Find out what eternal life is and how to attain it.
John 17:1-5 (NIV)
CONTEXT: Jesus has been teaching His disciples after the Last Supper and right before He's arrested. This passage contains what is known as His High Priestly Prayer. We'll read the first five verses today, and vss. 6-12 tomorrow.
17 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:
“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
Canons of Dordt
Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election
7 - Election
Election is God’s unchangeable purpose by which he did the following:
Before the foundation of the world,
by sheer grace, according to the free good pleasure of his will,
God chose in Christ to salvation
a definite number of particular people
out of the entire human race,
which had fallen by its own fault from its original innocence into sin and ruin.
Those chosen were neither better nor more deserving than the others, but lay with them in the common misery.
God did this in Christ,
whom he also appointed from eternity to be the mediator,
the head of all those chosen, and the foundation of their salvation.
And so God decreed
to give to Christ those chosen for salvation,
and to call and draw them effectively into Christ’s fellowship through the Word and Spirit.
In other words, God decreed
to grant them true faith in Christ, to justify them,
to sanctify them,
and finally, after powerfully preserving them in the fellowship of the Son, to glorify them.
God did all this in order to demonstrate his mercy, to the praise of the riches of God’s glorious grace.
Summary
Jesus prays this prayer even as the establishment assembles a squad led by Judas to arrest Jesus in the dark of night, yet Jesus begins His prayer by acknowledging that God had granted Him authority over all people! Think of that - Jesus didn't go to the cross as a passive victim, but as One who had full authority over those who arrested, tortured, judged and nailed Him to the cross.
Jesus did this so that He might give eternal life to all those His Father had given Him. Jesus was very much in control on that awful night; He was using Judas and the goon squad that arrested Him, the sham trial before the high priest, Pontius Pilate and everything else related to His crucifixion in order to give you eternal life! Jesus did this because our Father had first given you to Him.
As we come to grips with these difficult passages describing God's sovereignty in our salvation, it's so easy to let go of the tension and come to a fatalistic conclusion that thinks of ourselves and the world around us to be nothing more than pre-programmed robots unwittingly marching towards God's pre-ordained conclusion. It's almost as if all of history is just a giant set of dominoes and after tipping the first one, God just is sitting back from afar and watching the show.
But passages like today's vividly demonstrate the absurdity of such notions. Yes, the Father granted Jesus authority over all people and also gave to His Son all those He had chosen for eternal life. This is the very definition of sovereignty. But God doesn't just aloofly sit back and watch things play out. He, in the person of the Son, stepped into history to take the abuse His enemies willingly inflicted in order to save those He chose before creation to willingly receive His grace.
Dig Deeper
Verse three is one of the most important verses in the Bible: Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, who you have sent. This verse communicates two massive truths. First, it explains what we'll be doing for all eternity: coming to know God and all that He has created. In other words, we'll be continually exploring and learning in the perfected new heavens and earth.
Today we're going to concentrate on the other truth this verse unpacks: how it is that you attain eternal life - you do so by coming to know the only true God and Jesus Christ. The Canons unpack what it is you must come to know:
That God gave you to Christ, who fulfilled the conditions necessary for you to attain eternal life;
That God draws you into Christ’s fellowship through the Word and Spirit.
That God decreed:
to grant you true faith in Christ, to justify you,
to sanctify you,
and finally, after powerfully preserving you in the fellowship of the Son, to glorify you.
All of this to say that while God is truly sovereign in working out all things for your salvation, you are not just a passive, pre-programmed recipient of it. As one who has been given to Christ, you must do the hard work of coming to know and understand exactly what has been done on your behalf.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, the only true God;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank God for giving you to His Son for salvation, and pray that you'll do the hard and continual work of coming to know Him;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Acts 15
Thank you for these beautiful verses daily.🙏⚘️💕