In the Gospel of John we read what the Lord Jesus said about Himself… “I AM the resurrection and the life. He who is believing in Me will live even though he dies, and whoever is living and believing in Me will never die” (John 11:25-26).
The Lord Jesus spoke these words after the death of Lazarus which was a very sad occasion for his family but when the Lord arrived at the tomb four days later He raised Lazarus to life again and turned everyone’s sadness into joy.
In doing this the Lord Jesus showed everyone that He alone had the power and authority to raise the dead and that He was the only true source of everlasting life and happiness.
He knew of course that everlasting life was an absolute certainty because He Himself, before His incarnation as a man, had always existed with God the Father, being without beginning or end as God the Son. He knew that He was the Eternal God, the third person of the Trinity clothed in a flesh and blood body, being fully God and fully man in the one person. He also knew that He had the authority to raise the dead and to give eternal life to whomsoever He pleased.
On another occasion He said; “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom He is pleased to give it” (John 5:21).
In saying this He wanted everyone listening to Him to know that physical death wasn’t the end of life but that through Him it was a gateway to an eternal life of happiness, peace and joy transcending all human understanding forever in His father’s Eternal Kingdom.
On two other occasions the Lord Jesus said… “I am the gate; whoever enters through Me will be saved…I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No-one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 10:9; 14:6).
When we read these words spoken by the Lord Jesus John Chapter 11 verses 25-26 we discover two things about eternal life…
1) The Lord Jesus is the only source and giver of eternal life.
“I AM the resurrection and the life”
When we discover the Living God through discovering the Messiah our Lord Jesus our search for immortality and everlasting happiness will cease. When we have the inner revelation of the Lord Jesus through the life giving power of his Spirit (the Holy Spirit) we will come to know personally for ourselves deep down on the inside that Peace of God which transcends all human understanding which the Lord Jesus imparts.
As He said to His disciples; “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27).
We ourselves have forfeited the right to live forever in God’s Kingdom because we naturally choose to live our lives as if the Lord Jesus didn’t exist at all. This attitude of indifference to the Lord Jesus the Bible calls sin, and its consequences for us all is physical death followed by judgement which all of us must face and an ultimate eternal separation from God himself in that place the Bible calls the Lake of Fire, unless we accept the free gift from God of eternal life only found in the Lord Jesus. (Romans 6:23) (Hebrews 9:27) (Revelation 21:8).
In this age if we have been spiritually reborn from above by the Holy Spirit (John 3:3), should die before the Lord Jesus comes back we will go to one of two places, Heaven or Hell. There is no such place as purgatory.
When the Lord Jesus said; “I AM the resurrection and the life” He was saying that He alone was able to impart to us that eternal quality of life in union with God the Father Himself. In order to do this He went to the cross and paid the penalty for our sin and wrong doing so that we might have the opportunity to be rescued or saved from this eternal state of separation from God (Romans 5:8).
In saying “I AM the resurrection and the life” He pointed to the fact that He Himself had the complete power over sin, over death and Hell and the lake of Fire and proved it by rising physically from the dead to live forever as a resurrected man, never to physically die again.
He knows what death is like and suffered the most vicious and cruel death by crucifixion even though He was without sin (1 Peter 2:22) (1 John 3:5). Death holds no terrors for Him because as a man He has passed through the experience of death and broken its spell by rising again.
He tasted death for us all so that we might live forever in God’s eternal kingdom after we depart this life. As the author of Hebrews writes; “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because He suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone” (Hebrews 2:9).
Through His eternal Son, God the Father was showing all men that He was not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). God was in the Messiah reconciling the world to Himself (2 Corinthians 5:19).
We also read in the Book of Hebrews; “Now since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity, so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Hebrews 2:14-15).
By rising physically from the dead He has shown the whole world that He is the conqueror over eternal death and that the wages of sin have been paid in full. As Rabbi the apostle Paul writes; “…and who (Jesus) through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead: Jesus the Messiah our Lord” (Romans 1:4).
So when He says; “I AM the resurrection and the life” He is pointing to Himself as the only true source and giver of eternal life. It is also interesting to note that when He says He is the “I AM” He was declaring Himself to be God and equal with God. There are all together seven places in the gospel of John where Lord Jesus clearly identified Himself the “I AM” who spoke to Moses in the burning bush that burnt but was not consumed (Exodus 3:14). So the first thing we see in our text is that the Messiah our Lord Jesus is the resurrection and the life and that in Him all the fullness of the Deity (the Triune God) dwells in bodily form” (Colossians 2: 9), and then we read…
2) The Lord Jesus imparts eternal life to all who believe in Him.
“He who is believing in Me, will live, even though He dies and whoever is living and believing in Me will never die.”
Everyone who asks God to forgive their sins for Jesus’ sake and commits themselves into His hands by faith, acknowledging that they have violated His laws and lived as if He did not exist, but asking for His forgiveness, will receive eternal life.
On another occasion the Lord Jesus said; “I tell you the truth, whoever hears My word and is believing in Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24).
Those who have put their trust in the Lord Jesus as their Saviour and Lord and have confessed their sins to Him have the deep inward assurance that when death comes to claim their lives that the Lord Jesus will also be present with them at the very hour their soul leaves their physical body.
His Spirit will be with them and His angels also to carry them through that dark tunnel of physical death into that place of joy unending, being eternal life, where sin, death, suffering, pain and sadness and despair do not exist (Luke 16:22). When a New Covenant believer physically dies or “falls asleep” trusting in the saving power of the Messiah’s blood immediately they are absent from their physical body but present with the LORD (2 Corinthians 5:8).
They “fall asleep” the New Testament tells us. This does not mean soul sleep where one is not conscious but just resting or literally asleep. What the Bible is telling us is that their body though physically dead is only sleeping from a spiritual perspective and will be resurrected at the Second Coming of the Messiah our Lord Jesus. As for their spirit and soul it is with the LORD and very much alive in His presence and in the presence of all who have died in faith.
As the author of Hebrews writes; “you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to myriads of angels in joyful assembly, to the congregation of the firstborn, enrolled in heaven. You have come to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect” (Hebrews 12:22-23).
Because the Lord Jesus has passed through the experience of death and broken its stronghold He enables all those who repent and embrace Him by faith to conquer death as well. The same Holy Spirit that raised the Lord Jesus to life will also raise to life physically at the last day all those who in this life have lived by faith in Him as their sin bearer, saviour and Lord (Romans 8:11).
Even though physical death is a mystery and we cannot see beyond the grave this side of eternity, God tells us in His Word that in the next life He has prepared a place for all those, who in this life, love Him supremely and yield their lives in allegiance to His Son the Lord Jesus Messiah.
As the Messiah our Lord Jesus said; ““Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe in Me as well. In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, so that you also may be where I am” (John 14:1-3).
The Bible tells us the ultimate destiny of all those who, by trusting in the Lord Jesus to save them, repent of their sins and by faith receive Him into their life.
As Isaiah the prophet writes; “Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the LORD, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:6-7).
As the apostle John writes; “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were spiritually reborn born, not of blood (human lineage) nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13).
The Bible also says; “if you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified (brought into a right standing with God), and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved” (Romans 10:9-10).
On the Day of Pentecost, after he had preached the gospel of the kingdom, there was conviction of the sin of unbelief in the Messiah by multitudes listening. Peter clearly told them how to be saved; “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus the Messiah for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:38-39).
The prophet Isaiah also writes; “Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, struck down and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:4-6).
If you have repented of your sins by acknowledging to God that you have violated His commandments and offer no excuses, but cast yourself upon His mercy, and by faith ask Him into your life as saviour and Lord and to cleanse you from all sin by His shed blood, and ask for eternal life, you will pass over from death to life. If you ask God the Heavenly Father for the Holy Spirit He will give Him to dwell in you as that spiritual fountain of eternal life (Luke 11:13) (John 4:10).
From that time on you will be under new management! You have become a brand new member of God’s eternal family!
If you are in the Messiah, you belong to Him and He is living in you through His Spirit then you are a new creation in Him, the old way of a living a sinful life will be gone, and the new way of life in the Spirit will have commenced (2 Corinthians 5:17).
It is through faith in the Lord Jesus and his shed blood that has atoned for sin that you have been declared not guilty in God’s law court because the price of your sin has been paid by your substitute the Lord Jesus. That price was His shed blood.
The shed blood of the Messiah our Lord Jesus settles everything! Our sins and their penalty were nailed to the Lord Jesus at the cross defeating Satan and destroying the devils work being the power of sin (Colossians 2:13-15) (1 John 3:7-9).
As we read; “When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having cancelled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through the cross” (Colossians 2:13-15).
As we read in the New Testament; “In him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace (Unmerited, unearned favour) (Ephesians 1:7).
If we have been spiritually reborn from above (John 3:3) the shed blood of the Lord Jesus has not only atoned for our sins but has opened the way back for us into a personal relationship with the Triune God though the Messiah’s act of redemption on our behalf.
As Rabbi the apostle Paul writes; “For if, when we were enemies of God, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! Not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Messiah, through whom we have now received reconciliation (the atonement) (Romans 5:10-11).
The apostle John also writes; “And this is that testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life (the life of the Son); whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:11-13).
At the cross there was a divine exchange. The Bible says concerning the Messiah our Lord Jesus; “God made Him who knew no sin, to be sin (a sacrifice for sin) on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness (the righteous ones) of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
God credited to the Messiah our sin, even though He was sinless, in order to credit to us His righteousness that are by birth and nature great sinners and rebels. Being put into a right standing with God is received, not on the basis of good works or personal merit, but on the basis of faith in the Lord Jesus to save us (Romans 3:19-26) (Ephesians 2:8-10) (John 10:10).
When God looks at us, He chooses not not remember our sin, but He sees in us the very sinless and righteous nature and image of His Son dwelling in us and He is well pleased (Psalm 103:12).
The blood of the Messiah our Lord Jesus has not only atoned for our sin, redeemed us from its power and eternal penalty and cleansed us from it, but will also protect us from the wrath of God when it comes down upon a Messiah hating, Messiah rejecting world at the end of this present age (Exodus 12:13) (Romans 5:9).
The resurrection of the Lord Jesus guarantees our resurrection. The same Holy Spirit who physically resurrected the Lord Jesus will also give life to our physical bodies when they are resurrected.
As we read; “But if the Messiah is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Messiah Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you” (Romans 8:10-11). The Messiah living in us is our hope of eternal glory in the presence of our Triune God forever and ever! (Colossians 1:27).
The apostle John describes the ultimate destiny of all who repent and believe.
Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “‘Look! God’s dwelling-place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:2-4).
The Lord Jesus is saying; “I AM the resurrection and the life. He who is believing in Me will live even though he dies, and whoever is living and believing in Me will never die” (John 11:25-26). Amen!!!
