Sermon Tone Analysis

As part of our weekly Lord’s Day worship, most congregations of the RCUS confess the Apostles’ Creed in unison.

Most of its statements are clear and straightforward, so that there isn’t too much to misunderstand.

When it says that Christ “suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried,” we have some idea of what suffering, death and burial involve.

But what does the Apostles’ Creed mean when it mentions “life everlasting”?

We know something about /life/, perhaps, but our brief existence of twenty, thirty or forty years on this earth hardly qualifies us to understand /everlasting/.

For this we have to turn to the one who has been /our dwelling place in all generation …even from everlasting to everlasting/ (Ps.

90:1–2).

We must turn to the Father of eternity himself.

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Commonly Mistaken Beliefs

There are a few common misconceptions about what everlasting life is that should be cleared up before we go too far into our subject.

At the top of the list is the notion that everlasting life is not that much different than the life that we know now.

It may be a little easier, perhaps less stressful, but fundamentally the same.

The basic idea is that in death we simply move from one world to another or from one existence to another.

The problem with this view is that it fails to connect everlasting life to the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ, who assumed a complete human nature not to make life a little easier for us in the next world, but to take away our sin.

Revelation 21:4, which describes everlasting life about as well as any passage in Scripture, says, /God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away/.

Even the effects of sin will no longer affect us in heaven.

The second misconception is exactly the opposite of the first.

Instead of everlasting life being only a little different from our present life, it sees it as vastly different.

When we die, we all become angels and play harps on fluffy, white clouds throughout all eternity.

God made heaven just to make us happy.

But this is no more real than the previous view.

Men do not become angels (or demons) when they die; to the contrary, men and angels are two completely different kinds of creatures.

Nor will we just lounge around in heaven, enjoying song and admiring God’s handiwork.

No, God made man to serve him.

Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it (Gen.

2:15).

In fact, one the key terms that God uses to describe his covenant people throughout the Bible is /servant/.

And even in heaven God’s covenant people will continue to serve him.

Revelation 22:3 says, /And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him/.

While the exact nature of our future service has not been revealed, we can be sure that whatever it involves will be to our endless enjoyment.

And a third misconception is that everlasting life is something that we receive when we die.

In this world we have /this/ life, but in heaven we’ll have /everlasting/ life.

But this isn’t so either.

We may not have the fullness of everlasting life in this world, but everyone who trusts the shed blood of Jesus Christ and places his hope in the Lord’s triumphant resurrection has everlasting life here and now.

This is the clear teaching of Scripture.

John 3:36 says, /He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life/.

Note the present tense verb /hath/ or /has/ (ἔχει).

Eternal life is not something for which you have to wait.

It’s yours already.

Likewise, John 10:28 adds, /And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand/.

This verse is obviously addressing present concerns, since perishing or being plucked out of the Father’s hand will not be a concern for us in glory.

And concerning this life, Jesus said, using a present tense verb (δίδωμι) again, “I am giving them everlasting life.”

Our catechism picks up on the notion that eternal life is a present reality for us when it says, “I now feel in my heart the beginning of eternal joy” (Heid.

58).

When you stop to think about it, it’s really quite amazing to realize that because we belong to Jesus Christ we already have a life that cannot end.

This is, in fact, the greatest comfort of the Christian faith.

Body and soul, both in life and in death, we will never be separated from our covenant God.

That’s a promise that lasts forever.

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Christ Gives Eternal Life to the Elect

Now, as we turn our attention to our text, the first thing we learn about eternal life is its source.

The ultimate source of life is God the Father (cf.

Rom.

6:23).

It was the Father to whom the Son prayed in our text, and it was also the Father who gave the Son /power over all flesh/ and an elect people of his own.

Both are mentioned in verse 2.

What we have in this verse is a glimpse into the eternal, intra-Trinitarian Covenant of Redemption.

In contemplation of the soon completion of his work on earth, the Son asked the Father to glorify him exactly as the Father had promised to do.

His glorification would allow him, as the mediator of his people, to finish the work that he had begun on earth.

The two promises mentioned here are intimately connected in the sense that the latter is dependent on the former.

That is, the church cannot come to realization unless Christ has authority over all flesh.

This allows him to distinguish his elect from the rest of mankind, to set some apart for salvation and to reject all others.

The Covenant of Redemption naturally leads to the Covenant of Grace.

Adam’s failure to obey the Word of God brought him and all his natural descendants under God’s curse and the sentence of death.

As Calvin reminds us, the fact that newborn infants are occasionally taken by death shows unmistakably that all men enter this world as depraved and guilty sinners.

Distinguishing the elect from the rest of mankind, then, implies the removal of the curse.

Christ gives life to his people — and not just any life, but everlasting life!

He does this through the preaching of the Word of God and the omnipotent work of his Holy Spirit (Heid.

54).

Although God the Father is the ultimate source of everlasting life, our text teaches that this life becomes ours through the mediation of God the Son, who applies it to the elect by the power of God the Spirit.

The three persons of the Trinity work together for our salvation according to the order by which they have chosen to reveal themselves: the Father elects, the Son redeems and the Spirit sanctifies.

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The Essence of Eternal Life

So far, we’ve talked /about/ eternal life without actually saying what it /is/.

Since this is the heart of our concern, we should get to it without further delay.

That takes us to verse 4. Jesus defined eternal life as knowing the only true God (i.e., in contrast to the polytheism of both Greek and Roman cultures) and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent (i.e., the one commissioned to secure our deliverance once and for all).

The fact that our salvation demands a knowledge of Christ further teaches us that he is co-equal with the Father, for how could the knowledge of a mere creature be as necessary to our salvation as the knowledge of God himself?

Thus, eternal life requires a knowledge of the triune God.

Today we ordinarily use the words /know/ and /knowledge/ in an intellectual sense.

In fact, this is its only use in modern English according to the current edition of Webster’s Dictionary.

Other uses of /know/ (e.g., where Genesis 4:1 says that /Adam knew Eve his wife/) are labeled “ar­cha­ic.”

While the Bible certainly uses /know/ and /knowledge/ in an intellectual sense, these words often convey quite a bit more.

Genesis 4:1 is an obvious example, but consider a few other verses as well.

In John 10:27 Jesus said, /My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me/.

Did the Lord mean nothing more than that he has memorized the names of his sheep (v.

3)?

Of course not.

He meant that he had chosen the sheep, loved them and called them to himself.

A similar statement, though lacking the metaphor, appears in II Timothy 2:19.

Paul wrote, /Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his/.

Perhaps even more compelling are the passages in which the Lord says that he doesn’t know someone.

One such passage is Matthew 7:23.

Many will prophesy in the Lord’s name, some will cast our demons and a few will even perform wondrous works.

But in the Day of Judgment the Lord will say to them, /I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity/.

Being omniscient, Jesus could never cease to know these people in an intellectual sense.

To the contrary, he knows everything about them and their so-called good works.

In fact, he knows them better than they know themselves.

But the point is that he did not love them, nor had he made them his people by the power of the Holy Spirit, and therefore he professed never to have known them at all.

Likewise, knowing God involves a lot more than familiarity with theological jargon or rattling off a few theological proof texts.

An intellectual knowledge of God is indispensible, just as Christ must know his sheep intellectually if he would know them lovingly.

We can know God to the extent that he has revealed himself in Scripture.

We know, for example, that he is compassionate, merciful, faithful, true, omniscient, omnipresent, and holy.

But there are a lot of people who have an intellectual knowledge of God and nothing more.

Bertrand Russell and H.L. Mencken are two examples of men who were quite astute in theology but hated God.

Knowing God in the way that Jesus meant in our text demands that we love him with all our heart and soul, worship him, serve him and rejoice in his infinite mercy.

It involves adoration, trust, honor and devotion.

Anything less than this is not /really/ knowing God at all.

So, what does this mean for us?