By Zhang Ying

We believers in the Lord all know that only God has the eternal way of life. The Lord Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). In the Book of Revelation, it was also said that: “a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bore twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God gives them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 22:1-5). Eternal life means to live forever, to never taste death. From these verses, we can see that only God has eternal life, only God is the source of life of us human beings, and only God has the way of eternal life. If we find God, we find the source of life, and only then will we truly gain the way of eternal life and never be afraid of the threat of death.

From the Bible, I know that in the beginning when God created Adam and Eve, He didn’t limit how long they could live. He just gave the command to them: “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17). At that time, as long as man obeyed the words of God and did not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he would never die. But due to Satan’s temptation, Adam and Eve defied God’s words and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. As a result, they were cursed by God. God said to Adam: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it.… In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread, till you return to the ground; for out of it were you taken: for dust you are, and to dust shall you return” (Genesis 3:17, 19). In this way, Adam and Eve lost eternal life because they had sinned and then death began to come upon mankind. Thus it can be seen that the mankind of the very beginning were immortal, but they lost eternal life after sinning. It is Just as the Romans chapter 6, verse 23 says: “For the wages of sin is death.” After we humans committed sins, we lost God’s glory, lived under Satan’s domain and were bound by sin, and what we humans lived out was the image of Satan. Eventually, we humans would die because of our grievous sins. But because God loves us humans and could not bear to see humans created by His own hands die in sins, He started His work of saving humans, in order that we humans can completely escape from the influence of Satan and be purified, thereby being qualified to inherit God’s promise—eternal life.

So as to make us mankind break away from sin and receive eternal life, God first did a stage of work of issuing laws and guiding the lives of people. He used Moses to issue commandments, laws and decrees, making the people of the time know how to live on the earth, how to worship Jehovah God, what sin was, and what sacrifices people should offer when they committed sins as well as how to observe the Sabbath, and so on. This was the first stage of work God had done to save us mankind. God’s work in the Age of Law made us humans know what sin was, but since we humans were too deeply corrupted by Satan, we humans still couldn’t get rid of sins at all. At the end of the Age of Law, people were confronted with the hopeless situations of being stoned to death and burned by the fires of heaven. For this reason, God did a stage of work of the Age of Grace upon the foundation of the work of the Age of Law. God personally became incarnate and His innocent and holy body was crucified to bear the sins of us humans. He became the eternal sin offering of us, and as long as we believe in the Lord Jesus and repent and admit our sins to Him, our sins can be forgiven and we can escape from the danger of being executed for violating the law. This is the fruit borne of the redemption work of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus said, “Whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). This is the promise God gives us. But because we still have corrupt dispositions, and have not yet broken the bondage and control of sin or gotten purified, still living in a vicious cycle of committing sins in the day and confessing at night, thus, we still cannot receive eternal life from God. So, we need to continue to follow God and experience His work. Only when our satanic corrupt dispositions have been purified and transformed can we gain eternal life. The Bible prophesies, “a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb” (Revelation 22:1). From this verse, we can see that the river of water of life is flowing from the throne of the Lamb. It means that in the last days, God will bestow the way of life upon man. Which is to say that God will do a stage of work to completely save us from the bonds and control of sin, and only when we gain the living water of life flowing from the Lamb’s throne do we truly gain the eternal life.

It is prophesied in the Revelation: “And he said to me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to him that is thirsty of the fountain of the water of life freely” (Revelation 21:6). “For the Lamb which is in the middle of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them to living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Revelation 7:17). “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:29). The Lord Jesus said: “But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14). We can see from these verses that God is the beginning and the end, and that in order to more completely save and cleanse us humans, in the last days the Holy Spirit will speak and utter His voice to the churches to shepherd and supply God’s people. If we can seek and accept the supply of God’s living water of life and gain the truth God expresses as our life, we will obtain eternal life. For God is the truth, the way and the life and only He can supply us with life. When we are purified and gain the way of eternal life God bestows on us, no matter what disasters befall us, we will not die. That is to say, those who gain the truth are those who truly gain eternal life.