"ETERNAL" Life pt.2

This is part two of an article I've written entitled "ETERNAL life". If you haven't read it already, part 1 is fairly short and, it'd benefit you in reading this to have read part 1 first.

In understanding what exactly “eternal life” is, we must rightly divide the word of truth, the Holy Scriptures. God’s Word contains in it what is a central theme in the arena of soteriology, or the study of salvation. To miss this central theme will negatively affect the whole of your theology. To overlook this crucial teaching will inevitably cause your theological understanding to be a bit too man-centered. This central theme, Biblically, forms the basis for our understanding of what eternal life truly is. That central theme is election. Election is God’s sovereign choosing of a people, before time began, to be His Son’s bride. In this election, God predestined the calling, justification, and glorification which He would bring to pass in each of His elect’s lives. We looked at it at the beginning of “ETERNAL life” pt. 1, from passages such as John 17:2, John 10:3, 26-28 and 2 Timothy 1:9. These were only a glance into this rich truth. Election is taught from Genesis to Revelation.

Because my aim in these articles is only to talk about what eternal life is, I will not be discussing in depth if Scripture teaches God's election is conditional or unconditional.

When God predestined people, He didn’t just predestine their initial conversion. Scripture is unmistakably clear on this. For instance, Romans 8:30,“and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified”.

This passage, historically, has been called the Golden Chain of Redemption. Before time began, God had the whole of each saint’s salvation completely planned out. God predestined our being called, our being justified, AND, our being glorified. Each aspect of our redemption has already been completed in the mind of God. If you’ve been born-again from above, yet still live on this earth, God, who is outside of time, already sees you as being glorified. THAT’S WHAT THIS VERSE IS TEACHING US!

Another powerful passage is found in John 6:“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out” (vs. 37). Who comes to Christ; those given to Him by the Father right? How many people who come to Christ had already been given to Him by the Father? All of them. How is that possible? It’s possible because every one of them was given to Christ before time began. If you need to, cross reference this right now with John 17:2, 9, 24. Our being given to Christ PRECEDED our coming to Him in faith. Notice what else Christ says about those who are given to Him; that He will not cast a single one of them out. He goes on to say His purpose in coming to the earth is to fulfill the will of His Father (6:38). And what is that will? Well it’s spelled out very clear in the following verse…

“This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day” (John 6:39).

What’s the will of God the Father? That every person He gave to His Son, before time began, be raised up on the last day! Clear enough right? Is it even possible for Christ to NOT fulfill perfectly His Father’s will? Of course not. Who is Jesus in charge of raising up on the last day… ALL that God the Father has given Him!!! Can that possibly exclude any true saint? No it cannot.

One more verse in this passage will help solidify this truth for us.

John 6:44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day”.

Again we learn that people come to Christ ONLY BECAUSE they have been given to Him by the Father. In giving the elect to Jesus, God the Father is said to “draw” them. This “drawing” is a supernatural work of Almighty God. Apart from this drawing, as this verse explains, human beings are unable to come to Christ in faith. Why that is so I will have to explain in detail another time. For now it is sufficient to simply trust God's Word which says "no one CAN come to Me UNLESS...". Further, those who do come to Christ in faith as a result of their being drawn, are infallibly raised up on the last day.

When God predestined our conversion, He also predestined our sanctification. We know from Scripture that God has willed for us to persevere in sanctification and growth to the very end, as Jude tells us, "now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy" (Jude 24). Beloved of God, the One who is ABLE to keep us, as we learned in the earlier passages, has also WILLED that we be kept till glory. "He who began a good work in you WILL be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6). In fact, He proved that to us by giving us, as His bride, an engagement ring…

“In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation- having also believed, YOU WERE SEALED IN HIM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT OF PROMISE, WHO IS GIVEN AS A PLEDGE OF OUR INHERITANCE, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14).

Oh dear saints, if you fail to recognize the whole of what God has done for you, your understanding is short sighted, and surely your joy is incomplete! Do you not see that God has SEALED you “in Him”? Did you earn the Holy Spirit? Of course not! Then can you keep Him through merit? NO! NO! A HUNDRED TIMES NO!!! If you truly be a regenerate, adopted child of God, you were purchased… it’s ALL been paid for. Don’t you realize that EVERY sin was paid for? “There is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). And if you are to keep yourself in Christ through your own merit and faithfulness, do you not recognize you would have probably lost your salvation many times over already? Don’t you see the task is too great for you? In fact, ONLY the power of God can keep you…

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy HAS CAUSED US TO BE BORN AGAIN (similar to the drawing mentioned in John 6:44 right?!) to a LIVING HOPE… TO OBTAIN AN INHERITANCE…reserved in heaven FOR YOU, WHO ARE PROTECTED BY THE POWER OF GOD THROUGH FAITH for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:3-9)!!

If you have been born again, then God sealed you with His Spirit. He has predestined your salvation from beginning to end. It is ALL OF GRACE. Please repent if you’ve thought too little of God in this respect, even robbing Him of glory due Him. Please humble yourself and worship the God who saves wholly and completely!

When Jesus said “it is finished” (John 19:30), He meant it…

“For by one offering HE HAS PERFECTED FOR ALL TIME those who are being sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us… their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Hebrews 10:14-18)!! SOLA GRATIA