John 5:24 - Eternal Life Now

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 (KJV)

 Faith and life are connected.
 A present possession [NIV SB]

Hath everlasting life; This declaration is more than a promise of eternal
life to come; it is an assurance that the believer now and here may begin to
enjoy life that is eternal in quality, because he is united spiritually with
His Lord, whose life He shares. "The Spirit of God, received into the heart
by faith, is the beginning of the life eternal" (DA 388). [SDA Commentary]

"Eternal life"--living forever with God--begins when you accept Jesus Christ
as Savior. At that moment, new life begins in you (2 Cor. 5:17). It is a
completed transaction. You still will face physical death, but when Christ
returns again, your body will be resurrected to live forever (1 Cor. 15).
[Life Application SB]

Eternal life is more than endless. It has a unique quality and character all
its own. Eternal life is God's own life, infused with His vitality and moral
character, given to us through spiritual birth. Those with this life can
have fellowship with God and with other believers, for we are linked to Him
and one another by eternal bonds. [Victor Bible Reader's Companion]

Yesterday two Jehovah's Witnesses appeared at our door with an "Awake"
tract. My wife called out from the living room, "We're Christians. We don't
want it."
One of the two answered, "We're Christians too. We believe in Jesus Christ
as our Saviour."
That's good. As far as it goes. But the next question that needs to be
answered is, "Which Jesus?"
There are many Jesuses in vogue today. There's the "good man Jesus," who was
misunderstood and killed, and whose teachings are still wonderful. There's
the "liberation Jesus," who calls for the oppressed to take up weapons and
kill their oppressors. There's the "Jewish rabbi Jesus," who never thought
of himself as God and was later dubbed with a title he would have hated by
his enthusiastic followers-especially Paul. There's the "a god" Jesus of
several cults, who is either a sort of high angel, or a human being lifted
to a higher spiritual plane. And then there is the God Jesus of John's
Gospel, who is equal to God in nature, and who from the beginning was God
and is God.
Here in these verses, in Christ's own words as reported by John, is the
Jesus of Scripture. He is:
vv. 17-18:        the equal of God the Father
v. 18:        the Son, not identical with the Father, but unified with Him
v. 19:        in total harmony with the Father in all His works, and
submissive to His will
v. 20        loved by the Father, with full knowledge of His plans and
purposes
v. 21        empowered by the Father, and able to give life as the Father
has and does
v. 22        entrusted with authority to judge
v. 23        equal in honor with the Father
v. 24        determiner of human destiny:
v. 24        the object of a faith that transfers from the realm of death to
that of life
v. 25        able to raise the dead
v. 26        one who like the Father is uncreated, having life in Himself
v. 27        as Son of man, God enfleshed
It does make a difference which Jesus we believe in. How wonderful it is to
know that the Jesus we believe in is the eternal Son of God. One of the
earliest creeds of the church, the Nicene Creed, puts it this way:
I believe in... one LORD Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God,
begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very
God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father,
by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down
from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and
was made man, and crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered
and was buried, and the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures,
and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father; and
He shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead; whose
kingdom shall have no end.
This is the Jesus of the Bible. This is the Jesus in whom we believe! [The
365-Day Devotional Commentary]

The New Testament teaching is not that everyone has eternal life, but that
those who come to God through Jesus Christ are given eternal life as a gift.
 Many passages contain this teaching; it is not found in only one or two
texts.  The new birth, being "born of the Spirit," is to have the life of
God given to us.  Not all are born of the Spirit.  The Scripture rejects the
idea that everybody has a spark of deity within.  In fact, the Bible says
that man, in his natural condition, is "dead to god" and that rebirth, an
action of the Holy Spirit, is required to plant the life of God.  That's
what's meant by eternal life.  We don't begin eternal life when we die; we
begin it while we still live.  Eternity begins with belief in Christ.
[Terry Fullam; Time with God devotional SB]

But is passed from death unto life; Has changed his country, or place of
abode. Death is the country where every Christless soul lives. The man who
knows not God lives a dying life, or a living death; but he who believes in
the Son of God passes over from the empire of death, to the empire of life.
Reader! thou wast born in death: hast thou yet changed the place of thy
natural residence? Remember that to live in sin is to live in death; and
those who live and die thus shall die eternally. (Adam Clarke Commentary)