRIST!! It means to know the Lord intimately. It is possible to know about the Father and the Son without really KNOWING them. Let’s look at a natural example. In Genesis 4:1 it says that “And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived”. Of course, Adam knew who Eve was, but this type of “know” is referring to a personal, intimate knowledge. In comparison, eternal life is to KNOW God and the Son in a very personal way, and to have a very close fellowship. Is it possible to have eternal life (to know the Father and Son) here on this earth? YES!

Of course, we will have eternal life when we get to the eternal heaven because we will definitely know the Lord. Being in the eternal heaven is not by our works, of our works, or according to our works (II Timothy 1:9, Ephesians 2:8,9, Titus 3:5, Romans 3:20, Galatians 2:16). I believe that many of the times that eternal life is mentioned in the Bible, it is referring to the eternal life that we can experience here on Earth!! We do not have to wait until we arrive in that eternal heaven to experience eternal life! What can we do to experience eternal life here on earth? Jesus said that we must KNOW the Father and Son. Does that take work? You bet it does! By faith, obedience, and works we can lay hold on this eternal life here on earth.

Having eternal life is portrayed as conditional in many verses of the Bible. Please read Matthew 19:16. One came running unto Jesus and asked him how that he may have eternal life. Jesus told him to keep the commandments and sell what he had and give it to the poor. In Luke 10:25, a lawyer asked Jesus what he should do to have eternal life. Again, Jesus told him to keep the commandments. Please read I John 2:24,25. Verse 24 says “...If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and the Father.” Verse 25 says “And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.” If we continue in the Father and the Son, then Jesus has promised us eternal life! What a wonderful promise! Please read Matthew 19:29. It says “And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive and hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.” If you have forsaken all for the name of Jesus, then you shall inherit life everlasting! I Timothy 6:12 tells us to fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life. Laying hold requires action on the part of the man. Many verses relate belief with eternal life. Some of these verses are John 3:15,16,36; 5:24; 6:27-29,40,47.

Let’s try to understand the relationship between the kingdom of heaven or kingdom of God, and eternal life. The question of many people seems to be, “How can I inherit eternal life?” This was no different in the time of Jesus! Let’s look at Matthew 19:16 again. As we discussed before, this is an account of when a man came to Jesus and asked him what he must do to have eternal life. Jesus told him to keep the commandments. The passage goes on that Jesus told the man to go and sell all that he had, but he went away sorrowful because he had many possessions. Jesus then turned around to his disciples and said “...a rich man shall hardly enter the kingdom of heaven.” Do you see the relationship? The man came asking for eternal life, and Jesus talked about the kingdom of heaven! We can experience eternal life in the kingdom of heaven here on earth. If you believed that eternal life was referring to life in the eternal heaven, and that the kingdom of heaven was the eternal heaven, then you might have a very different interpretation of this passage of Scripture. A large part of Jesus’ ministry was telling His people how to fully experience life and have it more abundantly here on this earth. Another passage that shows the relationship between the kingdom and eternal life is Mark chapter 9. Let’s compare verses 43, 45, and 47. In these verses the word “life” is used as a substitute for “eternal life.” In verse 43, Jesus says to cut off your hand if it offends you, because it is better to enter into life maimed, than to enter hell (a hell we can experience on earth by not doing the will of the Father) with two hands. Again in verse 45, Jesus says to cut off your foot if it offends you, because it is better to enter in to life maimed than to enter hell with two feet. Now look at verse 47. Jesus says to pluck one of your eyes out if it offends you, because it is better to enter into the kingdom of God maimed, than to be cast into hell with two eyes. In these three verses, Jesus shows us that eternal life and the kingdom are related. We can experience eternal life (close fellowship with the Lord) in the kingdom.

Please read John 3:14-16. It says “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” One of the most quoted, most well known verses in the Bible is the next verse (John 3:16). It says “For God so loved the world, that he have his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” This verse has recently had a very new and wonderful meaning to me. The children of Israel were bitten by serpents on their journey to Canaan (the promised land). God told Moses to put a brazen serpent on a pole. If they looked on the brazen serpent, they would live and not perish. This is a great parallel to our promised land today which is the kingdom of God. We try to strive each day to enter the kingdom (promised land). If we believe on Jesus and seek Him to guide us (to KNOW Him) then we can experience eternal life (live) and not perish (lose fellowship with God). How wonderful are the times when we experience eternal life in the kingdom, and how terrible the times when we lose fellowship with the Lord! If we believe on Jesus, we CAN have eternal life.

There are many verses in the Bible that talk about eternal life, life eternal, everlasting life, or life everlasting. The book of John talks most about this. I pray that each one of us would strive each day to lay hold on the eternal life which we can have by really KNOWING God our FATHER and the Lord Jesus Christ!