I give unto them eternal life

'I give unto them eternal life'

— John 10:28

Eternal life is the gift of God’s grace in Christ. It comes to men freely, as a matter of pure grace. Man does not have eternal life by nature. Eternal life does not evolve from man’s sinful heart by some mysterious process of ‘spiritual evolution’. It is given to men. It is performed in the heart by the power of God’s sovereign grace. It is in no way a matter of debt or reward. ‘The gift of God is eternal life.’ There was nothing in our hearts or conduct which caused God to bestow eternal life upon us (Jer. 31:3; Eph. 2:1-4). And there is nothing in the believer’s heart or conduct which can cause God to take away the gift of eternal life (Isa. 54: 10). It is contrary to the nature of God to take away his gifts so freely bestowed upon his people in Christ (Rom. 11:29). This gift of eternal life, so freely given, is an irreversible gift. Acknowledge that eternal life is entirely the gift of God, in no way earned by or dependent upon the goodness of man, and it must be concluded that those to whom eternal life is given are eternally secure in Christ (Eccles. 3:14).

Eternal life must, of necessity, be eternal. Any child, whose reason is not perverted with human religion, readily sees that eternal life cannot be temporary. It cannot come to an end. If I have received from God the gift of eternal life, it is not possible for me, by any act or upon any grounds, to lose it and perish.

The believer’s life must be eternal, because it is a life in union with the Lord Jesus Christ. We who believe are so really and truly joined to Christ that we cannot possibly perish unless he also perishes. Our union with Christ is a vital life union, immutable and indestructible. We are married to Christ, bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh (Eph. 5:30). We are members of his body, the church (Eph. 1:23). Can you imagine Christ with a maimed body? Perish the thought! Yet his body would not be complete if so much as one member of his body were lost. All who are in Christ have eternal life; and they are all eternally secure in him.