Eternal Life – Knowing The Father and the Son

 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3 NIV

I chuckled this morning as I was doing some devotional reading. Last night I was reading an old discipleship book by Andrew Murray entitled the New Life – A guide for new believers. This Morning I read the first chapter in a book by Andrew Womack called The Complete Guide to Discipleship and Evangelism.

Why did I laugh? Both beginning chapters started with the concept of Eternal Life. I knew that God was speaking to me again about meditating on this new life which we have in Jesus.

Andrew Womack tied two scriptures together that I wish to share with you now. John 3:16 states “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. My background reveals that this means we will live forever with Jesus. That is true, BUT people who do not believe also live forever. So eternal life must mean more than living for eternity.

Enter John 17:3, Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. The word “know” is an intimate personal relationship, and not only intellectual understanding. Jesus was saying eternal life begins and continues through an engaged personal relationship with God the Father and His son Jesus. We enter into that relationship when we are born again by and into the Spirit of God. We can know God and Jesus now and into eternity.

Look at 1 John 5:11-13 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. We can have confidence that we have eternal life because the Bible tells us that we have life AND we know internally that we have been born again into an intimate relationship with Jesus.

Romans 8:15-16 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”  It is not a one sided relationship in which we have to convince ourselves that we know God. When we are born again, the Holy Spirit seals the relationship and begins talking with us (bearing witness) that we have been adopted into the family of God. You can call God the Father, Daddy or Dad. That may feel a little strange at first, but you have been granted that authority and right to be that close in a relationship with Him. You have been given eternal life of “”knowing” Him.

Finally John 10:10 states, The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. Jesus indicates that we can experience a fullness and abundant life both now and in the future. This is not a life without trials and struggles, but one that is overflowing with joy, peace, and love. These can be experienced in the middle of the storms of life in an ever increasing manner.

May you and I meditate on the privilege of having eternal life with the Father and the Son. May we share the gospel appropriately that sin blocks us from having a relationship with Jesus now, not just in the future. Jesus paved the way through His death, burial and resurrection for us to experience the abundant life of knowing Him moment by moment, and day by day.

Blessings Love y’all