As he shared the Last Supper with his disciples, Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy’ (John 16:20). He explained why: ‘You have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you’ (v. 22).
Earlier he had said, ‘Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you’ (14:19–20). He was speaking of his forthcoming death and resurrection.
What was this permanent joy that Jesus promised to his disciples?
It came from the knowledge and the experience of the fact that the Lord Jesus, after he had died on the cross, would be raised to life again. Moreover, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him’ (v. 23).
And if Jesus rose from the dead, so also will those who are his followers when he returns: ‘Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep… Each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ’ (1 Corinthians 15:20–23).
The Truth of God’s Word
Jesus told his disciple Thomas, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life’ (John 14:6). Jesus embodied truth and all the words he spoke were truthful—as he said to Pilate at his trial, ‘For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice’ (John 18:37).
The Bible is the word of God and therefore the word of truth. As Peter told Jesus, ‘You have the words of eternal life’ (John 6:68).
The promise of eternal life for faithful believers was an important part of Christ’s teaching. For example:
Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (John 17:1–3).
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself (5:24–26).
It is not the case that all who believe will be saved. ‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven’ (Matthew 7:21).
But of those who do God’s will he said, ‘I came that they may have life and have it abundantly’ (John 10:10).
For Those Who Love God
So, what will it be like for those who are given eternal life at Christ’s return; for the people who love God and His Son?
The apostle Paul told the Corinthian believers, ‘No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him’ (1 Corinthians 2:9).
The Kingdom of God will be a wonderful place to live in, beyond anyone’s imagination—it will be full of the glory of God, and those who in this life love Him and obey His commandments will be immortalised on that day.
The Lord God offers salvation to all, as Paul said to Timothy: ‘We have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe’ (1 Timothy 4:10). But it is a conditional gift.
Baptism into the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19), and a faithful life of obedience (Matthew 25:21), are the necessary requirements for the gift of eternal life in the Kingdom of God.
That day will be a time of great rejoicing for the recipients of God’s gift of life. They will rejoice along with the Apostle Paul:
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing (2 Timothy 4:7–8).
This is a prospect that will see the faithful disciple through even the most difficult times of life: ‘Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning’ (Psalm 30:5).
Grahame A Cooper