Hey friends. Did you know the Bible gives a one sentence description of eternal life? It does in John 17:3. This is how it reads in the New International Version Bible:
“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” Jesus prayed these words shortly before He was betrayed and arrested.
We’ve probably all had someone ask us “do you know (put in a name)?” Perhaps there are more answers than the ones I’ll mention here. But the answers that come to mind are:
“No”
“I’ve heard of the person but don’t know him/her”
“I know about the person”
“I do know the person but not real well”
“I know the person; He/she is a close friend (relationship)”
When Jesus said the words “know you” toward knowing the only true God, the Greek language reveals that Jesus was talking about a very close relationship with God.
Before my college years, I knew a lot about God. I could tell you “about” Jesus. Having read the Bible completely through, I was familiar and could say I knew about God. I had read that Jesus is God’s Son and that He came to earth to die on Calvary’s cross to pay off the debt of my sin against God; I’d also read about His resurrection. So, I had knowledge about God and cognitively accepted these things. But by God’s grace, I came to understand that while I knew about God, I didn’t know Him in salvation. I had never before “trusted” in Jesus alone to forgive me all my sin (past, present and future) and make me right with God. It was during my sophomore year of college when I came to understand that God wanted me to know Him personally and I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord.
In the gospel of John, Chapter 14, vs. 8 through 9, Jesus had the following interaction with Philip:
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Jesus simply is eternal life; knowing Him is knowing God.
May God bless, and I’ll see you next time.
Thank you for these vitally important insights. They are particularly meaningful to me because my story is quite similar. In my case, I was 26 years of age when a man I casually knew engaged me in a conversation about my Christian faith. As the conversation developed it became quite apparent that I was convinced but not converted. That conversation not only changed my life, it also changed my eternal destiny.
David, thanks for sharing this! God pursues us so graciously. I know the appreciation you must hold toward that man who engaged you.
“I once was lost, but now am found; was blind but now I see.” God is good!
Praying for y’all daily.
Paul