1 John 2:25 - Exposition

Eternal life. Connecting link:

Whatever may be the arts used and the temptations set before us by antichrist to draw us away from the Father by tempting us to apostatize from the Son, there can be offered to us by antichrist nothing so great as, yea, nothing to compare with, the vast promise left us on record by our own gracious Lord and Master; for "this is the promise which he [himself] hath given us, even the life, the eternal life." Whence our topic— The greatest of all promises from the greatest of all Promisers.

I. LET US FIRST INQUIRE INTO THE CONTENT AND MEANING OF THE PROMISE . "The eternal life." The phrase is so expressively worded as to indicate that there is one well-understood kind of life which forms the sum and substance of the hope put before Christian believers. It had been, indeed, very clearly defined by our Lord himself (cf. John 17:2 , John 17:3 ). So that on the highest possible grounds we are precluded from any warrant for confounding the phrase "eternal life" with continuity of existence. The latter, indeed, is postulated thereby; but it might be, quite apart from the former. £ The eternal life is that state of being in which the highest part of man's nature is in communion with the Highest One, and in which a perfect organization that can never be impaired is in perfect correspondence with a perfect environment that can never change . O r, to reset this definition in scriptural phraseology, it is an unbroken and unending enjoyment of God by perfected natures in a perfected world. But there is this difference between the two definitions—the one lies in the region of science, and declares in what it must consist if it could be secured; the other lies in the region of revelation, and declares in what it does consist as Divine love secures it! There are three factors in the making of this life.

1 . God, and the riches of his love as the sustaining energy of the soul.

2 . A nature ripened in holiness, and divested of all decaying tendencies in its bodily enswathement, as the developed life of the soul.

3 . A world of undecaying fitness and beauty as the sphere of activity of the soul. Now, the first is precisely that which is the delight and the food of the soul even here. God! God in Christ! The second, so far as concerns the ripening the nature in holiness, is now being secured by the sanctification of the Spirit; and as concerns the freeing of the soul from decaying elements, it is ensured by the body being left behind as a worn-out vesture. The third is revealed as the ensuing outcome of God's plan in preparing a new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. The work already done upon the globe is a prophecy that God is preparing it for something higher. The work already wrought on the soul of the believer is a prediction that it will be carried on to completion ( 1 Corinthians 2:9 ; Philippians 1:6 ; 1 John 3:1 , 1 John 3:2 ; cf. 1 John 1:3 , in which Jesus Christ himself is spoken of as "that Eternal Life," etc.). But the main point now to be insisted on is this—not only that all the elements which go to make up eternal life are even now in existence and action, but also that the consummation, the perfection, and the perpetuity of the life which now exists in germ and develops in growth, are all matter of distinct and definite promise; yea, that this is the promise in which all lesser ones are contained. That we have not to be tantalized with a vision of glory, saying, "That is it if it could be attained," but that we may live under the inspiration of a promise which says—It is the Father's will that you should be kept from failing, and presented "faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy"!

II. THIS , THE GREATEST OF ALL PROMISES , COMES FROM THE GREATEST OF ALL PROMISERS . Not all the conclaves of the wisest philosophers could create or sustain the lowly life of a blade of grass! Yet, somehow or other, there is a promise on record of a girt of life, of the highest life, to men of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues, to a great multitude which no man can number; and that that life shall be sustained forever! Well may the apostle lay stress on the personal pronoun he; for assuredly none but a Divine Being could have the right to make such a promise, for no one but he who is Lord of life could possibly guarantee its fulfillment! The promise, indeed, was first made long before Christ came ( Titus 1:2 ). But in and by The Lord Jesus Christ has it been again vouchsafed.

1 . Where and how has Christ promised eternal life? (Cf. John 6:37-40 , John 6:54 ; John 10:27 , John 10:28 ; John 11:26 ; John 12:26 ; John 14:3 , John 14:19 ; see also John 17:2 , John 17:3 .) But such words as these do not stand alone. Christ bids us "eat his flesh, and drink his blood;" i.e., he gives us himself to live upon—he nourishes us with his own life. All his pledges, moreover, were confirmed by his resurrection and ascension, and by the gift of the Holy Ghost, by whom he now imparts and nourishes the life which he promises eternally to sustain.

2 . What are the qualifications of Christ for making such a promise as this?

III. ARE THESE THINGS SO ? Then:

1 . Let us see that, since the objective ground of the good hope of the believer is found in the word of promise, there is just one point to which the test of validity needs to be applied, viz. the person of him who promises. If he is true, it is! How clear and yet how pure the ground on which we stand!

2 . It should never trouble us to find that neither science nor philosophy can either light us or help us in this matter. We never have looked to them as guides to immortality, and never will.

3 . The ground on which the promise is given removes all improbability of its fulfillment. "Grace;" "love;" "The riches of his grace;" "Herein is love!"

4 . Both objectively and subjectively, the enjoyment of the first-fruits makes us sure of the harvest. Objectively ( Romans 5:10 ). Subjectively ( Philippians 1:6 ).

5 . This clear and definite goal to human existence gives to theories of advance, development, evolution, an intelligible meaning, a crowning glory.

6 . The reason of life is thus magnificently told it! It is that we may become like unto the Son of God, conformed to the type of all goodness, and that forever!

7 . How guilty shall we be, and how miserably poor, if we miss this life! "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God!" Oh! if there be a higher life spoken of by others and experienced by them, and if any have not this higher life, and know they have not, ought they not to cry mightily to its Lord and Giver, saying, "Lord, give me this higher life"? They will not cry in vain. God never deserts the imploring soul.

Lastly: The theme prepares us for an answer to the charge of unbelievers, and for a retort upon them likewise. We are told that the Christian aims are selfish in cherishing the hope of eternal life, and in being inspired thereby. What? Is it selfish to find an inspiration in the hope of being free from all selfishness, and of becoming more and more God-like for ever in benevolence and love? We reply that not to desire eternal life is base ingratitude. It is like saying to the eternal Father, "Father, I know quite enough of thee already, and do not wish to know more; nor do I desire time to grow that I may become more grateful to the goodness and mercy which have crowned my days." The truly loyal son will long to do something to recompense his Father's care, and to fulfill the words, "As a bridegroom rejoiceth over a bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee!"