His Command Is Everlasting Life!

"I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life." (1)

"I know that His command is everlasting life!" What a command! What a message! What a mission! God sent His messenger, Jesus, into the world to communicate His purpose for mankind. An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph with the message that his wife to be was pregnant with a child conceived "of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." (2) John recorded the words of Jesus, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (3) Jesus again said, "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was." (4)

It was Christ's mission to reveal to us the mind and the will of God, that those who accepted His provision for salvation should indeed have eternal life. Jesus stood just a few hours away from His crucifixion. "For this purpose" He said, "I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name." Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again." (5) "Only through the death of Christ could Satan's kingdom be overthrown. Only thus could man be redeemed, and God be glorified. Jesus consented to the agony, He accepted the sacrifice. The Majesty of heaven consented to suffer as the Sin Bearer... Christ's whole life, from the manger to the time when these words were spoken, had glorified God; and in the coming trial His divine-human sufferings would indeed glorify His Father's name...

"The voice of God had been heard at the baptism of Jesus at the beginning of His ministry, and again at His transfiguration on the mount. Now at the close of His ministry it was heard for the third time, by a larger number of persons, and under peculiar circumstances.. Now God again set His seal to the mission of His Son.. It was the crowing evidence of His Messiahship, the signal from the Father that Jesus had spoken the truth, and was the Son of God." (6)

Jesus had just about finished His work on earth. He said, "Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself." (7) This would be the defining moment on earth. Satan's hold on the souls of men would be broken. The defaced image of God would be restored to humanity. The family of believing souls would finally inherit the kingdom of God. This is the result of Christ's death. The love of God is manifested to the universe. The accusations Satan has brought against God are refuted. In Jesus Christ, we are reunited with the family of heaven. In Jesus and in God we have "everlasting life!" This is God's command!

1. John 12:49, 50.
2. Matthew 1:20, 21.
3. John 3:16.
4. John 17:3-5.
5. John 12:27, 28.
6. Desire of Ages, pp., 624, 625.
7. John 12:31, 32.