Eternal Life
by Richard St.James
Eternal Life
Bible 1611.Com / Old Paths Bible Ministries © 2008John 17:1 “These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to
heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that
thy Son also may glorify thee:
2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do.
5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the
glory which I had with thee before the world was.
6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out
of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they
have kept thy word.”
1. The Hour Is Come
2. The Gift To Receive
3. Before The Beginning
4. Seeing Things Invisible
1. The Hour Is Come
John 17:1 “These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:”The hour has indeed come! We are now coming down the last mile of the trip [of the First Advent of Jesus Christ]. For forty-two months now, the Son of God has been amongst men.
Indeed, “miracles and wonders and signs” were performed before men, even before their very eyes. [Acts 2:22] They were now [and we are] totally without excuse. The MESSIAH had come!
The MESSIAH had come to save His people [Israel]. [Luke 19:10] “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” The HOUR is come. The TIME is come for the HIGH PRIEST to ATONE for SIN. Jesus came to DIE for that singular purpose, as the Scripture says in Hebrews nine, verse twenty-six: “but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." [Hebrews 9:26b]
2. The Gift To Receive
Verse two and three: “As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”Men have been searching for a fountain of youth for the last six thousand years now … and all to no avail. They can not find it. [They can not find the fountain of youth, because they will not go to HIM, Who has the FOUNTAIN of YOUTH!]
They have literally poured billions and billions of dollars into medical research to find the cure to all diseases in a fervent desire extend man’s life on this earth.
Men do not want to die. You know this to be true. Yet, we all die! “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.” [Ecclesiastes 9:5] Men are desperately trying to reverse the effect of sin, which is death. They [and you and I] can not do it.
Let me sum this way. Man wants a mankind solution! The solution must be arrived at … without going to GOD and THE BIBLE! Why is this? I will tell you why, because man does not want God’s SOLUTION. The problem is … we are REBELS.
There is something else here. Man has a vestigial remembrance [tucked away somewhere deep within his soul] of his original state in the Garden of Eden. Maybe this remembrance can be described as the conscience.
We all came into this world … with a conscience. Let me add to this a little. Are you ready? This conscience can be hardened, or made numb, as we go along in this life. Sin in our life has this universal effect. Yea, more than this, our conscience can even become totally seared … burned up. Bottom line … SIN will drive you crazy!
One of the original attributes of man, before sin came into this world, as shown in the book of Genesis, was having ETERNAL LIFE. Adam could have CHOSEN to live forever.
Yes, my friend, six thousand years ago, ALL was very well in this old world. Adam and Eve had eternal life. They had it all, so to speak. Consider this. There was no sin in the world, and because of that, it was a perfect world.
There was no disease.
There was no death.
Adam and Eve had a UTOPIA!
May I remind you, again, that this “heaven on earth” was BEFORE sin had made its entrance into the world? Sin’s entrance has spoiled it all, and then, DEATH [which is a person according to Revelation six, eight][and the Devil] came to take lock, stock and barrel, the TITLE to the kingdoms of this world.
This is all been said to bring us to this one point. Jesus Christ was come to “give eternal life to as many” as the Father has given Him. Now, who are they that the Father has given to the Son of God? The answer is found in the beginning of this very same book, [here, in the book of John]. Isn’t that something?
Now, compare Scripture with Scripture. Look at John chapter one, verse twelve. It is AS MANY AS RECEIVED JESUS CHRIST! “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:” [John 1:12].
3. Before The Beginning
Verse five: “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.”This is something we see over and over in all four gospels: the Father and the Son in fellowship. Jesus, in this verse, is remembering the glory HE had with the Father before the creation week that is recorded in the book of Genesis.
This relationship in the Godhead [Colossians 2:9] of the three persons is called a mystery. The Apostle Paul called it a mystery of CHRIST in Ephesians chapter three. “Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)” [Ephesians 3:4].
Now, in verse nine: “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:” [Ephesians 3:9].
This verse clearly states WHO made the heaven and the earth. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” [Genesis 1:1] It is clear as can be for any one that is sensible! Amen!
We need to understand, and acknowledge this mystery, [as Christians]. “That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;” [Colossians 2:2]
4. Seeing Things Invisible
Verse six: “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.”For a man to see something that is invisible is impossible unless God Himself intervenes by “quickening” him, which opens his eyes to things invisible [FAITH].
We are without sight. This is the way we all came into the world. We are BLIND to the things of God. We can not see [nor understand] spiritual things.
The Spirit of God describes our state, and our condition, like this in the book of Isaiah chapter fifty-nine, verse ten. Are you ready for this? “We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noon day as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.” [Isaiah 59:10] Indeed we are as DEAD men because we are “dead in trespasses and sins;” [Ephesians 2:1].
The Scripture foretold in this same book of Isaiah that God would intervene in the affairs of men by sending SOMEONE to OPEN our eyes to the invisible things that men just can not see on their own. Accordingly, He planned to send His SERVANT: “To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.” [Isaiah 42:7]
Do you want to know something? This “servant” in Isaiah [Isaiah 42:1] is the very same person who is the object of the love [him] in First Corinthians chapter two, verse nine. “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” [1 Corinthians 2:9] Who is the “him”? Why, it is no other but Jesus Christ Himself. Amen!
Do you “love” HIM?
According to Jesus Christ, the purpose of His appearing [in Acts 26] before Paul was to make Paul “a minister and a witness” of the things which he had seen, and will see: [Things that are invisible made visible through faith.] Jesus gave the ministry and witness to the nations [the Gentiles] of this earth: “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.” [Acts 26:18]
If you are a saved [born again] Gentile believer in Jesus Christ then it is because the Holy Spirit has manifested the NAME of Jesus Christ to you. You were in darkness before but now you are in the LIGHT. “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:” [Ephesians 5:8].
Once Saved Always Saved
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The Gospel According To John
John 17:1 These
words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said,
Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may
glorify thee:
John 17:2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he
should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
John 17:4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the
work which thou gavest me to do.
John 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self
with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
John 17:6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest
me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and
they have kept thy word.
John 17:7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast
given me are of thee.
John 17:8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me;
and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out
from thee, and
they have believed that thou didst send me.
John 17:9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them
which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
John 17:10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am
glorified in them.
John 17:11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the
world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name
those whom thou
hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
John 17:12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy
name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is
lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be
fulfilled.
John 17:13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the
world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
John 17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated
them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the
world.
John 17:15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the
world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
John 17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
JJohn 17:18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also
sent them into the world.
John 17:19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also
might be sanctified through the truth.
John 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which
shall believe on me through their word;
John 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and
I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may
believe that thou hast sent me.
John 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them;
that they may be one, even as we are one:
John 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect
in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast
loved them, as thou hast loved me.
John 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me,
be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou
hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the
world.
John 17:25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I
have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
John 17:26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare
it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I
in them.