A Life-Changing Revelation
A few years ago, I had a revelation that completely changed my life.
It was so simple, yet so profound at the same time.
I was reading through the Scriptures when suddenly something caught my attention.
One of the most famous verses in the Bible is John 3:16.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ”
What is eternal life?
Jesus gives the definition in John 17:3:
The original Greek word know in this verse means “to come to know, especially through personal experience, first-hand acquaintance.”
Jesus isn’t just speaking of knowing God intellectually, but knowing Him in a very personal way through interaction.
Jesus tells us that eternal life is defined as first and foremost knowing God the Father, and secondly knowing Him.
This sums up the gospel message and our redemption in Christ.
The Father sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to reconcile us back to Him through Christ’s sacrifice for us on the cross. Jesus obeyed His Father’s command to lay down His life for us so that we could once again be in restored fellowship with the Father. This was the Father’s plan from the beginning, even before the fall of Adam and Eve (Rev 13:8; Eph. 1:4-5).
Jesus states this exact point when He says in John 14:6:
I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
My life-changing revelation about the definition of eternal life as defined by Jesus helped me understand the message of the gospel. The gospel is not primarily focused on Heaven, as I once thought, but on our personal relationship with God.
God-Centered, Not Heaven-Centered
The New Testament writers echo Jesus’ teachings about this, constantly telling us to “be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20). We are to know and experience the Father here and now, rather than simply wait till we go to Heaven.
Every time we read the words “eternal life” in the Bible, we need to remember Jesus’ own definition of it.
For example, Romans 6:23 says,
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The gift (grace) of God to us in spite of our sins is eternal life (knowing God) through Christ.
It’s not about only focusing on our future in Heaven, but developing our relationship with God here on earth.
The Early Church had fellowship with the Father and Jesus even after Christ’s ascension to Heaven. The apostle John writes in 1 John 1:3:
…And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
Let’s discover the fullness of our redemption by experiencing God here and now, as the primary message of the gospel is reconciliation with the Father, not our future in Heaven.
After all, Jesus paid a great price, His very life, for us to once again personally know the Father.
Will you respond to God’s invitation? He is waiting.