Explanation:
Can you imagine the day when everything will be put back in order? Can you imagine the day when nothing will stand between us standing in the presence of God, unencumbered from sin, conflict, pain, or sorrow? The word that the Bible uses to describe this is ‘shalom.’ “...shalom, the peace of God that on our plane is life together of wolf and lamb, nation and nation, Creator and creature” (Van Harm Loc. 3950). It is “the final reconciliation of ‘all things’ grounded in the work of Christ the reconciler and accomplished by the Spirit of communion, is the process by which the whole creation along with human beings will be freed from transience and sin to reach the state of eternal peace and joy in the communion with the triune God” (Volf in Van Harm Loc. 4057). Doesn’t that sound beautiful? Isn’t that what we are all longing for?
Here is another great thing about, what the Bible calls “eternal life,” it starts today. Eternal life is not just something that happens after we die but is a quality of life that can be lived now. As John 10:10 says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Is Jesus saying that, “Yeah, life may be bad, but hold on and wait until you die, then you will have life?” No! Jesus came that we may experience the fullness of life today! “We are not being offered an endless extension of our biological existence but rather a transformation of that existence” (McGrath 104).
Look at these verses that back up that understanding of eternal life…
John 17:3 says, “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”
John 5:24 says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life”"
With that being said, “eternal life” is also about the life to come. “...death sweeps away the remaining obstacles to our experiencing the presence of God” (McGrath 105).
1 John 3:2 tells us, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is”
To quote Brian Dennert, “We believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Therefore, we believe that we will not exist as disembodied souls floating on clouds, but also that our hope is not just a renewed world, but being in the presence of God as we were meant to be. May this hope give us comfort now and also drive us to share this good news with those around us, as we live in a world that needs hope and comfort.”
Exploration:
Revelation 21:1-22:6; John 17:1-5; Titus 1:2-3