What is Eternal Life

John 20:30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
John intended that the reader of the book would receive life. What is it to have life and why is it necessary? What is this life and what is eternal life? You may already have a pre-conceived notion influenced by various sources. But, we must ask, what is this life?
Life from God, is that something we need when we die? -or- Is life from God something that we need now, because we are dead and in need of life now?

For most, eternal life is perceived as something that they need when they die! But is that what Jesus proclaimed? A vital question that demands understanding! How crucial is this, crucial enough that Jesus said without this rebirth, without this life, a man can not enter the kingdom of God!

John Piper is one of the men that God used to open my eyes to the truth of Jesus Christ and his Gospel, but John made the statement that Jesus did not tell Nicodemus how to be born again? He said that this was not declared to him and in declaring his need for rebirth, he did not advise Nicodemus how it could happen. Frankly, I was astonished to hear this and realized that the influence on the definition of what eternal life is comes from all sorts of sources. A friend of mine started affirming Piper's position and we dialogued on the perspective of Jesus not informing Nicodemus how to be born again. I took him to this text in John 20, and said, not only did Jesus tell Nicodemus how to be born again, but his apostle John wrote a whole book on it, and included the Nicodemus account in it! My friend conveyed that he felt that this life that John was referring to was eternal life when you die, and seemed perplexed at the thought of the life John proclaimed being life now. Frankly, as I began to proclaim this position, the logic fit perfectly to me, but I realized that few today have preached such truths, and that it is widely held that life refers to something you get in the future. As my friend questioned the usage of this life John refers to to mean eternal life when you die rather than the rebirth Jesus proclaimed, I began to realize that few today have ever explained this text in this way. It became abundantly clear to be the case, when I hear that Piper would make such an astonishing statement.

I raise the question if a man must be born again, does he not need life? Is the term born again simply a religious term that distinguishes some Christians from others? To say that something needs to be born (again) invariably declares that life is needed. To be born means to receive life from God, to be born again means to be born to life by God. Nicodemus was alive as any man alive today, but Jesus told him he needed life in order to enter the Kingdom of God! He did not tell him that he will get life when he gets to heaven! To the contrary, he said, verily, verily, unless a man be born again, he can not enter the Kingdom of God. So Jesus said that you need life to enter the Kingdom of God, but there is wide spread confusion in our culture today, in that bible teaching has egregiously influenced / deceived many to think that eternal life is something you get when you die.

Without a doubt this is one of the most important questions a professed follower of Christ should know about! To be deceived into thinking that eternal life is what you get when you die, it will be drastically problematic to learn that you did not have what was needed to get into the Kingdom of Heaven, thinking you would get what was needed to get in when you die, but actually needed it to in order to get in and will now hear those damning words of Jesus:

Mat 7:21 " Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'

How sobering is that, many think they have it figured out! Do you think you have it figured out? Do you think this does not apply to you? It seems that there is no question that EVERY one of these who asked clearly did much in the name of the Lord, but were cast into outer darkness. Do we have this life of God now? Do you have this life of God that apart from which, you will be cast into outer darkness?

How do we get this life?

• From our church?
  
• From church leaders?
  
• Through religious ceremonies?
  
• Through the outward act of baptism?
  
• Thru praying a prayer?
  
• Thru confessing our sins? By asking for forgiveness?
  

Is there any more essential question to answer?