The Durant News

SCRIPTURE: John 21:1-14; Colossians 3: 1-4. 12-17; I John: 11 12
DEVOTIONAL READING: John 14:2-6

Eternal Life
Lesson for March 28, 1948

"The Lord has risen indeed." and because he lives, we too shall live. Easter is the day that reminds us of this blessed truth-the truth of eternal life. Well has Henry Burton expressed it in these lines:

"There's a light upon the mountains,
And the day is at the spring,
When our eyes shall see The beauty
And the glory of the King;
Weary was our heart with waiting,
And the night watch seemed so long,
But his triumph day is breaking,
And we hail it with a song.

"He is breaking down the barriers;
He is casting up the way;
He is calling for his angels
To build up the gates of day;
But his angels here are human,
Not the shining hosts above;
And the drumbeats of his army
Are the heartbeats of our love."

BREAKFAST BY THE LAKE

READ John 21:1-14 for the exquisite account of Jesus appearing to his disciples in the early morning at the sea of Tiberias. They had been toiling all night, and had taken nothing. Bringing their boats near to the shore, they saw one standing there, "but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus." Jesus told them to cast their net on the right side of the ship, which they did, and they caught 153 "great fishes." Jesus then summoned them to breakfast. He had prepared the bread and fish on coals of fire. And they did eat.

BLESSED ASSURANCE

BEFORE his death, Jesus had said to his disciples, "Because I live, you will live also," John 14:19, but they did not fully grasp the meaning of the great words. But that morning on the sea shore, they understood. They remembered that he had died on the cross, and now they were assured that he was really alive. for this was the third time he had appeared unto the disciples after the resurrection. How happy they must have been! How happy we should be on this recurring Easter season, assured that he is alive evermore. And because he lives, we too shall live.

WHAT IS ETERNAL LIFE?

SUNDAY'S lesson leads us on to the answer to the question, What is eternal life? In Colossians 3:1-4 and 12-17, we have the declaration, "Your life is hid with Christ in God. . . " If we have believed on him - cast ourselves in implicit trust into his keeping - we have eternal life, which is his gift to every believing heart. Paul goes on to admonish those who have "entered into life eternal," through faith in the riven, risen, reigning Saviour, to put on the garments of his presence and power and peace - kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, forbearance, forgiveness. The evidence of eternal life is to be found in the fruits of the Spirit in our daily lives.

CERTAINTY OF ETERNAL LIFE

WE READ in John 17:3 this word of further assurance, "This is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." And in I John 5:11-12, we read, "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." In another passage John tells that we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. Easter is the day of eternal hope. It lifts above the fog of earthliness the glory of the blessed hope that fadeth not away. We have God's own testimony that we shall live with him forever, through Jesus Christ, our risen, reigning, returning Lord.

(Copyright by the International Council of Religious Education on behalf of 40 Protestant denominations Released by WNU Features.)