Eternal life is God’s promise and confident hope of every Christian who has accepted Christ’s redemptive sacrifice on the cross for their sins.  The questions we may ask are:   What is eternal life?   What will it be like?   Where will we live after we die?  What will our eternal body be like?  Where will we be and who will we be with and know?  What will heaven be like and what will I do there?

These are big questions, some we know more about than others.  I will try to address all these questions based on scripture and then list below as many scriptures related to these questions as I can find.

God created Adam and Eve with an immortal soul and with a body and placed them on an earth designed to live forever without flaw or disease or weed or contamination.  That was God’s design and goal.  Satan came into being when he, Lucifer, separated himself from God and allowed his own pride develop.  God had to remove him and 1/3 of heaven’s angels who followed him from heaven.  They chose to deceive and pull Adam and Eve and all their descendants from God too with goal of hurting God and creating an army of subordinates to do their bidding. 

Satan’s deceptions and lies and temptations have been effective and has caused incredible harm and damage and death over the generations since.  God removed Adam and Eve from Eden and removed His tree of life from earth, so death became the inevitable physical end of life for all life on earth and ultimately the earth itself.  That is the consequence of satan’s influence and man’s sins.   

But that is not the end but the beginning of God’s story to us.  The plan of sacrifice was implemented for an animal sacrifice to be made for God’s forgiveness to be granted to repentant individuals.  But that plan was the first step in God’s plan of redeeming His creation with goal of restoring His creation and restore the personal relationship He initially had with Adam and Eve in the beginning.

The Old Testament is full of Israel’s and individuals journey of sin but also of repentance and obedience.   A journey of faith and trusting in God as well as detours of sin and rebellion.  But God fulfilled His promise and Christ came to earth, lived among humans, and then became mankind’s ultimate sacrifice for their sins.  Then everything changed for the better.  Individuals no longer needed to sacrifice an animal but, instead, approach Christ directly seeking to receive forgiveness.  Christ became and continues as their and our sacrifice and intercessor for personal sins and then the Holy Spirit came to become the comforter, guide, counselor, warrior for us 24x7x365.  When His Holy Spirit came, everyone who receives Christ’s mercy was and is given God Himself as their Champion and best friend and guide so a Christ-like life then becomes possible.   God’s Word was also given as God’s living Word and “Love Letter” to teach us who God is and what He is like but also to guide us along life’s journey so we can grow to become more like Christ’s example as we grow in years.  The personal relationship available to each Christian is accomplished by the work of the Holy Spirit and by knowledge gained from God’s Word and by the love and faith / trust we develop towards God as we get to know Him.

That relationship does not end at death but continues and is then perfected.   Likewise, eternal life or the new life Christ’s Grace provides for us, begins the day we accept His Grace and Salvation and grows and develops as our relationship and faith and obedience grow.   But a transformation of soul and body happens on the other side of the grave for the Christian believer.   What is that transformation and what will it be like?  Let’s explore what scripture tells us together.

Eternal life is defined and described as life without the guilt, the penalty, and enslavement to sin.  Eternal life is also described as freedom to choose good and to be fully forgiven and given the Holy Spirit as a personal guide and helpmate.  Eternal life is also a love covenant with the Creator of all without an end or completion.

When we accept Christ as our Savior, we make a new covenant with Him.  A covenant to love and serve Him and His covenant is to prepare an eternal home for us.  He even calls us “His Bride” and He “our Groom”.  

Eternal life in this life may include some body healing but eternal life in heaven will include a new perfect body that will not get sick or grow old or require sleep or even food to maintain strength.  Eternal life in heaven includes a mansion or home He is currently building / preparing for us.

We will not need to eat to strengthen or nourish our immortal bodies but we will be able to eat and will enjoy a great banquet prepared for Christ and those redeemed by His sacrifice and His return to defeat satan and his angels and bind them and establish His kingdom forever.

When we look at the lives of Peter and the other disciples, we see a dramatic transformation from fear of persecution and death, from fear of an uncertain future to a boldness and passion in witness and proclaiming Christ’s redeeming sacrifice on the cross and as our Lord and Savior.  They all did face persecution and ultimately death knowing their eternal home with Christ was secure.  They knew their mortal bodies would be replaced with better immortal bodies and their new eternal home in heaven was infinitely better than anything possible on earth.  They looked forward even more to an eternity with Christ, who they loved dearly during His 3 years with them on earth.  But what made the most difference was the gift of the Holy Spirit given to them and indwelled with each of them enabling them to experience God’s presence more personally and more powerfully.  They had His Spirit to guide and council and encourage and strengthen and inspire.  The Holy Spirit made all the difference to them.    The Holy Spirit is also available to every believer too.  Yes, to you and me to transform and made as great a difference in our lives while on earth while preparing us for heaven.

We only have a glimpse from scripture of heaven.  We also only have some clues of what our heavenly eternal bodies will be like.  But we know who made the world with all it’s beauty.  We know the Father through Christ’s life here and through the Holy Spirit’s influence in our lives.  So, if God, who created the world and everything on and in it, how wonderful must be what He is preparing for us?  More wonderful than we can imagine!  We may not know or imagine until we see it, but we can know who is creating it for us.  Consider how unworthy we are like the harlot Gomer was for her husband Hosea, if you read the story in the old testament book of Hosea, then we must bow in praise and gratitude and obedience to our Lord and Savior who loves us like none other and sacrifice for our redemption like none other could or would.

So, the last question is what will we do in heaven?  We will certainly praise and worship Him but we will also serve Him (Matthew 4:10).  We are not given much detail of how we will serve Him, but if look at Genesis 2:15 , God gave Adam and Eve work to do prior to corruption of sin entering the earth through their sin.  God have them enjoyable and fulfilling work to do while fellowshipping with them.  It is reasonable to believe God will have similar work for us to do too.  Talents and gifts and abilities will match tasks given.  Beyond that, we can only speculate trusting He will make living there both fulfilling and exciting but also good.  HEAVEN WILL NOT BE BORING OR UNPRODUCTIVE .  WE WON’T BE LAYING AROUND WITH NOTHING TO DO OR JUST “PLAY HARPS”  as some cartoons or movies indicate.  So what we need to be concerned about is making sure we are “right with Him” and are faithful in prayer and service so are partnering with Him in winning others too.  In other words, living the eternal life here so heaven need not seem so far away.

We can be certain of our forgiveness and certain of our salvation.   We can be certain of our destination when we die.  We can be certain of our future.  That certainly gave the early Christians and Christians in every generation since joy in the midst of suffering and grief and even death.  All me must do is look to Christ and follow His instruction with our hand in His and our eyes on Him.  The Holy Spirit helps us sustain that if we ask His help.

We can only imagine how wonderful heaven will be and, as we get older and our bodies become weaker and more riddled with pain, we find ourselves longing for heaven more.  But as long as we have breath, God still has work for us to do here and people we need to share our confident hope and joy with.  Yet, we also know we will know those in heaven we knew here.  We will have memories there of our lives here.  Being greeted by our loved ones and  greeting those who pass after us will be such a joyous reunion too.  I am also looking forward to spending time with my ancestors and discover how their faithfulness impacted me and opened the doors for me to accept and know Christ.  I am looking forward to hearing Daniel’s and Joseph’s and Noah’s and Jonah’s and Esther’s, and …. stories first hand and discover how their stories rippled through the centuries to impact me as well.

But we must also remember while here the urgency to share His Good News because (John 14:6) Christ is the only way to eternal life and heaven and the only way to avoid God’s judgment and eternal damnation to hell.  Some believe God is only a loving God and would never condemn his creation to hell.  But scripture tells us it is appointed to us once to die and then the judgment.  Christ gave us the story of Lazarus and the rich man to impress on us there is a judgment waiting for satan and those who die lost in their sins.  That judgment is clearly explained in Revelation.  The details given should convince us hell is too terrible to allow any risk of going there as heaven is too wonderful to  allow any risk of missing it. 

Some think not believing this means God and heaven and hell don’t exist or aren’t real.  But not believing doesn’t change the facts our Bible gives us truth and reality of God’s existence and reality of heaven and hell.  Scripture tells us one day everyone will bow before God either in worship or in forced submission and judgment.  God will honor our choice while alive and encourage us to make the wise choice to follow Him, but none the less will enforce the consequences of that choice.  We can choose either good or evil, Christ or satan.  But we can’t choose the consequences of that choice.  Only God can do that.   His Grace is being extended as long as He can but one day His judgment will be implemented and time and opportunity to repent will be completed.  So, we need to receive and share His Gospel while there is still time.  He is urging us to do so before His  return and judgment is implemented.

Writing these devotions and messages and studying His Word helps me do so and provide me fulfillment knowing I am obeying His calling and sharing His Gospel of Good News and Salvation and Hope to many hungry to hear and receive and helping equipping them so they can share that Good News too.

                                                                                   

Below are some supporting scriptures:

John 6:47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.

John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.”

John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

1 John 5:13-14 I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

John 5:24 I assure you: Anyone who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.

Philippians 3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:18-20 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,  built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

Colossians 1:13-14 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Matthew 7:13-14 Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

John 10:28-29 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish—ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

John 10:28-30   I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.

John 3:16   For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

 

1 Corinthians 15:20-22   But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

Revelation 21:4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

1 Corinthians 15:26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death.

John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

John 14:2-3 “² In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

Revelation 19:7-9 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

Isaiah 54:5 For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called.

Philippians 3:21 Who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

1 Corinthians 15:51-54 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. …

1 Corinthians 15:51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

1 Corinthians 15:35-38 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.

1 Corinthians 15:20-23 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.

1 John 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

2 Peter 3:13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Revelation 20:1-15 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while. Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. …