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THE BOOK OF GOD'S PROMISES

Eternal Life

By J. Steven Lang

CBN.com -- Loving and obeying God will not necessarily make us rich, handsome, or successful -- not by this world's standards, anyway. In fact, the Bible actually promises that we will have to endure some scorn for holding fast to God. How could it be otherwise? The world hates nonconformists, so they can't help but sneer at people who believe that the next life is so good that the present life can't begin to compare with it.

Too bad we often neglect this belief. The Bible certainly doesn't.

You will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your godly one to rot in the grave. You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.

Psalm 16:10-11

"I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he will stand upon the earth at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God! I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought!"

Job 19:25

"Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven.

"All who believe in God's Son have eternal life. Those who don't obey the Son will never experience eternal life, but the wrath of God remains upon them."

John 3:6, 36

"This is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them to eternal life at the last day. For it is my Father's will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life -- that I should raise them at the last day."

John 6:39-40

"I assure you, anyone who obeys my teaching will never die!"

John 8:51

If we have hope in Christ only for this life, we are the most miserable people in the world.

But the fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead. He has become the first of a great harvest of those who will be raised to life again.

So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, Adam, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man, Christ. Everyone dies because all of us are related to Adam, the first man. But all who are related to Christ, the other man, will be given new life.

1 Corinthians 15:19-22

The wages of sin is death, but the great gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:23

The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as he raised Christ from the dead, he will give life to your mortal body by this same Spirit living within you.

Romans 8:11

Let me tell you a wonderful secret God has revealed to us. Not all of us will die, but we will all be transformed. It will happen in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, the Christians who have died will be raised with transformed bodies. And then we who are living will be transformed so that we will never die. For our perishable earthly bodies must be transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die.

When this happens -- when our perishable earthly bodies have been transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die -- then at last the Scriptures will come true: "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?"

1 Corinthians 15:51-54

So dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Doing this, you will never stumble or fall away. And God will open wide the gates of heaven for you to enter into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 1:10-11

I heard a loud shout from the throne saying, "Look, the home of God is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will remove all of their sorrows, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. For the old world and its evils are gone forever."

And the one sitting on the throne said, "Look, I am making all things new!"

Revelation 21:3-5

See also Death, Heaven, Hell.
The Book of God's Promises -- Copyright, 1999 by J. Stephen Lang. All rights reserved, used with permission.

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