John 5:24 (NIV)
“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”
It’s difficult for us to truly understand the concept of passing from death to life. That is because we view life as the beginning of an existence and death as the end. In the same way that we know that morning is the beginning of a day and night is the end of it, we understand that life is the beginning and death is the end. However, when we consider things in the spiritual realm, that’s not exactly the case.
Before you entered into a relationship with Christ, you were spiritually dead. It seems odd to think that death is the beginning of the cycle, but when we’re dealing with a conversion experience, that’s how things work. Before we know Christ we are spiritually dead, but when we embrace Him and His Lordship, He breathes His breath into us, which is the Holy Spirit.
The tug of war between death and life goes back to the very beginning of time. Over the years, God has continued to try to call people out of darkness and into His glorious light, out of death, and into His beautiful light.
While it may be hard to wrap our minds around the concept of walking out of death and into eternal life, we can learn more about this concept by looking at some Scriptures that discuss the transition from death to life.
Earning Death
Romans 6:21-23 (NIV)
What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
No matter how much you enjoy your career, it’s pretty unlikely that you would do it for free. After all, you still have bills to pay, food to buy, and things that you enjoy to pay for. None of that would be possible if there was not a business transaction that takes place between you and your employer. When you do your job, you expect to be paid on time. Conversely, your employer expects you to perform the job that you’ve agreed to do before they give you the money. It’s a transactional agreement.
Our sinful behavior also comes with a payday, and that payday is death. When God made Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden, death was never supposed to be part of the equation. However, when they chose to sin by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, death entered into the story.
Unfortunately, we inherited their sinful behavior, and we also inherited the sin that came with it. However, there is a gift that counteracts the wages that we earn. The gift of God is eternal life. There is no earning of a gift. Instead, it is given from one party to the other as a show of their love. While the payday for sin is eternal death, the gift of God is eternal life.
Made Alive in Christ
Ephesians 2:1-5 (NIV)
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sin, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved.
The teachings of this passage from Paul’s letter to the Ephesian Church are heard for us to digest. Take a look at the opening portion of this passage. Paul says that before we came into a relationship with Christ, we were “dead in our sins.” He also says that we followed the “ruler of the kingdom of the air” and the spirit who is “now at work in those who are disobedient.” Those statements are referring to Satan. That means that before we followed Christ, we were following Satan.
That’s a harsh statement to read, but it actually confirms something that Jesus said in John 8, when He informed a crowd of unbelievers that they were “of their father, the devil.”
While we were following the devil, who has now established himself as our enemy, we were gratifying the cravings of our flesh. That means that we were sinning. As we’ve already established, the eventual payday for that sinful lifestyle was death.
Thankfully, God loved us too much to leave us in that hopeless, dying state. With that in mind, He made us alive in Christ because of His grace. Satan brings death, but Christ brings life. When God opened the door for us to be enfolded into Christ, He created a pathway for us to experience eternal life.
Signs of Life
1 John 3:14-15 (NIV)
We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
In the physical realm, there are some things that are considered “signs of life.” For instance, when looking at a living being, whether it’s an animal or a human, the presence of a heartbeat is a sign of life. Brain activity is often viewed as a sign of life. Even when considering things like plants which do not have hearts or anatomical brains, there are signs of life. For instance, plants emit oxygen and take in carbon dioxide, the opposite pattern that humans take part in. However, that version of respiration is a sign of life.
In the spiritual realm, there are also signs of life. First, let’s look at the verse that we read at the beginning of today’s study. Jesus said that whoever hears His word and believes in the one who sent Him (God) has gone from death to life. Our faith in God and our obedience to Christ is a sign of our newfound spiritual life.
John, the disciple who was closest to Christ, also discussed one of the signs of our spiritual life. When we love others, it is a sign that we have passed from death to life.
Do you truly love others? Christ established that loving God and loving others were the two most important parts of the Christian life. Years later, John, the beloved disciple, said that having a genuine, Godly love for others is the sign that we have transitioned from death to life.
When we obey Christ’s words, trust in God, stop satisfying the flesh, and love others, we know that we have passed from death to life. It’s a glorious experience and a beautiful analogy of how God saves us from sin and eternal separation from Him into a state of eternal life.
A Closing Prayer:
Heavenly Father, thank You for taking me out of my sinful, dead state and into the eternal life that only comes from a relationship with You. In Christ’s name, Amen.