The Gift of Eternal Life and How to Receive It
JOHN 4:14
14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
JOHN 5:24
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
ROMANS 6:23
23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Gift of Eternal Life and How to Receive It
**The Christmas season that we have just recently had is a time that by tradition we give gifts to one another because we all like to receive gifts - I don’t know of anyone who does not like to receive gifts. But the greatest gift that anyone of us could ever receive is to receive the gift of eternal life.
THIRSTING.FOR.LIFE_ PHOENIX.AZ FRIDAY_ 60-0304
E-20 …If we should take a trip tonight, and go up into the heaven, and I'd meet with father Abraham, and I'd say, "Abraham, what is the most glorious thing that you have ever known? What is the most essential thing that you have ever known?"
Abraham would say to me, "Life Eternal."
Then I'll take a little trip, and we'll go again, and we'll go up to the great Archangel, Gabriel, Who is the messenger of the covenant to the Jewish people, Who stands at the right hand of God, one of the highest order of Angels in the heaven. And I would say to Him, "Gabriel, Thou art a mighty Angel. You are loved of God, and You've been here for aeons of time, and You, perhaps, know everything in the heavens, and where everything is placed, because You're one of God's right hand Angels. And You know the great secrets of the heavens. You sounded the trumpet at the coming of the Lord Jesus. You announced His first coming, and You shall announce His second coming, so You must be a mighty man or a mighty Angel. I want to ask You in all of God's treasures, what is the greatest thing that You have found among His treasures?"
I can see Gabriel bring himself to attention, and say, "The greatest thing that I have found in God's treasures since He created Me is Life. God made Me to live for eternal, for eternity. And Life is the greatest thing that there is."
E-21 No matter how rich you might be, no matter how popular you might be, no matter who you might be, the greatest thing there is that any man can achieve in this earth, is to achieve Eternal Life.
Though you be king and potentate, though you rule the world for a million years as king and young men, and you fail to find Eternal Life, you've lost the greatest thing that anyone could lose.
E-22 I've often said if I can be a young man of twenty-five years old, if God would appear on the platform tonight, and say, "I will turn you to twenty-five years of age. There you'll remain for a million years, and I'll make you the king over all the universe. Everything will be at your command. Or I'll give you a hundred years of misery and woe, and trouble, and sorrow, but at the end of that hundred years, I'll give you Eternal Life. But the end of the million years, you are lost."
Oh, I'd say, "Lord God, I don't have to wait any longer to make my choice. Let me have the hundred years of misery and woe, any kind of a death that you choose for me to die, only, Lord, give me Eternal Life. For though I own the whole world and was king for a million years, at the end of that million years, I become a hell bound creature for eternity. But no matter how bad my lot is here, at the end of my life, if I've got Eternal Life, I live on in the blessed Presence of God forever and forever."
***When we think of eternal life (and because life is the greatest thing that there is), it is amazing to think of the amount of effort and the expense that so many people and scientists and medical people will go through to try to come up with ways to extend human life for even a few more years or even a few months longer on this earth – and that is all good, we have nothing against that.
But the trillions upon trillions of dollars that are spent world-wide trying to extend life for a few more years and yet many of those same people will not receive the free gift that God is offering for eternal life - you can hardly get any one to accept it, but why wouldn’t you want to accept it and believe it??, because we know that it involves receiving the word of God.
JOHN 3:14-16
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: (This was when the Lord Jesus was crucifixion on the cross – that is also repeated in this end time age as he has been lifted up in shame again at the end of this son of man ministry)
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life (Notice that it is to believe in this one who was lifted up and made to look like a failure at the end of his ministry – and that is not popular to most people. People like to believe in things that are popular and things that look great and successful, but God always hides himself in the things that look small and insignificant, and in things that look like they have failed in the eyes of man, and when if you believe in those things of God, it is then that you are sure to have eternal life).
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
To believe in the only begotten Son is not to merely believe an historical Jesus that walked the earth for 33 years 2000 years ago, the devil believes that too, but it is to become a true believer of the revealing of the word which is Christ for your day.
A begotten son is child that is birth by a seed given through the womb of a woman – this is different to a spoken word son of what Adam was as a direct spoken word creation from God. And we know that the reason for God doing it this way was that this was to be God himself becoming a part of his own creation as a human being, not a different person, but the eternal word becoming flesh which was God himself becoming for the first time a part of His own creation – and so this word made flesh was a gift to the human race, so to receive the word when it becomes flesh is to receive the gift of eternal life), that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
***So we can see that it is not to just believe in an historical word made flesh for a previous time or age, but it is to believe in the word made flesh for your generation because that is Christ the son of man for the hour that you live in.
EVENTS.MADE.CLEAR.BY.PROPHECY_ JEFF.IN V-12 N-3 SUNDAY_ 65-0801E
69 Now the believers can see the Word is made flesh in their generation…
PERSEVERANCE_ JEFF.IN V-10 N-3 SUNDAY_ 62-0218
169 … The Word, the Word made flesh, a Discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. That's what the Word of God is now. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. See?
You--you've got to get the living Word in you to have the living God in you, because the Word here is God when It's made flesh in you, made Spirit and Life in you. When It goes into your flesh and your faith, and becomes Life, then you are a living example. You're an epistle of God, read of all men. You won't have It like Christ, not the Fullness, because It's divided up on the day of Pentecost.
JOHN 5:24
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
Eternal life is not achieved by eating some special diet to make your body live forever, or maybe by doing some good work or deed so that God will reward you with eternal life.
Many people think that eternal life is achieved just by being a good person and doing good deeds during your life time, but according to the scriptures eternal life comes by believing in the Son of Man which we know to be God himself, in other words - to know Him is life, not to know of him as an historical figure of in history, but to know him by the revealing of himself to you by the word that he sends in the generation that you live in.
JOHN 3:36
36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
**The Son was the word revealed and made flesh for that time – that is how you can be sure you have eternal life, is to believe on the word that is being interpreted and made flesh for the time that you are living in.
WHAT.SHALL.WE.DO.WITH.THIS.JESUS.CALLED.CHRIST_ PHOENIX.AZ V-22 N-4 SUNDAY_ 64-0126
113 And as Pilate that day, it reminds me of three ways that Pilate tried to get It off his hand. He tried all three ways to get It off his hand, but he failed. There is only one way you take It off your hand. Let's see what he did. Pilate tried these three ways, and they all failed.
114 We must face the issue. We know it's here, for His Word has been identified by the Scripture evidence. The Word promised for the day is made flesh, even to the evil part of refusing Jesus Christ; and Him, in this Laodicean Age, on the outside of the church. We know that's the Truth. Think of it, the Blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, on our hands. You... That scares me, to think of it. To run through Him, it sends chills, to think, the Blood of Jesus Christ!
MATTHEW 19:29
29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
GOD.HATH.A.PROVIDED.WAY_ JEFF.IN SUNDAY_ 56-0108
E-4 And now, today we're going to study from the Word for a few moments, and then pray for the sick and the needy. Mainly, my ministry... I'm not very much of a--of a teacher from the Word of God. And I probably don't know too much about His Book, but as I've often said, "I know the Author real well." And that's the main thing. I--I want to know Him. To know Him is Life. And I--I have Life through knowing Him: Eternal Everlasting Life that cannot perish. It's forever. God gives His gift of Eternal Life and It's forever good. It never perishes and never will get old and dwindle away. Your body will get old someday, if you live. But your soul, your spirit will never get old.
I met an old person once that was well passed a hundred years old, and said they'd been a Christian since they were seven years old. And I said, "Brother, how--how is it with you today?"
"Oh," he said, "Brother Branham, He gets sweeter as the years go by."
About a hundred and four or five years old, and I thought, "Still sweeter as the years go by, around ninety-seven, ninety-eight years serving the Lord, and He still got sweeter." I imagine when the ages rolls on, He will just still be better all the time, when we look back and see what God has brought us through, and brought us out of, and brought us into.
Christian life is a--a journey; this is a pilgrimage here, and we're just passing through this land. And we're--we're not going to stay here; you know it. Many times we build a house; we say, "Well, the family and I will anchor down here?" But how, for how long? See? You don't know. And we always would like to get a place where we could just say, "This is ours for good." But it isn't here on earth. We don't have such a place here on earth. But there's something in you that calls out for that place. And before there could be anything in you calling out for that place, that place has to be in existence, or there'd be nothing in here calling out for it. The deep can't call to the deep, unless there's a deep to respond to it. So there has to be something inside calling to a place before... There has to be a place first, rather, to make this deep call out to it. And then, when there's something in here that desires...
***THE.TRIAL_ TOPEKA.KS V-20 N-6 SUNDAY_ 64-0621
4 Lord, we believe this to be the last commission to the church. We believe that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we believe that any man is no better than his word, therefore we believe that this Word is You. And we believe that it is You, which, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Come, today, O Father God, in the form of the Word, to us, and let the people see that Thou art the risen Christ, and raised in this last day, in the form that You said You would be in, the manifested Word. When You were on earth, You were the prophesied Word, manifested in a human form. And the Word is prophesied for this day. Come, Lord Jesus, and bring It to us, today, the Word. Do Your interpretation of the Word, that we might have "joy unspeakable, and full of glory." Insomuch that we have found You pleasant, and found Your Words true and confirmed in our hearts, that we have passed from death unto Life.
The gift of eternal life is the gift of Christ revealing Himself to you by the word for the age. That is the greatest gift is when Christ is revealed to you by his word - To know Him is life, that is the light of eternal life, it is the spiritual light of man.
JOHN 1:4
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
JOHN 1:9
9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
***Life is by the light of the word of God, because God is light – darkness is anything contrary to the word of God.
II CORINTHIANS 4:4
4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
I JOHN 1:5
5 ¶ This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
THE.SEED.IS.NOT.HEIR.WITH.THE.SHUCK_ JEFF.IN V-6 N-4 THURSDAY_ 65-0218
65 There is no Judgment to the royal, spiritual, predestinated Seed of Abraham, for they are predestinated to Eternal Life. They have accepted God's provided Sacrifice; and that Sacrifice, which was Christ, the Word.
"And there is therefore now no condemnation." Saint John 5:24, if you want the Scripture. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus," Romans 8:1, "walk not after the flesh, but the Spirit," in Romans. 5:24, "He that heareth My Word," the word there is, "understandeth." Any drunkard, anything else, can hear It and walk away. "But he that heareth My Word, understandeth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting Life, and shall not come into the Judgment; but is passed from death unto Life." Yes, sir.
He that this great mystery of the God made known, understands, how that God was in Christ reconciling Himself to the world, how that He and the Father were One, how that the great mysteries of the fulfilling of God taking and bringing Hisself, manifested in the age of human beings, and in the stream of human beings, and in the company of human beings; to make His Word manifested in the day, in the eastern rising of the sun, and to do the same thing as the sun sets in the west, to make Hisself manifested in a Bride Church, the Word made manifest. See? It will, too. "He that understandeth," that is, "to know, that's been revealed to him, of Him that sent Me, has everlasting Life, and will not come into the Judgment; but is passed from death unto Life."