Bible Studies

YOU WILL DIE IN YOUR SINS

by Luella Campbell
02/09/14
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YOU WILL DIE IN YOUR SINS

"Once more Jesus said to them, 'I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.'

"This made the Jews ask, 'Will He kill Himself? Is that why He says, "Where I go you cannot come"?"

"But He continued, 'You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

"'I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am He, you will indeed die in your sins.'" John 8:21-24 (NIV)

'And go to hell when you die!' Is that what Jesus meant?

How differently we non-Hebrew-speaking people interpret the Word! Is it not true that we automatically assume that that is what He meant? Unfortunately, we have come to use "heaven" and "hell" as the measure of salvation. "Saved" people are going to heaven; "unsaved" people are going to hell.

We have already discussed the meaning of "light" and "darkness" in Scripture. Now we need to examine two other contrasting concepts that Jesus frequently used; "life" and "death". Although it is impossible to treat this subject fully in a short article like this, I will attempt to give pointers to a better understanding of what He meant by "eternal life".

In His night-time encounter with Nicodemus, Jesus uttered the words of the most well-known verse in the Bible -- "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16. Three things stand out clearly in this statement: Eternal life is a gift; it comes through faith in Jesus; and it rescues the one who believes in Him from perishing.

We have to ask the questions: When does this "life" begin? Is it only for the future or is it a present reality? What is eternal life?

According to Jesus, 'Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.' John 5:24 (NIV). Eternal life, then, is not living forever in heaven when a person dies. It is a dimension of being he enters into as a gift from God the instant he believes and receives the truth that Jesus is the Son of God.

Eternal life is a present reality. The other three gospels focus on "the kingdom of God