Promises for Those Who Follow JesusSýnishorn

Jesus Promises Us Life

What does it mean to be alive? A biologist would tell you that something is alive when it undergoes all of the processes required for life: movement, respiration, growth, etc., but ask a philosopher, and they’ll tell you that to be truly alive is to have a purpose and passion.

So when Jesus claims to be the Life (John 14:6), what does He mean? Is He saying He is the reason our hearts beat or is He saying that He gives existence meaning? Both!

John’s Gospel opens by telling us that through Him “all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made” (John 1:3). Jesus created a world that was capable of sustaining life and then filled it with all sorts of marvelous creatures.

But when sin entered the world, so did death (Romans 5:12). From that point on, all life had an expiration date. As James puts it, we became a “mist that appears for a while and then vanishes” (James 4:14).

Jesus came to reverse that curse and give us eternal life. When Jesus tells us that He is Life, He is telling us that the grave doesn’t have to get the last word, but that’s not all.

What Jesus promises us is more than a longer existence. It’s a better one. A life with purpose, passion, and meaning. He isn’t simply the author of life; He is the meaning of life. And when we come to Him for life and meaning, we discover what it means to be truly human.