What does it mean to have eternal life?

1John 5:13
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

GOD wants us to know our eternal status. If we have eternal life, HE wants us to know it. It is important that we know it. It is imortant that we understand what it means to have eternal life.

So let us think about how it is that we do not naturally live eternally. What is death? How is it that we receive this gift, and how can we be sure that we have it?

First, Who suffered Christ to die, and then raised Him again?
"Therefore doth My Father love Me because I lay down My life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father." John 10:17, 18. "Whom [Christ] God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death; because it was not possible that He should be holden of it." Acts. 2:24.

How was it that death came into the world?
"Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Rom. 5:12. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23.

Why could not death hold Christ under its dominion?
"Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth." 1 Peter 2:22.

What did Christ's resurrection gain for all men?
"For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." 1 Cor. 15:21, 22.

Why did God give His own son to die? and who alone are benefited by His death?
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." "He that believeth not the Son shall not see [everlasting] life, but the wrath of God abideth or him." John 3:16, 36.

With whom is the eternal life of the believer hid?
"For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Col. 3:3. "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son." 1 John 5:11.

When will eternal life be received?
"Behold, I show you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed, For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." 1 Cor. 15:51-53.

Is there any exemption from the first, or temporal, death?
"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." 1 Cor. 15:22.

Who have part in the first resurrection?
"And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, ...and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years... This is the first resurrection. .On such the second death hath no power." Rev. 20:4-6.

Who have part in the second resurrection?
"But the rest of the dead [the wicked] lived not again until the thousand years were finished." "And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them." Rev. 20:5, 9 (Dan. 12:2) (Heb. 11:35).

What is the second, or eternal, death? and who suffer it?
"And death and hell [margin, the grave] were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Rev. 20:14, 15. "The lake which burneth with fire and brimstone... is the second death." Rev. 21:8. "He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death." Rev. 2:11. See Eze. 18:26.

What is then said of those who share the first resurrection, and so escape the second death?
"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death: neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away. And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new." Rev. 21:4, 5.

This then is eternal life:

John 17:3
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.


1John 5:11-13
And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

He that hath the Son hath life; [and] he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.