3
The Lord Jesus was the essence of Kingdom
life, the life we shall eternally live. “The
kingdom of God” was amongst Israel in the
sense that He personally stood amongst them
(Lk. 17:21). The parables of the Kingdom had
their living exemplification in Him, the word
of the Kingdom made flesh. “The life” is a
title of Him (Jn. 14:6) because His character
and being were the definition of the type
of life we shall eternally live. Whoever,
therefore, eats His flesh and drinks His
blood, absorbing the essence of Him into
themselves, has eternal life now as well as
the guarantee of bodily resurrection at the
last day, when this will all be articulated in
material, physical, literal, bodily terms:
“Whoso eats My flesh and drinks My blood,
has eternal life; and I will raise him up at the
last day” (Jn. 6:54). Eternal life is not, there-
fore, the reward for simply getting straight
‘A’s in our Bible study. The Lord criticizes the
Jews for thinking that their searching of the
Scriptures would give them eternal life,
rather than coming to Him to find that life
eternal which is in relationship with Him (Jn.
5:39); and it would seem Peter had the same
mistaken thinking when He said that Jesus
had the words of eternal life (Jn. 6:68).
Indeed He does, but the life eternal isn't a
future reward for having got our theology
and Biblical interpretation correct. “This is
life eternal, that they may know” (in an
ongoing sense, the Greek implies) the Father
and Son (Jn. 17:3). Life eternal isn’t a
reward for simply figuring out that God is one
not three. It is about knowing the Father and
Son in terms of having a relationship with
them. It starts right now, insofar as we find
and know Him, and the spirit of His living
becomes absorbed into our own. We express
this in physical symbolism when we take the
bread and wine and those symbols of Him
become absorbed into our own bodies. Living
‘in Christ’, seeking to think as He would, act
as He did, feel as He does, is to live the
eternal life (1 Jn. 5:11,20). And if we do it
now, there will be a seamless continuance of
that life when He returns, for ever and ever
and ever, world without end.
| Duncan Heaster
Editorial | The Life Eternal
No Right To Glory
| Bro Friday Enyiogu (Ikwueke, Nigeria)
O
ught a man, it may be asked, have
credit for the results of the pains,
precautions and knowledge he has? Within
certain limits, God Himself recognises the
affirmative answer, but in the meaning in
which we are looking at the matter, the
question does not go deep enough. If a man
has wisdom enough to adopt wise meas-
ures, who is to have the credit for that
wisdom, the man who has received, or the
God who has given?
The answer is one that cannot be evaded:
“Who maketh thee to differ from another?
And what hast thou, that thou didst not
receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why
dost thou glory as if thou hadst not
received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). There is
one legitimate and rational subject of
‘glory’, and we have special permission
from the Creator Himself to indulge it. That
permission is conveyed in words which may
seem childish to smart superficial modern
civilization, but which actually tell us the
real truth:
* * *
“Let not the wise man glory in his
wisdom: let not the mighty man glory
in his might: let not the rich man glory
in his riches. Let him that glorieth glory
in this: that he understandeth, and
knoweth me, that it is I the Lord which
exercise loving kindness, and judgement,
and righteousness in the earth.
For in these things do I delight”
(Jeremiah 9:23-24).
* * *