What is the purpose of life according to Jesus?

The lifting up of the Son of man and the giving by God of His only-begotten Son had in view that whosoever believes on Him ‘may not perish, but have life eternal’. The word translated ‘perish’ does not signify a loss of being, since every human being has an eternal existence, but points to an eternal loss of wellbeing. It is to be lost to God forever, the only one who can fill and satisfy the heart and give our lives true purpose. This purpose is realised when our lives are centred on Him. This is the character of eternal life in Christian believers. It has God revealed in Christ as its centre and object. It is ‘everlasting’ life but its primary quality is that God is known as He has now been fully revealed in Christ (John 17:3; 1 John 5:20). Without exception this life is the possession of every Christian believer (John 10:27–28; 1 John 5:13).

Now, it is deeply interesting to turn from Satan's lie in reference to the truth and love of God, to the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ, who came from the bosom of the Father in order to reveal what He really is. "Grace and truth" — the very things which man lost, in his fall — "came by Jesus Christ." (John 1:17) He was "the faithful witness" of what God was. (Rev. 1:5) Truth reveals God as He is; but this truth is connected with the revelation of perfect grace; and thus the sinner finds, to his, unspeakable joy, that the revelation of what God is, instead of being his destruction, becomes the basis of his eternal salvation. "This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3.) I cannot know God and not have life. The loss of the knowledge of God was death; but the knowledge of God is life. This, necessarily, makes life a thing entirely outside of ourselves, and dependent upon what God is. Let me arrive at what amount of self-knowledge I may, it is not said that "this is life eternal, to know themselves;" though, no doubt, the knowledge of God and the knowledge of self-will go very much together; still, "eternal life" is connected with the former, and not with the latter. To know God as He is, is life; and "all who know not God" shall be "punished with everlasting destruction from His presence."

This leads to the explanation of "the eternal life" in question. Life for evermore, life to eternity, is the blessing commanded by Jehovah on the mountains of Zion (Ps. 133); and of the many Jews that sleep in the dust of the earth, some shall wake to everlasting life, as others to shame and everlasting contempt (Daniel 12). But both these Scriptures contemplate that great turning-point for the earth, the kingdom when it comes in manifest power and glory. The Lord speaks of life as given in Himself to faith now. "And this is the eternal life, that they know Thee, the only true God, and Him Whom Thou didst send, Jesus Christ." If it be distinguished from that which is to be enjoyed in the displayed kingdom by-and-by, it stands as to its character in the knowledge not of the Most High Possessor of heaven and earth, with the true Melchisedec a Priest on His throne, but of the Father and of His sent One, the only true God now plainly revealed in the Son, the one Mediator between God and man. If distinguished from the past, it is no longer the Creator-God giving promises to the fathers protected and lodging as under the shadow of the Almighty; nor yet the sons of Israel in relationship with the name of Jehovah, the moral governor of that chosen nation. But the children of God now possess the revelation of the Father and of Jesus Christ Whom He sent; and this knowledge is identified, not with promises nor government, but with "eternal life," as a present thing in Christ, the portion of every believer. A deeper blessing it is impossible for God to bestow or for man to receive; for it is exactly what characterised the Lord Himself, Who is the eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us. Only Christ could be said to be that life; we as believers are not, but we have it in Him; and as by faith alone it is received, so in faith it is exercised, sustained, and strengthened.

The knowledge of the Almighty is acquaintance with protecting power; of Jehovah, faithfulness to promise; of the Father, in the exercise of love, is eternal life. It is to know Himself in His own blessedness in relationship with the Son. Hence is added, "And Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." The Father and His love in sending (still the knowledge of Himself), and He also expression and accomplishment of this love in whom is that life. To be in relationship with these is the very essence and reality of eternal life, separated (in the power of the full knowledge of God in grace in this blessed relationship of Father and Son, and of love to us in sending Him) from all else. So thus one is with the true God, all idols away.

Not so, however, with one who knows God as He is revealed in the face of Jesus Christ. Such a one has gotten life eternal. "This," says Christ, "is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." (John 17:3) It is not life eternal to know theology or divinity. A man may sit down to the study of these, as he would to study law or medicine, astronomy or geology, and all the while know nothing of God, and therefore be without divine life, and perish in the end.

The fact is this, every one who really knows God is the privileged possessor of eternal life. So our Lord Jesus Christ declares, in the most distinct manner, in John 17. "This is life eternal that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." This is most precious to every soul that, through grace, has gotten this knowledge. To know God is to have life — life eternal.

The second verse, "The life has been manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and report to you the eternal life, which was with the Father, and has been manifested to us" is a parenthesis. It took me a long time to learn that eternal life does not just mean to live forever because, while the unbeliever is never said to have eternal life, once a human life begins, whether he believes the gospel or not, it goes on forever. Any person born into this world will continue to exist forever either with the Lord in glory and bliss or in eternal condemnation in hell, but this second fate is spoken of as "the second death" (Rev.2:11, 20:6,14, 21:8) and never "eternal life". The Lord Jesus said in John 17, "And this is the eternal life, that they should know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent" (v.3). The word 'knowing' as it is used in Scripture generally denotes more than simply knowing something or someone with the mind. As a result of Adam 'knowing' Eve a child resulted (Gen. 4:1). So the knowledge referred to in Scripture is usually much more intense than knowing about something. Knowledge speaks of a relationship. There was a relationship between Adam and Eve and there were consequences of that relationship, and while our relationship with the Lord is not the sexual relationship of a husband and wife it is an intimate relationship. The thought of having eternal life in John 17 is that we not only know who He is and know something about Him but we are in relationship with the only true God and with Jesus Christ. This is the essence of eternal life. Yes, it goes on forever, thank God for that, but it speaks of a loving and appreciated relationship that continues forever. Any relationship of knowing a human being in the sense that Scripture uses the term ultimately comes to an end, but this relationship that we have with God the Father and with the Lord Jesus will never end. As the hymn says, it will be 'sweeter as the days go by'.

In John 17, where we have the privilege of hearing the Son speak to the Father, the Lord refers to Himself as sent six times, and these are full of divine instruction for us. The first of these concerns the truth of eternal life, which the Lord had spoken of at the close of chapter 12: here He says, “And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” The Father sent the Son not only to save us, but to manifest eternal life, and to communicate it to us.

Eternal life, in this Scripture, is viewed as consisting in divine knowledge, the knowledge of the Father as the only true God, and of Jesus Christ, the Son, as sent by Him to make Him known. God revealed Himself to Abraham as The Almighty, and to Moses and Israel as Jehovah, but in the Son God has revealed Himself in the fulness of His love, as Father, in all that precious Name means, the living Father, the holy Father, the righteous Father. The Father is the only true God, the only One in whom we can trust implicitly, who is ever the same, and ever reliable. Twice over the Son said “He that sent me is true” (John 7:28; 8:26); and how deep must have been the grief of His soul to witness the unbelief of God’s earthly people in the grace and love of His Father. The Lord does not say That they might know the Son of God, but rather “Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” It was in the Person of Jesus, the Christ whom Israel had refused, that the eternal life was; even as John writes in his First Epistle, “He is the true God, and eternal life.”

Here we learn that eternal life consists in the knowledge of the Father as the only true God, and of Jesus Christ, the Sent One of the Father. This precious knowledge is ours even now, as it shall be in the Father's house for evermore. To know God fully revealed in the Person of the Son is a knowledge that brings with it the affections and relationships that are eternal. How wonderful it is that we are loved by the Father in the nearest possible relationship of children!

This small paragraph (vv. 44-50) therefore, above all, draws attention to the immense fact that, great as this would be, the Divine intention would not have reached its real fulfilment if those who believed thought themselves satisfied with the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, even as the Son. The Divine intention was that the oneness of the Son with the Father should come to this specific end, beyond which there is nothing, that those who believed should come to know the Father. In other words, they did not really know the Son, unless such knowledge brought them to know the Father. Such knowledge is eternal life.