To Encourage You

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

Jesus told us the truth. Aren’t you glad about that?  Just at the Bible tells us, “it is impossible for God to lie,” so it is impossible for the Son of God, the One Who called Himself, “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), to lie.  Yet, from time to time He took an extra step to emphasize the truth of what He said. One such place is in the verse above from John 6 in which He begins the sentence with “truly, truly.” Wonderfully, the word is repeated, lest we think He is mistaken or lest we miss His point.  And what follows these words is more wonderful still.  Notice, first, that He is speaking to us in the present tense.  He’s telling us that whoever believes (right now) has (right now) eternal life. It’s not something we have to wait for.  Rather, it is a present possession that is eternal in both its quality and its extent.  It’s a life that is God-like, in that it is only God Who has such life inherently and it is only God Who can provide it as His gift to anyone else. 

So, back to the present tense nature of the verse above.  It speaks first about those who believe.  Implied here is belief in the One Who is speaking, i.e., the Lord Jesus Christ.  Notice He didn’t say, whoever “believed” (past tense) has (present tense) eternal life.  Some people who call themselves Christians point to a time, perhaps many years ago, when they put their faith in Christ. However, to look at the fruit of their lives at this very moment, it would be very difficult to see anything that resembles a true follower of Jesus.  They are living in the past tense, and as such, they’re trusting in an aberration. It’s a “belief” in one sense, but it’s a belief in something that Jesus never talked about, for the eternal life He lived and talked about was always in the present tense.  Elsewhere Jesus said that the person who believes Him will obey Him (John 14:15).  That means he or she will obey Him in the present tense.  And He’s talking about those who, at this very moment, believe everything He has said no matter how things look, and no matter how the circumstances and our wavering emotions may be tempting us to believe otherwise.  Here are a couple examples.

• He said that He would never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), and that He is with us always to the very end of the age (Matthew 28:20). So, do you believe this at this very moment, or do you think you are all alone? 
• He has told us that for all those who love Him all things work together for good (Romans 8:28).  So, do you love Him right now?  And do you believe that your present circumstances are right now working toward what is truly good? 

You see, it’s such belief, such moment-by-moment trust, that defines eternal life.  It’s a life of incredible joy and deep abiding peace as a present possession that’s for those who believe.  As the apostle Paul exclaimed from a Roman prison cell, “I have learned in whatever situation I am (present tense) to be content” (Philippians 4:11).  Paul could say this because he lived every moment with the mindset of “I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me” (2 Timothy 1:12). Do you hear that?  “I know (present tense), whom I have believed (present perfect tense, i.e., the verb tense that expresses an action that began sometime in the past but which extends to the present), and I am convinced (present tense) that his is able (present tense) to guard until that day (present tense extending into the future) what has been entrusted to me (present perfect tense).” 

What an incredible present possession is the eternal life of the one who, right here and now, believes.