Eternal Life in Jesus (John 11:25)

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live”.
– John 11:25

I almost need to say nothing after reading that verse. This is one of the simplest, most powerful expressions of the hope we have in Jesus. He is the resurrection and the life. He is life forever. Just let that soak in a fresh way in your life today. You have life now and life forever in Jesus.

John 11:25 shows the promise of eternal life.

Obviously, this is specifically referring to you if you have trusted in Jesus as the Savior and Lord of your life. If that is true, if you have put your faith in the One who died on the cross for your sin, to free you from sin, and its power, and its penalty forever, the One who has risen from the grave in victory over sin and death, you have life now and life forever in Jesus.

Oh, I think about a couple in our church family. And I’ll just speak generally because I’ve not asked this particular person for permission to share the details of their story. But this couple, the wife has been a follower of Jesus for a long time. The husband was not a follower of Jesus and was pretty hard toward the gospel. And this wife just prayed continually for her husband to know God’s love for him in Jesus and sought to show him that love.

And it’s not very long ago he found out that he had a life-threatening illness, and during that time, he came to know Jesus. This husband realized how much God loves him in Jesus. He went from being very mad at God to realizing who Jesus is, how much God loves him, and he put his faith in Jesus, and he just recently went to be with the Lord.

John 11:25 highlights the promise of resurrection.

But John 11:25 is true. This husband, this brother knew Jesus as the resurrection and the life, and whoever believes in Jesus as the resurrection and the life, though he died, yet now he lives. Oh Jesus, we praise you as the resurrection and the life. We praise you as the One who has died on the cross for our sins and risen from the grave in victory over sin and death.

Lord, we praise you as the Author of Life and the Giver of Life, eternal life forever. We praise you, God, that this brother, though he died, yet he lives. We praise you for that reality, and so many people, Lord, we love. Brothers and sisters in Christ who are coming to our minds right now whom we miss. Yet we know we will see again because though they died, yet they live because you are the resurrection and the life.

So God help us, help us to boldly, compassionately, share this good news with people today, with family members in our lives. We pray for their salvation. Do what you did in this brother’s life. Please open their eyes to your love for them, family members, friends, coworkers, classmates, neighbors, and people that we’re praying for in our lives.

Prayer for the Manga Kanuri People

And God, we intercede right now for the nations. Along these lines, we pray specifically for the Manga Kanuri people of Nigeria, for half a million men, women, and children who are blinded from seeing Jesus as the resurrection and the life through Islam right now. We pray that the Manga Kanuri people would be reached with this good news. That you would open their eyes to it, that they might trust in you, Jesus, not as just a prophet, but as Savior and Lord, as the resurrection and the lives so that when the Manga Kanuri die, they would live.

We pray that over them. We pray that over people around us that we know today as we praise you for this reality in our lives. Thank you for freeing us from the fear of death. Thank you for the reality that, though we will die, assuming you don’t return before then, we will live. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.