Like physical life, it’s hard to define. But—leaning hard on Scripture—we can perhaps say that at its heart eternal life is the character and quality of existence that God experiences in himself. Very importantly, this is a trinitarian life—for the Bible reveals that the one God exists as a “holy family” comprised of three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is therefore a relational life, marked by contemplation, communication, service, sharing, pleasure, and mutual love.

In this the love of God was manifested toward us,
that God sent His uniquely-begotten Son into the world
that we might live through Him.
1 John 4:9

It’s morning on the moon, and you’re liking it less and less.

When the crackling voice on the radio woke you up, you somehow expected to see a tide of golden sunlight pouring onto carpets of green grass. Instinctively, you listened for birds, for water rushing over the river rocks, for saws or cars or kids. Immersed in a childhood memory, you even thought you caught the scent of bacon, cold cantaloupe, hotcakes, and maple syrup.

But now, as you look out the window of your module, you see no movement at all. As you listen for sounds and voices, there is only silence. As your mind imagines colors, your eyes find only black and white. A little flurry of panic hits you as you realize the stark truth: This place is dead.

Almost frantically, you search for Earth.

Ah yes, there she is: the blue seas, the swirling clouds, the shapely continents of land. Family and friends. Hopes and dreams. Life.

It will be good be home.

The Fight of His Life

The plight of our imaginary astronaut reveals something intriguing about “life”: we are so completely enveloped in it that we can barely see it! We live it, we enjoy it, we daily seek more of it. But it’s not until we take a trip to Death Valley, or Antarctica, or maybe even the moon, that we begin to think about “life,” and to realize how strange and amazing and precious it really is.

As in the natural, so in the spiritual: It is usually a brush with death that makes us appreciate the true richness of eternal life.

We see this clearly in John’s first epistle. Writing to the churches in Asia, the apostle went toe to toe with a heresy called Gnosticism, a heresy that denied the deity of Christ, licensed immorality, and encouraged a loveless pride based on mystical “revelations” from above.

Many of John’s close friends had been taken in. Error, fear, and temptation to sin had arisen in their midst. Death was stalking the camp of the saints. So he wrote—passionately—to confront the heretics and to call the faithful back to the true gift of God: eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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