THE LIFE OF GOD

“And this is life eternal, that they might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

John 17:3 (KJV)

The promise made by Jesus to everyone that believes in him is life eternal. This simply means a life that last: as the word eternal means continuing forever or indefinitely. The contrast is death eternal: this is a death that continues forever or indefinitely. Those who refuse Jesus are sure to experience death eternal as they spend their existence in hell fire alongside the devil and all his wicked demons.

Life eternal is the life of God. It is the very life that the Father possesses which causes him to exist in the atmosphere of righteousness, peace and joy. Whoever possesses this life comes into the same experience as the father.

Let us take a moment to consider on a simpler level what the life of God is as it relates to human existence, judging from the fact that the reception of this life does not mean a termination of the present life you have which is a function of exchange of gases (oxygen and carbon-dioxide). Since the receptor still has the human life, how then do we know that we have received the life of God?

Our opening text lets us in on the answer. It says, “. . . this is life eternal, that they might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ . . .” The life of God is the knowledge of God, or what can be called the awareness of God. It can’t be any simpler than this.

Some people may be quick to say that they have the life of God because they know that there is only one God, and yet they may not be possessors of this life. The unbelievers out there know about God’s existence, even those who feign to be Christians and are not know about God’s existence, yet they do not know God.

What then is the true knowledge of God. The true knowledge of God is the information about God that causes a man to serve him. This is what is called revelation of God. We are judged as being in service to God when we live for him and speak about him to others.

The man who possess the life of God encapsulated in the knowledge of God will live his life in allegiance to God’s ways of doing things. The knowledge of God is communicated by the word of God as either written in the scripture of truth or revealed by the spirit of truth. Scripture says we are born of God’s word, and this confirms that the life of God is a product of the word of God in the heart of a man.

As it is with the human life where we have to continually exchange gases to survive, we have to take in God’s word always and release the ignorance that is in us. Jesus said that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes out of the father. Do not stay far from the oxygen of God’s word: you need it daily to survive.