The third thing we notice then in these verses is this. What was the purpose of God in Christ being so lifted up—so given?
“That whosoever [or every one] that believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” We have seen that the propitiatory death of Christ must have the first—the foundation place in the Gospel of God. “Even so must the Son of man be lifted up.” The cause of this, was, “God so loved.” We now come to the purpose of God in all this. Surely this is a deep and wondrous theme. God has His own eternal purpose respecting us poor sinners. It was no afterthought when sin had come in, and surely no subsequent thought when Christ had died or we had believed. No, the greatest gift ever given in the countless ages of eternity, the gift of His only begotten Son, was according to purpose. “That whosoever believeth in him.” Mark, this purpose was not limited now to Israel, as a nation. No, “whosoever believeth in him.” This is a message for you, to you, because to every one that believeth. The only limit or distinction is faith, “That believeth in him.”
Now the question is this, Do you believe in Him? Many would not deny there is such a person as Jesus, the Son of God. The demons were compelled to own that. We do not ask, Do you believe there is such a person as Jesus, once on the cross, now at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens? but we ask, Do you believe in Him? Is He the object of your faith, and of your trust? The Waldenses fully admitted the existence of the church; but they would suffer martyrdom, in its most cruel form, rather than say they believed in the church, as an object of faith and trust. Is Jesus the object of your faith? Have you received Him as your Savior, in whom you trust for present and eternal salvation? This faith is not the belief of demons, but it is the gift of God. We beg of you to answer the question in the presence of God. Have you this faith in Jesus? Can you abandon every hope in yourself, and rest in Him alone for eternal salvation? Do you say, I do believe in Jesus; but oh! my sins, and especially some of them, they so trouble me? It is all well to abhor ourselves; but did not Jesus die for all the believer’s sins? Was He not lifted up on the cross for that very thing? Have we not seen that the atoning work is done? Can those sins be charged on Him now? Then, can they be charged on you who now believe in Him as your complete and eternal salvation?
God’s eternal purpose then was that every one that believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. If this purpose embraced every one that believeth in Him, and you believe in Him, then it surely means you—it embraces you. God is love, and what did He purpose concerning you? that, through the lifting up of the Son of man, you should not perish, but have eternal life. You may not yet know how good this news is, and how many there are that treat it as the greatest error. God grant you may believe it with an understanding heart.
What then is eternal life? Sometimes we understand what a thing is, by looking at what it is not, or in contrast. What then is temporal or mortal life? It is life that may cease to be. That is the life of all living creatures: as to the life even of man’s body, it may cease. It may be for a day, or a month, or a year, and then cease to be. Now many would admit that God had so loved as to give a life, not eternal, but temporal—a life that may be lost or cease to be—may be for a time, and then cease to be. Now eternal life is the opposite of all this; it is life that cannot cease; it is not the life of a creature, it is the life of the self-existent Son of God. Not temporal, but the self-existent, eternal life. And has God so loved, that, through the lifting up of the Son on the cross, we, every one that believeth in Him, should have the eternal life that cannot, that will not, cease to be—the life of the self-existent, eternal Son? This amazing fact is revealed by Jesus.
In scripture, eternal life is spoken of in two ways. The one as to the believer’s future state as Matt. 25:4646And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. (Matthew 25:46). “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.” See also Rom. 2:77To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life: (Romans 2:7). It is also, as we shall see, spoken of as already the portion of the believer. These words of Jesus, “should not perish but have eternal life,” do not necessarily imply present possession.
We will look at other passages which leave no uncertainty as to this. Even in this same chapter, “He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; and he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (Ver. 36.) Here are two things equally certain as to present position. The believer hath eternal life as a present thing, and on the unbeliever the wrath of God abides.
As to the believer the Lord makes it most certain. He says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath eternal life, and shall not come into judgment, [it should be,] but is passed from death unto life.” Have your ears been opened to hear the words of Jesus? Have you been brought, through grace, to believe God who sent His Son? Then the Lord Jesus assures you that you have eternal life; that you shall not come into judgment; that you have passed from death unto life. Why should you doubt Him? He further says, “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day:” only there must be faith in His death, as well as in Him as the bread come down from heaven in His incarnation. “Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life.” Nothing can show more ignorance of His word, or spirit and truth, than to pervert these words of Jesus as though He spake of the bread and wine in the Lords supper. It is receiving the fact of His death, the shedding of His blood, for our salvation. Whoso does this hath eternal life.
And mark, Jesus does not speak of life that may be lost, or that might be taken from you, or that could possibly cease to be: no, it would not in any such case be eternal life. It is as imperishable as Himself, as it is Himself, and it cannot be lost or taken away. He says, and to faith that is enough, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all, and no man [or one] is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” (John 10:27-2927My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. (John 10:27‑29).)
Satan and unbelief would say, do not be so sure that God so loved you as to give His Son to be lifted up for you, that you might have such certainty as this. Has He said, that you shall never perish; that, as a believer, you not only have eternal life, but none can pluck you out of the Father’s hand? “Oh!” Satan says, ever, serpent-like, “He knows that, if you should sin, you will lose all and pluck yourself from His hands, then where will your eternal life be?” What a liar the old serpent is! But we have the sure word of God, and has He not made full provision should the true follower of Christ in a moment of temptation fail or sin? Was not that sin borne by Jesus on the tree? What saith the scripture? “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins,” &c. (1 John 2:1, 21My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1‑2).) Yes, “God so loved.” Sad indeed it is that so many will not believe that God so loved: they prefer to cling to the dark reasonings of unbelief.
Is it then a light matter to disbelieve God as to this? “He that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God HATH given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” Yes, God so loved. Is it dreadful heresy to believe what God so plainly tells us—His very record? And mark, eternal life is in His Son. Can the Son cease to be? can the life He is, then, cease to be? He is the eternal Son. It is not something apart from Himself that we may lose; “He that hath the Son hath life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”
This is the gospel God was pleased to give to a poor country boy to preach fifty years ago, and this is the same gospel God gave him to preach last night, and gives him now to lay before the reader. That gospel he received not from man. For weary months he was struggling under law, seeking to meet the requirements of the law, and ever failing. God the Giver, and God the Producer of all He requires was, as yet, utterly unknown to him. He was returning to his home in a village near Laughton, weary and sorrowful even to despair. He was alone with God in the lane: he fell to the ground in the middle of the road and groaned, “Oh Lord, I can do no more, I can go no farther,” and he felt in his soul he was lost. It was there the Holy Spirit revealed to him the true blessed fact that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” And oh, from that day, what mercy, depths of mercy! what failures and chastenings! But the writer has ever proved the truth of the words of Jesus—none, no one, has been able to pluck him out of His hands. Be there few or many days before we see the face of Him for whom we wait, may we never cease to proclaim the same glad tidings—that the moment a soul is, through grace, brought to truly believe God, he has eternal life, eternal salvation, is forever perfected by the one sacrifice of Christ, and stands in the full unclouded favor of God in the Beloved. “For we are complete in him.” May God, to whom all praise is due—God who so loved, bless these few words to all who read them. C. S.