L et us go to the Holy of Holies of the New Testament — the Book of John and consider verses 1-4 of the 17th chapter: “These things spake Jesus; and lift ing up his eyes to heaven, he said, Fa ther, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that the Son may glorify Thee: even as Thou gavest him authority over all flesh, that to all whom thou hast given him, he should give eternal life. And this is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ. I glorified thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which thou hast given me to do.” We would lift out the words “eter nal life” for our meditation. These words form the dominant theme of the Gospel which bears the name of the Apostle John. Addressing the Father in prayer, Jesus said, “This is life eter nal . . .” To get at the very root of the mean ing we must look, again, at verses 3 and 4 of John 17: “And this is life eter nal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” The Apostle John declares in his first Epistle, chapter 5, verse 20— “. . . we know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his
Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” So John equates God with Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ with God. He makes Jesus, God and Jesus declares the same thing here. “This is life eternal to know God and Jesus Christ whom God has sent.” Grant me the privilege to suggest three things that these two verses bring to my mind— 1. Life's greatest manifestation. Verse 3, “This is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” We stated a moment ago that John equates Jesus Christ with God. In the first chapter of this Gospel record of John he de clares, “And in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Verse 14 of the same chapter holds in record, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled or dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begot ten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” In the 8th chapter He declares Him self to be God. In the 5th chapter the Jews understood that He made Himself one with God and therefore they sought to stone Him and to put Him to death. He is God. Jesus Christ said to His disciples in their distress, discourage- 28
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