Over the last few weeks, we looked more closely at “The Real Jesus,” and discovered that He was in the very beginning with God, and took on human flesh when He dwelt among us as recorded in each of the four gospels. We also discovered that He was a one-of-a kind human being who was 100% God and 100% man, and was both “able to sin,” but also “able not to sin.” Having been tempted as we are, and yet without sin, He reigns in heaven today as our “very approachable” and “merciful” great High Priest who understands our weaknesses and needs, and dispenses both mercy and grace to each of us in our times of need. All we need to do is to take the time to draw near to Him with confidence that He hears our requests and will meet our needs.
But Jesus is even more than our Savior and Great High Priest, as He specifically came to give the world something. John says of Jesus,
“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (Jn. 1:4).
This “life” was part of His essential being. The “life” spoken of throughout the gospels comes from the Greek word zoe, and means “spiritual life” as opposed to “physical life.” We are made to be more than physical beings because we each have a soul, a soul that longs to be filled with something. Most people try to fill it with worldly things like power, pleasure, prestige, and possessions, but it has long been said that only God can really fill the soul. Blaise Pascal, the French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, and Christian theologian said,
“There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing, but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ” (Pascal).
You and I know that the purpose of our household vacuum is to suck all manner of dirt and filth into the receiving chamber, and our soul is much the same as we try to fill it with things that we think will satisfy. But only Jesus can fill our souls, and He came to fill it with His life, that is, to fill it with Himself.
John goes on through His gospel sharing what Jesus said about Himself, that He is the “bread of Life” (bread that will satisfy our hunger); the “water of Life” (water that will satisfy our thirst); the “Way, the Truth, and the Life;” and the “Resurrection and the Life.” At the end of John’s gospel, he tells us that he has recorded these things,
“…that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah) the Son of the living God, and that by believing, you might have “LIFE” in His name” (Jn. 20:30-31).
John goes on to say in his first letter that,
“And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal Life, and this Life is in His Son. He who has the Son, has the Life; He who does not have the Son, does not have the Life” (1 Jn. 5:11-12).
John used the definite article “the” when referring to “the Life” to make certain that we understand that it is a specific kind of “Life” (zoe) that He came to give us – It’s His Life that he gives us when we repent of our sins and place our faith in Christ. When Jesus told Nicodemus that “…you must be born again” (Jn. 3:3), He was talking about a new Life that would be implanted in our very souls. And that new Life is zoe which Jesus came to give us.
Indeed, He is the Giver of Life, and He came into this world to offer it to each one of us. John said at the end of His Gospel that by placing our faith and trust in Christ, He will give us “Life,” His very life. It’s available to each one of us, and all we need to do is to ask Him.
Blessings to each one of you, and Happy Father’s Day to all of you who are Fathers.
