A Different Perspective Official Podcast - They Should Have Known // A Life Eternal, Part 2

It turns out that coming to grips with the resurrection of Jesus wasn’t easy for the disciples. And to tell you the truth, it can be difficult to come to grips with it here and now as well.

They say that there are two absolute certainties in life – death and taxes. Well, let’s leave taxes for another day – that leaves death. One day, you and I will breathe our last breath on this planet, that’s pretty much certain, despite all the hopes and dreams and plans that we have for next week and next year and the next decade, most of us simply don’t know when that moment will come, when we breathe that final breath.

And then what? What comes after that? Well, there are basically two schools of thought. One is that at that point it’s all over – nothing – a big emptiness. The other school of thought has many different flavours, but many people – in fact most people on this planet – believe in some sort of afterlife, whatever that may look like to them. If there’s an eternal life, what is it, what does it look like, and is it worth having?

There’s some good questions there to ask and here we are in the week after Easter so we are going to unpack and explore a little bit, particularly looking at the resurrection of Jesus; this new life; this eternal life. Jesus over and over again said:

Believe in me and you will have eternal life.

Now, some people say, "Well that’s nice but really, these days, all roads do lead to Rome. I mean you believe in a good God and you’ll make it; you’ll have eternal life. Kind of doesn’t quite matter which flavour of God you happen to believe in."

But not according to Jesus. He didn’t leave that option open; He didn’t intend to. Here’s this carpenter from Nazareth, an ordinary man and somewhere in His early thirties He begins a three and a half year public ministry. He heals people; He does amazing things; crowds follow Him; He upsets the religious leaders and there’s a murder plot and ultimately He is crucified and He rose again. And lots of people saw Him after He rose again and we’ll have a look at that on the program tomorrow.

But in the competitive world we live in, there’s a notion that’s deep ingrained into who we are, that if you and I are going to attain this eternal life that Jesus promised, we’re going to have to work for it. I mean, it makes sense after all, at school, it’s competitive, you get the grades, you go and do certain classes based on your grades, you compete for a limited number of good jobs and you compete for promotion. Nothing comes easy; you have to work for things. You have to get out there and achieve and take them and make it happen; they’re not just going to come to us on a silver platter, all of those good things.

And then God turns around and says, “Well, I’m a God of grace and this eternal life thing is free, because Jesus bought it for you on the cross.” Now I study this stuff every day. I do what I’m d