With the business of life and our daily schedules and to-do lists, it can be easy for us to develop tunnel-vision. Our agendas and goals for each day can often cause us to forget that God has far bigger and better plans for us than we could ever imagine for ourselves. God’s desire for each and every person is to spend life with Him forever. That is the ultimate goal and destination we are headed to if we are His follower.
Scripture makes it clear from the very beginning that separation from God was never God’s plan. No, God planned that we would experience eternal life with Him forever. Jesus Himself made this truth clear in John 5. “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, “those who listen to My message and believe in God who sent Me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death to life” (verse 24). Jesus made His plan very clear: He had come so that all who placed their faith in Him could have eternal life with Him. This was His plan from the beginning. From the moment sin entered the world and changed life on earth forever, God had a plan to rescue humanity. This plan included sending Jesus to save the world from sin if they would place their faith in Him. He did not have to, but He rescued us from sin and death because of His great love.
When Jesus said, “Those who listen to My message and believe in God who sent Me have eternal life,” He was talking about every person, including you and me. If we place our faith in Him, we can be confident that we will one day live forever with Him. Because of this, death has lost its power. Jesus offers life beyond death. It is true; His plans are far better than any that we could have made! Rest in His promise and the hope of eternal life today.
Pull out your favorite Bible app and listen to the verses from the Going Deeper section be read out loud. Listen to these verses slowly and deliberately. As you listen, thank God for the promise of eternal life with Him forever. Thank Him for all He has done for you.
Jesus Claims to Be the Son of God
So the Jewish leaders began harassing Jesus for breaking the Sabbath rules. But Jesus replied, “My Father is always working, and so am I.” So the Jewish leaders tried all the harder to find a way to kill him. For he not only broke the Sabbath, he called God his Father, thereby making himself equal with God.
So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. In fact, the Father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man. Then you will truly be astonished. For just as the Father gives life to those he raises from the dead, so the Son gives life to anyone he wants. In addition, the Father judges no one. Instead, he has given the Son absolute authority to judge, so that everyone will honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son is certainly not honoring the Father who sent him.
“I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.
“And I assure you that the time is coming, indeed it’s here now, when the dead will hear my voice—the voice of the Son of God. And those who listen will live. The Father has life in himself, and he has granted that same life-giving power to his Son. And he has given him authority to judge everyone because he is the Son of Man. Don’t be so surprised! Indeed, the time is coming when all the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God’s Son, and they will rise again. Those who have done good will rise to experience eternal life, and those who have continued in evil will rise to experience judgment. I can do nothing on my own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just, because I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will.
