Tuesday, May 8, 2012
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
IN HIM WAS LIFE: FILLED WITH JOY
Compare this verse with Mark 16:16 and ask yourself what is the difference between these two? Perhaps it is not immediately apparent in the English because the phrase "should" or "might" is often associated with an uncertain future event, but there is definitely a difference in tense here. Whereas Mark is clearly looking forward to the rewards of the next life, John is just as clearly rejoicing right now in that life which we partake of now through faith.
This is typical of John. Compare John 3:36 or think of the story of the woman of Samaria. Jesus says to this woman "a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." Jesus isn't talking only about heaven. He is talking about healing this woman whose life was broken and dead and dark. Here is a woman who had made all the wrong decisions and Jesus wants to give her back more than the life she had squandered.
Remember that John probably wrote this Gospel within the last decade of his life. He was an old man, the last of the apostles. His friends and the companions of his youth are gone. But his writing isn't filled with longing for that next life, rather it is filled with rejoicing in that Life which he saw in Christ not only on Easter morning but in every word that Jesus spoke, and which was His even now through faith.
