ONE of the most familiar passages of Scripture is John 3:16. It seems like everybody knows that verse from a young age, yet I believe it has really been misunderstood and misapplied. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Traditionally, this scripture has been used to teach that Jesus came and died for our sins so that we wouldn’t perish. As true as this is, this verse is saying that the real purpose of Jesus coming to this earth and dying for us was so that we could have everlasting life. It just so happened that our sins were a barrier that stood between us and this everlasting life. It is true that Jesus did die for our sins, and it is true that if we believe in Jesus, we will not perish, but there is much more to the Gospel than that.
The real message of the Gospel is that God wants to give you everlasting life. Now let me explain that. The night before His crucifixion, Jesus was praying, and He said, “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ” (John 17:3) This says that everlasting life is knowing the Father, the only true God, and knowing Jesus Christ, whom He has sent. That’s what everlasting life is. Many people think that everlasting life is living forever. Well, every person lives forever. It’s a misconception to think that when a person dies they cease to exist.
The spirit and the soul go back to God. The body decays in the grave. The truth is, every person who has ever lived on the face of the earth will continue to live in spirit form. So, to say that eternal life is living forever is not the whole truth, everybody lives forever. This verse makes it very clear that eternal life with God is not automatically given to everyone. Some people would say, “Eternal life is living forever in heaven versus living forever in hell.” But eternal life is just what Jesus said in John 17:3, to know God and Jesus Christ. It’s more than an intellectual knowledge. This word “know” is used throughout Scripture to describe the most intimate, personal relationship that you can have.
The real purpose of salvation is not living forever in heaven, as great as that will be. The real purpose of salvation is to have intimacy—a personal relationship with the Lord God. There are multitudes of people who have cried out to God for the forgiveness of their sins but have never had intimacy with God as a goal.
By not explaining the real purpose of salvation, we are doing a disservice to the Gospel. When we present salvation as something that deals with just spiritual things that will only benefit us in the future, in eternity, we are not helping people. There are some people who are living in such a literal hell right now on earth. Many are depressed, living in poverty, dealing with strife, rejection, hurt, and failed marriages. People are just trying to survive day to day. They are just trying to keep their heads above water. By making salvation something that deals only with the future, many people put off that decision because they are too busy just trying to survive today.
The truth is that Jesus not only came to affect our eternal destinies so that we can live forever in heaven in blessing instead of the punishment and curse of hell, but Jesus also came to deliver us from this present evil world (Gal. 1:4). Jesus came to give you intimacy and a personal relationship with God the Father today. Jesus came to bring you back into close, personal relationship with Him. Jesus loves you. Jesus wants to know you personally. Jesus wants to give you a quality of life that is greater than anything you could obtain through any other source. Jesus put it this way in John 10:10: “The thief [speaking of Satan] cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly”. God wants to give you eternal life. God wants to give you abundant life, and I believe that you need that today that you want that. Christ died not only to forgive your sins, but to bring you close to him. If you don’t know the Lord, you need to know Him for that purpose. If you’ve already been born again, you need to go beyond just getting your sins forgiven and enter into everlasting life with the Father.
You need to have a relationship with God. It is not just a casual relationship, but an intimate relationship with Him, where on a daily basis you spend time fellowshipping with Him.
One of the most important things about relationship is to understand the person with whom you’re going to have relationship, and that also applies to God. You need to understand the basic nature and character of God in order to have a healthy relationship with Him. Misunderstanding His character and nature is one of the reasons many people don’t have a positive relationship with Him.
This is exactly what happened in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve were tempted by the serpent. They entered into temptation, ultimately disobeyed God, and plunged the whole human race into sin. Their lack of understanding God’s nature was actually a part of the temptation.
The story in Genesis 3:1-5 is familiar to most people:
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Did God say, You shall not eat of every tree in the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, You shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods [God], knowing good and evil”
There is a subtle statement by Satan here that God is really not a good God… that He was trying to withhold something from Adam and Eve, that He didn’t want them to reach their full potential, that He didn’t want them to be like Himself and that the reason He made the rule about not eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was to hinder or hurt them.
In a sense, Satan came against the very nature and character of God when he maligned Him by saying God did not want the best for them. The same thing is exactly what’s happening to people today. Satan tells them, “If you follow God and don’t experiment with all these things that are contrary to His Word, you’ll never experience true happiness. Life will be boring dead.”
The sad fact is that people experience after the fact that the drugs, alcohol, sex, rebellion, indulgence of self, success in jobs, and all the other things they tried didn’t satisfy them. By the time they realize it, they’ve already destroyed their lives, their families, and their health.
The truth is that God is a good God, and His will for us is only good. But Satan uses the same temptations on us today that came against Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, basically implying that God is not a good God. One needs to spend time with Him, so they know Him and appreciate that He is a good and gracious God. He wills that no one should perish but come to the full knowledge of Christ. It takes knowing Him and Jesus Christ whom He sent to understand the True Nature of God.