Eternal Life is the Free Gift of God

Our modern age seems to be filled with darkness and despair. Social unrest, economic turmoil, widespread health emergencies, regional wars, rumors of global war, and conflicts of all types with those both near and far. Sure, we occasionally see good news, but it is often quickly overshadowed by new crises. Despite all the difficulties and tragedies we face in life, there is good news for all people that cannot be silenced.

Inevitably, when bad things happen, people rightly ask the question, “Where is God in all of this?” When you think of God, what do you think of? A distant, impersonal force that has placed us in a simulation to watch us suffer for its own entertainment? An angry father who expects too much of us? A genie in a lamp who occasionally grants peoples’ wishes if he so desires?

The night before his death, Jesus told one of his students, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9). We also know that by calling God his Father, Jesus declared himself equal with God (John 5:18). If we want to know who God is, we should look at Jesus. Why does Jesus matter and what does he have to do with us? To answer this we must go back to the time of Creation.

The Fall of Man

The first humans, Adam and Eve, were created as perfect beings with no moral flaws. Yet, they gave into temptation and disobeyed God’s one rule. Sin entered into the human race, and because we are all descended from Adam, we are also corrupted by sin even in the very core of our being. When sin entered creation through Adam and Eve’s disobedience, death also entered the world. Because we are all descended from Adam, we too face the impending death of our bodies (Romans 5:12). Though, even as we live, we are cut off from our Creator, estranged from Him.

We have all sinned, committing crimes against God. We’ve broken His laws against lying and stealing (Exodus 20:16, 13). We lust after people and covet things that we cannot have (Exodus 20:17). We rebel against our parents and other authorities (Exodus 20:12). Perhaps we’ve not murdered anyone (Exodus 20:13), but Jesus taught that even unjust anger against a brother is as evil as murder (Matthew 5:21-22). We have failed to meet God’s standard of righteousness (Romans 3:23). This is where Jesus comes in.

Jesus rescues us

Over two-thousand years ago, Jesus was born to a virgin Jewish girl, Mary, in Bethlehem, Judea (Isaiah 7:14; Luke 1:26-35). Miraculously, he had no biological father. Even at just twelve years old, Jesus spoke with great wisdom, astonishing the religious leaders in the temple at Jerusalem (Luke 2:42-46). He later began performing miracles, the first of which was transforming water into wine (John 2:7-11). He also healed many of blindness, deafness, muteness, paralysis, and other ailments (Matthew 9:28-31; 9:32-33; 9:35; Luke 5:24-25, etc.). He even raised the dead (Matthew 9:18, 24-25; John 12:17-18). These miracles were performed as signs to authenticate his identity as the promised Messiah (Acts 2:22).

This mere carpenter turned homeless, traveling teacher claimed to be God and taught others with authority (Mark 1:22), even against the hypocritical behavior of the existing religious establishment of his day (Matthew 23:1-3). Jesus is perfectly humble and righteous (Luke 23:4, 41; Hebrews 4:14-15). Where we failed to be righteous, Jesus triumphed.

But how does Jesus rescue us sinful people from our predicament of death and estrangement from God? Does he teach us that if we just make a good effort to improve our behavior, we can have eternal life? No, contrary to what other groups teach, no amount of good deeds or religious rituals will qualify a person for everlasting life (Romans 3:20; Galatians 2:16b). We cannot clean ourselves up enough to meet the mark. We cannot remove from ourselves the sinful nature which we have inherited from Adam. We must be re-created from scratch as individuals.

This is why Jesus tells Nicodemus, “You must be born again,” during their famous conversation in John 3:1-21. I encourage you to read the passage. How is one born again? Once a person becomes convinced that Jesus gives them eternal life for nothing more than their trust in him, the Spirit of God then immediately re-creates their inner being (their spirit).

Jesus illustrates this faith, and the resulting transformation, with an example of the Jewish people in the Book of Numbers. Following the exodus of the Israelites from their captivity in Egypt, there was a time when they sinned against God, speaking evil of both him and Moses (Numbers 21:4-5). As a consequence for their sins, God sent venomous snakes into the camp, and many victims died (Numbers 21:6). They asked Moses to implore God to mercifully remove the snakes from among them (Numbers 21:7). At God’s instruction Moses made a bronze serpent and placed it on a pole within the camp. If anyone was bitten by a snake, they merely had to look at the bronze serpent on the pole and they would be healed! A single glance would immediately heal their bodies.

Jesus uses this event as an illustration of his own death, by which he would provide salvation for all people, and those who would look to him in faith would receive it freely and immediately.

Jesus willfully gave himself up to an illegal and unjust trial, accused of insurrection by the corrupt religious leaders, though he had done nothing wrong. He was crucified by the Romans.

Why did Jesus have to die?

In a just society, we expect that crimes be paid for. Those who commit crimes must receive some sort of penalty in return for their unlawful actions against others. A judge who refuses to sentence a criminal for their crimes is rightly considered an unjust judge.

God is the judge of everyone, and he is not unjust. We stand before him as convicted criminals, having all broken his laws. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). How can justice be satisfiied? Our sins must be paid for, and God would be justified in condeming us all for eternity.

God is just, but he is also merciful, and these two qualities do not contradict. Out of his mercy, God provided the payment for our sins. He came to Earth as the man, Jesus, and having come as a man, he could pay the price for our sins on our behalf. God came down to earth and willingly suffered the penalty due to us for our crimes against him.

By his death Jesus made the sacrifice necessary to remove sin as the barrier between mankind and God (John 1:29). Our sins, no matter how bad or numerous, cannot prevent us from receiving eternal life by faith.

By his resurrection three days later, he vindicated his claims to deity and to his future Messianic rule. We’ll discuss Jesus’ future kingdom in a later artcle.

Eternal life is received by faith

With the barrier of sin removed, it is now possible for anyone to receive everlasting life permanently and certainly if they trust Jesus to provide them with it.

This wonderful truth is reiterated throughout the Gospel of John, the only book in the Bible explicitly written to unbelievers, particularly to inform them how to receive everlasting life (John 20:31). Consider also John 1:12; 3:14–16, 18, 36a; 4:14; 5:24, 39–40; 6:35, 47, 51, 53–58; 7:37–38; 10:27–28; and 11:25–26.

Eternal life is not received by:

• Doing good deeds
• Attending a church
• Giving money to a church
• Giving to the poor
• Walking down the aisle during a church service
• Talking to a preacher
• Confessing sins
• Asking God for forgiveness of your sins
• Being baptized
• Committing to be more obedient to God
• Changing your lifestyle

These are all good things, but they do not grant eternal life to anyone. It is faith in Jesus, and faith alone, that is prescribed as the means by which we may receive the free gift of eternal life.

Jesus has reversed the consequences of sin for us. He has conquered death and obtained eternal life which he gives freely to all who trust him for it. But this is not all he has done for us. There is so much more.