“Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, ‘Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?’ ‘Why do you ask me about what is good?’ Jesus replied. ‘There is only One who is good.'” Matthew 19:16-17a
With the exception of Psalm 16:11 which use the words eternal and life separately but in the same thought, the phrase eternal life primarily shows up in the New Testament. However, the concept of eternal life is not explicit to Jesus’ teaching.
Throughout the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit inspired the writers to first of all address the eternality of God Himself [Genesis 21:33; Deuteronomy 33:27]. And because He is the Eternal One, then everything ascribed to Him must also be eternal: His love [1 King 10:9], the praises due Him [Psalm 111:10], His words and law [Psalm 119:89 & 160], and His steadfastness [Isaiah 26:4].
Moreover, His kingship and kingdom, dominion and sovereignty are also eternal [Jeremiah 10:10; Daniel 4:3 & 34]. But how can a kingdom be eternal if its subjects are not?
In the scheme of eternity, God created us for life eternal. He designed human beings to live eternally in His kingdom and, whether knowingly or unknowingly, each of us longs to fulfill that destiny [Ecclesiastes 3:11]. The eternity in our hearts cries out at the injustice of suffering and death. It testifies to our spirit that we were made to live forever.
Yet the sad truth is that the wages of sin—living life as our own God–is death [Romans 6:23].
We cannot be the king of our kingdom of one and subject to God’s kingdom at the same time. Our sinful-human nature is ever at odds with the Sovereign Eternal. And unless we submit our self-authority wholly back to Him, we can never enter into eternal life.
However, this rich young man approached Jesus with the notion that he could in fact come to God as his own sovereign. He believed, as so many people want to believe, that if he did enough good things or the one right good thing, then God would accept his self-sovereignty instead of requiring his submission.
So Jesus–in true God fashion–asked him a question. Jesus already knew why the man asked Him about what was good. Yet He posed the question so that the man would consider himself, Why are you asking this? What do you already know to be true that you’re hoping I will tell you is false?
Only God is good. Meaning, there is no good that we can do in our thoughts, words or deeds that will ever come close to God’s transcendent goodness. Like a candle trying to shine brighter than the sun. Like a match trying to illuminate the whole universe. That’s the futility of our human goodness.
The only way that we can be good is to allow God to become our goodness. Because Only He is good, then He alone must be Sovereign of our lives and we must wholly submit to His goodness.
Have you surrendered your heart to God’s eternal goodness? Or are you trying to live your matchstick self-kingship among the stars in His universe?
KCS
Generation Heroes 