By Jim Mettenbrink
No one has had a worldwide impact, such as Jesus of Nazareth has had. And astonishingly, His phenomenal impact actually began after He left terra firma. The absent King of His kingdom still has this nearly unbelievable impact 2000 years later. Why?
Within a normal person is the desire to live and to live on to never die, even denying the possibility of death, even though it is ever present. When we have grandchildren, we see ourselves going into the future, even though observing the deaths of our parents and grandparents, we realize the grave is our destiny. However, unlike anything, literally, everything that has ever existed regarding our own destiny, there is nothing that even compares to the claim of the resurrection of Jesus and His profound promise to raise people from the dead and grant them eternal life with Him. No national or world leader, political movement, nor religion has proposed even a similar claim, especially setting forth concrete evidence to support the claim of an afterlife. Before we consider the evidence, let’s review Jesus’ claim.
In the prologue to his account of Jesus, the apostle John declared, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (Jn 1:4). The context tells us He gave life to everything in the creation – He is the source of life – “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (Jn 1:3) In his first epistle, John bluntly stated this – “And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life” (1 Jn 2:25).
By far the majority will miss eternal life – Jesus said, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). Only a few. Why? Because people want paradise on earth, so following the purveyors of the popular “health and wealth” gospel appeals to the masses. This led to the deceptive twisting of Jesus’ statement, “…I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly” (Jn 10:10). The broader context of that speech reveals Jesus was referring to eternal life –“And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand” (Jn 10:28).
On the eve of His own death, Jesus reminded Peter in the presence of the other 10 disciples, “…“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). His claim is that He is the only source of life. In His prayer on that same eve, He acknowledged that He is the sole source of eternal life – “…“Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (Jn 17:1-3).
The entrance into the radical kingdom begins with this radical claim by the most radical King to walk the earth – the resurrection from the dead to live forever.