Wednesday, March 19, 2008

John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

Probably the most quoted and memorized verse in all of Christendom.
For most of my life I thought this verse was only about Jesus dying on the cross to give me eternal life because that's all I had ever heard taught.

As I was reading it the other day, the Holy Spirit ( a better teacher than all men put together) showed me the "hidden" meaning.
God loves me so-o-o-o-o much that He not only gave His Son Jesus to die on the cross for me so my sins would be forgiven but He gave His Son Jesus to live "His life in me" (Hey! that would make a good name for a blog).
When scripture talks about receiving eternal life, that life is Jesus' life in us. Even for those who don't know this, it is still true of them.

1 John 5:11, "And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son."

1 John 1:2, "...and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us-- ."

1 John 5:20 "And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so 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.

This is another confirmation of our death, burial, resurrection and ascension with Jesus.

Add to that my favourite verse Gal.2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." (italics mine)

Talk about GOOD NEWS!!! I continually worship, praise and thank Him.

In Him and Him in me
Bob

5 comments:

Bino M. said...

Amen!

If you do a search for the word 'life' in the Gospel of John alone, there are about 44 references to it.

There are many who lives a life 'lost' due to the 'half gospel'. What they need is the full gospel - death of Christ provides forgiveness AND the resurrection of Christ provides LIFE!!!

Michael said...

Brother Bob:

Yes A great verse for sure (John 3:16) However to add fuel and fan to the fire is the one after.... (John 3:17) + For God sent not only His Son into the world to condem the world; but that the world through Him might be saved, (KJV)
I will now step of the soap box and make room for other greats to comment as well.
LOVE LIKE HIM,
G.B.U.,
Michael <>< <>< <><

Walking Church said...

I am 'The Way', 'The Truth' and 'The Life'...wouldn't haven't any pertinence here would it?

Jesus is my way, Jesus is my Truth (truth is a person/Him) and my life.

Tell me this isn't so brother Bawb!!!

Joel Brueseke said...

For some reason this didn't show up in my feed reader until this morning... but I have to say, excellent, excellent post! What a wonderful revelation. The giving of the Son, as revealed in John 3, was not just His death but His life in us. Wow!

Walking Church said...

I'm starting to think you are like the ground hog and come out once a year with something significant to say....ROFL..