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For the Week of February 17th
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What is eternal life?
by Mona Hunter
Nicodemus wanted to know if Jesus was
the One who brought eternal life. He was having difficulty in connecting the physical (birth) with the spiritual (rebirth). And he didn’t know what it had to do with eternal life.So what is eternal life? At first we might say, that’s easy— it is living forever with the Father & Jesus & the Spirit— in heaven! But as a good Lutheran might,– you ask the age-old question of "What does this mean?" Once again, the spiritual side of it seems easy, but the physical side is a little vague. We do know that in heaven–
 | We will be in the glory of God. |
| There will be a physical resurrection, So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 1 Corinthians 15:42. |
| There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away, Revelation 21:4. |
| It will be a place of rewards, Matt 5:12. |
| We know that we will recognize people, otherwise verses such as Matthew 8:11, . . many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, would not make sense. |
| We know that worship will be exciting and interactive and very diversified, Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" Revelation 5:13. |
| Satan will not be present to deceive or tempt us, For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down, Rev. 12:10b. |
| And we know that heaven is very beautiful, A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne, Revelation 4:3. |
Beyond these descriptions, we don’t know much else about what heaven and eternal life will be like. There is a reason for that, and Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus gives us a clue. Jesus told Nicodemus that he didn’t understand the things he already knew or had experienced. In John 3:12 we read,
I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? But just as we don’t understand but still trust in the unlimited love that God has for us and the salvation Jesus bought for us, we can trust that heaven and eternal life will be wonderful beyond our wildest ability to understand.I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life, Revelation 21:22-27.