To me, this is the greatest of any of our holidays. Why? Because without Easter, there would be no hope of eternal life. No hope of heaven. No hope of divine health. No hope of a prosperous soul. No hope of peace with God. No hope of true joy. No hope of perfect love.

What exactly IS eternal life? Most people would define this as going to heaven and getting to spend their eternity there.

But that is not how Jesus defines eternal life. He gives His definition right here: “And this is eternal life…” This verb is in the Greek present tense (a continuous action), not the future tense, so He’s talking about something for the HERE AND NOW.

His definition of eternal life does NOT include the word, “heaven.” That might shock a lot of people right there.

His definition: “That they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

Eternal life begins in the here and now. It is only acquired through knowing (present, continuous action) the true God, and knowing Jesus the Christ (Messiah).

To “know” someone is not to be CASUALLY acquainted with someone. Neither is it to know ABOUT someone. Rather, it is an action that means to deeply understand and perceive someone.

It is a deep, meaningful knowledge of someone. In fact, this is the same word that is used for having sexual intercourse with your spouse.

Eternal life is defined as having a deep, meaningful, intimate, highly personal, extremely loving, extraordinarily sharing relationship between ourselves and the One True God.

And the only way that the One True God can be revealed to a human is through Jesus the Christ.

This knowledge, this relationship, cannot be attained through personal efforts. The verb, “know,” is in the Greek subjunctive voice.

This means that we are not the INITIATOR of the action of knowing. Instead, we are the RECIPIENT of the results of the action of knowing.

In other words, eternal life is an intimate knowledge of God. But you can’t have this intimate relationship with Him until He reveals Himself to you. You CANNOT attain it yourself!

God’s will is for EVERYONE to have this deep knowledge and relationship with Him. He gives everyone an opportunity to say, “Yes,” to His invitation.

But not everyone accepts the invitation. And if the invitation is rejected, then eternal life is rejected.

And what is the only other alternative to eternal life? It is eternal death.

And just like eternal life beginning in the here and now, eternal death works the same way.

Those who end up in heaven will be there because they chose eternal life in the here and now. And those who end up in hell will be there because they rejected the invitation and chose eternal death.

Easter is the proof that I am telling you the truth!

If you are reading this, you have an invitation. Choose life!