At the beginning of his Gospel, the Apostle John recorded these words about Jesus:

“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4).

Jesus possessed “life” in Himself, and this “life” was not physical life (bios), but spiritual life (zoe). And John says that this “zoe” actually brings spiritual light to all people.

I believe that most of you have read all or parts of the Gospel of John, but in this book, John recorded the words of Jesus (I will take the liberty to paraphrase a bit), when he declared:

“I am the bread of life (zoe), and if you eat of Me you will never again be spiritually hungry” (John 6:48).

“I have come that you might have life (zoe) and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

“I am the way, the truth, and the life (zoe), and no one can come to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6).

“I am the resurrection and the life (zoe). If you believe in Me and die, you will live (speaking of the resurrection) and if you believe in Me and live, you will never really die (you will just change your address)” (John 11:25-26).

Finally, at the end of his gospel, John told his audience,

“I have written these things in order that you might believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God, and that by believing, you might have life (zoe) in His name” (John 20:30-31).

John had three parts to his conclusion: 1) That we might believe that Jesus is the Messiah; 2) That we might believe that Jesus is the Son of God; and 3) That by believing, we might have life (zoe) in His name.

There is an interesting dialogue between Jesus and the religious leaders earlier in John’s Gospel that is instructive for us:

“You search the Scriptures because you believe that in them you will have eternal life (zoe). It is these Scriptures that speak of Me, but you refuse to come to Me so that you may have life (zoe)” (John 5:39-40).

So just what is ZOE? It is the treasure hidden in the field and the pearl of great price that is worth selling all that one has in order to obtain it. It is spiritual life, which includes both the abundant life that Jesus promised as well as the life that goes on to eternity.

Zoe is the gift that flows from the empty tomb. The important question for each of us is: “Are we willing to give up all that we have in order to obtain a gift of immeasurable worth, the gift of LIFE?” Jesus came to give it to us, but first, we must take to heart Jesus words,

“He who wants to follow Me must deny himself, take up the cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save His life will lose it, but whoever loses his life My sake and the gospels, will find it” (Mark 8:34-35).

Let me remind each of us that a dead Jesus who is still in the tomb could never give LIFE to anyone because He wouldn’t have it Himself. And yet, because He lives today, we can have life. Let me close with John’s words from his first letter to the churches,

“Whoever has the Son has life (zoe); but whosoever does not have the Son of God does not have life (zoe) (1 John 5:12).

Actually, there is a problem with this translation because the definite article (“the”) is actually found in the Greek. So, let me translate it again using the definite article,

“Whoever has the Son has the life (zoe); but whosoever does not have the Son of God does not have the life (zoe) (1 John 5:12).

John wanted to specifically identify “the life,” as “the life” that Jesus came to give us, zoe. So friends, that’s really the bottom line – If you have Jesus dwelling within you, you have “the life” that He came to give us; if you don’t have Jesus, you don’t have “the life” either. If you don’t have it, just ask Him for it. He is waiting to hear from you.