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LIFE AND LIFE

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 22, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 4.

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LIFE AND LIFE.

Jesus, the Prince of Life, said: “I am come that they might have life.” “I give unto them eternal life.” John 10: 10, 28.
Christ came to give them that which they did not have; therefore “they,” the children of men, have not the life which Christ alone can give. The unregenerate are “alienated from [strangers to] the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.” Eph. 4: 18. And if they continue on in that unbelieving ignorance, they “shall not see life.” John 3: 36.
And yet it is true that all of these of whom these scriptures are written (and in these are included all unbelieving sinners) have a kind of life. God has given them existence, consciousness, natural, soulical life, through the natural processes of physical generation and birth; and in His mercy He prolongs this life from hour to hour, from day to day, from year to year, in order that man, during its continuance, may “lay hold on eternal life,” become acquainted with “the life of God.” This soulical life is common to all creatures. But it is not the ultimate life. It is not the life which God desires His children to be satisfied with. It is the time of preparation for the higher life, and has been such ever since man sinned. Satan and his minions of messengers, man and beast alike, possess this creature life.
“But did not this life come from God?” asks one. “Yes, it did, and does. “Then is it not His life?”—No, not as it exists in these imperfect, perverted creatures. While God gives it, He never calls it His. Never in all His Word does Inspiration attach to it the attribute of continuance. He never calls it everlasting or eternal.
A parallel to this is found in the vehicle of this life. Man’s body is rightly “the temple of God,” rightly the kingdom of God. But God does not count that His temple or kingdom that is perverted, subjected, or given up to evil uses. He will make our heart His throne, our body His temple, if we will let Him in unreservedly; but if we ultimately refuse, the temple, the kingdom, will be devoted to the death we choose. So the life which God gave man has passed through perverted media, members and laws subject to the reign of sin; and God does not count it His life, and it is bound to come to an end. Yielded to God, He will give His own life; held, it will go out into everlasting darkness. See Luke 9: 24; 14: 26; 17: 33.
But is it not said that “in Him [Christ] was life; and the life was the light of men;” and that “that was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world”?—Yes; it says just that; and in saying that it clearly teaches that man does not of himself possess that life. That light is from above.
Man’s life—the natural life—comes in the New Testament, in nearly all cases, from the Greek term psuchē, often translated soul. This is the life that men are to lose for Christ’s sake; lay it down to be spent and used for His sake. Never is it said to be eternal, everlasting, or of God. But the life which Christ gives is from the Greek word zōē, life. This is the eternal life, the everlasting life, which is in Jesus Christ, and which comes to us through faith. Read the following scriptures, and see how this eternal life comes only in this way:—
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3: 16.
“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3: 36.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” John 5: 24.
“For as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself.” John 5: 26.
“And ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.” John 5: 40.
“For the bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.” John 6: 33.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life.” John 6: 47.
“Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you.” John 6: 53.
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.” John 14: 6.
“Thou hast given Him [Christ] power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him. And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” John 17: 2, 3.
“Life through His name.” John 20: 31.
“Lay hold on eternal life.” 1 Tim. 6: 12.
“Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer; and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.” 1 John 3: 15.
“He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” 1 John 5: 12.
There are many other scriptures teaching the same thing. Life, eternal life in abundance, awaits in Christ Jesus all who will believe Him, all who will yield to have God’s righteous will wrought in them; for only “in the way of righteousness is life, and in the pathway thereof there is no death.”
Reader, yield all to God, accept of Jesus Christ the Life, and so obtain power above sin and sinning.