John 8: 31
Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.
We say, don’t we, that we believe in life after death. That’s unfortunate and this verse explains why. Jesus does not believe in life after death. He believes in life. We get these little ideas in our heads that we think are Biblical but upon closer examination we discover that they are actually misstatements. Reorienting our thinking so that it aligns with the Word of God is how we release freedom in our lives.
The truth is, you will never die. From this side of heaven it appears like death. In truth, your spirit will just take up new residence. People in heaven and other heavenly beings see this truth. They don’t believe in death either because they see a person step out of their body and step into the mansion Jesus prepared for them. They see that person’s life continue.
Jesus said that he came to give us abundant life. The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10: 10). We hear about eternal life. We even talk about eternal life but somewhere the wires have gotten crossed and we have begun to think that the path to eternal life is through death. In other words, that in order to have eternal life, we must die. In a metaphorical sense this is true. We have to die to ourselves in order to live to Christ. That is not what I am discussing though. We think that people die but I say that they don’t. Jesus said that if we keep his word we shall never see death. It just doesn’t make sense to me that in order to accept and receive this eternal life Christ has won for us that we have to die. He came to earth to give us life. If we have to die in order to receive this life, why not just wait until we die to give it to us?
The real point, though, is that this thought process, this seeking, pondering and discovery comes through believing what he has said. He is the one who said if we keep his words we shall not see death. I choose to believe what he said so that launches me into an examination of my own beliefs and assumptions. You will be amazed at what God will reveal to you if you take Him at His word. When you read His Word, if you take Him at face value, illumination will fill your mind, heart and experience. Isn’t that cool? Perhaps you also feels a renewed sense of confidence. There is so much the Lord would like to show you. First, we have to accept what he has already said.
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