God's Plan with Men

by T. T. Martin

"By grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any one should boast."—Eph. 2:8, 9 (1911 Bible and R. V.)

"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life."—John 3:36.

"Verily, 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.

"God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath the life."—1 John 5:11, 12.

It is an awe-inspiring thought, a wonderful, blessed reality, that every real believer on the Lord Jesus has, here and now, eternal life, not simply the promise of it, but the eternal life itself. The human mind cannot fully take it in, that every man, the moment he is redeemed from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), redeemed from all iniquity (Titus 2:14), redeemed from under the law (Rom. 6:14), and adopted as a child of God (Gal. 4:4-7), has then and there everlasting life (John 5:24), a new life that is never, never to end; a life that will outlast the stars; a life that he will be consciously enjoying when all the stars shall have burnt out. And yet when such a life is offered as a gift ("I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish,"—John 10:28) many men will not repent and accept the gift. Religious prejudice, pride, secret sin, love of the world,—for what puny trifles do men turn from the greatest of all gifts, the greatest of all blessings, eternal life! Reader, will you be among the number who make this foolish, this fatal mistake?

But with some the greatness of this gift, and its blessed reality, are obscured by the teaching that the believer on Christ has not everlasting life now, but only the promise of it. When God's word tells us that the redeemed one, the believer on Christ, is not under the law (Rom. 6:14), is a child of God (Gal. 3:26), has been saved (Eph. 2:8, 9, 1911 Bible and R. V.), not will be saved, it would be strange that, after all, the believer should have only a promise for the beyond and no reality here and now. But God's word goes further and says, "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God."—1 John 5:1. There cannot be birth without new life. It is not the old life; that would mean no birth. If, then, the new life is not eternal life, what life is it?

If language can be made to mean anything, God's word makes it plain that every redeemed man, every believer on Christ, has here and now, eternal life; for God's word tells us, not only that "by grace have ye been saved" (Eph. 2:8, 9, 1911 Bible and R. V.), but it states plainly, "he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life" (John 3:36); "Verily, 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. That God's word does not mean that the believer on Christ has simply the promise of everlasting life, but that he really has the everlasting life, notice John 5:24, "Hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed [here and now] from death unto life." The Revised Version (the more exact translation) makes it much stronger,—"hath passed out of death into life." What life, if not eternal life? Before this plain, positive statement of God's word, the mere promise of eternal life theory cannot stand. But the fact that the believer on Christ really has now eternal life, is made plain by other Scriptures. "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer; and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him."—1 John 3:15. Here we are shown that when one "hath eternal life" it is "eternal life abiding in him"; for there would be no meaning to the language if no one has eternal life abiding in him. Again, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life."—John 6:53, 54. The Saviour had just taught in verse 35 what eating His flesh and drinking His blood meant: "I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." Here in verses 53, 54, the Saviour shows clearly that the eternal life that the believer on Him "hath" is "in" you—here and now.

Let the unredeemed reader pause: in a moment, here and now, he can have everlasting life with God's assurance that he "shall never perish" ("I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish."—John 10:28). It is a tremendous decision, and it may prove to be a fatal one, to turn away and not believe on Christ and have as a present possession eternal life. "Verily, 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.

FOR FURTHER STUDY:—Some who believe that the redeemed have only the promise of eternal life, but that they have not eternal life, as a real present possession, base this belief on such Scriptures as, "In hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began" (Titus 1:2), in connection with, "Hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for what we see not, then do we with patience wait for it."—Rom. 8:24, 25. Their thought is, if we live "in hope of eternal life," then we have not really eternal life as a present possession; that we cannot hope for what we already have. But Jesus said positively that the believer "hath passed out of death into life" (John 5:24, R. V.), and He contrasts the one who "hath eternal life" with those to whom He says, "Ye have no life in you." A man can have eternal life here, and at the same time hope for it beyond the grave. A man has his wife and children now, and hopes to have them next year; a man away from wife and children has his life now; and yet he lives in hope of his life (the same life, that part of it not yet lived) with his wife and children a month from now; an exile from home has his life now; yet lives in hope of his life (the same life, that part of it not yet lived) in his native land a year from now. So, the child of God's, the redeemed man's, citizenship is in Heaven (Phil. 3:20); he lives in hope of eternal life there; yet it is the same eternal life (that part of it not lived) that he has here and now.

Another cause of stumbling at eternal life being now the actual possession of the redeemed man, is that many who claimed to have had eternal life, also claim to have lost it; and if it had been actually eternal life it could not have stopped; for then eternal would not be really eternal; hence, it must have been simply the promise of eternal life that they had, and they therefore only lost the promise and not really eternal life itself. But Jesus, foreseeing this class of professing Christians, said that they were never really redeemed, never really had eternal life: "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out demons? and in thy name done many wonderful works? and then will I profess unto them, I never knew you,"—Matt. 7:22, 23, not "you were redeemed, you did have eternal life, but you lost it; it stopped"; but "I never knew you," and John teaches the same thing in 1 John 2:19, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest that they all are not of us." (R. V.)