The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

V. Rejection Comes Over Amazing “Zoe-Life” Claims

1. CONFLICT DEVELOPS INTO SUPREME CRISIS

It is in John 8, after Jesus had declared, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12), that His claims were sharply challenged. Nevertheless He again affirmed that God in Heaven was His Father. And now He stressed the matter and relationship of death, life’s opposite and redemption’s alternative. And such death would, He declared, result from rejection of Him. Solemnly He said: CFF1 200.9

“I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins [losing the true, eternal life]: whither I go, ye cannot come” (John 8:21). CFF1 201.1

“Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he [the sole Giver of life], ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:23, 24). CFF1 201.2

Christ’s declaration of His deity, and pronouncement of judgment, aroused their deepest indignation. After they had maliciously charged Him with being “born of fornication” (John 8:41) instead of “from above” as He claimed (John 8:23), and Christ had reaffirmed that He indeed “proceeded forth and came from God” (John 8:42), He next sternly charged them with being children of “your father the devil [the accuser and traducer]” (John 8:44). And He added with penetrating significance: CFF1 201.3

“He was a murderer [for death came through him] from the beginning [of the human race], and abode not in the truth .... When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44). CFF1 201.4

Christ thus harked back to the original lie in Eden—“Ye shall not surely die” (Genesis 3:4)—with all its train of unutterable woe. Then follows Christ’s tremendous declaration, “If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death” (John 8:51). That is, he shall not be visited with the forever-death, eternal death, the “second death,” from which there is no resurrection. CFF1 201.5

Jesus’ final affirmation was, “Before Abraham was [came into existence, or was born], I am” (John 8:58). It was following this incredible utterance that they took up stones to cast at Him. CFF1 201.6

2. AGAIN SOUGHT TO STONE HIM BECAUSE OF CLAIMS

The same truths are enforced in chapter 10, under the metaphors of “the door of the sheep” (John 10:7)—by which they were to enter into life—and the “good shepherd” (John 10:11). Of the door Christ said: CFF1 201.7

“I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture .... I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:9, 10). CFF1 201.8

Christ, then, is the solitary door to eternal life. Through Him mortal man again has right of access to the tree of life (Revelation 2:7). CFF1 202.1

Then as to the Good Shepherd: CFF1 202.2

“I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life [psuchin, the natural life, and not, be it noted, zoe] for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd” (John 10:14-16). CFF1 202.3

“And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (John 10:28). CFF1 202.4

It was for this bold twofold claim that they “took up stones again to stone him” (John 10:31; cf. John 8:59) for “blasphemy,” because, they said, Thou “makest thyself God” (John 10:33). “They sought again to take [arrest] him: but he escaped out of their hand” (John 10:39). The crisis was on in dead earnest. Thus there was deep significance to Christ’s outspoken utterances on the nature and destiny of man. CFF1 202.5

3. MIRACULOUS RAISING OF LAZARUS FROM DEATH

This great truth of Christ as the Life-giver is next graphically illustrated in John 11, in the dramatic episode at the grave of Lazarus. Mary and Martha had some knowledge of the doctrines of the resurrection, the judgment, and the life to come. They did not share the views of the Sadducees. So when Jesus came, Martha said to Him, “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died” (John 11:21). Then Jesus assured her, “Thy brother shall rise again [anistimi, “stand up”]” (John 11:23). And when she boldly confessed that she knew that her brother would “rise again in the resurrection at the last day” (John 11:24), Jesus immediately uttered another of His great “I am” sayings: CFF1 202.6

“I am the resurrection, and the life [he zoe]: he that believeth in me, though he were dead [even though he should die], yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth [or is alive at My second coming] and believeth in me shall never die [never perish in the final, irrevocable second death ⁶]” (John 11:25, 26). CFF1 202.7

This declaration by our Lord brought the recognition and confession from Martha, “I believe that thou art the Christ [the Messiah], the Son of God, which should come into the world” (John 11:27; cf. Matthew 16:16). Then it was that Jesus, at the tomb, lifted His voice and commanded, “Lazarus, come forth” (John 11:43), just as if He were arousing him from a deep sleep. “And he that was dead came forth” (John 11:44). Lazarus, receiving life, heard and obeyed the summons. Lazarus, it should be noted, was sleeping in the grave (John 11:44), not singing praises in Heaven, when Christ called him. ⁷ CFF1 203.1

It was a startling exercise, while Jesus was here on earth, of the divine, life-giving power He claimed to possess. There is no hint that any “soul” had left Lazarus’ body and had ascended to Heaven, thence to be brought back. Jesus did not address an independent, conscious “soul.” He did not say, “Soul or spirit of Lazarus, come back down to earth, and live again in the flesh.” The four days in the tomb were to Lazarus a period of oblivion and unconsciousness (Psalm 146:4). He gave no account of the glories and activities of Heaven—for Lazarus had nothing to relate. He had been asleep, in unconscious sleep. Now he was awakened. CFF1 204.1

Death might be defined as the great hiatus, the appointed break between the initial probationary earthly life, and the life that is to come following the resurrection. It is the little period of quiescence before the full immortal life for eternity for the redeemed. CFF1 204.2

As a result there was a large increase of disciples (John 11:45), which fact alarmed the Jewish leaders. Then comes the significant statement: “Then from that day forth (the day of the raising of Lazarus] they [the Jewish leaders] took counsel together [in their Council, or Sanhedrin, John 11:47] for to put him to death” (John 11:53)—seeking some juridical pretext. They thus rejected the Life, refused the Light, and spurned the Love incarnate. And the record further states that thenceforth Jesus “walked no more openly among the Jews” (John 11:54). So they sought for Him, “that they might take him” (John 11:57). CFF1 204.3

4. BURDEN OF CHRIST’S HIGH PRIESTLY PRAYER

And just before the close of His earthly life and mission, this same doctrine of Life Only in Christ was finally set forth in His intercessory high priestly prayer, recorded in John 17. CFF1 204.4

“These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do” (John 17:1-4). CFF1 205.1

That was the climax of the remarkable and cumulative series of life incidents—Christ’s unchanging burden and witness to the close of His life and ministry. CFF1 205.2

5. “LIFE SOLELY IN CHRIST” JOHN’S PARAMOUNT THEME

The foregoing leading citations are all from the Gospel of John, though there are other similar passages. The conclusion seems inescapable that this was one of the main themes of John’s Gospel, as also of his Epistles. This is evident from the fact that in the first six chapters of John he declares, in varying forms, in no less than twenty-eight times—and more than fifty times in his several writings—that Christ is the sole source of eternal life, of which our Lord testified so earnestly and with such constant reiteration during the brief period of His earthly incarnation. CFF1 205.3

This was the boon He came to bring to dying men. To provide this He gave up His own natural life (John 10:11, 14), which purchased salvation and restored the wondrous life that He freely offers to all who truly believe in Him. CFF1 205.4

6. CONTINGENT IMMORTALITY GIVES HONOR TO CHRIST

This life is not something that men can rightfully claim as their own inalienable, or inherent, prerogative. Rather, it is a life Christ has purchased back for man by the shedding of His own precious blood, that may be ours by gift. And it is to be remembered that man’s immortality, even in the endless days of eternity, will ever and only be contingent immortality—dependent always upon God. There is consequently no place for pride, independence, or self-sufficiency concerning the divine provision of life. CFF1 205.5

This glorious doctrine of life and immortality, which illuminates the pages of John’s Gospel, while humbling to the pride of man, extols the honor and glory of Christ. But ever since the days of Eden, Satan has sought to rob Christ of His peculiar glory as the Giver of eternal life to His followers. Christ indeed saves from sin, suffering, and misery. But He does infinitely more; He saves from actual, final death, perishing, destruction (Romans 5:9; 1 Thessalonians 1:10)—the “second death,” from which there will be no awakening. CFF1 206.1

It is because Christ has risen triumphant over death, and ever liveth, that we shall rise at His “trumpet” call (1 Corinthians 15:22; 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17), to live forevermore with Him. And the life, which He bestows, is a life of unending joy and blessedness in His everlasting kingdom and presence. That is the fullness of the gospel of salvation, the more abundant life, the endless life for all eternity! Such is God’s unspeakable gift. CFF1 206.2

This revelation of the eternal life through Christ, in the Gospel of John, surely makes it luminous with new meaning and significance. It throws a fresh and radiant light upon these familiar passages that makes them central in our comprehensive survey of the testimony of the Supreme Witness concerning the nature and destiny of man. CFF1 206.3