Eternal Life

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

John 17:3

What is eternal life and how may we obtain it? As Christ made His final approach toward the cross, He prayed what we have come to call His High Priestly Prayer. There we find Him opening His heart to His Father. He speaks of what matters most. Within the first few lines, He articulates what is eternal life. His definition is our text. He begins by saying that we may know God. He specifies moreover that this God Whom we may know is the only true God. These two pieces of information are critically important. The God that Christ acknowledges is the only true God, therefore He is the only One worthy of our attention. Second, to know that God equals eternal life. To that Christ adds ‘and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.’ According to Christ the knowledge of God and of Himself are inextricably intertwined. We will only know God in conjunction with our knowing Christ. How may we know Christ? We may know Him as He has revealed Himself to us in the Scriptures. He has said they testify of Him. Both testaments reveal Him in different ways. He is the Creator of Genesis 1, and the Seed of the woman in Genesis 3. He is the Root and Offspring of David and the Bright and Morning Star of Revelation 22. By these revelations from Genesis to Revelation, we may know Him, God His Father, and have eternal life.

Great God of Wonders,
we rejoice that you are the author of eternal life.
We praise You that we may have eternal life
by knowing You.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning