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July 1, 2024

Jesus’ Amazing Promise

Dr. Jason Neill

Scripture reading: John 11:1-57

Have you ever had someone make a promise to you; however, they didn’t keep it? It could have been a “big” promise or a “small” one, but they simply didn’t deliver on their word. As a kid I remember meeting a distant relative who made all kinds of promises to me. It was near Christmas, and in those days, we used to get a department store catalog in the mail. This was in the days before the internet. I would skip past the home section with its blankets, cookware, etc. and find the section I was most interested in; namely, the toy section. With a pen, I would circle all kinds of toys I hoped to see on Christmas day.

After meeting this distant relative, the topic of Christmas came up. He asked me what I wanted that year. Well, I wasn’t short of answers. I unloaded on him all I could remember I circled in the department store catalog. After mentioning each toy, he replied, “I’ll get that for you.” I was excited, as you can imagine. Unfortunately, I discovered he wasn’t good at keeping his promises. All those promises of buying me all those toys never came to fruition. Oh, well. Such is life, right?

When someone makes us a promise, whether it be a distant relative, company, or a friend, we must ask two questions. First, can this person be trusted? Second, can they deliver on their promise?

Jesus, fortunately, is someone who can be trusted and delivers on His promises every single time. One of His promises can be found in the Gospel of John, specifically, 11:25-26. It reads as follows:

"Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (NIV).

Jesus makes two claims about Himself. Number one, He promises a bodily resurrection for those who believe in Him. This is what He means when He said, “The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.” Even if you or I die, we will one day be raised bodily from the dead. If you believe in Him for the free gift of eternal life (yes, I know a gift by its very nature is free; however, I am being intentionally redundant), He promises to give you a resurrected body. Won’t that be great? We’ll get a body upgrade.

Number two, Jesus promises the person who believes in Him will never die spiritually. This is what He means when He said, “whoever lives and by believing in me will never die.” We will never die spiritually, if we have believed in Him for everlasting life. In other words, we will never be spiritually condemned. We will all die physically, if the Lord doesn't come back first. We will never die spiritually (e.g., we will never be eternally condemned). This speaks to our eternal security in Christ. The moment you believe in Jesus for what He promises, namely, everlasting life which can never be lost, you have it (see John 3:16; 5:24; 6:40, 47; 11:25-26). We know this is true because Jesus can be trusted, and He always keeps His promises.