Which Was Manifested Here? and Was Eternal Life Received From Him Whilst on Earth?
In the Gospel of John, Christ is Himself everywhere, and in various ways, presented personally, as “the Life.” It is what He is essentially; what is in Him, shines out in Him, and flows forth from Him. On coming to Him, therefore, or believing in Him, or hearing His word, life is received. This life, as the effect of divine prerogative, is attached to the recognition of His Person here on earth, as well as to His work subsequently, and is again and again stated to be eternal life. It could not be less, as found in Him, and flowing from Him, according to the glory of His Person. Did He cease to manifest it, He would cease to be, or to manifest, Himself for it is, as we have said, what He is, and He could not hide Himself. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” “Coming into the world, it shines upon every man” not upon Jews only. It acted upon man’s heart and conscience, though, in its true nature, it was not comprehended. But the Lord says distinctly, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” And, in the same chapter (John 9:5, 415As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. (John 9:5)
41Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. (John 9:41)), “If ye were blind, ye should not have sin”; for had they been blind, they would not have been morally guilty of slighting all that was displayed in Him. “Yet a little while,” he adds, “is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you” (i.e., the effect of His withdrawal). “While ye have the light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light” (John 12:35, 3635Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. 36While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them. (John 12:35‑36)).
This life shone as the light of men, and thus brought out the moral condition and need of man, and the whole state of the world; yet the light always shone as God’s perfect answer in grace to that need, and as life provided for man, and presented to man in His Person. He had come as Man, and for man, and was manifested here below in the lowliness and self-renunciation of manhood, in order to reach man. His external glory was hidden, in order to come so near to man to attract and win him. Its effect was felt before it was really known in its true character, as we see in those who were disarmed by His words, and could not take Him (John 7:45 46). In John 4 He says to the woman of Samaria, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water.” This produced its effect, and attracted her, whilst it awakened confidence in His word even before she knew all that was implied. But was it not a present thing? And was it less than eternal life? “He would have given thee living water.” It is the gift of God, as in John 6, “My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven, for the bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.” This is clearly, as incarnate, and as present here in the world, and for the world; as the repeated use of the present tense in the word “giveth” implies.
Again, “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst.”
Again, “This is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one that seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” If His blessed Person was discerned, under this lowly form of manhood, not only to be the Messiah, but in reality the Son of God, it was even then eternal life (v. 40). Thus Peter, at the end of the same chapter, confesses Him and the glory of His Person; little as he may have apprehended all that his confession involved. Christ’s words to him, even then, were “The words of eternal life.” This is confirmed by the Lord’s own statement at the same time, and with reference to their effect upon the same persons; “It is the Spirit that quickeneth” – It gives life – “the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” This accords with John 12:48-5048He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. 49For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. 50And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak. (John 12:48‑50), that the words that He then spake were the words given Him of the Father, and as such “life everlasting.”
Jesus, according to His divine title and prerogative, as the Son of God, acting with the Father (John 5), does the same works as the Father, and “quickens whom He will.” He states positively that the hour had already commenced (“now is”) when the dead should hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear should live. It was the hour,even then for the display of His power and title as the Son of God, in this way. Even as regards His position taken in manhood “As the Father had life in Himself,” so had “He given to the Son to have life in Himself.” How could this be another kind of life? It was the same that was in the Father, and active in the same way (v. 21). Hence, after all the abundant evidence given concerning His blessed Person, and the object of His coming, He complains of the Jews at that very moment, “Ye will not come to Me that ye might have life.”
In John 7:3737In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. (John 7:37), on that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried (according to the infinite fullness of divine life, and the depth of divine love that brought Him here for human need), giving the loud and distinct invitation to all who are conscious of such need, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink” – a present and yet continuous thing. In this He takes, as so constantly in John, a worldwide aspect, and opens out that He has this living water for “any man.” Is not this eternal life? And is it not presented as such to the world?
The very same that afterwards was to flow out from the believer to others by the power of the Spirit – descended from heaven – when bestowed in its abundance, as rivers of living water?
Granted that it was needful He should die that it might flow forth thus freely, yet He says, in words that express both these thoughts, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it abundantly” {John 10:1010The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)}.
Again, in the same chapter (John 10), He says, “I give unto them eternal life.” It was indeed requisite that He should not only become incarnate, but die. And we have both these blessed facts set before us in John 6, “The bread of God is He that cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.” And then, “The bread that I will give is My flesh which I will give for the life of the world.” But both are alike on behalf of the world. Indeed, always in the Gospel of John where, though Son of Man, He is specially before us as Son of God, He is for “the world,” and not for Jews only, as their Messiah, in descent from Abraham and David. For a Jew has an undoubted and prescriptive right to Him as such, but as Son of God, sent by the Father, He is for all. Hence in this Gospel only He is seen among those outside. He gives the living water to the woman at the well, where His love makes Him at home among the Samaritans; and He rejoices in the prospect of an abundant harvest. Thus the apostle Paul says “It pleased God to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen.”
There is a contrast, however, in this respect, between life and its manifestation, and forgiveness or justification; for life distinctly belongs to the manifestation of what is in God Himself, and what the Son of God is personally, as displayed in this world. Hence the Gospel of John, which presents God and the divine nature in the Son, speaks so much of “life” whilst forgiveness and justification, being connected with the accomplishment of the work on which they are founded, are scarcely alluded to in it.
In the Old Testament, indeed, life was given with certain divine and essential qualities which always distinguish it, or souls could not have been in relation with God at all; as we learn from what is said of faith in Heb. 11. But the distinct testimony of “eternal life” was reserved for the presence of the Son of God on earth; in order to give it its true character and to mark the glory of His Person, when manifested in His own divine fullness. Hence it is always what He is, that is brought before us in the Gospel of John, and declared publicly before all. “I am,” (not I shall be) “the bread of life.” “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” “I am the resurrection and the life.”
This life in Him, in its fullness, extends not only to the soul, but to the body, and the sphere also in which that life is to be displayed – beyond the power of death and the grave.
He had but to apply the power of life that was there present and existed in Himself; for the voice of the Son of God not only quickens the soul, but calls out of the grave; for here (John 11), it is not the effect of His work, as Man victorious over the grave, as in 1 Cor. 15, but the vivifying energy of divine power. For the life was present, divine, and eternal subsisting in His own Person. He was it, and is it. “I am the resurrection and the life.” The hour, however, for the full display of His life-giving power in that sphere of its action had not yet arrived; in the other it was present (John 5:2525Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. (John 5:25)) this power was already in effective operation. He was the Son, and it was “seeing the Son,” or the knowledge of the Son, that, according to the will of the Father that sent Him was eternal life (John 5:4040And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. (John 5:40)). But besides this, it was the knowledge of the Father, and the One whom He had sent, that was “eternal life” (John 17:33And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:3)). This the disciples had already received: “I have manifested Thy name unto the men that Thou gavest Me out of the world . . . and they have known surely that I came out from Thee; and they have believed that Thou didst send Me.” So in John 14:77If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. (John 14:7), “From henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him.” For the Lord speaks according to the character of the faith which had owned Him as the Son, and involved the knowledge of the Father – as He tells them; though their intelligence did not reach to all that was included in it.
Everywhere, and at every turn in this Gospel, do we find this subject of eternal life, as the positive thing before us. At the very moment when the Son of God was present here upon earth, it was here in Him. He brought it with Him. It came in His Person. He was it essentially. He gave it (John 4 and 5). And He presented in His Person as incarnate, to man, and to the world, eternal life, in contrast with Judaism, and mere external privileges such as the Jews had enjoyed. Note the words, “Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead; this is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die” (John 6:5050This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. (John 6:50)). If He spoke the words of eternal life, and the Jews would not come to Him that they may have it, the consequences would be fatal and final (John 8:25, 2625Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning. 26I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him. (John 8:25‑26)). They would be left in darkness, and to die in their sins; and where He is they would never come.
The life was identical with the life that was in the Father, and He, being the Son, quickened as the Father, as well as being in His manhood the depositary of this life from the Father; in order that, in every way, even in His humiliation, the glory of His Person might be maintained.
This life, and the communication of it whilst here on earth, is the leading and distinctive feature and characteristic glory of His Person, as incarnate, and is presented in every possible way in this Gospel, in connection with the revelation of Himself as the Son, and of the Father in Him.
Do we deny that though there are certain qualities essential to divine life, and though it was given as eternal life whilst the Son of God was on earth, that there is a marked difference to be noted after the death and resurrection of our Lord, in its character in the saint, and in our enjoyment of it? or do we deny that its full expression and perfection are now seen in Christ in glory, to whom we are to be conformed? He says indeed that He is come that His sheep might have life but He adds “and that they might have it abundantly,” as the flowing forth of rivers of living water from the believer indicates. And again, “Yet a little while and the world seeth Me no more; but ye see Me; because I live ye shall live also.” For though He quickened souls with eternal life as the Son of God (by virtue of the life that dwelt in Himself, and of which He was the embodiment and expression, as having come from the Father), yet there was no association in it with others at that time. Nor could it be said to be continuous with, and in this way, inseparable from, His own life; as the words “Because I live ye shall live also,” imply. It was indeed from Him by the power of His living voice and word but it was not enjoyed with Him, nor in Him, till the resurrection, when (seen as the corn of wheat with its much fruit risen out of the ground, bearing the multiplied grain) it exists as one whole plant (John 12:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. (John 12:24)). He comes back to His disciples after His resurrection, and for the first time breathes into (¦<) them {John 20:2222And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: (John 20:22)}; not only that this life may be realized abundantly {John 10:1010The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)} in the power of the Holy Ghost, but that it may be in inseparable association with Himself – dwelling in Him and He in us. As He says, “At that day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in Me and I in you.” How are we to enjoy all the sweetness of the Father’s love, as He enjoys it, and the depth of the relationship – His relationship – with the Father; save as having His risen life, and His Spirit? Thus only can He dwell in us Himself, as He says, “I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it; that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them. And, these things I speak in the world, that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves.” This is not exactly union, though we dwell in God, and God in us, by His Spirit, yet we are never said to be united to God, as some have erroneously taught. But it is more than union; for if I could share both the life and spirit of a man, so as to dwell in him, it would be to participate in his thoughts and feelings, in a more intimate manner than even a wife, united as she is in the closest way to her husband, and by the tenderest bond.
In the following extracts from the writings of J. N. D. it will be seen that his views correspond in all points with what is here presented, whilst though a fictitious resemblance is sought to be established in some things, between Mr. D.’s views and Mr. Raven’s, the whole system is entirely different.
For it is evident: First, that, in contrast with F. E. R.’s statement, Mr. Darby says that the Gospel as well as the Epistle of John is characterized by the presentation of Christ as the Eternal Life. Secondly, that this life which God gives us in Christ was essentially in the Father Himself as well as in Him as Son of God, a divine Person; F. E. R. however carefully distinguishes it in Him from what is divine and essential, because he says, as we receive it, that would make us partakers of Deity. Hence he will not apply John 1:44In him was life; and the life was the light of men. (John 1:4) to Eternal Life, which is so applied by Mr. D., and connected with us. Thirdly, that of this life Christ was the representative, and that it has to be manifested in us here below, which F. E. R. will not admit. Fourthly, it is connected by Mr. D. with the new birth, from which in its origin it cannot be separated. Lastly, Mr. D. calls it the Life divine and eternal, which, he says, cannot by any possibility perish.
John 10:1010The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10). Jesus, in contrast with all the false pretenders, who only came to steal and to kill, came that we might have life, and that we might have it in abundance. The first expression is the object of His coming in general, which characterizes the Gospel and also the Epistle of John. It is the Son of God come down, that we might live through Him. He is the Eternal Life which was with the Father, and gives life and becomes Himself our life. (Compare 1 John 4:9 1:2; 5:11, 1211And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. (1 John 5:11‑12); John 3:15, 1615That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16For 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 3:15‑16). These quotations might be multiplied). The second part of the sentence shows the character and fullness of this life. This life is in the Son. Having the Son, we have life, and we have it according to the power of His resurrection. The faithful in old times were quickened; but here it is the Son Himself who becomes our life, and that as Man risen from amongst the dead. We have it “abundantly.” This tenth verse gives us the great purpose of the coming of the Son of God (“Notes on the Gospel of John,” chap. 10. Coll. Writ. 33, p. 339).
Then the Lord declares plainly to us what He gives them; that is, eternal life, in the full assurance of the faithfulness of Christ, and of the power of the Father Himself. Already had He declared that His object in coming was, in grace, to give life, and life in abundance, not to seek booty, like a robber, but to give life from above, in grace. We have here the nature and character of this life, in grace; it was eternal life, that life of which Christ was the source and representative in humanity (compare 1 John 1:22(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) (1 John 1:2), and also John 1:44In him was life; and the life was the light of men. (John 1:4)) that life which was essentially in the Father Himself which was in the Person of the Son down here, the life that God gives us in Him (1 John 5:11, 1211And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. (1 John 5:11‑12)), and by Him, which we possess in Him; for He is our life (Col. 3:44When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4); Gal. 2:2020I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)); which bears the impress of Christ, new position of man, according to the counsels of God. For us – first character of this life, for we were dead in our trespasses and sins, and under the power of death down here – Christ is, then, the resurrection and the life, a life which ought to manifest itself in us now, and which breathes, so to speak, by faith in Him (Gal. 2:2020I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20); 2 Cor. 4:10-1810Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 11For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 12So then death worketh in us, but life in you. 13We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; 14Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. 15For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. 16For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. 17For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 18While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:10‑18)), and will be fully developed when we shall be with Him, and glorified (Rom. 6:2222But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. (Romans 6:22)), but which subsists in the knowledge of the Father, the only true God, and of Jesus Christ whom He has sent (John 17:2, 32As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. 3And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:2‑3); see 1 John 5:2020And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. (1 John 5:20)) (p. 343).
But if Christ is thus our life, then life in Him does not perish, nor fail in us; because He lives, we shall live also. Can He die, or can the divine life in us come to decay? Assuredly not. We shall not perish; the life of which we live is divine and eternal life (p. 344).
As to Eternal Life, in the full sense of it, it is Christ Himself, and that revealed as Man in glory (1 John 5:2020And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. (1 John 5:20)). But its essence is divine life in the person of Christ (1 John 5:11, 1211And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. (1 John 5:11‑12)). “In Him was life,” and that life He has in manhood (John 5:2424Verily, 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)). But this has a double character; the Son quickens as Son (verse 21) and then we are when dead in sins quickened together with Christ: in one as Son of God, a divine person; in the other a dead man whom God raises. Now life and incorruptibility were brought to light by the gospel . . . Now till He came this never was displayed, nor according to God’s full purpose in man till He was glorified. But I have no doubt the Old Testament saints were quickened, and they will be perfected.
Still it was as much in Christ humbled as in Christ glorified. 1 John 1 was before the world, and that is its essence, only now brought to light in connection with the incorruptibility of the body in resurrection (or changed), a spiritual body.
But in the Lord’s unfolding of the subject, in John 6 you find having Eternal Life as a present thing, as constantly in John, but directly connected four times over with His raising us in the last day. Its full development is in the sphere it came from, and in the power of Him who has it in connection with man; and so immortality (incorruptibility) the body brought in.
Nor, though they have it down here, is this shut out in the final result in Matthew 25, Daniel 1, and Psalm 133.
You cannot separate Eternal Life and new birth; but though the essence of divine life is there, yet Eternal Life in Christ as Man and finally in glory does go further, man being quickened, as accomplished in Christ glorified. It is the gospel which has brought it to light” (Letters, part 13 p. 171-173).