John 5:24
http://booksteps.com/2008/03/28/john5-24/
I love the present tense in this statement: whoever hears and believes has eternal life. I have eternal life right now—the life I’m living will never end. I often think of eternal life (or my real life as like to call it) as beginning when I die physically and am resurrected, body and soul. But I believe it really began when I died spiritually, viz., when by God’s grace I heard and believed. Indeed, the only future tense here is negative: I will not be judged (which I believe refers to the great white throne judgment described in Revelation 20:11-15, as a different, positive judgment by Christ is alluded to in v. 29). This verse is a great reminder that though my hope lies largely in the future, my life is always to be lived in the present.
I love the present tense in this statement: whoever hears and believes has eternal life. I have eternal life right now—the life I’m living will never end. I often think of eternal life (or my real life as like to call it) as beginning when I die physically and am resurrected, body and soul. But I believe it really began when I died spiritually, viz., when by God’s grace I heard and believed. Indeed, the only future tense here is negative: I will not be judged (which I believe refers to the great white throne judgment described in Revelation 20:11-15, as a different, positive judgment by Christ is alluded to in v. 29). This verse is a great reminder that though my hope lies largely in the future, my life is always to be lived in the present.
