WHAT IS ETERNAL LIFE?
	This is the ultimate of all considerations–eternal life! Here, we leave the realm of the mundane, and enter into heavenly places. ETERNAL LIFE–it is the greatest of all possessions, the most prolific of all promises, and worthy of your most extensive and sustained effort. If you were to take all of the precious promises of God and compress them into one concise statement, here is what it would be. "And this is THE promise that he hath promised us, even ETERNAL LIFE" (1 John 2:25). This is the "abundant life" Jesus came to give us (John 10:10).  Those who possess eternal life will "not perish" (John 3:15). They are welcome in God's presence, their prayers are heard, and the holy angels are their ministers! 

	The words Jesus speaks are "words of eternal life" (John 6:68); that is, they produce and sustain ETERNAL LIFE. Grace reigns to this end–"eternal life" (Rom 5:21). Here is the greatest of all gifts, for "THE GIFT of God is eternal life" (Rom 6:23). Through the message of the Gospel, and the effectual working of the Holy Spirit, God calls us to "eternal life," and we are to extend ourselves to take hold of it  (1 Tim 6:12). The hope of "eternal life" is the engine of spiritual life, propelling us into the work of the Lord and a fervent quest for glory (Tit 1:2; 3:7).

	But, what is "eternal life?" What is this summation of all promises–this glorious gift–this marvelous objective of newborn life? I must acknowledge that if I looked at this subject from the standpoint of current religious emphases, I would think it to be of small consequence. It is not the subject of proclamation, nor of much theological discussion–but it IS the focus of Divine initiative! While men jostle against their peers in contests about religious priorities, the matter of ETERNAL LIFE lies neglected, gathering about it the dust of indifference.  Such conditions, wherever they are found, are reproaches to the Lord Jesus Christ.

	ETERNAL LIFE, like all key spiritual words, cannot be defined linguistically. Here is a word that is defined by Divine utterance. It is the Lord Jesus Himself Who provides insight into ETERNAL LIFE. He does not do it in a discourse to His disciples, but in a prayer to His Father in heaven. It is the night of His betrayal, and He pours out His soul to God. The seventeenth chapter of John is the longest recorded prayer of Jesus. At the very beginning of His prayer, the Savior states His mission and defines eternal life. "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:1b-3). The reins of the Kingdom have been given to Jesus in order that He might give eternal life to all those given to Him by the Father.

	Eternal life, declares the Lord, is knowing God, and Jesus Christ Whom he has sent! It is not knowing ABOUT God, but knowing Him intimately, as Adam knew Eve, and Joseph knew Mary, following the birth of Jesus (Gen 4:1; Matt 1:25). This is intimacy with God, wherein we are made "one spirit" with the Lord (1 Cor 6:17). Becoming "partakers of the Divine nature" (2 Pet 1:4), we think His thoughts, have His perspective, and long for His Person. This is in measure, to be sure, but it is gloriously true. This is the hallmark of the New Covenant: "They shall all know Me . . . " (Jer 31:34; Heb 8:12; 10:16-17). 

	Eternal life is familiarity with God–a condition where His ways and manners lose their strangeness to us. It is cognitive and spiritual "fellowship with the Father and the Son" (1 John 1:3). In eternal life, there is a recognition of and preference for the good and acceptable, and perfect will of God. We are at home in His Presence, and sense the greatest joy and peace when a consciousness of God pushes all other things into the background. The Lord Himself, therefore, becomes the object of understanding, compelling the believer to abandon all competing interests (Phil 3:10).

	The Lord Jesus has come to give us this understanding of God–to acquaint us with Deity. How wonderfully this is stated in 1 John 5:20. "And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, 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"

PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank you for the gift of eternal life. Give me grace to fight the good fight of faith, and lay hold of that eternal life. 

– MONDAY: WE ARE BURIED WITH CHRIST –