How To Pass from Death to Life

The promise of eternal life, escape from perishing forever in the second death, and restoration to the glorious life and relationship with God for which man was created and lost because of sin, is a great and precious promise made by the eternal, triune God who created us for His glory; to know and behold and delight in Him as the object of our deepest love and source of our greatest joy (Titus 1:1-3) (John 3:14-16) (Isaiah 43:7).  It is a promise made however, only to those who believe in Jesus, belief that results in our coming to love Him with all of their heart, and soul and mind and strength (Acts 16:31) (Luke 10:25-28) (John 14:23).

Now as I noted in my previous post, believing in Jesus is not just intellectual assent to His existence, attributes and accomplishments, nor a temporary emotional response to the same that lasts only as long as it doesn’t make us too uncomfortable, or seem to demand too much from us. It is belief that must result in our affections, desires and longings becoming centered on God, the God who in love, has revealed Himself in the person and work of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1-3) (John 1:14) (1 John 4:19).

Now there are many differing beliefs about Jesus in the world. Muslims believe in Jeus as a great prophet. The Jehovah Witnesses believe Jesus to be the incarnation of the archangel Michael. And as I noted in my previous post, the devil and his demons not only believe but know Jesus to be the Holy One of God (Mark 1:24). None of these beliefs regarding the person of Jesus will result in these “believers” coming to see Jesus as worthy of being the object of their deepest love and source of their greatest joy, which He must be if we are to inherit eternal life (1 John 5:11-15) (1 Peter 1:8-9).

To believe means to be fully persuaded that something is true or factual and then acting accordingly. We believe Google maps will get us to our desired destination, so we follow the directions given to us in MapQuest.

We believe the commercial that the beauty cream being advertised on TV would remove our wrinkles and make us look young again, so we order it.

We believe that a certain stock or investment opportunity presented to us will pay off handsomely, so we invest a large amount of our hard-earned money into purchasing it.

If we marry, it is because we believe that the person we agreed to marry would only do us good, so we say, “I do” and are committed from that moment on to only doing them good.

So, what must we believe regarding Jesus that will result in our loving Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and thus becoming heirs of eternal life, who will pass from physical death to eternal life the moment subsequent to our last breath in this world (1 John 5:13) (John 5:24)?

In Matthew 16:13-20 we have Jesus engaged in a conversation with His Apostles and He asks them, “who do people say/believe that I am?” They give him a list of what they have heard – some believe you to be John the Baptist or Elijah or Jeremiah one of the Old Testament prophets resurrected. Then Jesus asks them the question that all who would receive the gift of eternal life must answer correctly and stake their eternal destiny on and that is, “WHO DO YOU SAY/BELIEVE THAT I AM.” And Peter answers, “you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God”.  Jesus then identifies Peter as one who has been blessed with this truth and belief in this truth that could only come to Him through a supernatural revelation of God to His heart and mind, which is the only way we will be able to see and embrace this truth (John 15:26).

In John 11 we have the account of Jesus raising Lazarus from physical death. When Jesus gets to the tomb where Lazarus has been laid for four days, all seems hopeless. Jesus, however, assures Lazarus’ sister Martha, that her brother will rise again. In John 11:25-27, we have this interchange between them where Martha says, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I AM the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die (physically), yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die – eternally. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

The Apostle John, after writing the first 20 chapters of His Gospel reveals in John 20:30-31, “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life (eternal) in His name.”

Thus, from these passages it becomes quite clear what we must believe if we are to come to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and receive the glorious gift of eternal life, namely, that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

To believe that Jesus is the Christ is to believe that He is the savior, the redeemer, the promised Messiah of the Old Testament, the one anointed by God to fulfill His eternal plan of redemption, of rescuing sinful men and women like ourselves from the second death, eternity in Hell which we all deserve (Romans 3:9-12), and restoring us to the glorious life with Him in Heaven which we as incorrigible sinners could never in ourselves deserve (Luke 24:25-27) (Luke 4:16-19). God does so on the basis of Jesus’ sinless life, sacrificial death on the cross and His miraculous resurrection, who in the fulness of His humanity comes forth as the first born of the dead (2 Corinthians 5:21) (Isaiah 53:4-6) (Romans 4:25) (Revelation 1:4-6).  In doing so He has conquered death for all who repent and believe (1 Corinthians 15:54-57) (Mark 1:14-15).

To believe that Jesus is the Son of God is to believe that He is the eternal God, the second person of the divine trinity along with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, who is revealed throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, as the most glorious, most desirable, most excellent, most essential, most awesome, most valuable, most joyful being in the universe; the creator and sovereign ruler of that universe; a being so stunningly majestic, so fearfully awesome, so altogether lovely, so infinitely desirable that knowing and loving and being loved by Him becomes more important to us than anything else in this creation, wherein knowing and doing His will becomes for us a delight and not a duty, and to where pleasing, honoring and glorifying Him in all that we do becomes the chief passion of our heart (2 Corinthians 4:6) (Revelation 15:2-4) (Psalm 8:1) (Psalm 145:1-21).

It is this response alone that reveals that we truly believe that He is the Christ -the Son of the living God and makes us worthy recipients of the gift of eternal life.

We read in 1 Peter 2:7, that the evidence of a true faith – a true belief in Jesus, is that we find Him to be precious, more valuable to us than anything else in this world – creating in us a longing to be with Him and made like Him in the next  (Psalm 63:1-3) (Psalm 27:4) (1 John 3:1-4).

Thus it is only in our belief in Jesus as He reveals Himself throughout the 66 books of the Bible and our response of unadulterated love for Him, as well as for the Father and Holy Spirit, that will remove the sting of death from our mind, the fear of death from our hearts, and bring us a peace that passes understanding in the season and on the day He has chosen for us to stand before Him in judgment, wherein we pass from physical death to eternal life with Him, knowing only fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11).

Grace and Peace ×