“I am the Way, the Truth, and the LIFE!” (John 14:16)!

Greetings Friends! We may have heard people say, ‘Go get a life!’ Or, ‘Stop existing and start living!’ Let’s talk life today! 

Jesus is life! This is a very bold claim. Do you have life? That may not be easy to answer. You may say, ’Yes, I am alive and walking in the land of the living.’ But is it the same as Jesus’ claim to life, “I am the way, the truth, and the LIFE!” (John 14:16) This is a fundamental statement of truth which makes the difference between just having biological life and possessing true living. It is the difference between just existing, and living a life that’s truly life.

 Cover of Life Magazine October 1909 (Wiki Commons)

For the majority, life simply means this physical, breathing, walking life, with its five senses, that mothers bore us in pregnancy and childbirth. We all have minds which giving us freedom to decide how to live this life. Then there is the ‘quality of life’ defined in terms of health, happiness, and wealth (I suppose). The pursuit of these “values” we have come to regard synonymously with life and occupies much of our lives and energy. According to medical science humans have an estimated lifespan of 80 years, at best. What happens after that, some think death is the end-all, while others believe in the afterlife.  

What is life? Science may explain human life through the DNA sequence. The DNA describes human life biologically. Jesus’ claim to life explains it spiritually. Therefore, true life encompasses both the biological and spiritual realms. When we have a worldview of life with both perspectives, we become whole persons. The Bible says the material world and all life originates from a spiritual source – God. The creation account in Genesis reveals how God made man out of the dust of the ground. Job said, “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breadth of the Almighty gives me life” (Job 33:4, also Gen. 2:7). God told man, “Dust thou art, and unto dust you shall return” (Gen.3:19). So, today we have this chemically-enabled DNA existence because God breathed life into man. Without the breadth of life from God there is no human DNA. 

But when God created man, He made him unique from all other living organisms. He made a clear distinction from all other creatures of creation, saying, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness” (Gen.1:26-27). So, the body exists for a purpose. God’s image is He is immortal in composition, and He is Love in character. And that purpose is spiritual, based upon the utterance of a spiritual Being, our Creator. To accomplish His divine purpose, God gave man something no other life-form possesses – the mind.  God gave man a mind like His. He gave man a well-defined maneuverable body physically compatible to the mind’s manipulation. The Psalmist said, “I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psa.139:14).   

The Life of Jesus by William Hole (Wiki Commons)

Man’s spiritual component comes with his mind which gives man faith and responsibility as to how to live his physical life so he may accomplish his God-given destiny. Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh counts for nothing” (John 6:63). This passage cautions man about inverting the priority of life. If we look at life purely from the physical realm without giving credence to the spiritual, it ceases to be true life, you are now no different from other life forms whose purpose is purely biological. Actually, the passage leads us to believe the spiritual life is the basis for the biological life. The spiritual and physical do not exist exclusively to itself. Like a marriage, both are made to compliment each other, with the spiritual as the undergird for the physical life. So true life is the blending of the spiritual and the biological in single expression for the purpose of attaining God’s spiritual end.

So why is Jesus true life? Because He is the embodiment of God’s purpose in man. Jesus is the prophesied Immanuel, the incarnation of God in human form, so He may become the One to reverse incarnate man to take on the divine form (immortality). (Isa 7:14; Matt.1:23) Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, the one who believes on Me has eternal life” (John 6:47; also John 3:15, 36; 5:24; 11:25; 17:3; 20:31; Rom.10:9). 

As a human Jesus lived the perfect life, defeated Satan in the temptations, was crucified for our redemption, He was resurrected and ascended to heaven and glorified our humanity in Himself and before the God the Father. He is man’s vicarious substitute who takes and joins man in God’s Triune Being forever. God’s purpose is to make humans immortal as He is (that’s His image), and become His children as Jesus is His Son to Love and cherish for eternity. “God is Love,” that is what He created us for, and to become – to Love and be Loved as He is Love. (1 John 4:8; Rom.8:29-30) Love is God’s image. He is not made of Love, He IS Love!

There is another more crucial reason Jesus is life. He is life because He was sent by God to save humanity from sin and death and make possible God’s purpose for mankind. Adam had put man on the path of sin and death, blocking the way for the Spirit. The Spirit is the One who gives man true life by living in man as His own temple. (1 Cor.3:16; 6:19; Rom.5:5) No human could save himself from the sin condition, nor anyone else. Only God could do that through and in His Son Jesus, and impart Love (Spirit) and immortality to man. (John 3:16-17; Rom.5:5)

Paul admonish us through Timothy that if we let the Spirit lead us keep the two realms of the spiritual and the physical in their proper place and perspective, then we can “take hold of the life that is truly life.” (1 Tim.6:17-19). He said, “Train yourself to be godly (spiritual) for it promises benefits in this life (physical) and in the life to come (immortality)” (1 Tim.4: 7b, 8b).

I hope you will receive Jesus, and live a life that’s truly life. 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to write to me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com. Thank you for visiting. 

Blessings:

Until we meet again in my next  post, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom.15:13). May the Spirit enliven you and make all things concerning you possible, and may all the blessing of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself through His Triune Love be with your in you walk of faith.

Kiang

*Bulamanriver is the metaphor describing the union of man with the Love of the Triune God flowing in humans, making possible the “Triune Life” -the source of the miraculous life in man. To read the many facets of the life of the Bulamanriver go to my website www.bulamanriver.com where you can order a copy of my book of the same title. 

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011,unless stated otherwise.

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