“This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Yeshua the Messiah.” John 17:3 WMB

We have a taste of eternal life right now, but our natural body has not yet been changed into the glorified body we will live in in the new heaven and new earth, John describes in Revelation 1 – 2.

Paul puts eternal life and know the only true God in that perspective.

God’s dwelling will be with His People. (Revelation 21:3) Then, we will see God face to face and we will know as we have been known.

“Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be restrained; where there is knowledge, it will be dismissed. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial passes away.
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I set aside childish ways. Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:8-13.

Our natural body is not made to withstand the glory of God face to face. (Exodus 33:1-22)

Yet, God will dwell with us in the new heaven and new earth. (Revelation 21:1-7) So, at the resurrection, God gives us a body made for eternal life.

“And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so also shall we bear the likeness of the heavenly man. Now I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed — in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must be clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.” 1 Corinthians 15:49-54 (1 Corinthians 15:35-58; John 5:21; Romans 5:14; Colossians 3:4; Philippians 3:20-21)

This is the confidence that we have in God — eternal life.

“I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we already possess what we have asked of Him.” 1 John 5:13-15.

Note: In his closing words of 1 John 5, John is referring to everything that he wrote in the previous chapters of 1 John.

This is the confidence we have when we draw near to the throne of grace.

“Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:14-16 ESV (Hebrews 2:17; 3:1)

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quoted above is from the Berean Study Bible.

~ Bill Bremer

Bill Bremer is Founder and Managing Director at Kingdom Relationships Colorado.

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