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Here is my perspective. In the final analysis, immortality is pointless if I try to cut God my Creator out of the picture. And so when I think of the Bible’s teaching on the subject of eternal life, I think about more than living forever. I also think about the quality of eternal life. You see, for me, the longer I have lived, the more I equate life itself with my relationship with God; not just the air I breathe in and out.

This is why, when we study the subject of eternal life in the Bible, we have to think of both “quantity” and “quality.” Yes, eternal life is just as it says: eternal. When we die, we will be resurrected in a new body to live with the Lord forever. But our life with the Lord will also have a holy “quality” to it. It will be filled with joy. It will be worth living forever in the presence of a God who is worth knowing forever.

It is possible to be breathing, but to be dead on the inside. But it is also possible to be dying physically, but to be more alive than ever.  In Luke 24:1-6, we find one of the passages that describe the resurrection: “On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.  While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.  In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?  He is not here; he has risen!”

Because Jesus rose from the dead, we can life.  And life, for the Christian is so much more than merely breathing.

Dear Stories of Value Subscribers: We have been in a Devotion story paralleling my Sunday series, “Jesus: What You Need to Know”.  This Sunday the series concludes.  For the next several days I will be posting devotional excerpts from my last two sermons on “Jesus, The Victor” and “Jesus, The Conqueror.”  Then, we will begin a new series connected to a fall study for the Northside Christian Church family.  The fall series is called, “Pray Here”, and in it we will be considering how we pray in the midst of life’s changing circumstances.  I hope you enjoy the new series in preparation for this special season of prayer, as well as the remaining “Jesus” posts.  Blessings…Larry Jones.

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Most people would like to live longer. But while we would like to live longer, not every idea on how this might happen is well received. Several years ago when Michael Wells published the book, “The Immortal Cell”, he set off a firestorm of controversy because his views toward stem cell research and cloning sounded a lot like someone trying to play God with human life.

I want you to know I am all for scientific research to help us live longer and better lives, as long as we can satisfy some fundamental ethical questions. But something West said in an interview a couple of years before he published his book really caught my attention. In an interview with a reporter he was asked, “Are we immortal individuals?” West said this, “That’s right. We are immortal in the sense that we continue to have immortality through our children. The goal of medicine is to try to translate that biology into treating age-related disease and potentially making humans immortal. Whether we’ll be successful in that attempt, of course, remains to be seen. We’re optimistic that we can improve how you and I age, potentially adding not only life to years but years to our life.”

It has been several years since this statement was made, but there is still a struggle in the field of bioscience when it comes to human attempts to engineer human life. And here is the irony: Some people who play God with science feel as though it is implausible to think there is a God who created life (or can raise the dead), because they have trouble reconciling a good God with an imperfect world. But the same people who don’t think God is good enough to run the universe, have no trouble believing it is possible for humans to achieve immortality on their own, and are confident man can be in charge of human lives without self-destructing.

Which would you rather have: a good God we don’t completely understand who can raise the dead or an immortal human race managed by man?

I will be honest with you. The thought there is something we can do to live longer excites me. But the notion of an immortal human life engineered and managed by humans scares me to death.  When it comes to eternal life, quality is more important than quantity.  And the quality of this life begins with God.

Unless we remember our desperate need for grace, and Jesus’ willingness to offer it through His death on the cross, we can grow smug in our daily walk. Our acts of obedience can be perceived as grace payments, and our worship as an avenue of spiritual pride.

We cannot compete for God’s favor through our own efforts. All we can do is receive His best and give our best. The Lamb is His best, and our best is our whole being, for better or worst.  For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water.  And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Rev 7:17　NIV)

Life with the Lamb

Life with the Lamb of God is filled with joy. It also beats the alternative. The other way to approach our faith in God is with self-sufficiency, counting on our own service and holiness to please God. Obviously, we please God when we work in His kingdom and obey His commands, but neither of these have the power to save us. We are saved by the Lamb.

The choice between justifying ourselves or accepting the justification brought about by Jesus’ sacrifice, better  known as “works verses grace”, is not normally discussed within the context of Jesus’ role as Lamb. Yet, there is no more appropriate place. The Lamb of God is the perfect symbol of grace as He was God come to save those who were incapable of saving themselves.

The Lamb reminds us our daily sacrifice is a response of love, not a payment. Jesus showed us the heart of God as He was willing to be rejected by the world for our sakes.  Unfortunately, the world had a hard time accepting for free what it could not achieve on its own.

In a way, accepting the Lamb of God is an admission of our own personal weakness.  It is hard for us to know we were saved through the humble act of another.  If Jesus had come in the form of the Old Testament pillar of fire and smoke, we could have bowed before Him in fear. Had He leaped in our path as the Lion of Judah and shook the earth below us with a roar, we could have trembled in submission. But He came as a Lamb and was despised.  Yet, we are lost without Him, and must therefore lose ourselves to be found. “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:18-19)/

In the Old Testament we read the famous account of Abraham’s test of faith involving his son Isaac. Abraham and Sara had waited all their lives for a promised child, and were blessed with Isaac at an age so advanced Sara laughed when she heard she was going to give birth. Isaac surely brought much joy to their home, and we can only imagine Abraham’s emotions when God asked him to take Isaac to a mountaintop and sacrifice him on an altar. Aside from the fact this was an incredibly bizarre request from the God we find revealed throughout scripture, it was certainly a test of great magnitude. Abraham was faithful and obeyed God, but as he was about to slay Isaac on the altar, an angel of the Lord stopped him. Abraham had passed the test. Then Abraham looked in a nearby thicket and saw a ram lodged there by God. He took the ram, sacrificed him on the altar and named the place, “The Lord will Provide.”

God provided Abraham’s sacrifice for him since there was no way He was going to let him harm Isaac. Abraham was faithful and God was faithful. This is the relationship that typifies the place of the Lamb of God in our salvation.

In the fullness of time, when we were desperately in need of salvation, God sent His Son Jesus to die for us. He was the perfect Lamb who took our sinfulness, guilt and shame on Himself. He did what we could not do for ourselves, and because of His sacrifice, we have an opportunity to be freed from our prison of sin. God was faithful in paying the debt we could not pay and we receive this gift through our own faith in the Son.

Had God-given us something we were capable of giving ourselves, His gift would not be nearly as significant. But since we were hopelessly lost in our sins, and the Lamb redeemed us, we fall on our knees in humble submission and offer everything we are to Him in gratitude.

The Gift of the Lamb 

Under the Old Testament Law, God’s people were responsible for their own sacrifice. The system was designed to accommodate those of various social classes so no one could say he was incapable of participating.

Yet, there was one sacrifice no human was capable of making: a full atonement for sin. Theologians have used various explanations to describe the inadequacy of the Old Testament sacrificial system to save. Some say the sacrifices offered up before Jesus came to earth were a means of “rolling over” debt. The debt wasn’t erased, but God accepted the sacrifices of His people as a sign of repentance and granted them mercy. Others describe something similar to a shopping cart where the world’s sins were gathered together in a grace basket, to eventually be purchased at the cross.

It is generally assumed the blood of Jesus was retroactive, in that it became the agent by which those who obeyed God in the Old Testament were saved. We may not be able to fully comprehend this arrangement since we are limited by space and time. But we can safely say mankind was incapable of coming up with a sacrifice himself to satisfy the justice of God. The only way we could be saved was for Him to come in the form of His Son Jesus and be both just and justifier.  He remained true to Himself, while paying our debt to set us free.

Jesus’ role as Lamb of God is multi-faceted. We most readily connect it to the sacrificial system of the Old Testament where lamb sacrifices were made as sin offerings (Exodus 39:38-42) and in observance of Passover. In the first case they represented God’s mercy and in the second, His deliverance.

But there are other implications. The thought of the Creator of the universe in human form being led away as a lamb to the slaughter is almost incomprehensible. Yet, Jesus humbled Himself for this cause: to redeem us. The spiritual elite of the day mocked Him for His apparent weakness, but God raised Him up and seated Him at His right hand to reign victorious over His kingdom.

It is gruesome, I know, to consider a lamb’s slaughter, and I will spare the details here. Still, we must understand the vulnerable position Jesus assumed on our behalf. Isaiah painted a worthy picture when he wrote: “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows,and familiar with suffering.Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised,and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows,yet we considered him stricken by God,smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions,he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray,each of us has turned to his own way;and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth;he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:3-7)

It is possible you have heard phrases from this passage all of your life, but have you ever stopped to consider what it meant for the Son of God to allow the world to treat Him this way? None of His actions were necessary for His own survival, and had He not loved us there would have been no motivation to suffer on our behalf. The Lamb of God cannot be understood apart from our sin and our desperate need for redemption. But when we view him in this context, a treasure-store of truth is opened before us.

The Lamb of God

What would you be willing to give up for someone who didn’t deserve help? In his letter to the Romans the Apostle Paul wrote about those who are willing to die for someone whose life is in danger. It is a hard thing to die for a good person or a loved one, and we all admire heroes who make the ultimate sacrifice. But if dying for someone we believe is worth saving is still hard, then dying for an evil person is much harder.

Fire rescue workers are sworn to save others irrespective of moral integrity. When a fire truck arrives at the scene of a house blaze, rescuers don’t check with neighbors to see if the people in peril are good or evil. They don’t run background checks to make sure they don’t pull any convicted felons from the flames.  Instead, they come to seek and save.  That is their mission.

This is the case with the Lamb of God. He came to seek and save the lost, and His mission cost Him everything. Unlike rescue workers, He knew our circumstances. He was aware of every sin we would commit before we were born. But He came anyway. “Everything” and “anyway” describe His heart., and that of His Father.  Paul wrote, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

The Light guides, reveals and empowers. He does so through scripture and the indwelling Holy Spirit. In this way, those who are in Christ are never really in total darkness, though their circumstances might suggest otherwise.

The Light not only leads us at all times, but shines through us for all to see. This is how we become the light of the world. When everyone around us feels defeated because darkness has overtaken them, we testify to the ever-present Light, the Light of the World.

This Light within is not an extension of ourselves or some inner knowledge we hope to achieve. Rather, it is Christ in us, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). He has overcome the evil one and transferred us into His kingdom of Light.

Right now you may not see the light, but you can still have the Light. And unlike all man-made light, His will never be extinguished.

It is difficult to step in the direction of an unseen light. Perhaps you have roamed through a familiar building at night, moving slowing until you reach a light switch. You are confident of the availability of light, even before you flip the switch.

But what if you happen to be in a strange building at night? I know it is unlikely, and if you were in such a place, it is possible you would carry a flashlight. Yet, even though the building was new to you, you could safely assume the lighting system was similar to other facilities you had entered, and a light switch could be found with relative ease.

However, imagine you entered a foreign space without any light whatsoever.  What if you didn’t know for certain light existed, such as in a building under construction. Would you step forward or retreat until daylight? Most of us would probably opt for the latter to avoid injury.

Following Jesus as our Light can be familiar, but it can also be mysterious. At times, we have no idea where He is leading us. In our worst moments we might even wonder if He is present. Yet, the beauty of following the One who is Light in His person is the realization our forward movement is not limited by our prior experience.  In other words, Jesus often leads us where we have never been with light we have never seen. Like His Father He takes us through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23) and into green pastures. We can be difficult to lead, but He prods and prompts us in the right direction and reveals His truth to us as we travel together. Did not the two on the road to Emmaus feel their hearts burn within them as Jesus opened the scriptures? (Luke 23:13-35)

Knowing where we are going and where the light might take us is not a prerequisite for moving forward. However, it is critical that we choose Jesus as our Light.