In the King James Bible, the phrase “eternal life” is found twenty-six times and it’s interesting to note that the first time we hear this phrase mentioned is actually when a rich young man asks Jesus himself the question, “what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life”. Let’s look at how Jesus answers this weighty question.

The passage is found in the gospel of Matthew. While looking at this passage, let’s keep in mind that we are trying to answer “what does it mean to have eternal life and not what must we do to get it. Let’s read:  Matthew 19:16-17  And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?  (17)  And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. Does this passage help us to understand what “eternal life” is? Absolutely it does! Notice that Jesus tells this man “if you want to enter into life”, what life? Eternal life! So it is obvious that Jesus is not telling him what he needs to do to stay physically alive but rather what he needs to do to “enter into life”. Friends, eternal life is the idea that after we physically die, we will live on forever in soul and spirit with God! In fact, even our physical body will one day be resurrected back to life and then changed into an amazing and glorious new body!

I would like to tell you a true story. Years ago I was on the streets of Niagara Falls sharing the gospel with everyone that would take time to listen. There was one young man that after barely getting into the conversation, he cut me off and said “hey man, I am good. When I die, I will just go back to dust and stay there!”. One thing to note was that this man was polite and fine with what I believed but was settled on his own belief. In essence, he honestly thought there were two options, be religious and get eternal life or be an unbeliever and just stay in the grave. He thought that “his belief” would cause the desired outcome! 

I then shared with him another passage…John 5:28-29  Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice  (29)  and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

The fact is that in a way, everyone has eternal life. The rich young man was in essence asking “what must I do to have eternal life with God”. Everyone will be resurrected and live on forever either with God in paradise or separated from Him forever in torment and darkness.

Friend, just because you don’t believe in the afterlife does not mean you won’t have one. We are not like God where we can with our thoughts and faith create something that does exist. If the idea of physical death does not alarm you, it should. If you do have a fear of death, I would encourage you to pray, read the Bible and find someone that can explain it to you.