So what?
It sounded so go, so right, so together when we almost chanted together the words of the Apostles' Creed. With one firm voice right to the last line -
I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen.

Yet...... so?
Does it really matter?
That you believe in this item called "the life everlasting" - does it make a tangible difference to your existence;
to when you pick up and head back to school or to work,
or to how you relate with your friends or spouse or children?

"I believe in.... the life everlasting."

A couple of bible passages would help us gain a handle on this statement:
 
 

"I believe in.... the life everlasting" we said.
"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life" says the Bible.

WE have eternal, or everlasting, life.

This past week I was privileged to assist two families in laying to rest the earthly remains of their loved ones. The deceased were people of faith - believers in the Son of God. And so, though there were tears, they were tears mingled with comforting certainty. Certainty that their loved one continues to exist, to live in the realm beyond space and time -
- in everlasting life.

There was no doubt, no perhaps or maybe, no uncertainty.
There was, instead, confidence based on the Bible's statement -
which is NOT - "whoever believes in the Son may have, possibly, there's a chance for them to get ...... eternal life."
NO.

Whoever believes in the Son HAS eternal life.
It's a definite.
100% for sure.
Whether you're eight or eighty, a Christian for your entire life or brand new to the faith - when you turn your life over into the hands of Jesus your name is carved on the door of one of heaven's rooms.
It is prepared for you.
A reserved seat is placed for you in the Royal throneroom of Creator God.

Do you believe?
Then your future includes this -
Now the dwelling of God is with humanity and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. And God said, "I am making everything new." [Revelation 21.3-4]

Do you have loved ones that have died in faith?
They enjoy this already.
100% certainly for sure!

That's the rock on which you can anchor your life.
That's the solid foundation on which you can build for your future.
That's what can keep panic and despair at bay as you will face inevitable times of weakness, perhaps pain and eventually death.

You don't have to deny death.
You don't have to run away from the ageing process.
You don't have to be afraid of admitting your own mortality.
Because, for the believer, death is just a door through which we go to eternal life ---- a life that we can claim already now; it belongs to us; our name is on it, engraved with the holy hands of Jesus, approved by the Father in Heaven.

You can, then, as a believer approach the celebration of Holy Communion with excitement. For, you see, on the night when Jesus first celebrated this special meal with His disciples He said, "I'm looking forward to the day when I'll be able to eat and drink with you again in the eternal banquet hall of God."
Come to Communion, eat and drink, and remember that one day you'll be eating and drinking with Jesus as the visible, tangible host of the table.
You the welcome guest!

I believe in...... the life everlasting.

And guess what, as if that isn't enough there's still more packed into that little statement. To get at that, please read with me part of our Catechism -

Did you catch what it says?
Yes, it mentions what we've already talked about - the royal eternal inheritance that waits for us beyond death's door.

But it begins with right now.
Here.
Today.

Eternal life is something I have possession of - right now.
And - no - not just in the sense that I can know with certainty that one day I'll have my hands on something and can know it right now. If that were the case then John 3.36 would read something like:
Whoever believes in the Son will have eternal life.
a definite future tense.

But what does God's Word say?
Whoever believes in the Son HAS eternal life.

What tense is that?
Correct - present tense.
Right now.
Here.

You won't be able to grasp the significance of that if you restrict your thinking about eternal life, or everlasting life, to being simply something characterized by a certain sort of time -- forever time, no-end-to-it kind of time.
If that were all then, indeed, we won't be able to begin to taste eternal or everlasting life until we confront and pass through death.

The Bible, however, uses the term eternal in a much broader way.
Think of it as sort of a code word, or reference title, for the part of reality that is beyond the three dimensions of our limited physical earthly existence.
It refers to the part of cosmic reality where Jesus in bodily form now resides; what we commonly think of as the heavenly realm of reality; where God can be seen clearly and fully; where He is.

Think of that when you read:
Whoever believes in the Son HAS eternal life.

There is a link, there is a connection or direct pipeline between that humanly invisible realm, the eternal/heavenly realm, and the limited, pain-filled, sin-stained, thorn-infested reality within which we walk and talk.
A link and connection that God graciously makes available to believers in Jesus.

That link is part of eternal living.
It is the part we experience already now.

It is the part of eternal life that we experience through the Holy Spirit's presence.
When He gives us courage and comfort in the face of adversity.
When we gain a sense inside that someone is with us and cares for us.
When we find ourselves somehow, amazingly, being guided through choices and circumstances of life in ways far deeper than fluke or coincidence.
When miracles of various sorts happen.

It is experiencing the reality of being treated as a friend by Jesus, guarded and guided by the Heavenly Father.

It is the part of eternal life that touches us when we pray and see answers:
circumstances changed
conversions
guidance
healing
peace
power

And it is very, very real.
Eternal life - a very new way to live - now!

And that part can also be experienced as you come to communion.
For Jesus has promised that the Holy Spirit will move among us as we participate in faith.
Holy Communion can be thought of as the first aid station for the soul. It is where banged up, damaged believers can find new strength, healing, and hope ---- not just because of psyching themselves up, or group hype. There's none of that. Rather, it's the eternal Spirit of Jesus breaking into our physical dimension of reality and working on us, and in us.

I believe in.... the life everlasting.

Today, even in the midst of a world that is coloured so often in shades of greys, filled with chapters of imperfection and clouded by sin and grief,
- even today we can experience hints and moments of glory, of triumph, of hope.

For the presence of God
the very real
very eternal
presence of God is here.

Walking with us.
Carrying us from time to time.
Supporting us.
Guiding us.

The presence of God that will, one day, finally, bring us home to experience eternal life in all its fullness.

Let's pray.