The Promise of Eternal Life

By Pastor Greg

In 1999 Tom Hanks stared in the movie The Green Mile. It's a story about a Prison Guard who worked on death row. Each prisoner on that cell block had received the death penalty for their crimes, and would eventually end up in the electric chair. Early in the movie we meet a prisoner named John Coffey. And as he is being escorted into the prison, the guards call out "Dead man walking". The judge had pronounced his sentence; death by electric chair. John Coffey was destined to die. The execution had just not happened, yet.

Strange at it may seem, the same can be said about all of us. We are all "Dead men walking". Now, I'm not trying to be morbid by pointing this out to you. But I think most of us are aware that death is real. As the writer of Hebrews has pointed out, everyone will die once (Hebrews 9:27). We are all destined to die, it's just that for those of us still walking and breathing, death has not happened, yet.

Except for a few individuals, death has been happening since the fall of humanity. Oh sure, some people have been rescued from death; people like Lazarus who was brought back to life. But truly stories like these are rare. Nothing seems to stand in deaths way, which makes Christ’s promise in John chapter three seem a little hard to swallow, especially if we don’t fully realize just what He was promising.

One night a Pharisee named Nicodemus drops by to talk with Jesus. As the two were talking, the topic of life came up, and Jesus makes an incredible promise. "And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him (John 3:14-17).

Jesus told Nicodemus that he was already dead. He just didn’t know it, yet. He was a dead man walking; bitten by sin, destined to die. But then He tells Nicodemus that he did not need to die. Jesus says that Nicodemus could find eternal life if only he would look to Him in faith and believe. Jesus compares Himself to the Bronze Snake Moses used to restore life, a story we read in Numbers 21:4-9.

While the people of Israel were wandering in the wilderness, they began to grumble and complain (for the “umpteenth” time). “God, we hate this food. Our feet are tired. When will we get there? We are so miserable out here. Nothing could be worse than this.” So God shows them just how “worse” it could be, and He allows poisonous snakes to invade the camp. Many people were bitten. Many died. Eventually they turn to Moses for help. “Tell God we are sorry for grumbling and complaining”, they plead. And God, in His mercy, instructs Moses to make a Bronze Snake, lift it on a pole, and anyone who looked to the snake in faith was healed.

I’m sure Nicodemus knew and understood this story. But what he probably didn’t know was that he, a Jew, had also been bitten by sin, even though he was an exceptionally religious man. There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants” (John 3:18-21). The point Jesus was trying to make was that everyone is already dead. Even the Jews were dead men walking. But God, in His mercy, had once again provided a way for anyone to find healing and life. They only needed to look to Jesus in faith. Those willing to admit they are poisoned (destined to die) must look to Jesus in faith. That is how they will find healing and life. However, Jesus points out that those who believe in God’s only begotten Son will not merely have their life restored, but that they will be granted eternal life.

This is the good news preached by Christ. He will grant eternal life to all who are willing to admit they have been bitten by sin; destined to die. But the promise He makes here is sometimes misunderstood. Christian and non-Christian alike don’t fully understand this promise. Jesus isn’t saying that our bodies will live forever. He is speaking of something far greater and substantially better than merely immortal flesh and blood. The life He is talking about here transcends the breath in our lungs or the beating of our heart, and instead focuses on the very part of us that makes us human in the first place.

A person may still be breathing and they may still be standing, but without Christ they are dead, and not just waiting to die someday. Those who have rejected Christ are dead to love, happiness, peace, contentment, purpose, and the many other things that bring meaning to life. It is to those still living in darkness that Jesus offers eternal life. But He isn’t merely talking about a body living forever. Jesus says that the effects of this Eternal Life can be seen and heard and felt today, just as the wind can be heard and felt, and its effects seen. This promise of Eternal Life affects the way a person loves today. It affects the way they feel, the way they treat others, and the way they care for others. This healing opens a person’s eyes today to the glory and majesty of God all around them. The person reborn into eternal life finds purpose and meaning in life today, not one day off in the distant future. Jesus asserts that Eternal Life is granted the believer the moment they look to Him in faith. This Promise of Eternal Life begins the moment they admit they have been poisoned by sin and turn their eyes to Jesus; the moment they are born again.

Be honest with yourself. Your heart might still be beating and there might still be breath in your lungs, but do you really feel alive? Isn’t there a longing deep within your heart for purpose and meaning? Do you feel like you are groping in the darkness for love, friendship, compassion, and peace? Jesus says this is because you have been bitten by sin, and its poison has marked you for death. You are a dead man walking. However, it doesn’t have to stay that way.

Nicodemus, the most respected religious leader of Israel during that time, had no idea he was a dead man walking. His life was empty of the kind of life Jesus was offering. But it did not have to stay that way. And it doesn’t have to stay that way for you either. Physical death has not happened to you, yet. But one day it will. You and I are both marked for death. I looked to Him whom they pierced and found life. And the good news is that you too can find healing and life; eternal life by looking to Jesus in faith.