Reflective Bible Study

Tucked away in this passage is a verse that jumped off the page at me, mainly because it can have two very different implications, depending on how one looks at it, and these two differing ways of looking at it have wildly different outcomes.

Here’s the verse: “I give them eternal life, and they shall never die. No one can snatch them away from me.” (v. 28)

Jesus promises to give His followers (sheep) eternal life, and that they will never die.

There are two key concepts in this passage that warrant our attention: “eternal life” and “death”. These two concepts are contrasted in this passage, which leads us to two different ways of thinking:

1. The first way we can look at death contrasted with eternal life is that the second our earthly life ends, our heavenly life begins. “Death” then is not really an end, but instead the beginning to eternal life. With this view, we take death to mean the end of our physical lives, and since Jesus promised that His followers would never “die”, eternal life in heaven must then begin immediately at the end of our physical lives for Jesus’ words to be truth.

   I, like millions of Christians, see great peace, joy, and happiness with this belief. This belief virtually eliminates the fear of death, leaving one to only be concerned about the “dying” pain, and there is comfort believing that our loved ones are looking down and smiling – at least when we are living how they would have wanted us to live.

2. However there is a second way we can look at death contrasted with eternal life. This way defines death as completely ceasing to exist – even from our memory, and perhaps even from God’s memory. Those who define death this way see it as the natural contrast to eternal life. Jesus promised His followers that God would never forget them, and that they have a future in heaven – at the “resurrection of life”. Physical death in this view is seen as a peaceful sleep/rest that awaits them on the last day.

   Unlike most Christians, many of whom believe that this second way of belief is an attack on Christianity, I see it as being even more loving and more God-like. God promises rest for those who have served Him faithfully in life, and death as a sleep provides that rest. From heaven’s perspective, I doubt much rest or peace would happen if all the grand-parents, great-grandparents, and earlier ancestors are glued to “Earth”-vision, watching their descendants struggle through life.

In this verse are two possible views, and either way you lean on this idea, we are assured that as followers of Jesus, no one can snatch us away from Jesus and eternal life is our reward! — John 5:24-29, 6:40.

During Jesus’ ministry, Matthew describes an event where some leaders request that Jesus show them a miraculous sign to prove who He was. While on the surface this seems like a reasonable request, when we look more closely at the details, we can see how this might not have been a trap in the typical sense, but that it was a trap that Satan had prompted behind the scenes.

Matthew tells us that during one of the times that Jesus was preaching to the people, “some experts in Moses’ Teachings and Pharisees said, ‘Teacher, we want you to show us a miraculous sign.’” (v. 38)

Without going into great detail regarding Jesus’ response, the question/request itself is fascinating. On one hand, this request is a perfectly valid one, given that Jesus came to be the Messiah. As one way to clearly demonstrate that He was sent from God, a miracle could clearly support this.

However, there was a sneaky trap hidden in this request as well. The religious leaders and Pharisees may not have set the trap up, but Satan had. This trap has to do with where Jesus was placing His focus.

When Jesus came to earth, His number one focus was doing God’s will, and by doing this, He was also giving glory to God. While Jesus came to show humanity what God is like, Jesus was most interested in accomplishing what God (The Father) had for Him to do. Jesus never performed a miracle to draw the focus onto Himself. Instead, He performed miracles and healings to give glory to God and to push Satan’s kingdom back.

In this request, had Jesus performed some miraculous sign, it would have broken His mission of giving God glory. If Jesus had given these leaders a sign from heaven, He would have taken the focus off of God and placed it onto Himself. While the leaders might not have been aware of the trap, Jesus could see it clearly.

But not only that, the simple act of asking for a miraculous sign in itself is odd when looking back on the event. Jesus performed miracle after miracle and the only criteria that someone needed to witnessing these miracles was being present with Jesus when someone needed help.

By asking for a miraculous sign, these religious leaders and Pharisees tell us that they rejected all of Jesus’ miracles up to that point as tricks or magic. They show their skepticism in this request because there were too many examples of miracles prior to their request to be able to ignore.

These religious leaders fall into a trap that many of us fall into. These people wanted to see a sign personally rather than believe based upon someone else’s word.

However, faith doesn’t come through always witnessing something. Faith is built when we test ideas and find out if they are valid or not. We can only truly build faith in Jesus if we choose to walk with Him and within His plan. The trap these leaders had fallen into was requiring a sign in order to believe – and Jesus’ response tells us that people who demand this may eventually get a sign, but the sign they receive won’t be a blessing to them.

On the night that Jesus was arrested, as the disciples were talking and walking to the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus pauses to pray an amazing prayer to the Father. While this isn’t like Jesus’ model prayer, we can see this prayer as an example of the type of prayers Jesus prayed.

John opens by telling us, “After Jesus had finished speaking to his disciples, he looked up toward heaven and prayed” (v. 1a)

Jesus had finished sharing with the disciples what He wanted them to know, and now He would turn His attention and focus towards the Father. Jesus opens His prayer by saying, “Father, the time has come for you to bring glory to your Son, in order that he may bring glory to you. And you gave him power over all people, so that he would give eternal life to everyone you give him. Eternal life is to know you, the only true God, and to know Jesus Christ, the one you sent. I have brought glory to you here on earth by doing everything you gave me to do. Now, Father, give me back the glory that I had with you before the world was created.” (v. 1b-5)

Here in the garden, Jesus’ prayer begins by centering on the idea of glory. But while we might think of glory being something that gets placed on a pedestal and is protected and cherished, the context of Jesus’ words imply a different sort of lifting up. Jesus was about to receive glory from the Father, and this glory would be displayed through His being lifted up on the cross.

Jesus was lifted up, and the cross He was crucified on has become a symbol for Christians everywhere that demonstrates God’s love for us by reminding us of Jesus’ sacrifice.

But also tucked away in this opening to Jesus’ prayer is a working definition of eternal life. Jesus says here in His prayer that, “Eternal life is to know you, the only true God, and to know Jesus Christ, the one you sent.” (v. 3)

Those of us who choose eternal life by choosing Jesus are choosing a life where we will forever spend time moving closer towards God and Jesus. If we have any reservations about God, or if we are fearful of Him, then heaven would not be a good place for us and eternal life would be torturous.

This is why I believe our life on earth, in addition to helping share the good news about what Jesus did for us, should be about growing a relationship with God as best we can here on earth. If we choose to focus on strengthening our relationship with God in this life, the focus of our next life will only be more of what is natural to us today.

When reading this passage, I notice something interesting. Within Jesus’ examples of planning ahead, He includes the idea of a king receiving news that an army is headed his way with 20,000 soldiers. This king only has 10,000 soldiers and has to decide whether to fight or send a delegation asking for terms of peace.

In this example we see two contrasting ideas, and how we have the choice between these two options. We do not have the choice to avoid challenges, but we have the option of fighting – usually an uphill battle – with the chance of succeeding, or we can voluntarily submit to the challenge which leads us down the road of peace. In a battle, there are usually clear winners and clear losers, though one might argue that both sides lose in an adversarial situation such as this.

The problem with the battle option is that once one side has been declared the loser, they usually don’t experience peace, but instead bitterness, hostility, and/or anger as well as the desire for revenge.

However, voluntary submission, or at least being open to the idea, can lead to true peace, because through great communication we are often able to declare that both sides win. It is only when we are able to help the other side win in a way that we are also benefited that true peace can take place – and this is much harder to accomplish after one has chosen the “fight” option.

When challenges come your way, are you more likely to fight to win, or voluntarily submit to the challenge as a way forward to peace?