Sunday, 7th May, 2023
By Pastor Chris Oyakhilome
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16 NKJV)
Our opening verse is about the most popular verse of the Bible. It contains the most powerful and most informative words in the entire Scripture. It says anyone who believes in the Son of God has everlasting life, meaning they’re separated from destruction, waste, failure, damage, etc.
What is everlasting life? Is it just life that goes on and on? No; that definition doesn’t even scratch the surface of what it is. To understand everlasting life, you first have to know what eternal life is. This might come as a surprise to some people who thought they were the same; but there’s a difference.
To be eternal is to be ageless: ageless without a beginning and ageless without an end. It’s a life that has no beginning and it has no end; it’s timeless. Eternity, thus, refers to timelessness and agelessness. More specifically, it’s a life that’s incorruptible, indestructible, imperishable, unending, and not subject to failure or death. This is the life and nature of God.
That’s why He’s called the Eternal One. The Bible says in Psalm 90:2, “Before you created the hills or brought the world into being, you were eternally God, and will be God for ever” (GNB).
Everlasting life is eternal life with a beginning; it has a beginning but no end. The angels, for instance, have eternal life with a beginning. Though they live forever, they had a beginning. God, however, has no beginning; He’s absolutely eternal. The angels became eternal because God, the Eternal One, made them everlasting. To make them everlasting, He had to impart them with eternal life.
When you’re born again, you receive eternal life and become everlasting. You’re brought from your humanity into eternity. Receiving that life is your first entry into it; that’s the beginning of your life in eternity. From there on, you become a part of an endless life that’s imperishable, indestructible and incorruptible.
PRAYER/CONFESSION
"I have received eternal life, and I’m absolutely death-free, incorruptible, indestructible, imperishable, not subject to failure, depravities and diseases because the law of life is operational in me! Divinity dwells in me, and I live the transcendent life! Glory to God!"
FURTHER STUDY:
1 John 5:11-13; John 3:36; John 5:24
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN:
John 3:22-36; 2 Samuel 23-24
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN:
Mark 8:22-33; Numbers 10