And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. (9) If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. (10) He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. (11) And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. (12) He that hath the Son hath life: and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. (13) These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
The truth to which those witnesses bear testimony, in earth, is the same to which those spoken of before, bear record in heaven; namely, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and in whom we have eternal life. And the witnesses themselves, it should seem, are the Spirit when witnessing to our spirits, of our being children of God, the water of regeneration, and the blood of Christ. And these all correspond to the same. I say, it should seem to be these, because it is added, that this is the witness of God, and which the child of God receives, and which he cannot receive but by regeneration. And hence the unregenerate who receive it not, neither accept it, give God the lie, by the rejection of God's record to his Son. And what an awful state are those men in who by rejecting his Godhead, cannot but reject with it, the eternal life he brings. For who less than an Eternal Being, can have or bring Eternal life!
And here Reader, if you are a child of God, and by regeneration brought forth to the apprehension of Christ's Person, and the eternal life that is in him, and by him, I beg of you to pause, and for a moment to contemplate the vast mercy. The Apostle Peter was so wrapt up in the view, that unable to contain himself, he called God the Almighty Giver of it; the God of all grace! The God of all grace (said he) that hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus; 1 Peter 5:10. And here the beloved Apostle speaks to the same amount, God hath given eternal life, and this life is in his Son! So that it is a free full gift. And it is impossible to be lost, or alienated; or taken away from the child of God, regenerated by the Holy Ghost, being in Christ, and that child of God made part in Christ, by being quickened or made spiritually alive in him. And there are, among numberless, nameless blessings contained in it; and folded up in it, these two more especially striking. First. He that hath the Son, hath this eternal life begun in him; glory begun in the soul, and to be enjoyed here by faith. The other, is, that at death, this life eternal in Christ, opens to the soul in all its glory, and is enjoyed by immediate sight. There are but these two ways of enjoying communion with God in Christ, either in the life that now is, or in that which is to come. And each is suited for the respective places of enjoyment. Allow me to offer a word or two more on each.
First. Eternal life in Christ begins to be enjoyed by faith, the moment of regeneration; when we are then said, to be made partakers of the divine nature, and to have all things given to us, that pertain to life and godliness: 2 Peter 1:3-4. Our Lord's authority on this point, is very sweet, and much to be regarded. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life: John 5:24. And speaking of himself, as the resurrection in that sublime discourse, (which is enough to strike every infidel who denies his Godhead, dumb, with everlasting silence), Jesus said; I am the resurrection and the life, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Now mark! And whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die; John 11:25-26. Words, as plain as language can express. The regenerated believer hath everlasting life. Right and title, in actual possession by faith. The day of our effectual calling is the day in which we literally and truly enter upon this inheritance. We are passed from death to life. Die, the child of God can no more spiritually. Eternal life is begun in his soul. And this is the sure earnest of eternal glory.
Secondly. Whenever the life of faith ends, (which of course must end at death), the spirits of just men made perfect, immediately enter upon this eternal life of glory. And this is evident from the very nature of the thing. For otherwise, there is be an interruption to this eternal life in Christ. And how in this sense, would the words of Jesus be fulfilled. He that liveth and believeth in me shall never die? if the soul ceased its communion with God in Christ, at the death of the body, neither enjoyed it more until the resurrection; the child of God, instead of being a gainer by death, would be an infinite loser. Paul could not then have said to die is gain. Neither would his spirit so have longed, to be absent from the body, that he might be present with the Lord. Very evidently therefore it is, from this view of the subject, if there were no other, that that eternal life, which God hath given us in Christ, and to which he bears record as in Christ, and which, he that hath the Son, hath in Christ; is the beginning of glory, by faith here below, and on the departure of the soul, from the body at death, opens in full fruition of sight, in life eternal. Sweet considerations, both of faith on earth, and glory in heaven, from that eternal life we have in the Son of God! Reader! look to it, (if so be God the Spirit witnesseth to your spirit by regeneration, that you are a child of God), that you hold fast your faith and confidence; let no man take your crown. You are now in the womb of time, as the infant when in the womb of nature; living by the nourishment of faith, on the eternal life in the Son of God, as the child on the nourishment in the womb. And often now, so strong those principles of spiritual and eternal life in Christ, are communicated to your spirit, by God the Spirit, that, when, like Elizabeth, you hear the salutation of grace in Christ; your soul, like the babe in her womb, leapeth for joy. This is the utmost to be enjoyed by faith, before we leave the present state. But no sooner shall the life of faith cease, than the life of sight begins. Then you will come forth from the womb of nature, and enter into the joy of your Lord. And then, that eternal life, here begun in grace, and there consummated in glory, and all in and from Christ Jesus, will bring the whole Church to the highest state of felicity, and to the united praise of the Holy, and undivided Three, which bear record in heaven, and these Three are One.