Eternal Life is knowing God and Jesus Christ.
And this is Life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. John 17:3.
Do you see the shocking statement in this verse? “THIS IS ETERNAL LIFE THAT THEY MIGHT KNOW THEE THE ONLY TRUE GOD AND JESUS AND JESUS CHRIST WHOM THOU HAST SENT.”
In other words, “eternal life” is a deeply personal journey of knowing God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Knowing Him means to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with, and understand. So, what is Eternal Life?
What is Eternal Life?
I think that, generally, people describe Eternal Life in some of the following ways:
Eternal Life is living in fellowship with God from now till throughout all eternity
Many people believe that Eternal Life, possibly more than anything, equates to heaven or going to heaven.
Eternal Life is the future hope
Eternal Life is Life after death with God
Eternal Life is not going to hell
Let’s state the Obvious.
We have often missed the boat when we consider dying and going to heaven to enjoy paradise and miss out on the greatest promise of all.
The promise is that Eternal Life is knowing God. Jesus prays to God and declares this.
Eternal Life is not just living forever but experiencing a deep, personal connection and knowledge of God.
What does it mean to know God?
It has to be more than an intellectual understanding of the Bible. It is about a deep personal connection.
We have the promise in I John 5:20 Jesus has come to give us this understanding of our Father. Jesus was and is the God-man. He is God in a human body. Jesus was all God and all man. He showed us God. When you see Jesus, you see God. When you see Jesus, you see the Father.
What Eternal Life IS
Eternal Life is knowing God the Father. You know God the Father by knowing Jesus. The Holy Spirit guides you through the Word of God to know all about your Father and to know Him.
Experiencing God is experiencing Eternal Life. Eternal Life is a personal, intimate relationship with God and Jesus through the Holy Spirit. It is knowing God not as some distant power but as Father and more than Father but as Abba or Daddy.
We should live to know God. Eternal Life is not some distant future promise but an everyday knowledge and intimacy with God.
Eternal Life is not about escaping death and hell, but knowing God for who He really is.
Eternal Life is not about a place, but a person.
Eternal Life is experiencing the abundant glory and love of God, realizing that it never runs out, stops, or tires, providing comfort and security.
How do we know the Father?
To know the Father, we must know the Son.
In the Bible, knowing is the very word used to describe the intimacy of a relationship.
Our knowing and intimacy with God should be a journey of continuous growth, a source of hope and motivation.
We know God by how He revealed Himself. He revealed Himself in the Scriptures but much more deeply and clearly in His Son Jesus. Jesus was God incarnate, or God in human flesh.
As we live and love Jesus, He shows Himself more each day.
Quotes
What is “eternal life”? It is knowing God personally. Not just knowing about Him, but having a personal relationship with Him through faith in Jesus Christ. We cannot know the Father apart from the Son (John 14:6–11). It is not enough simply to “believe in God”; this will never save a lost soul from eternal hell. “The devils [demons] also believe, and tremble” (James 2:19). Our Lord’s debate with the Jewish leaders (John 8:12ff) makes it clear that people may be devoutly religious and still not know God. Eternal life is not something we earn by character or conduct; it is a gift we receive by admitting we are sinners, repenting, and believing on Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone.
Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 368.
Eternal life turns on nothing more and nothing less than knowledge of the true God. Eternal life is not so much everlasting life as personal knowledge of the Everlasting One.
D. A. Carson, The Gospel according to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991), 556.