One of the central truths in Scripture is the life God offers us through Christ, and I often get questions about what that really means. Let me share some reflections on the Zoe life of God, what it means to be dead in sins, why we do not always experience this life, how DNA points to God’s design, and the importance of the resurrection.
What is the Zoe Life of God?
“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” (John 11:25 NKJV)
There are four Greek words used in the New Testament to describe life. They speak of different things such as general life—like animal life, the fact that something is alive versus dead—manner of life, or lifestyle like a culture. But there is also a word that is only ever used for the life of God, a word called Zoe, which literally speaks of God’s eternal life, life which cannot die, life which is the source of all life. In him was life. In him was Zoe, that life is the light of men. Jesus said I am the resurrection and the life. Jesus comes to the tomb of Lazarus, a guy who is dead, and he says I am the resurrection and the life. He who lives and believes in me even though he dies yet will he live. Jesus comes to give us life. It is life Jim but not as you know it. God’s life conquers all death. God’s life conquers sickness and disease. God’s life cannot ever be attacked by any little thing. God’s life conquers everything.
What Does It Mean to Be Dead in Our Sins?
“The soul who sins shall die.” (Ezekiel 18:20 NKJV)
God said to Adam and Eve the day you eat the tree you will surely die. The Bible says the soul that sins will die. In effect the whole of mankind is dead. Are we physically alive? Yes but we are dead in terms of our connection with God. We are dead in the sense we are separated from God. God gave us life when he created us. The Lord breathed into Adam the breath of life but Adam and Eve literally died the day they sinned. They did not die initially physically but in the same way if you take a fish out of the sea it does not instantly die but out of the sea a fish begins to wither and die. We physically from the moment we are born are on a journey into the grave, and soulishly as well separated from God we are dead people walking. Jesus comes not to improve our life but to literally raise us from the dead. He comes to give us life in our spirit. We often talk about being born again being a new creation but what really happens when we are born again—it does not happen to our body and it does not happen to our soul. It actually literally happens to our spirit. To be outside disconnected from God is literally to be dead. To be brought back into relationship with him to be grafted with him—when Jesus said I am the vine you are the branch. If you cut off the branch from a tree it is still green it still smells nice for a while but it will begin to wither and die. Jesus has connected us back into himself. He is the vine we are the branch. The very life that is flowing through Jesus right now flows through every Christian.
Why Do We Not Experience It?
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” (Hosea 4:6 NKJV)
If it is true we have the resurrection life of Jesus in us then why do we not experience that life in the way God wants us to? The Bible says again and again my people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. You will know the truth the truth you know will set you free. We have God’s life in us right now but we actually do need to know about it. We need to come to God’s word. Jesus said the words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life. We find out about the life we have when we read the word of God. No knowledge about God’s life—you do not have it. Secondly we encounter God’s life through faith as well. We have actually got to believe God we have got to appropriate we have got to engage our faith. Everything Jesus had he gives up at Calvary’s cross. Yet everything he gave up at Calvary’s cross is yours and mine but we have got to literally learn to appropriate and receive those things by faith. We do not get them automatically. They do not simply drop on us like cherries on a tree because we are Christians. We have got to believe for that. We have got to believe for his life in us going to believe for his life through us. We have got to believe to experience the life of God in this life right here and right now.
Does DNA Prove the Existence of God’s Life?
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1 NKJV)
There was an atheist famous atheist called Carl Sagan famous in the 70s and 80s. He is dead now a great guy cosmologist studied the universe. The show in the 70s and 80s was really famous and he was the one who came up with this idea and it was actually really true what he said. He said if we ever discover information out there in the universe it will prove the existence of extraterrestrial life. He said information even if we cannot understand the information information is proof of intelligence. He was actually one of the founders of a government project called SETI in the United States the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Right now ever since that time they have had radio telescopes pointed out in the universe looking for signals from outer space. Carl Sagan wrote a book and they made it into a movie in the 1990s called Contact starring Jodie Foster. It was about a lady in the 90s fiction obviously who discovered a signal coming from outer space. They could decode the signal. There was a signal of prime numbers coming from outer space which can never happen by accident all of the prime numbers. So it proved information is proof of intelligence. But what this guy Sagan had never thought through and discovered at the time was when they decoded the DNA in the human genome in animal life it is teeming with information. There is more information in one strand of DNA in your body than there is in all of the libraries in New York City put together. If information random matter and energy cannot produce information then where did the DNA in our bodies come from? Because there is incredibly detailed ordered information in us. DNA is a proof of intelligence who made us. God made us. We did not make ourselves.
Why is the Resurrection So Important to Christianity?
“And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” (1 Corinthians 15:17 NKJV)
The apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 if Jesus did not rise from the dead this whole thing is in vain. Jesus was not a great teacher was not another prophet a wise man. The whole of Christianity—the early church never really celebrated the birth of Jesus. It is a big thing for us Christmas. Resurrection was everything. In a very real sense here is why resurrection is important because Jesus did not die so we could live. Jesus died so we could die. It sounds weird to us but one of the greatest gifts he ever gave us was to kill us was to take that old nature that Adamic nature that old man and nail it to the cross of Calvary. When Jesus died we died. When Jesus was buried we were buried. Now for us that is symbolized by baptism being buried in the waters of baptism we are raised to newness of life. When Jesus rose we rose. When Jesus ascended we ascended and when Jesus sat down at the right hand of God the Father we are seated with him. The whole of mankind is a dead species when it comes to God. We cannot be renewed we cannot be reformed we cannot be tweaked we cannot be energized God cannot do any patch up fixer up job on mankind. All he can ever do is raise us from the dead. It is really important we realize we have been a resurrected person. When you became a Christian your habits are still the same your unrenewed mind still the same your body still the same your understanding your education your IQ level is still the same. The one thing that happened to you when you got born again is you became a resurrected person. We should actually look at ourselves through that lens and literally say I am a live person. I once was dead I now am alive in Jesus name.
Let that truth settle in your spirit.
Selah.
Scriptures for Further Study: John 11:25, Ezekiel 18:20, Hosea 4:6, Genesis 1:1, 1 Corinthians 15:17, John 1:4, John 10:10, Romans 6:4, Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:1, Ephesians 2:5, Colossians 2:13, John 3:3-6, John 5:24, John 6:63, Romans 8:11, 1 John 5:11-12, Genesis 2:7, Romans 5:12, Romans 7:18, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 2:20, Ephesians 4:22-24, Colossians 3:9-10, Hebrews 11:3
10 Questions for Reflection:
- What does the Zoe life of God mean to my daily walk?
- How have I experienced God’s life conquering death in my life?
- Where am I still dead in sins and need resurrection?
- Why do I not always experience the life God promises?
- How can I appropriate God’s life by faith?
- What does DNA reveal about God’s design?
- How does the resurrection change my identity?
- Am I a resurrected person in Christ?
- Where do I need to know the truth to be set free?
- How can I believe for God’s life through me?
